Laces and Lace
Page 35

 Toni Aleo

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They were soul mates.
After saving her number, he replied.
Karson: I would never. I tried to wake you up, but you pushed me away, grumbling something about it being too early.
Lacey: Sounds like something I’d do, sorry about that. I guess the note fell between the headboard and mattress ’cause I just spent the last thirty minutes all upset ’cause I thought you left.
Oh shit.
Karson: Can I call you?
Lacey: Yeah.
Hitting her number, it rang only once before she answered.
“Hey,” she said all groggy and sexy-like.
He smiled. “Hey, sorry about that. I put the note right by your face, hoping you’d see it when you woke up.”
“I guess I move a lot when I sleep, so I must have knocked into it and it fell. No big deal. I found it.”
“Thank God,” he said with a laugh. “I would have been waiting all day to hear from you and thinking that you didn’t want anything to do with me.”
“Yeah, see that’s what I just did,” she said shyly, making his heart thump louder.
“I’m sorry, baby, I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“Like I said, it’s no big deal. We’re fine,” she said, but he could tell that it had been a big deal, that she may have even been crying. That alone put his stomach in knots. He didn’t do well when girls cried. It killed him, especially when it was Lacey.
“Okay,” he said letting out a long breath. “Can I see you tonight?”
“Yeah, I would love that,” she said softly. “Were you able to change your flight?”
“Yeah, I fly out early in the morning.”
“Okay, so now when I wake up and you’re not there, I’ll know why,” she teased and he chuckled.
“Look at you jumping the gun, assuming I’ll be in bed with you again,” he teased back, leaning into the locker, a grin playing on his lips.
“Oh, you won’t be?” she asked, and even though she wasn’t in front of him, he could see the grin playing on her sweet lips. He could just imagine her, sitting there, wrapped in the sheets, perfectly naked underneath as she held the phone to her ear. Her lips were probably red and swollen from the night before. Her body all sexy and worn out from him. The thought alone had him growing in his jeans. As much as he wanted to believe that they would be tangled in the sheets again tonight, he knew they needed to talk first.
“Let’s get through drinks first, see if you will still want me there.”
She was quiet for a moment and then said, “I think I will.”
“I hope you will,” he admitted. “But let’s make sure.”
“Okay,” she agreed. “Where do you want to meet?”
He smiled. “How about the campus coffee shop?”
They had spent many nights there. He’d even had a group of guys sing to her there for the chance to date her. He knew the coffee shop stayed open till three in the morning every day. Not only had he called to make sure, but he also remembered her studying till the wee hours of the morning while he sat there watching her. They were some of his favorite times with her. Watching her work, with her brows furrowed and her lip between her teeth as she figured out what the textbook was saying always turned him on. Especially when she would catch him watching her and glare playfully at him before smacking his arm.
She was so beautiful and all his.
“Oh wow, really? You don’t want alcohol? I think I might need alcohol if we are hashing out the past.”
He laughed. “I mean, I can slip us in some whiskey for the coffee, but if you want to go somewhere in town, that’s fine.”
“It’s not that. I just want a glass of wine, and I want to be close to my apartment so we can get there quickly afterward.”
That coming out of her mouth at any other time would have turned him on, but at the moment, he didn’t want to just go shack up, he wanted her to love him again.
“Karson? Sorry, I mean, if you really want to go to the coffee shop, that’s fine.” He guessed she made the offer since he had gone silent.
“It’s not that,” he said, turning his face into the locker and leaning his head against it. “It’s just…I don’t want this to be about sex.”
“I bet you haven’t said that too many times in the last nine years, huh?”
He smiled. “Never.”
He could hear the laughter in her voice. “That’s what I thought, but I got you, I don’t want that either. But then again, I don’t know what I want. I just want to see you again.”
“Good, because I want that too.”
“So do you want to go to Hub 51?”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he agreed. “Seven?”
“Sounds good. I’ll be there.”
“Awesome,” he said, his heart warming as he glanced at the time. He needed to finish getting dressed before heading to the media room for some promotional crap. “All right, baby, I gotta go. I’ll see you tonight. Text me if you get bored.”
“Okay, I will,” she said softly in the phone, making it hard to hang up.
“Will you be at the game this afternoon?”
She paused. “Maybe.”
“Maybe I’ll look for you.”
“Maybe I’ll like that.”
He smiled. “All right, talk to you later.”
“Bye, Karson.”