by Melody Anne
Ace scooted from the bed, unable to take it a moment longer without having her in his arms. He threw off his shirt as he stepped up to her, then grabbed her from behind, pulling her perfect ass against his throbbing erection. He slid his hands around her, trailing them up her smooth stomach to the curves of her breasts.
She leaned against him as he squeezed her nipples. He should have taken the time to remove his pants. Now he was going to have to pull away from her again, something he definitely didn’t want to do.
He leaned down and sucked the soft skin at the side of her neck, feeling her pulse pound out of control against his kiss. He sucked harder as he squeezed her nipples and pulled her more tightly against him. Then he stepped back and turned her around.
Her skin was flushed, her chest moving rapidly as she trembled before him.
“You are so unbelievably sexy,” he said, his own voice almost unrecognizable. “Get on the bed.” The second part came out a lot more commanding.
She turned to look at him, her eyes flaring. His erection pulsed even more painfully. When she stepped away from him and went to the bed, she lay down, giving him a perfect display of her luscious body. He wasn’t sure if he’d make it through the night alive.
Ace quickly stripped away the last of his clothes and dripped his happiness when her eyes darted to the hardest part of him. She licked her lips. She was so sexy, so sensual. He had no idea how she’d waited so long to share herself with a man, but he was more than grateful she had. Because she was his—only his.
Their brief time apart was already too much. He joined her on the mattress, pulling her against him as he connected their mouths again. He kissed her hungrily, his tongue tracing her mouth, his teeth nipping at her lips, his gentleness long gone.
She reached between them and squeezed his throbbing member, her thumb rubbing against the head of him, coating his moisture down his pulsing length before slowly moving up again, squeezing it hard.
“You feel unbelievable,” Dakota breathed.
“I feel like I’m going to explode,” he replied.
“Stop talking and kiss me,” she demanded.
He wasn’t going to argue with her. Grabbing her tight, he pulled one leg over his and pressed his thickness against her wet heat while his mouth devoured her. He rubbed against her slickness while his tongue swept inside her mouth.
Dakota groaned before pushing him on his back and climbing on top of him. She gripped him in her hand and lifted her luscious body before sinking down on top him, her tight heat nearly making him explode with the first thrust.
Dakota quickly found a perfect rhythm as she moved up and down on him. Ace couldn’t tear his gaze from her beautiful face. Sweat beaded on her brow. She bit her lower lip and groaned. She relished making love to a man who desired her more than life itself.
He lifted his hands and squeezed her chest, tweaking her nipples. He got lost in the passion the two of them were stoking higher and higher. Each time she pushed down on him, he drew closer to the edge. It was going too fast.
Pulling on her back, he tugged her into his arms and captured her mouth again, pushing his hips up to meet her thrusts. She cried against him, biting his lip and then sucking it while he felt the pressure continue to build.
Her body began squeezing his, and he knew she was building closer to an explosive orgasm. He would be right there with her. His hands grabbed her ass as he thrust upward, pushing harder each time their bodies met.
Tracing her back to the curve of her ass, he held on tightly as he moved his lips to her neck and sucked the skin. She cried out, her hips moving faster. And then her entire body tensed as she let out a scream that echoed through the room, her hot flesh squeezing him as she shook on top of him.
Ace didn’t try to hold back any longer. He surged upward, his hot climax rushing from him, shooting deep within her tight walls. They shook together as the release washed through them, connecting Ace to Dakota even more than he already had been.
It was several moments before they were able to move, and still, when Dakota pulled off him, he felt an instant moment of aloneness he’d never felt before. He grabbed her before she could pull away too far, holding her against his chest as he reached for the covers and engulfed them in a safe cocoon.
Ace was exhausted, but as Dakota fell asleep in his arms, he lay awake for quite a while, his hand moving up and down her back, his eyes closed, his body relaxed. This was where he had always belonged.
What frightened him was that it was bound not to last. How could it? He was leaving in two weeks. Besides that, they didn’t know the good, bad, and ugly of each other. They didn’t know much at all. This had started out with a fiery passion and had literally evolved into a firestorm of bullets. For this moment, though, he wanted to forget all about that. He wanted nothing more than to have her wrapped in his arms, his heart beating against her cheek.
He wanted it all. With that thought, he closed his eyes and allowed sleep to claim him. A new day was coming and he could worry about it all then. For now, he was safe and content.
CHAPTER TWENTY
A smile rested on Dakota’s lips as she slowly began waking up. Stretching her arms above her head, a slow ache burned through her body, and that only made her lips turn up more. She opened her eyes to the sunlight streaming through the windows. This was how she should have been able to wake up after her first time making love with Ace.
Whether her choice to sleep with him was a stupid or not, it was a choice she’d consciously made. She wouldn’t allow herself or Ace to think of it as a mistake. Not when it was so damn wonderful between the two of them.
The bed beside her was cold, telling her Ace had been up for a while. She wasn’t worried about it. The day before she hadn’t wanted him out of her sight, but after the night the two of them had shared, she felt as if she were still in his safe embrace—at least for now.
The smells of coffee and bacon drifted into the room, and her stomach rumbled. Food had been the last thought on her mind the night before, but now that they seemed to be out of immediate danger, her body was demanding to be refueled.
Pushing the covers away, Dakota stood and walked into the bathroom, her leg muscles screaming at her. She had worked them pretty dang hard the night before. This must be her reminder. She thought about the night. It had been magical.
Turning the shower on hot, she stepped inside and sighed with relief. She ached in places she hadn’t ached in a while. That was saying a lot, considering she was a cheerleader for the Seattle Seahawks and did all sorts of acrobatics during practices and on game day. Heck, if I have enough sex with Ace, I won’t need weight training anymore, she thought with a laugh.
Too hungry and already needing to seek Ace out, Dakota got through her shower quickly before toweling off. She then went into the bedroom with a fluffy towel wrapped around her and looked at the room. She’d forgotten to get another change of clothes from Chloe the night before.
She found a thick robe hanging in the closet and slipped into that. She’d have to wear clothes she’d borrowed the night before, but she wanted food more than she cared to get dressed.
Dakota had always been a morning person. She hadn’t been able to relate to those who weren’t excited for a brand-new day, especially when the sun was shining and there were so many new possibilities in the air. What wasn’t there to be excited about?
When she stepped from the bedroom, she heard the low beat of music playing, which automatically made her hips sway as she moved soundlessly through the surprisingly large cottage. She turned a corner and found Ace at the stove flipping a pancake. That wasn’t what stopped her in her tracks, though.
A Garth Brooks song was playing in the kitchen, and Ace was singing along in a surprisingly beautiful baritone. She was completely mesmerized. Her heart raced, and she closed her eyes. She was falling a little bit in love with the man.
I’m shameless . . . shameless as a man can be . . .
His voice mixed perf
ectly with Garth’s rich, emotion-filled voice. It was a song about love and how the man didn’t care what the world thought. He was down on his knees, would do anything for the woman he loved.
. . . but I can’t walk away from you . . .
Her heart thundered in her chest as she approached Ace, unable to stay away from him for even a second longer. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso, her hands sliding up his flat stomach and holding him where his heart beat.
“Good morning,” she said, leaning against him and kissing his neck.
He stilled, his beautiful voice halting, which made her slightly sad. Maybe she should have stood back longer and enjoyed her one-man show. But to have his body pressed against hers was more tempting than any regret she might have.
“Morning,” he murmured back, his deep voice sending sparks straight to her stomach and lower. They’d made love before the attack, before falling asleep, and then once more in the middle of the night. She would think her body was more than sated, but now that Ace had awoken a part of her that had been sleeping for a very long time, she didn’t think she’d ever get enough.
“How’s your arm?” she asked, nuzzling her cheek against his back.
“Hurts like hell today, but I’m dealing with it,” he admitted.
He pulled the pancake from the pan, turned off the heat of the stove, and then turned around, quickly wrapping her in his arms. Her cheek was now pressed against his chest, and the steady thumping of his heart was the perfect comfort.
“I’m sorry,” she told him, her hands sliding beneath his shirt and rubbing the hot skin of his back.
“I know what we can do to take my mind off it,” he said as his hands slipped lower and he squeezed her sore butt cheeks.
“I think I need fuel,” she said with a laugh. “And you have a beautiful singing voice.”
“I didn’t realize you were awake.”
He sounded embarrassed, which shocked Dakota enough that she pulled back so she could see his face. Was that a blush on his cheeks? She would have never thought that possible.
“I didn’t take you for a humble man,” she said with a chuckle.
“Believe me, I’m not,” he told her.
He bent down and took her lips with his. Hunger rushed through her, but also a strange sense of peace. He took his time, tracing her lips in a gentle caress that grew a bit more urgent the longer the kiss went on. When he pulled back, they were both breathing heavily, Dakota’s heart beating wildly.
“Maybe food is overrated,” she told him as she pressed more tightly against him.
His eyes dilated before he gave her one more hard kiss and then pushed her back from him. Disappointment filled her.
“My brothers are waiting for us, and you look as if you could be pushed over by a light wind, so I guess I’ll put my unending desire on hold and give you that fuel you need,” he said with a smile.
“You did cook for me, so it would be rude not to have some.” Ace pulled down a couple of plates. Dakota looked at the food lined up on the stove. “There’s enough here to feed your entire family,” she said with another laugh.
“You haven’t seen me eat home-cooked food yet,” he told her.
They dished up, and Dakota eyed his plate with disbelief. “There’s no way you can finish all that off.”
“I take that as a challenge,” he said as they sat down.
At the first bite of food, Dakota’s hunger took over. Every other thought in her head and body faded as she gobbled a couple of pancakes far too quickly. Ace was eating as if he hadn’t had a meal in a week, which made her feel a lot less gluttonous.
“I have to go back to my place today, Ace. I need clothes,” she said when they were finished, her belly full and her other hungers awakening.
He’d managed to clear his own plate and had gone back for seconds. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on the man. She wasn’t sure where all the food was going. But then again, she’d seen some of the football players eat enough for ten people after a hard practice, so she knew how much fuel these men could burn.
“Clothes are already taken care of. Stormy dropped off a bag this morning when I began cooking.”
“Your family has been very good to me,” she said.
“I’ve been away for so long, I almost forgot what family was all about. I don’t deserve their generosity after what I’ve put them through over the last eight years.”
Dakota sipped her coffee as she gazed at him. He really believed what he was saying. She was learning there were so many more layers to Ace than she had originally thought possible. She reached across the table and took his hand.
“I put my family through hell for a lot of years. I grew up with four brothers, who all decided that because I was the baby, they needed to treat me like a toddler even when I was a teenager. I went through my rebellious stage, and many other stages along the way. No matter how much of a pain in the ass I was through the years, they always forgave me,” she assured him.
“I was a monster,” he admitted. “I was selfish and mad when my father died. I pretty much looked out only for myself.” There was so much shame in his words. She felt her heart breaking a little bit for him.
“Something I learned along the journey of my life is that it’s okay to love yourself enough to know you deserve to be treated with respect and dignity no matter what situation you are in. Even if you make mistakes, it doesn’t define who you are. You can always pick the pieces back up. And you can always come back home,” she told him.
“You are a one-of-a-kind woman, Dakota Forbes,” he said with a smile.
“I had to define myself. When you grow up in a house full of alpha personalities, you learn a thing or two about being a unique individual. I was loved, and I always knew that, so it made feeling confident about myself that much easier.”
“Not a lot of people have those same convictions. I’ve seen the worst of the worst in life and the horrible things people can do to those they say they love. It changes how you look at people and situations,” he told her.
“I choose to see the gold at the end of the rainbow. It makes sleeping a whole lot easier when you don’t have all that negativity clogging up your head.”
“I might have to keep you around to remind me of all of this,” he said with a smile. The seriousness in his eyes scared her the smallest bit. This was all moving at the speed of sound, and she didn’t know what to think about it.
“When life gives you lemons, you make tea,” she said.
He looked at her, confused for a moment, and then burst into laughter. She scowled at him. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Not at all,” he said, still chuckling. “I just never know what’s going to come from those pretty lips of yours.”
“It’s not the lips you should be worried about; it’s the teeth,” she assured him, snapping her jaw shut and showing her pearly whites to him. “They are sharp.”
“Hmm, I might need to test that theory out,” he said.
“Aw, there’s that confidence that’s so damn sexy,” she told him.
“My family can wait,” he said, his eyes dilating as they drifted to the opening of her robe.
Dakota chuckled as she stood up and took a step back. Ace was on his feet in less than a second. “You’ll have to catch me first,” she said before she took off running.
Ace was there before she’d made it a few steps. Then he was hauling her up with his good arm and marching back toward the bedroom. One hunger had been sated. It was time to cater to the other burning desire they felt.
They were very late to meet with his family—and Dakota didn’t mind one little bit.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Dakota and Ace were having a standoff, and there was no way she was backing down. He paced the floor in front of her, stopping every once in a while to send a withering gaze in her direction. Dakota leaned back against the counter and shot him a look that was most certainly calling him several names.
“I agree. You’re being a controlling lout, and I won’t have it. And if you think you’re going to bed me into submission again, you have another think coming. I paid for flight lessons, and I’m going to have them. You either come with me or I am going there on my own. I’m sure Sherman will find me a new trainer.”
Dakota didn’t want a new trainer. She wanted to be in that tiny plane with Ace, and only Ace, but she wasn’t going to sit by if he chose not to go with her. She’d let him keep her cooped up at his brother’s place for two days. She was now done.
“But what if it isn’t safe?” Ace said.
“We’ve been over this and over this,” she huffed. “Robberies happen. It’s certainly not something I ever want to happen to me again, but I do live in one of the largest cities in the United States, and sometimes things happen. My brothers would prefer I live out on the family estate away from the drudges and city dwellers, as they say, but there I could be taking a walk and get attacked by a mountain lion. There’s really no safe place, is there?” she pointed out.
“How often does a mountain lion attack happen?” he asked with a roll of his eyes.
“I’m not the Internet. How in the heck should I know?” she asked.
“Threats exist everywhere. It’s important to be aware of that. I just want you safe,” he told her.
There was such a pleading look in his eyes that it immediately mollified Dakota’s anger. She pushed off the counter and slowly walked up to him. He was tense as she wrapped her arms around him.
“I know there’s danger, Ace. I know it’s impossible for you to look away from it, but you have to realize that by overprotecting me, you’re actually restricting me. If you care about me at all, you won’t do that,” she reasoned with him.
She stood on her bare toes and kissed his solid jaw. It took a few moments, but finally he began to relax. His arms wrapped behind her and pulled her tightly to him, as if he would never let her go. On one hand, she wanted him to shield her from so much, but on the other, she couldn’t give in on this matter or she feared it would define the rest of their time together. She would grow to hate him if she didn’t stand up for herself.
