Page 25 of Silver Sanctuary (The Silver Springs #3)

Fifteen

“ M ove your feet, Archer! Fast feet, fast feet!”

“Damn. Beau really isn’t letting the kids get away with anything, is he?” Mae sighed as she sat down on the blanket Lacy had spread out to watch Embrie’s soccer practice on.

“Nash is trying his best to balance out the… uh… passion?”

“That’s good. Because a bunch of the kids out there look like they might cry.”

“What are you doing over here? I thought you were at the hydration station.”

“Birdie seems to have that covered. Besides, I can’t take the tension between her and Beau. They’ve got some intense best-friends-who-need-to-bang vibes and the way he keeps looking over at her is getting me all hot and bothered.”

“Oh, god. The tension and frustration can be really tough sometimes.”

“Don’t tell me?—”

Lacy’s eyes drifted over to the older man standing alone at the corner of the field. She’d noticed him at a few of Embrie’s practices. Nothing consistent, but his presence sent a tingle up her spine.

“Sorry, Mae, I don’t mean to interrupt you, but do you know that man?”

“Which one?” she asked, looking over her shoulder to follow Lacy’s line of sight.

“The one over at the far corner of the field. I’ve seen him here before, but only once or twice. I don’t think he has a child here who knows him.”

“Ew. That’s creepy. You want me to tell him to get lost?”

“No! No, I’m probably wrong. My safety radar is just on high alert lately. I need to take a break.”

“Okay. But we’ll keep an eye on him together. If you keep getting creepy vibes, I’ll scream so loud right in his face he’ll run away crying.”

Lacy laughed. “I appreciate that. So, did you ever end up having your talk with Stone?”

Her friend’s shoulders fell as she started plucking blades of grass from the edge of the blanket.

“Yeah. But it was the same talk we always have—things are good the way they are. He wants the best for me, and that means not tying myself down to him.” She sighed.

“He wants to go back to school for medical stuff. I think he’s had a harder time feeling like he’s fulfilling his purpose since he left the SEALs than the other guys.

But I’m not sure why he thinks I wouldn’t want to go on that journey with him. ”

“I’m sorry. That’s really tough.”

Lacy watched as Mae smiled, looking off in the distance at Nash who was kneeling down, talking to one of Embrie’s teammates. “Couldn’t have fallen in love with one of the guys who proposes marriage after the first date. Hell, I couldn't even fall for one of the guys who wanted to date me publicly.”

“Mae…”

“No. It’s fine. I’m fine—I’ ll be fine.”

“That was a lot of fines .”

Mae rolled her eyes, but Lacy saw the hurt in them too. “I wish we were allowed to bring wine to these things.”

Just then, Embrie’s teammate passed her the ball.

Lacy jumped up, her eyes tracking her daughter and the ball heading down the field.

Embrie lined up the shot and… in it went!

While she was busy jumping up and down, Lacy watched as Embrie ran right for Nash and jumped into his arms. Something that felt a lot like perfect happiness exploded inside her chest.

“Oh, she ran right for him. That is so cute!” Mae’s hand landed on her arm and squeezed as if she completely understood why Lacy’s eyes were flooding with tears.

“Is it weird that I’m totally weepy over their relationship?

There’s just something that clicked into place in my heart and it just feels like he was always meant to be her dad.

I’m honestly terrified of messing this up for her.

She’s never had a safe male role model in her life before.

Nash… and honestly all the guys… I just see her blossoming under their safety. ”

“It’s a wonderful thing, my friend. And you’re not going to mess it up. Nash looks at you like you hung the moon and then gave him the greatest blow job of his life.”

“Mae!”

“Oh don’t tell me he’s proposed to you but you haven’t… even… Oh. No. Have you two not done the deed yet?”

“Stop,” she begged.

“The horizontal tango?”

“Oh good god!”

“The nas-tay? Or maybe it should be Nash-tay in honor of your soon-to-be hubby!” Mae laughed while Lacy tried to figure out if she could dig a hole deep enough to die in with just her fingers.

“You have to be quiet,” Lacy hissed. “Someone is going to hear you! ”

“I hope it’s your fiancé and he takes you home and makes you see stars! Good lord. At least that’s something Stone is doing right.”

“Happy for you. Truly, I am, but I totally didn’t need to know that.”

The final whistle of the scrimmage sounded and Lacy jumped up, happy to have an excuse to start walking toward the field and away from Mae’s laughter.

“Don’t think that gets you off the hook! I want you to put the move on him tonight and report back tomorrow!”

Lacy locked her eyes on Embrie, ready for her daughter to run over to her.

Instead, she took off in the opposite direction, down the field and back behind the goal.

Lacy took off like a shot, leaving Mae to call after her.

But that man was still standing all alone, his eyes now glued on Embrie as she ran right up to him.

“Mr. Ike! You came!” Embrie giggled.

“Sure did, kiddo! You were great out there. Is this your adult?” He gestured to Lacy, and Embrie turned around, smiling like she had with the game-winning goal.

“Oh, yep! This is my mom. Mom, this is Mr. Ike! He eats lunch with me sometimes.”

Lacy’s shoulders relaxed. “Oh, it’s so nice to meet you. Thank you for being so kind to Embrie.”

“No, no, it’s my pleasure. You have a bright little star here. She truly is the kindest kid I’ve ever encountered. And she teaches me something every time we have lunch together. Isn’t that right, Embrie?”

“Yup! We went over the gas composition of the Horsehead Nebula last week. It was so fun!”

“Lace? Brie?” Nash called out, waving them over.

“That’s my fiancé calling us over—better go see what he wants. It really was so nice to meet you.” Lacy’s hand landed on Embrie’s shoulder and she turned her daughter toward Nash.

“Yeah, you too.”

“Bye, Mr. Ike!” Embrie smiled as she waved.

“Bye, kiddo. See you at school on Monday.”

Embrie took off at a mad dash, making it back to Nash in no time. But Lacy walked, still trying to figure out what was off about the interaction she’d just had. Nothing truly stood out as wrong… But her “mom’s intuition” was sending off alarm bells that didn’t make sense.

“Everything okay?” Nash asked, pulling her into his chest and kissing the top of her head.

“Oh yeah. Just lost in thought. Speaking of that?—”

“Of thinking?” Nash laughed.

“Yeah. I thought you were going to have to push Beau off the field earlier. He’s a little intense with the kids.”

“I think he’s just trying to impress Birdie. It’s kind of cute, actually. He wants to win for her.”

“Wait.” Lacy pushed back against his chest. “Don’t you want to win for me?”

“Babe, I’m engaged to you. I’ve already won.”

Nash walked down the hallway… to silence.

He peeked inside Embrie’s room and chuckled.

The poor kid had fallen asleep while reading.

Her book was hanging off the edge of her bed and her hand looked like it was seconds away from relaxing and letting it fall to the floor.

His feet moved silently over the carpet and he gently removed the book, closing it before setting it on her desk.

Nash had left Lacy as she was getting ready to take a shower.

He’d grabbed his first, then jumped on a quick call with Gunner and Gage.

They were heading up the training for a team of Texas Rangers at The Trident in two weeks and needed to finish some of the last minute simulator modeling details.

By the time he made it to their room, Nash expected Lacy to be fast asleep.

Which is why his mind went into overdrive when he walked into the bedroom and she was standing by her side of the bed. And it looked like she was wearing nothing except one of his worn-out Navy shirts.

“What’s going on?” His eyes stayed focused on her face, but fuck, he wanted to look at her legs so badly. The shirt that she was wearing fell barely over her hips, all that smooth, warm, creamy skin on display for him.

No. She was still healing.

“What does it look like? I’m getting ready to sleep with my fiancé.”

Nash walked into the bedroom, his cock twitching behind his zipper as he walked toward her.

“Well, let’s get you to bed then. I see the no pants rule is being applied tonight.”

Lacy smiled. “I told you, I don’t usually like to sleep with pants on—makes me too hot.

” She lifted the edge of her shirt and turned around to the nightstand, bending over and flipping the side lamp on.

Only, as soon as she started to bend, the shirt lifted off her ass, and Nash realized she didn’t have any panties on.

“Lacy, what’s going on?”

“I’m trying to turn you on. Is it not working?” Her fingers pulled at the hem of the shirt.

“Baby, it’s working.” He wrapped his hand around her wrist. “Do you want to know what you do to me? How fucking hard you’re making me, standing there like a juicy peach ready for me to take a bite out of?”

Her bottom lip went between her teeth and she bit down, releasing the tortured skin slowly. “Show me,” she whispered .

He brought her hand down to his jeans, where his erection was pressing firmly against the seam. Lacy’s eyes went wide, a sly smile curving at the corner of her mouth.

“I should probably do something about that uncomfortable situation you’ve got going on there, shouldn’t I, Sailor?”

Nash chuckled. “Oh, my wife likes to tease, does she?”

“I’m not your wife yet.” Her hand left his jeans just so she could wag her finger in his face. Nash grasped her wrist again, pulling her hand toward his mouth. He licked up her finger and pressed a kiss to the tip.

“Ew.” She giggled.