But three minutes after we got back to Ace’s place, right after Benny did his doggie dance of joy and right before I was about to take a turn throwing his ball for him, a cold splat of rain hit my forehead.
“Hey, did you feel that?”
“No,” Ace looked confused.
“You’re like eight feet tall, though. Shouldn’t it be hitting you first?” Another fat raindrop hit my shoulder. “Yay! There it is again!”
Then the sky opened up, apparently deciding to let loose all the rain it had been holding back for months. A heavy layer of cold water slammed down on me, almost like being hit with a bucketful.
“Gack!” I wiped it out of my eyes, laughing as the temperature started dropping. “Do you feel that, then?”
Benny shook himself off right next to Ace, who recoiled. “Well I sure do now!”
It took some convincing to get the dog to realize that it was time to go in, and not a grand opportunity to play in the mud. Finally, we managed to get him onto the porch and rub the muddy water off of him with towels before letting him inside. I was laughing the whole time; the rain just kept coming harder as the wind picked up. “You think this is enough to prevent any fires?”
Ace chuckled as he wiped his hair out of his eyes and pulled it back into a ponytail. “Yeah, I think this might just be enough. I hope the pizza guy can still get up the hill, because no way am I cooking or asking you to.”
I looked over at him as I wrung my hair into a fresh towel. “No way can it go on like this forever. Just as long as everything’s soaked enough that you don’t get that emergency call.”
“Well, if it keeps going on like this, I might get called for search and rescue instead,” he reminded me.
I face-palmed. “Ugh. Okay. Fingers crossed nothing floods and nobody gets washed off the road.” This was what I got for falling for a hero type; until he quit, he was still needed. And quitting was his decision…even if he had unintentionally forced me into a situation where I had to.
Benny whined and pawed at the back door, apparently not understanding that the rain would be out that way too.
“Take it easy, puppy, don’t want to have to dry you off again.” Ace went over and scruffled him, then grabbed his collar and led him back over to the couch where I sat. Ace flopped down next to me, and the dog flopped at his feet.
I nestled against him, not minding his damp shirt. My suit jacket had taken the brunt of the wet; the front of my blouse was sticking to me, but I didn’t mind. Especially when I caught Ace peering down at my cloth-defined cleavage.
“Okay, wet T-shirts step aside,” he said and chuckled. “I give you: wet business wear.”
“Very funny,” I said, only a little self-conscious. The sodden silk was nearly transparent. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“Well, clearly we need to get you out of those wet clothes before you get hypothermia. Here, let me help you.”
Ace cracked a grin as he unbuckled my belt and pulled it from its loops. He eyed it speculatively for a moment, patting the leather against his hand…then tossed it over his shoulder and started eagerly unbuttoning my blouse.
I pushed his hands away and shucked the whole thing off, only to have him open the front clasp on my bra while I was still pulling it over my head.
“Oh hey, welcome back to Aspen!” he said when my breasts spilled out.
I snickered—then gasped as he started kissing them ardently before I could even toss the blouse aside.
We tumbled onto the couch, him pinning me down while I squirmed and arched, sucking my nipples until they started getting sore. I whimpered, and he switched things up, running his tongue down to my navel before unzipping my skirt and yanking it and my panties down in one smooth motion.
“No fair, you’re still dressed—oh, God.”
I forgot my complaint as I felt his hands part my thighs, and then his fingers opening me gently. When his tongue started exploring me, I groaned and buried my face in the cushion beside me, biting it to keep from trying to pull away from sensations that quickly edged on too intense to bear.
He held my thighs open, his powerful grip forcing me to take it when I finally started squirming again. His hot tongue teased every pleasure nerve I had, delicate and light, before he leaned in and started really feasting on me. I thrashed; my lower body held still but my back arching so hard the back of my head pushed deep into the couch cushions.
My body tensed tighter and tighter as he drove me toward orgasm, but I still ached with an unfulfilled need. I wanted his cock, filling me up; I wanted to hang on to his whole big body like a rock. I tried to tell Ace as much, but all that came out were groans and squeals. I started shaking, wondering if I would end up climaxing before feeling him inside me.
Then, suddenly, almost unforgivably, he stopped and sat back, face glistening from my juices. I heard his harsh panting and knew he was at the end of his rope, too; I forgave him, even with my whole body still taut and tingling as I lingered on the edge. Then he shoved down his jeans and sprang himself free, and threw himself over me.
His first rough thrusts pushed me over into orgasm; I squealed loud enough to startle the dog awake and couldn’t even laugh at it as my thoughts dissolved and I gave in to bliss.
Ace started pounding away at me, his groans taking a desperate tone as he rode me, as if he was crazy with need. His movements kept me up close to orgasm; I dug my nails into his shoulders and writhed under him, lifting my hips to meet his until he sped into a frenzy and pushed us off the cliff’s edge together.
The last thing I remembered before my thoughts dissolved again were his moans of relief as he came. My contractions made him buck and tremble, panting so fast it sounded like he was in pain; when I finally settled down, he collapsed over me like I had drugged him.
I was dozing when I felt him lift his weight off of me, and then stand up and start removing couch cushions. I heard the crackle of a fire starting in his brick hearth. Then, he scooped me up, and laid me down on something soft a few feet from that growing warmth. I felt him curl up behind me and lay a blanket over us both, and then I dozed off again.
My last thought before I fell asleep was maybe I should just not go back.
* * *
I woke up to pizza and cold orange soda, and Ace in his boxer briefs, which must have been a little awkward for the delivery guy. From the sound of the rain outside, it had lessened, turning into an ordinary, steady rainfall.
I wolfed pizza down naked with Ace curled around me from behind, sometimes grabbing a slice.
Once we’d had our fill, Ace kissed my neck, and I smiled and leaned back against him.
Our clothes were soaked from our brief time under the deluge, and I didn’t want to put them back on. Ace didn’t seem to want to move either, just closing the pizza box and setting it behind us on the coffee table when we had eaten our fill. In fact, I didn’t even have a reason to move until several minutes later.
“So what kinds of projects have you been working on for Archimedes Gears that you haven’t actually shown them yet?” Ace asked sleepily as he lounged beside me in front of the fireplace. I was idly tracing the tattoo across his bicep with a finger. Benny was curled up between his outstretched legs and the hearth. Now and again, the fire sizzled as a little rain dripped down the chimney.
“I’ve got a bunch on my tablet,” I said, snuggled against his chest. I still didn’t want to put my damp, cold clothes back on, and I was too lazy to dig through my bag. The temperature had dropped with the coming of the rain, and my sore nipples weren’t tolerating it well. “I’ll grab it…you got a T-shirt or something I could use?”
“Sure, baby. Stay here.” He heaved himself to his feet with so much grace that I stared a little; he walked away, providing a great view of his barely covered ass and powerful thighs below the sweep of tattooed muscle across his back.
I could really get used to this, I thought as I watched him go.
He came back a few minutes
later, disappointingly in sweatpants, but I was sure he was a little disappointed too when I pulled the quarter-acre of cotton he called a T-shirt over my body. My skin tingled where the material brushed it.
I got up, no longer feeling quite so cold, and laid out my clothes on the bench by the door before grabbing my tablet from my bag. I brought it over and curled up against his chest again, back to him this time so he could spoon me and read over my shoulder.
I had more work in those file folders than I had expected. Prototypes of the gondola that I had held back on because I knew that the board would find them too ambitious. Green-energy solutions for everything from opening garage doors to pumping water. Random stuff I had barely gotten beyond the doodling stage.
“Is that a treadmill for cats?” Ace chuckled as I showed him one of the half-done projects.
“Cats, dogs, iguanas, whatever. I looked at the big hamster-wheel ones they have and realized that a lot of animals are scared of its shape. They have to be acclimated to it. This one is floor-level, so it looks more natural to them. It has an auto-stop and operates by remote control.”
Ace stroked his chin, which was showing some signs of five o’clock shadow. “Is there an auto-start feature for if, say, your dog jumps on?”
“I thought about it. I’m a little worried that we would get a lot of accidents caused when a human absent-mindedly stepped on it.” I smiled over my shoulder at him, and he kissed me. “Mm. This is the kind of stuff I do for fun.”
“What next, flying cars?”
I giggled. “Nah, I’m not Jetsons-level yet. I’ll settle for cars that don’t release anything more toxic than water vapor.”
“I get you.” He grinned slightly. “So what else have you got?”
We spent part of the afternoon going over my designs. I had forgotten just how many unfinished or unused projects I had stored. Five years of work, five years of ideas that I could have done myself if I wasn’t constantly answering to a bunch of old men whose only priorities were patriarchy, money, and never having to think too hard.
I scrolled through some more, showing off a few bits like a self-driving snow plow drone, and then we stumbled on an angry cartoon I had done of Ian with a football-sized version of the cable system gondola shoved right into his big mouth.
“Whoa, what’s that?” Ace stopped me as I tried to scroll past it. He took a good look and burst out laughing. “Oh, my God, sweetheart, I want that on a T-shirt.”
“Me first,” I joked, trying to ignore how bad the cartoon looked to me. I had always done technical drawings, nothing really fanciful, except for some marginalia-type doodles on the rough drafts of my designs. “But I’ll get them in the same size so I can use it as a below-knee nightgown.” I tugged the shirt down to demonstrate.
He chuckled even more. “Oh, my God, you are so tiny.”
“No, I’m not!” I teased. “You’re just too huge!”
“Thanks for the compliment, but I’m not even hard right now.”
“Ace!” I rolled my eyes, and he laughed louder.
That night Ace made us beer can chicken with carrots and greens, and an assortment of weird-shaped, multicolored little potatoes that were surprisingly tasty. Even the purple ones, which were even brighter purple inside.
We talked about the projects. He wanted to volunteer Benny for some prototype testing of the treadmill design, since Benny needed lots of exercise and walking him in inclement weather didn’t always work.
In bed, we had slow, sleepy sex this time, taking turns on top doing the work, until we used up the last of our energy. I slept better than I had in days.
The week whipped past. If I had any doubts that I enjoyed Ace’s company in a variety of circumstances, they were gone by the third day.
We did squabble some: he wanted our daughter homeschooled, but I didn’t see how it could work without one of us basically staying home all the time. It was possible for us to split that duty, but I still wondered about the benefits of a private school. Social connections, friends, experience dealing with other adults, sports, clubs…I wanted the best for her. And I honestly didn’t know how good a teacher I would be. We finally compromised on adding some tutors and an after-school program into the mix.
Afterward, hand on my belly—which still only felt a little rounder—I thought about how that was at least one thing in an endless list that we had managed to resolve. Ace argued like a grown-up, point by point and without insults. It was refreshing.
Our second fight was a little more ridiculous.
“Oh, no. No way is any kid of mine growing up a Broncos fan. Not with their record lately.” He seemed weirdly adamant about it as he drove us out to the one ice cream place in twenty miles. The rains had gone and it was hot again, but the fresh greenery sprouting everywhere helped keep the fire danger down. It was a nice drive—and the argument had hit me completely by surprise.
“Ace, I was born in Denver, and it’s the local team! You want us to be stuck going to all out of town games? Besides, we don’t even know if she’ll like football.” I wasn’t actually a Broncos fan, but I did like football. Probably for all the wrong reasons, but it was no coincidence that I was falling for a guy built like a linebacker.
“Well, neither one of us is hurting for money, so why not go to out-of-town games? The Bulls are doing good this year.” As in his city of birth.
“Ace, do you miss Chicago?” I asked him, suddenly very curious. Maybe football is just his excuse to go.
“Got a few bits of family left here and there back home I’d like to visit, yeah. Mostly, though, I’m just a big snob and want our kid watching good football, not…whatever the last Broncos game was supposed to be.”
“Oh, I get it. Well, I sure wouldn’t mind flying out to Chicago. Just not too deep into winter, okay?”
He cracked a grin. “Okay. Let’s visit before the snow comes.”
“Good. We get enough of the white stuff over here.”
Every day that drew closer to my return to Denver felt like it had come too soon and was over far too quickly. Ace showed me every corner of Aspen that I hadn’t seen before, and even took a bunch of photos of us, sending them to my account.
“Look at these when you’re headed home to that meeting. You’ll get through this,” Ace promised. “And I’ll be waiting on the other side.”
Now that was something that could buoy me up at least a little bit while I took my last humiliation at Archimedes Gears. Though the more time I spent with Ace…the more I wanted to skip the meeting. Only pride and professionalism kept my plans to go back in place. That and I wanted to retrieve some things from work before I walked out for good.
I also wanted to leave something behind, for my assistant and many others who had suffered under the board and Ian’s meddling. But right now, that was just a vague plan in my head. I had to sit down for a few hours of writing and editing before that part of my plan would be ready.
On the day before I left, Ace took me walking down into that deep, misty canyon which the gondola cables crossed. It was a strange place, trees growing in ranks up almost vertical walls. With a thin trickle of a stream running through the center. I stood in the shadow of the gondola I had designed as it swayed past above us, and peered up at it, frowning.
“What are you thinking about?” Ace asked, slinging an arm around me as we caught our breath.
“I was just wondering why the Orloff Brothers approached me and not Ian.” It was still a shock to meet men of that generation who did not treat me like Ian’s uppity assistant.
“Those two are more like me than like the guys on the board,” he observed as we strolled along the broad, mossy riverbank. A single strip of sunlight fell down at midwater, making it sparkle. “They’ve always done things their own way, not the way someone a hundred years ago decided people should be.”
“I think I’ve been around my father and his kind of people too long,” I admitted as we found a place to sit on a moss-furred log.
&nb
sp; His laugh sounded relieved. “I’m glad to hear you say that,” he replied cheerily. “I figured that out a while back, but…I figured you would realize it soon enough after this mess. You just needed to meet a different kind of guy.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder. “Yeah,” I murmured, listening to the stream trickle past for a moment. In spring this place would be full from edge to edge with rushing snowmelt. Now, the water was swollen and muddy from the days of on-and-off rain. “I never thought every guy of Dad’s generation was like them, but it was still a nice surprise.”
We sat quietly together for a while, and then he said, “Naomi?”
“Yeah?” I lifted my head off his shoulder and looked up at him. He had an odd look on his face, almost a little nervous.
“If you’re going to be building a business, even from home, you’re going to need some help with that kid of ours. You ever thought that instead of co-parenting and having separate lives, maybe we could try something a little more…uh…old-fashioned?”
I blinked up at him, brow furrowing. “What are you getting at?”
“When you go back, I’m gonna miss waking up to your face,” he said quietly.
I swallowed, cheeks going hot. “It’s just a few days.”
“And then what?” His eyes searched mine.
My heart started pounding. “I…well, we haven’t been talking about it. We’ve kind of avoided the subject.”
“Yeah.” He chuckled and shook his head. “We have, haven’t we? We’ve talked about the kid, but not about…us.”
“There’s been so much going on.” I tried to excuse it, but I knew there was something in me that had just plain been a coward all this time. “And everything happened so damn fast.”
“Yeah, I know.” He ran two fingers down my arm slowly, his gaze caught on the shimmering water. “That’s why I haven’t been pushing. But…I tend to decide on things this important real quickly, you know? Go with my gut, go with my heart. I try not to complicate things.”
“Yeah?” I smiled at him ruefully, feeling a little embarrassed as I admitted: “I guess I’ve always overthought things.”
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