by Melody Anne
“What in the heck is so funny?” Sherman asked as he looked back and forth between the two of them with an eyebrow raised.
Ace felt tears in his eyes, he was laughing so hard, and even still, he couldn’t stop. Soon Cooper and Maverick were standing beside them, looking at the two of them with concern, which only made Ace laugh harder. It had been so long since he’d last laughed, he couldn’t even remember when it had been. The sound was so strange that it amplified his laughter even more.
It took several moments for him to get control over himself. Finally, he stood up straight and sent a beaming smile toward Nick, who was greeting people but still looking over at Ace with an obvious question in his eyes.
“Sorry, Dakota just told me how she had planned on kicking Nick’s ass, and it struck my funny bone,” Ace said, a few more chuckles escaping.
All sets of eyes turned to Dakota, who shrugged.
“When did this happen?” Cooper asked, new admiration showing in his eyes.
“You haven’t heard the story?” Ace asked. He was oddly pleased he had been the first to hear it. It made him feel a little less out of the family loop.
“No, but I’m eagerly waiting,” Maverick said, getting a little closer.
Dakota told her story again, which had Ace chuckling just as hard, but this time Maverick, Cooper, and Sherman joined in. When they all looked over at Nick, their brother was obviously aware the joke was on him, and it was obvious he wanted to step out of the greeting line and join in on the fun. His new wife gave him a reassuring squeeze, and he turned away from his laughing family to continue greeting guests.
“Dakota, you are truly a member of the family now,” Uncle Sherman said.
Ace wanted to groan with frustration. That meant the woman was completely off-limits. It looked like this reception was going to be boring and torturous as well. If he were to hook up with Dakota, the family would expect a commitment from him, which he couldn’t offer. This side trip home was only until he was healed, and then he’d be off on the next mission lickety-split. He couldn’t make up his mind if he was staying with the CIA or leaving. Damn his luck and his indecisiveness!
“It’s time for a toast, or at least it’s time to start drinking,” Ace said.
He pulled away from the group, but he felt them hot on his heels as he made his way into the ballroom. Even without looking at Dakota, he could still feel her presence. Now that he knew she was there, he couldn’t seem to focus on anything other than her.
He went straight for the bar and ordered a double scotch. He had a feeling it wasn’t going to help him. When Dakota shot him a look from across the room that was full of fire and humor, he downed his drink and ordered another. The long night had just become what would feel like an eternity, no end in sight.
He’d rather be back in enemy territory than try to resist these urges that he hadn’t felt in such a long time. But even thinking this, his eyes were drawn back to the woman again—and he knew the night had only just begun.
CHAPTER FIVE
Dakota couldn’t help but smile as she watched the incredible view of Ace Armstrong walking away from her. She’d heard a lot of stories about the rebel brother of the family, and she had to say they hadn’t done the man justice. His old photos hadn’t done him justice, either. He’d most certainly grown from a boy to one hell of a hot man.
Her heart was thundering, and she actually felt her skin tingling from nothing more than simply being in his presence. He was a dangerous man—and Dakota had a serious problem with hazardous males. He was something she didn’t want a cure for. She also had a thing with wanting to meddle in people’s lives—she could see the restlessness in the man’s otherwise confident eyes and wanted to ease his pain.
He’d been away from his family for a long time, and he looked like a lost and frightened animal who’d been dragged home. That brought every meddlesome instinct alive for Dakota. If there was one thing she knew how to do, it was delve inside the areas of a person’s mind where they wanted to keep you out. The harder someone tried to hide from her, the more she wanted to know his or her story. Sure, Ace had flirted and given her as much sass as she was doling out, but she had a feeling it was automatic on his part, as if he was desperately trying to hide something behind his witty banter.
Now she wanted to jump right in with both feet and get to know him—and it had nothing to do with the size of the man’s shoulders, which rivaled those of the Seattle Seahawk football players she cheered for. And it certainly had nothing to do with his emerald-green eyes or square jaw or far-too-kissable lips. Nope, she assured herself. It was all about the discomfort she saw in Ace’s eyes and how desperately he was trying to mask it by flirting and showing a grin that didn’t quite reach the windows to his soul.
Okay, if she were being completely honest with herself, she might admit his body didn’t hurt, she thought with a smile as the man turned around and their gazes locked. But he was now her best friend’s brother-in-law, and knowing how rebellious he was, he probably wasn’t sticking around. She might be a little terrified of relationships, but she also gave her heart to people, and she feared one day she would give it away and never get it back. She’d seen the devastating results of that happening. And Ace would leave when he was better. She knew that for sure. She was now a little lost—a feeling Dakota didn’t relish in the least.
Insecurity wasn’t a feeling Dakota was familiar with. Sure, she’d had moments of weakness, just like every other person on the damn planet, but she didn’t allow those emotions to define her—didn’t easily accept defeat, and didn’t crawl into a hole feeling sorry for herself.
Life was simply too short to be angry, sad, or insecure. She preferred to smile through the pain and turn that frown . . . another way. She scowled as she tried to remember how that saying went. Chloe teased her relentlessly that she couldn’t get popular idioms right. Dakota disagreed. She figured it was just that the sayings were wrong. Dakota liked to think only of the positive in life.
Ace started moving back toward her, and Dakota’s spidey senses began tingling. Hot damn, there was an air of danger about the man that was sending signals to all the right places on her needy body. It had been too long since she’d been in a relationship. Though she might be the world’s biggest flirt, and she sure as heck loved a hot make-out session, that didn’t mean she gave it up to all the great-looking men who sent a signal her way. Ah, the damn morals her mom had taught her. She wished she didn’t have them, and she really wished she didn’t have such an open heart.
But her mother had never told her it was wrong to drool over a sexy man. She let her imagination run as wild as it wanted. And she had one hell of an imagination. Right now, she was picturing sweaty bodies entwined with not a stitch of clothes between them.
Just because she wasn’t ready to jump into the flames didn’t mean she wasn’t going to look—and possibly even drool—a heck of a lot while around Ace. After all, she’d already decided she was going to find out every little thing about him, so her reward would be an active imagination.
“Hold this, Ace.”
The moment his uncle Sherman gave Ace the tray of wineglasses he’d been moving for some odd reason, Dakota knew it was a mistake. It felt almost as if she were in a thriller movie and about to watch the ditzy girl open the basement door because she heard a sound down there.
Ace took the tray, and it teetered precariously in his hand. The fool didn’t even lift the other arm to try to stabilize it. She made her feet move forward, but before she’d taken two steps, she knew she wasn’t going to make it.
“Ace . . .” she called out to him. He looked up, and the tray turned sideways just as she reached his side—just in time for a whole lot of champagne to spill down the front of him, some of it splashing onto her, surely ruining her incredibly beautiful and expensive heels.
The horrified expression Ace wore was too much for her to take. The noise of the metal tray hitting the ground and glass shattering had e
very person in the room going silent, looking their way.
“I . . . I don’t know why he handed this to me,” Ace grumbled.
“Me either,” Dakota said, trying desperately to hold in her laughter.
“What in the hell was he doing with it?” he said, looking less embarrassed and more irritated.
“Mr. Armstrong, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how this happened,” a man said as he pulled out a towel and handed it to Ace.
“It’s no problem,” Ace mumbled. The man continued apologizing, leaving them to believe he must be the manager of the hotel or the head caterer. He was probably worried he was going to get into trouble.
“It’s not a problem, Jean,” Sherman said as he patted the man’s back. “I spilled a glass of bourbon on one of your waitstaff and insisted on taking the tray from her while she went and changed. I didn’t give her a choice. Then Nick was calling me over for a picture, so I handed the tray off to Ace. My nephew obviously wasn’t coordinated enough to handle it.”
Ace sent a scowl his uncle’s way before he looked at Jean. “It’s really okay. I’m fine, we’re all fine. The floors, on the other hand, have gotten slightly abused.”
“I already have janitorial on their way to clean up the mess,” Jean assured them.
“See, no harm done,” Sherman said, wrapping an arm around Jean’s shoulder and dragging him away as he continued mumbling apologies.
When they were a safe distance away, Dakota wasn’t able to hold it back any longer. She smiled first, her throat hurting with her attempts at keeping the laughter locked up inside, but when Ace sent her a knowing glance, she lost it.
Laughter spilled from her, and the glare he sent her way only made it that much worse. He had a choice to make in the next few seconds, and it would tell her a lot about his character. He could either join in with her and appreciate the humor of the situation, or he could stomp off to places unknown feeling sorry for himself. It would tell her if she would be able to make the slightest difference in this broken man’s life or not.
The cleaning crew arrived, and the two of them scooted over to allow them to clean up the mess. Dakota was laughing too hard to offer to help. Besides, she didn’t think she’d be able to bend in the tight dress she was wearing.
“Looks like you’ve decided to make another impression at this wedding too,” Maverick said as he patted Ace on the shoulder.
“Does he make a habit of dropping trays?” Dakota asked.
“Nope. At Coop’s wedding, he came in and . . . um, did some things, then decided to deck Nick. Seeing as this is Nick’s wedding, hopefully he’ll just stick with dropping trays,” Mav said, chuckling at his own humor, not looking the least bit concerned that one of his brothers had been punching his other brother who knew how long ago.
“Well, maybe we should try to find you a new shirt,” she began, looking down his lean body, “and possibly some pants.”
Suddenly, he smiled as he sent her a wink that had her cheeks heating. Damn, he had too much of an impact on her. She might have to be a little bit careful in the man’s presence.
“You can dress me if you want, darling,” he told her.
“Here’s my key. I have clothes in my room,” Mav said with a snicker before he disappeared. There was no way Dakota thought it was a good idea to go to a hotel room with Ace.
“I’ve got the key. I’ll take you up on that offer,” Ace told her.
She hesitated before speaking. “I think you can find the room on your own,” she said, wishing she hadn’t offered her help.
“You took part in doing this to me. I think you need to help fix it,” he assured her, grabbing her arm and moving her through the throng of people. The crowd had lost interest in the situation and had gone back to celebrating Nick and Chloe’s wedded bliss.
Dakota was, for once, oddly quiet as the two of them reached the elevators and Ace pushed the button for the top floor. Of course, the room had to be on the top of the thirty-story hotel. That would put her in the small box with Ace for that much longer. Normally, she wasn’t so nervous about such silly things.
But as the doors closed the two of them inside, she was hoping it would stop along the way so that someone would join them. She certainly wasn’t going to be able to delve into Ace’s brain and possibly bring out his love of living if she couldn’t even manage to have a neutral conversation with him. She scolded herself before flashing him a bright smile.
“Are you glad to be home?” she asked.
His body stiffened as if he wanted to reject her question, but she was impressed when she noticed how he forced himself to relax and smile back at her.
“So far it’s been incredibly . . . eventful,” he said.
“Life is boring when we aren’t stimulated,” she assured him.
At the flash in his eyes, she wondered if maybe she should be a little more cautious about which words she chose to use around this virile man. He’d been gone for a long time, and she wondered when he’d last had a relationship. Of course, a person didn’t have to be in a committed partnership in order to relieve some sexual tension. She didn’t want to think about Ace bumping parts or whatever.
“I’ll tell you this much, Dakota,” he said as he moved toward her, unbelievably making her fall a step back. She hated retreating, no matter how far she was pushed into a corner. “Life has most definitely become more exciting with you in the picture.”
Dakota had a choice to make. She could either put him in his place, or she could go full throttle ahead. She chose the latter. She grinned as she lifted a hand and placed it against his chest.
Dang, she wanted to squeeze those hard muscles, but she somehow managed to keep her fingers flat as she held the man off. He looked eager—as excited as she felt. But she would be the one who kept a cool head during this.
“I’ve decided you need my kind of therapy, Ace,” she said. He tensed beneath her hand, his heart skipping a beat. “So you can give me all the come-on lines you want, but you won’t scare me away, and it takes a hell of a lot more than some pretty words to get me into your bed.”
Dakota enjoyed the shock in his eyes. Then she didn’t know what to think about the sparkle that took the place of that surprise. It was true that this man had some issues going on inside him, but he also had confidence in spades.
“Bring it on, Doc. We can see who wins,” he told her.
Dakota’s heart thundered as the elevator doors opened. She wasn’t sure if she should step out with him or push him out the door and retreat. He made the choice for her when he moved forward and then turned to give her a look that obviously called her a coward.
Dakota moved forward. She didn’t back down—not ever.
CHAPTER SIX
Ace wasn’t a man to sweat a difficult situation, but he felt nerves skittering through him as he and the incredibly sexy Dakota Forbes stepped up to his brother’s hotel room door. He wouldn’t admit it, but his fingers shook slightly as he swept the key down the lock and saw the green light telling him it was okay to push the door open.
“I think you have it from here,” Dakota told him.
“Are you afraid I’m going to bite you?” he asked, sending her a challenging look. Her shoulders stiffened, and she stepped forward.
He hadn’t known this woman long, but already he was learning what made her tick. She didn’t like to be considered weak, and all it took was a challenge and he had her doing exactly what he wanted. There was power in that knowledge. He liked it.
The sound of the door closing behind them was louder than a gunshot at close range. Damn, Ace wanted to push this woman up against a wall and make her scream. But he had to tell himself that anticipation was part of the fun. He also had his brother’s annoying voice in his head telling him he couldn’t just mess around with this woman. And since he would certainly be leaving again, all the two of them could have was a quick fool-around session . . . or two.
Ace’s clothes were soaked, and his first order of busin
ess was getting out of them. He shrugged out of the tuxedo jacket and let it drop to the floor. Turning, he felt immense pride at the awe in Dakota’s eyes as she gazed at his white shirt, which was plastered against his chest.
Ace would never allow his body to go to hell. He worked out hard and had no problem standing seminaked, or fully nude, in front of another person. Body issues were for those who didn’t have confidence. It didn’t matter what showed on the outside. In reality, all that mattered was how a person felt on the inside. And Ace felt perfectly fine with how he looked.
He began undoing the buttons on his shirt, his eyes never leaving Dakota’s. She did her best to act as if she weren’t affected, but Ace knew when a woman desired him, and it wouldn’t take much for him to have Dakota screaming beneath him.
If only his damn brain wasn’t messing with him, wasn’t telling him this woman was off-limits. He never had been one to have a moral crisis, but at the moment, it seemed that’s exactly what he was going through. It would almost be better to be back in the constraining CIA world, where he’d run on pure instinct. Not only that, but he would be leaving as quickly as he’d arrived. People around him tended to get . . . hurt in one form or another. Would he be willing to risk this vibrant woman, be willing to see that beautiful light in her eyes dim? No. He realized that with absolute clarity.
“I should give you privacy,” Dakota said, her breath coming out a bit too fast for her to pull off her nonchalant attitude.
“I’m fine. I have nothing to hide,” he told her.
The last button on his shirt came undone, and he reached for the cuff links and quickly undid them, then pulled the wet material from his chest. It didn’t come off easily, and he still felt sticky when the shirt was gone.
“I might need a sponge bath. Want to help me with that?” he asked her with a wicked grin.
