Boots and Lace by Myla Jackson Page A

exactly when Lacey made it back to the apartment. He’d been pacing the apartment from the time he got home from the shop to the time Lacey drove up in the driveway. When Lacey didn’t stop at his door, Nick stripped out of his clothes, took an icy-cold shower and walked naked into his bedroom, where he lay across the sheets, praying his cock would ease up.
    It stood for over an hour at attention, eager to find Lacey and thrust deep inside her.
    So why was Nick holding back? He liked her. Hell, he found her exciting and uninhibited and everything his ex hadn’t been…with him.
    Perhaps Cory was right. Not all women were the same and not all relationships ended the same. Yet the residual anger of his divorce left him clenching the bedsheets instead of following the woman up the stairs and burying himself deep inside her. Well past two, he lay awake, but he must have fallen asleep because when he opened his eyes again, sun poured through his window.
    He stretched, his naked skin skimming across twisted sheets, his normal boner as hard as it had been last night when he’d wished he’d gone up to the neighbor’s apartment.
    A glance at the clock reminded him of his responsibilities. He was already an hour late to open the shop. Nick got up and slipped into a set of coveralls and zipped them up to his waist, leaving the top hanging around his hips. His dick made a tent of the fabric and he thanked the uniform company for recommending he buy the coveralls a size larger.
    Barefoot, he walked across the apartment to the kitchen. The place was dead quiet. A note on the counter indicated Cory had left an hour ago for a term exam and wouldn’t be back until that afternoon.
    Footsteps above made Nick glance at the ceiling, his hand rising to cup his throbbing dick.
    By the sounds of it, Lacey was awake and moving around up there. Lust spiked and his cock hardened even more. Would she be in the mood for a little morning fuck?
    Nick shook his head. Only a jerk would rush up the stairs and ask that. He stared at the kitchen, his mind on the apartment above.
    What about breakfast? He could ask if she’d like breakfast. That was a neutral request, no strings, just food.
    He spun on his heel and marched across the floor to the door, reaching out for the handle.
    Before he could twist it, a soft knock sounded.
    A grin spread across Nick’s face. It had to be Lacey.
    He whipped the door open, his smile sliding downward.
    “Julia. What are you doing here?” He glanced over her shoulder to the staircase.
    Her brows rose and she slipped past him into his apartment before she turned to face him again. “Expecting someone else?”
    Nick glanced at the steps again then faced his ex-wife. “What do you want, Julia? You already have half of everything I ever earned.”
    “I don’t want anything, Nicky baby.” She stepped up to him and ran her finger along his jawline. “I missed you. Is that a crime?”
    He captured her wrist in his hand and held it away from him. “Julia, you’re a fuckin’ moving violation. Leave.”
    “I just got here, sweetheart.” She pulled her hand free and backed deeper into the apartment, finally settling on the couch. “Come.” Julia patted the cushion beside her. “Sit and talk to me for old times’ sake.”
    “We have absolutely nothing to talk about.” Nick remained at the door, his eyes narrowed, wondering what he’d ever seen in Julia.
    Sure, she was beautiful with her long honey-blond hair lying in smooth waves around her shoulders. She kept her figure trim with a personal trainer and every kind of diet ever imagined. But her blue eyes were cold, lacking the warmth and twinkle he’d come to admire in…
    “Did your gardener leave you?”
    “Tim?” She waved a hand as if dismissing the younger man she’d had an affair with. “We were never a big thing.”
    “Fucking him in my bed was a big thing to me.”
    “Oh, Nicky, darling, you’re not still mad about that, are you?” Julia rose