Chase the Ace

by Clare London

  For a moment the moue of distress was much more Dina than Gerry. She sounded sad, even lonely.

  “Mark was always too easily led. An intense boy.” With a shrug and a flutter of her half-complete eyelashes that was still very effective, she smirked. “Not at all my kind of man!”

  I smiled back. “You were bloody good tonight. I hope we’ll keep in touch from now on.”

  Gerry-Dina laughed and waved a handful of long, lacquered nails at me in mock modesty, but he looked pleased. “I know we will. You’re both staying over, aren’t you?”

  I said, “We’re not—”

  And at the same time Nick said, “We haven’t—”

  Gerry tutted, his gaze flicking mischievously between us. “Of course you are. I’ll make sure they find you a decent room. You can watch my second set, and then I’ll tell you where to find the best bloody café on the Western Road for breakfast tomorrow morning.”

  Chapter 5

  WE WATCHED a comedy act, though it wasn’t very good, and then Gerry’s second set, where he did an extremely creditable Cher homage. I’d been hoping he didn’t try a Kylie impression—I’d seen a pair of gold hot pants on his clothes rail in the dressing room—though I was pretty sure his legs would have been up to the job. As it was, I was happy to give him a standing ovation, singing along with his last number. Several other tables followed along with me.

  Gerry looked over as he left the stage, and he winked exaggeratedly so it could be seen by the whole room. Typical of him!

  It was gone midnight before Nick and I went to our room. We’d finished another bottle of wine during the show—or was it two?—and I stumbled as I wriggled the key card into the lock.

  He caught my elbow and steadied me. “Are you okay?”

  My laugh sounded embarrassingly like a drunken giggle. “I’m fine.”

  He led me into the room and sat me on one of the twin beds, then switched on the bedside lamp. He only let go of my arm at the last minute, but I missed the touch.

  “At least you got the next address on your list.”

  I nodded, probably for a bit too long, because my vision started to blur. “If you can drop me by the station tomorrow—”

  “No.” He was standing rather awkwardly by the other bed. “I’ll take you to Mark’s. It’s no problem. Unless you’ve had enough of me.”

  “Yes. I mean no,” I said quickly. For such a confident man, he seemed surprisingly hung up on that. “You’re good company. I’ve enjoyed being with you. You don’t need to keep apologising. Please join me.” His gaze caught mine. Did he know I was talking about the car trip? Was I talking about the car trip? “Perhaps I should be the one apologising.”

  “Why?”

  “About having to share a room. Gerry said it was the only one free, but I’m not sure he bothered checking.”

  “No problem. None at all.” Nick’s smile spread across his generous mouth. “You came out of your shell tonight, Dan. I really enjoyed being at the show with you.”

  My heartbeat quickened. I’d enjoyed being with him too. I’d felt relaxed and witty and interesting, all evening. It had been a while since anyone­—even Eric, in the early days—had made me feel like that. And of course, I couldn’t deny that Nick was bloody hot. My inner drunk was very aroused. Dammit, my outer Daniel was too.

  When Nick stepped closer, I gestured for him to sit next to me. The heat of his body made me shiver, but I didn’t move away. In fact, I tilted my head so his mouth fit better against mine. He tasted of the wine, and I wasn’t really surprised by how comfortable his lips felt on mine. We opened our mouths at almost the same time, flicking our tongues in tandem.

  I pulled away reluctantly after a few minutes. My hands still clutched his shoulders. “I suppose I should say something like ‘is this a wise move?’”

  He chuckled, though breathlessly. “No strings, Dan. If you don’t want this, just say. I won’t be offended. Disappointed, maybe.”

  I couldn’t remember anyone calling me Dan in that affectionate way since Mum died. “Hell, so would I,” I whispered. I’d been drinking; this was very sudden. Yet it felt both exciting and right. “No strings, you say?”

  His lips brushed my neck. “We’re single and free, right? And I’ve wanted to touch you since I first saw you.”

  I wanted that too, to touch Nick and feel more of this consuming, sensual delight. I realised I’d spent all those years with Eric and rarely had anything more socially thrilling than a Christmas dinner dance. All our holidays had been taken in a Cornwall cottage—whatever the time of year—and our sex life? I tried to think charitably, but distance had allowed me to see things realistically. Our sex had been pleasant, but so vanilla, it could have had chocolate sprinkles on top and still not pass for an exciting dessert.

  “But first….”

  Here it comes. There were always but-firsts. I’d been used to that with Eric, who had a whole shopping list of them.

  But Nick surprised me.

  “Tell me about the game, Dan.” He stayed close to me on the bed, with his hand on my knee, but he didn’t move to kiss me again. That probably was a wise move, because my heart was still gasping for breath from the last round. “The chase the ace card game you and Gerry talked about.”

  “It was just fun. We often played it. Do you know how it goes?” I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation when really I wanted our mouths used in other places. But as a fellow quester, I reckoned Nick deserved an explanation. “You get one card each, face down. The first player takes a look, and his choice is to hold on to it or swap it with the player on his left. You each do this in turn. The overall aim is to end up with the highest card at the end of the round. The lowest card will lose a life—so you try to pass a low card off to your neighbour. He has to accept it if you want to swap. However, the trick is you don’t know what card he has, so you may be swapping for something worse! After everyone’s swapped—the dealer has the option to swap with the deck—you all turn over your cards and see who’s won the round.”

  “Where does the ace come in?”

  “It’s the very lowest card in this game. If it turns up in a deal, everyone starts shifting it to the left, pretty fast, until there’s nowhere left to go.”

  “And if you’re stuck with the ace?”

  “Lowest card in the round loses a life. Lose three lives, and you’re out of the game.”

  “Sounds kind of tame.” Nick’s eyes glittered in the subdued light of the room.

  I sighed. “Okay, you got me. So we adapted the rules in a typical teenage way. When you lost your lives, you had to do a dare. You can imagine how that went.” I glanced at him, knowing I was blushing. “It’s more fun to play than the description sounds, honestly. Or not, if you’re the loser. I was always unlucky at cards—the ace seemed to find me all the bloody time. I’m sure Gerry always cheated on his deal, because I had such a run of crap cards.”

  Nick’s mouth quirked in a smile. “And the kiss tonight? You and him?”

  “That was… it was a reminder of one of the dares.” I couldn’t find the words to describe what had really happened that time. It wasn’t sordid or sexy; I just didn’t want to relive it tonight.

  He took pity on me. “That’s fine,” he said. “Sorry to tease you. That’s in the schoolboy past, right?”

  “Yes. Definitely.”

  He obviously thought it was something romantic between me and Gerry. I could easily deny it, but why should that carry any weight? Nick Carson barely knew me and had no reason to believe everything I said. And really, did it matter whether I’d had something going with a schoolmate or not, twelve years ago?

  “From the look on your face”—Nick’s hand slid up the leg of my jeans, squeezing the flesh where it joined my hip. His fingers were very firm—“you’re overthinking things. This isn’t really the time, is it?”

  “Oh, you think?”

  “Yes, I think,” he said soberly. Then his face creased into a broad sm
ile and he slid his hand between my thighs.

  “Now I can’t think at all,” I complained, and we both started laughing again.

  “Hush,” he said, his voice heavy and hoarse in my ear. He pressed his hand on my chest. “Lie down for me.”

  I almost fell back on the bed, the coverlet crumpling up beneath me. Nick’s push had been quite rough. He started to unbutton my shirt, and I lay back, savouring his touch. I shrugged out of the sleeves and waited for him to start on my trousers as well, but he didn’t move. Instead he swung across the bed, straddling me. I tensed.

  He loomed over me, breathing shallowly. The sparkle of amusement in his eyes had turned to a much fiercer flame. “Just relax, Dan. This’ll be good.” He took hold of one of my wrists and stretched my arm up above my head. He did the same with the other arm, then held my hands together, pressed down on the pillow. A shiver of excitement and unease ran through me. I’d never played any games with Eric, and the only boyfriend who’d ever tried to tie me up had fumbled his knots and ended up blubbering in a corner of my bedroom about his last three years of disastrous dates, while I called a taxi to take him home. It wasn’t right to base my experience of bondage on one confused bloke, but neither had it encouraged me to try again.

  And now—

  “You’re overthinking again,” Nick said more quietly. “Please trust me.”

  I did, on an instinctive level. He was more assertive tonight in private than he’d been in public, but his touch was gentle, allowing me time to get comfortable. He didn’t tie my hands but pressed down again before releasing them, letting me know they should stay above my head. It was enough to keep me in place.

  He rested on my thighs, reached down to undo my trousers, and dipped his head, kissing my throat and then my chest. The pinch of his teeth on my nipple made me gasp, but when I wriggled, he tightened his legs around me.

  “Don’t move yet.” His voice was still soft, but the order was implicit. “Or I may have to find something to bind you properly.”

  I gave a short, shaky laugh, but my heartbeat quickened with anticipation. He slid his hands down from my upstretched wrists to my elbows to my shoulders, then back up again, a firm, stroking movement that had my muscles relaxing under his touch. Then he shifted backward, moving down my legs, his hands following down my body too, his fingers alternately firm and teasing on my torso. I’d started to sweat and his fingertips slid over my skin. When he bent again to tongue his way over my belly, I yelped softly.

  “Close your eyes.” He must have seen me hesitate, and maybe he remembered and wondered about Gerry giving me the same instruction earlier, because he paused and smiled. “I won’t hurt you, Dan. Nothing will be forced on you. It just heightens the sensation.”

  I closed my eyes. Nick exhaled slowly then resumed licking my body. But this time it was shockingly different. I couldn’t see him, couldn’t guess where he’d go next, where his mouth would touch me. He tugged down my trousers and boxers, and eased off my shoes and socks. I was flat on my back, naked, exposed, and shivering with a mix of excitement and nervousness, still with my eyes closed. His tongue traced the lines under my stomach, sliding along the creases at the top of my legs. A few hairs from my groin tugged between his lips and my cock bounced against my thigh, thick already and aching. When his breath brushed over the top, I groaned and lifted a hand off the pillow to reach for him.

  “No,” he muttered, his command a vibration against my skin. “Don’t move.”

  The suspense was agony, yet there was an astonishing thrill in just lying there, obeying Nick’s quiet but insistent demands. I’d never known anything like it. He sucked one of my balls into his mouth and held it there, licking around it, bathing it, drawing it out carefully but close enough to his teeth that I could feel the contrast with the softer tongue. Then he did the same for the other one. By the time he took my cock into his mouth, I was gasping with need.

  “Hold very still,” he murmured, muffled around my shaft. “I’ll tell you when.”

  What could I do? I lay there and took it, his touch alternately forceful then flirtatious, his mouth holding me tight, his tongue lapping the head of my cock every time it slid through his lips. At the same time, he reached a hand under my balls and stroked my taint. Every time he slid his lips down my dick, he pressed up with his fingers. The combination was driving me mad.

  “Nick,” I groaned. “God.”

  He pulled his mouth off me. I could hear him panting. “You want to come?”

  “God, yes. Yes!”

  “But you’re waiting for me to allow you, aren’t you?”

  My cock was throbbing, desperate for him to resume sucking. The muscles in my thighs tensed up, my toes curled, gripping the sheet underneath me. Yes, I was waiting. Yes, I needed him to allow me!

  “Please,” I said through gritted teeth. “Whatever I have to say, I will. This is fantastic, Nick. I want you to make me come.”

  He gave that warm chuckle again, this time with a thread of rich, sexy mischief. He leaned down and ran his tongue slowly and sloppily up one side of my dick, over the top, then down the other side. “Now you can move, Dan. You can come.”

  And to my amazement, I did. The agonising, astonishing suspense uncoiled in my groin and burst out of me as if his words had actually pressed the ignition. My back arched up, I gave a loud moan, and come spat onto my belly. Some of it spilled from my navel and trickled down my side onto the bed. It tickled my oversensitive skin. The climax was sharp, head-spinning, and totally consuming. And so, so startling!

  As I lay there panting even more heavily, Nick slipped off the side of the bed. I still had my eyes closed—not that I imagined they’d focus for a while after that blissful orgasm—but I heard his clothes rustling as he undressed. When he knelt back up beside me, he was naked. I knew this by his warm skin against my thigh. He trailed his fingers softly down my side.

  “Open your eyes now, Dan.” When I did, Nick was gazing down at me, his eyes both dark with desire and sparkling with pleasure. “You are fabulous.”

  “Because I do what I’m told?” I joked.

  He didn’t smile back. “Not just that, but… yes,” he whispered, his eyes darkening even more.

  As I stared at him, wondering what to say to that, he straddled me again. The mattress sank beneath us and the top sheet slid over the edge to the floor. It was just our bodies on the bed, pale skin on the white cotton of the undersheet. Nick had more of a tan than I did, easing down his arms from a short-sleeved-shirt mark and stopping where his briefs would start. It was a marvellous, sexy view: dark curly hair on his chest, where a few trapped beads of sweat glinted in the light from the lamp. My gaze followed the trail of hair as it ran over the bumps of his ribcage, belly, and down to his groin. His cock was hard and pointing out from his body. Where mine was happily exhausted and lying half-limp on my upper thigh, his was swollen full.

  “You….” I was apparently struggling to form a coherent sentence. “Let me….”

  He leaned back down and pressed a finger to my lips. “Hush. Please. I want you to stay there. I want to look at you.”

  “Look at…?”

  “You’re so very sexy,” he said hoarsely. He’d fisted his hand around his cock and was starting to jack off. “Watch me, Dan. Don’t take your eyes off me.”

  I couldn’t have done that even if I’d wanted to. I was fascinated, trapped like a rabbit in the eyes of a snake, watching his supple hand sliding up and down his dick in a smooth figure of eight. He was leaking already, lubricating his way, and the sounds I heard were slick and increasing in speed.

  “Fuck,” I murmured, the most inadequate comment I’d ever made.

  Nick’s face was flushed, sweat pooling in his throat and on his pecs. Curls of hair fell forward and stuck to his forehead; his mouth was slightly open, lips moistened. His eyes were wide, sparkling with the reflection from the lamp, and totally focussed on my face.

  “Now you can say it,” he whispered. H
e reared up over me, still stroking himself, harder and faster. The tip of his cock was red and damp and slipping in and out of the top of his fist. “Say it, Dan!”

  “Come,” I said. It was all I could think of, all I wanted. Luckily it seemed to be the right thing.

  With a hoarse cry, Nick climaxed, his body shaking, his come spilling over his fist and down onto my belly. It was fresh and warm, where mine was already cooling as a sticky mess. The thought of that was exciting enough to make me think of coming again myself. He shuddered and dropped down, catching himself on his arms before he fell on top of me, though I don’t think I would have complained. He caught my gaze and his pupils dilated, a smile creeping over his mouth.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Fuck, indeed!”

  Chapter 6

  IN THE morning, I was the first to awake. I couldn’t help worrying that things would be awkward. It was so long since I’d been in this situation, having sex with someone I didn’t know well, just following a wave of delicious, physical attraction. I rolled over carefully in bed, mentally prodding my hangover to make sure it wasn’t completely insufferable, and gazed at a sleeping Nick beside me.

  God. The attraction was even stronger than I’d thought last night. His lean body was stretched out on the mattress. Although facing away from me, it was still a gorgeous view: his skin flushed from sleep, with freckles on his bare shoulders and a small patch of hair on the nape of his neck that was lighter than the crop on his head. His ribcage lifted with each slow, even breath. My cock stirred on my thigh, already thickening with morning interest.

  I slid slowly out of bed, pulled on my boxers, and went into the bathroom for a wash and to brush my teeth. Glancing in the mirror, worried at my tousled state, the sparkle in my eyes gave me pause. How come I was already smiling when I’d only just got up and my bitch of a headache was nagging determinedly between my eyebrows?