Page 41 of Lacey's Fight

But what made the evening so much worse was the way Lacey kept a death grip on his hand. Her nails dug so painfully into his skin that he knew it would leave behind marks, and her grip was tight enough to hurt. Every time he smoothed a hand down her back, or cupped the back of her head and drew her in for a kiss, or palmed her cheek and gently caressed her skin, she shot him a sweet smile and a little of the tension bled out of her body. No matter what though, her hold on his hand never wavered, never loosened.

She was using him as her lifeline, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

CHAPTER TEN

August 7th

12:32 A.M.

“I thought I knew what Hell on Earth was like, but I was wrong. I would give anything right now to be the one suffering so those poor girls didn’t have to.” Lacey sighed as she leaned back against the bedroom door she had just closed and locked as though that might also shut out the horror running rampant inside her head.

Ben didn’t say anything, but he gave her a funny look as he unbuttoned his tux jacket and slipped it off.

He’d been acting weird all night.

Ever since she’d made that stupid offer to help him get over his issue with sex by offering him no-strings attached sex. One of the stupidest things she had ever done, but the problem was there were no takebacks in life. It was out there now, and she had to deal with it. They both did.

He said he wasn’t angry with her about it, but she wasn’t so sure.

Why else would he be back to treating her as though she had the plague?

Okay, so he had kissed her and et her hold his hand all night. Squash his hand was probably more like it. Hers was aching from the way she’d clutched at Ben’s, sure that if she let go the horror of what they were watching would snap her in two. If hers was hurting his had to be too, only he hadn’t complained.

A stress headache was beginning to pound at her temples. Confusion over Ben and what her feelings were and were not for him, along with what his feelings were or were not for her, was starting to take a toll on her. That on top of everything else had her on overload.

Not much longer.

The thought didn’t console her much because even though there was only another twenty-four hours or so until the raid that would bring The Master, Amelia, everyone who worked for her, and everyone who had come to the auction taken into custody, and the girls rescued, it wouldn’t end there. There would be meetings and debriefings, and she would make sure she was kept informed on the girls’ recoveries.

It felt so never-ending that she almost couldn’t handle it.

Across the room, Ben began to unbutton his crisp white shirt. How it was still crisp after a couple of hours of wearing it through dinner and the auction and the after-party celebrations she had no idea. Lacey felt like she’d been tossed in a washing machine, half-drowned, tossed about, then into the drier where she’d been almost suffocated by the heat.

When he finished with the buttons and tossed the shirt onto the sofa, then reached for the buckle of his pants, her mouth dropped open.

“What are you doing?” she squeaked. They didn’t undress in front of one another. While she wasn’t ashamed of her body, she worked out every day and knew that she was in good shape and looked good, she didn’t flaunt it. It had scars, marks from her years with The Master, and while she never let them hold her back, Ben had made it clear on several occasions that he wasn’t interested in her in a sexual way even if there was attraction there. That made her uncomfortable baring her body to him and even more uncomfortable for him to bare his to her.

There was only so much temptation she could take and watching him undress, knowing she couldn’t have him, might prove to be more than she could handle right now.

“Yes.”

“Huh? What do you mean yes?” she asked.

“Your offer.”

Lacey gulped. “What about it?”

“Yes.”

Did he really mean what she thought he meant? It wasn’t that she was some sex-starved lunatic who had to sleep with every man she met, and it had been her offer to help him with his problem, but now that he had said yes, she wasn’t sure what to do.

Belt undone, Ben let his black suit pants drop, pooling at his feet and leaving him in just a pair of white boxers.

Wow, he looked good.

She almost had to fan herself.

“Turn around,” Ben ordered as he stalked toward her.

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