by Lacey Silks
Then he tucked the key card into my purse. He was really pulling all the stops out tonight. A green light blinked above the doorknob, and we walked into a meticulously clean apartment, which had only a few pieces of furniture.
“I didn’t have much time to decorate.”
“Or get a table,” I teased.
His mouth curved as he locked the door behind us, spun me around, lifted me by my waist, and sat me on the empty kitchen counter. The cold granite penetrated the silky fabric, cooling my bottom. Sitting up there, my gaze was even with his. He stood between my open legs, his visible erection straining under his pants and pressing against my thigh. I fought the urge to feel his thickness in my hand. This was too quick, wasn’t it?
“Ace, what are we doing?” I could barely hear my voice. My hands were on top of his shoulders, fingers playing with the edge of the fabric near his neck, aching to draw patterns over his taut skin. His palms slid down to my hips and I closed my eyes whispering, “I’m… and Infinity… I just…”
He pulled away and tapped my chin with his finger, forcing me to look at him. “Please don’t think about them again. You don’t belong to anyone. You’re free. I promise you that.”
While I wished that were true, I wasn’t sure I could truly let go of everything that had happened to me during the past two years. And more so, I was pretty sure that we still had a hefty battle to fight through. Would Ace still want to be there once it was over? Or was I just another case to him? Another paycheck. Was he toying with me just to wipe out Craig Harper? I didn’t want to feel played. Not by him.
“Are you in my future?” I asked.
“That depends on what you want, Zoey.”
I tilted my head to the side, waiting for him to continue.
“I don’t dare to even hope that I am, but the problem is, I can’t resist you. I can’t stop thinking about being with you in every way a man and a woman can be. Not just once, but over and over again. I want to protect you and cherish you and make you feel like the worthy woman that you are.”
Wow! It sounded like Ace Wagner wanted a relationship. His words gave me too much hope. They raised my expectations to a future that was not guaranteed. My heart would break if Ace’s plan to destroy Infinity failed. I would shatter into a gazillion pieces, maybe even disintegrate into dust.
“You like me,” I said under my breath.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Ace leaned his forehead against mine. “Zoey, I’m not asking for marriage. Just a chance to make you happy. Please let me.”
His hands smoothed up my arms to my shoulders. He lowered his head so that his lips touched my bare skin around the strap of my tank top. Goosebumps peppered me all over. He then reached for the hem of the shirt I wore over the tank top and pulled it off.
“You really like me,” I sighed, without realizing I’d said the words out loud again.
“Of course I like you. In fact, Zoey, I adore you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re beautiful, smart, selfless, confident, brave, and irresistibly feisty.”
“You forgot strong.” I wrapped my legs around his torso and pulled his waist toward me until he was completely pressed against me.
“And talented.”
His fingers danced along my skin, leaving a heated trail wherever they touched. The strap of my tank top slipped down my shoulder. Ace reached for the other side and lowered it.
“Sexy,” he whispered into my ear, licking the outer cartilage.
The temperature in the kitchen rose. I was beginning to run out of air again. His lips slid along my jaw and down my neck to my cleavage.
“Not to mention delicious.”
He kissed the path where my tank top covered my breasts, and all I could think about was him stripping me naked and taking me. I wanted him to make love to me. For the first time in two years, I had a man whom I chose. A man who wanted me for more than just sex. His teasing lips and hands everywhere on my body were testing my patience. This was too slow and too painful, yet so unbelievably perfect.
“I want you, Zoey. All of you.”
Chapter 13
Zoey
My heart pounded in my chest, ready to explode. I couldn’t reply, so instead I reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. His muscled torso was like a live sculpture created to be caressed. I swept my hands along his chest, feeling his heat raise my own temperature, watching the muscles twitch at my touch.
“I want you too. Only you.”
At my words, he crushed his mouth to mine and lifted me into his arms. I wasn’t sure where he was taking me, but I didn’t care. Soon, my back touched the soft surface of a bed. A fresh aroma of clean sheets rose to meet me as I sank into the mattress. Ace slid my skirt off before removing my tank top, and I lay underneath him in my panties and bra. The moment he pulled away from me, I felt cold and starved for his touch. He sat back on his heels admiring me from above, letting his gaze sweep over my body from the bottom up, then back down again. The heat of his stare was making me squirm underneath him. Ace had made me feel wanted from the first time he’d laid his hands on me.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“How lucky I am.”
“I’m the lucky one.” He walked two of his fingers from my ankle up to my knee and then to my inner thigh, adjusting the way he sat so that I could open my legs. I watched his abdomen tense and his taut curves become more defined. A perfect v-shaped path pointed to his hardness, a happy trail of dusty hair leading me on. “I get to touch and fondle the most flexible girl in the world.” He winked.
“I knew you wanted me for my flexibility,” I laughed.
“Oh, I want you for way more, Tink. But it’d be a lie if I said I wasn’t looking forward to feeling you tighten around me.”
With that, he drew the band of my panties to the side and slid his fingers between the folds of my flesh, the same way he had in that storage room at the hospital six years ago, drawing the wetness up and down before pushing his fingers deep inside me, all the way up to his knuckles. My lower back arched and I closed my eyes. The delightful stretch sent a wave of pleasure rolling through my body. He pumped them in and out, slowly at first, then twisted a finger inside me, zapping my core with a delectable current.
“Ace.” His name left my lips on a desperate breath.
“Easy, baby. You’re soaking.”
I felt him add another finger and scissor them, rubbing my inner walls. He lowered his mouth to my hip. For a moment I thought he was going to lick me, and I froze. My memory of his tongue on me caused a flutter of excitement to dance in my stomach. I was afraid I’d come undone on the first lick, and I wasn’t ready for this to be over just yet. Instead he kissed the mandatory Infinity tattoo over my hip saying, “We’ll cover that as well, baby.”
Ace bit into the fabric of my panties and tore through them with his teeth. The lace snapped. I felt his smile against my navel, his hot breath lingering there as his fingers drove in and out, the base of his palm hitting against my skin in even pumps. My breaths became shallower and my moans louder as I succumbed to the increasing pleasure of his tender finger fucking.
I lifted my right leg and set my foot on his shoulder. As he continued fingering me, he kissed my foot and each individual toe before extending it higher, over his head. I felt the tendons in my groin lengthen. Ace’s pelvis was close to my crotch and with my other thigh in his secure grasp, I was in near splits. His erection pushed at the side of my groin, and I shifted my hips closer to the thick length. The sound of my wetness and my heavy breathing filled the room as his fingers squished in and out, his thumb reaching higher to my clit. He rubbed it in slow, tantalizing circles. My hips bucked forward as my pussy grew anxious for more.
“I want you inside me,” I said.
He removed his hand from my thigh and lowered his boxer briefs. I hadn’t even noticed when he’d shed his pants; it must have been sometime between entering the room
and laying me down on the bed. I was lost to this wonderful feeling of being with a man who approved of me and whom I wanted.
With my leg still stretched up, Ace took out his wet fingers. When I opened my eyes, he had a square packet between his teeth that he ripped open. He was so good with that mouth. I watched him roll the rubber over his shaft and I held my breath. That was one unbelievably firm erection.
“I’ve been thinking about this day for six long years,” he said lining up his hips to enter me, but he paused.
What is he waiting for?
He slapped himself over my throbbing clit. A tease of pleasure ran through me at the contact.
“Do it again,” I begged.
He hit my pussy with his cock again, this time harder. When he saw my body jerk with bliss, he brought his palm to his mouth, licked his three fingers that had been inside me a moment ago, and began spanking them gently over my aching nerves, bringing me closer to my climax. The tip of his cock was at my entrance, patiently waiting. The first jolt of an orgasm jolted through my body, followed by Ace plunging inside me to my depth where he held still while tapping at my clit relentlessly. I squeezed around him, my body shaking with ecstasy, my rapture growing and growing until I couldn’t hold on any longer. It felt like I left my body. His thickness filled me from wall to wall as his fingers tapped at my clit. I thrashed from side to side. The frenzy wouldn’t stop. I’d stored so much emotion inside me for the past six years, there was so much to let go of, that I just kept coming and coming until every muscle in my body gave out and I slumped on the bed.
But apparently this was only the beginning for Ace. He lowered his hands to my knees, pushed them apart, and began to move his hips in a ruthless rhythm that did not let me rest. My heart was pounding from the wild race of the orgasm that had barely had a chance to leave my body, yet I felt a new rush of energy. I wanted it again. I needed it again. My body jerked upon the bed with each plunge. I joined his rhythm, welcoming him deeper, coaxing his moves to be quicker. How was he able to drive me wild like that? How was it possible that Ace could revive me within seconds?
Sweat trickled down my forehead and his chest. I listened to the sounds of our heavy breaths and his louder grunts. He lifted my other leg to his left shoulder, bringing them together and holding them both by the calves, squeezing himself underneath me deep into my pussy. His hips slammed into me, hitting that same spot that had been relieved moments ago but was already beginning to feel like it needed another release. The sound of his sack slapping against me was too much. I squeezed my breasts, pinched my nipples, and heard a grunt above me.
“Zoey…”
“Ace…”
And on the same breath he stilled, and we came together.
I watched his face twist in pleasure. Freedom and happiness stretched across his cheeks. Tonight was worth everything. All my doubts of a possible freedom and Ace’s true motives to destroy Infinity vanished, and I felt like I could conquer the world.
Dragging my fingers down his bulky arms, I shifted, and Ace pulled out. He removed his condom, tied it up, and tossed it into the trash. Cold sweat replaced the heat on my body.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes. Do you think I could take a shower?”
“No, but I think that we could take one.”
“Are you going to fuck me there as well?”
“Probably. I’m not letting you go for a long time, Tink.”
There was nothing I would have loved more.
Ace followed me into the bathroom. Fresh towels had been laid down on the jetted tub and by the sinks. I removed the wrapping from the shampoo, soap, and sponges, and set them on a shelf in the shower. I noticed new toothbrushes in the cups by the individual sinks and smiled.
“Did you get one of those for me?”
“And these.” He opened the cabinet below. It was full of all sorts of female toiletries that would last me a few years.
“You know I’m not moving in.”
He smiled, saying, “I want you to be comfortable when you’re here. I won’t accept an excuse that you forgot a tampon or toothbrush and have to leave in the middle of the night.”
“I’m a pretty sound sleeper.”
That was a lie, of course, though since Ace had walked into my life, the number of nightmares had been reduced.
“What if I touch you here?” He cupped my sex, and I immediately felt a new swell build in his palm.
“It’d be a sin not to wake up to those fingers.”
“That’s good to know, because I’ll definitely want sex in the middle of the night. I doubt I’ll ever get enough of you.”
I laughed and reached for the knob to turn on the shower. Water sprayed from the side jets and I adjusted the pressure before stepping in. We showered together. Ace washed me and I washed him. His wet hands grazed all over my body, spreading a generous amount of soap from my neck all the way down to my toes. When he lathered my hair and kneaded my scalp, I thought I would melt and float down the drain right along with all that soap.
“If you keep moaning like that, I’ll come before I’m inside you.”
Was he planning to be inside me? And how soon would it be?
I returned the favor and washed his body from top to bottom as well. There was something special about such an intimate act. As I got lower and lower, he hardened. I massaged the suds along his thighs and up to his balls. When I gripped his cock, gently pulling on the soft skin, I heard him grunt.
The next thing I knew my back was pressed against the tiles, and my legs wrapped around his waist as he drove into me. The sudden rush of lust tore through my body. Ace seized my lips, biting them gently through our kisses, and lifted my body up and down. His chest rumbled with each thrust. With my hands around his neck, I rolled my hips over him while pressing my soaked chest to his, sharing our heat. The friction between us teased my clit, and I dug my nails into his shoulders. It was pure, raw and thrilling at the same time, and I couldn’t get enough.
“Come, baby, come with me.”
His words charmed the orgasm out of my body. He pulled out, grasped his cock and a stream of his cum fountained. Ace kissed my shoulder, my neck, and then my lips with relief.
“Beautiful,” he whispered into my mouth. “You’re so beautiful.”
Once out of the shower, we dried off. He gave me a shirt to wear for the night, but insisted that I went commando. Not that I could have worn my panties – he’d destroyed my last pair.
I couldn’t have said how many times we made love that night, but I couldn’t get enough of him and he didn’t seem to be able to let me go either. It was as if the world outside Ace’s apartment didn’t exist. We were Zoey and Ace, from six years ago, who lusted after each other. The night would have been perfect if my conscience could have truly let go – but no matter how much I wanted it to disappear, my life was still tied to Infinity and until they were destroyed, the nightmares would continue to haunt me.
Chapter 14
Ace
Her body thrashed around the bed. The sheets were twisted, and the longer I waited, the worse the feeling of dread filled me. The blackout drapes were shut, and I might as well have been blind – I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. I reached to the side table to turn on the lamp, but given I had just moved into this condo, the instinctual memory of where everything was supposed to be was not yet developed. The simple task of finding a source of light was like trying to start a fire with my bare hands. Her scream tore through me when the lamp finally clicked on. Her eyes were open and full of fear, her body soaked with sweat, her hands grasping at the sheets with all her might.
“Zoey?”
She didn’t reply. I shot up and knelt at her side reaching for her hand. Before I grasped it she jabbed my jaw with her fist, and it felt like she’d developed the Hulk’s powers overnight. Her hand went back to the sheet, holding on. Zoey looked like she was somewhere else, in a different time and a different place. I knew it wasn�
��t the first nightmare she’d had, but I had no idea she could be asleep with her eyes wide open. I approached her with caution, fearing she’d even up the hit on the other side of my face.
“Zoey, wake up.”
But it was as if I weren’t even in the room. She mumbled incoherently, writhing on the bed as if she were bound and unable to get away. I felt the struggle of her body in my own muscles. Her face was growing paler by the moment. This restless night was turning into a torturous one as her lips turned purple.
Is she holding her breath?
I grasped her by her shoulders and gently shook her, but she didn’t reply. In fact, the pain reflected in her eyes switched to pure fear.
“Shit, Zoey. Wake up! You’re having a nightmare.” My desperate voice did nothing. Her eyes began to roll back as her body thrashed around as if she were having a seizure. I looked to the side table for the glass of water. If this didn’t work, I’d have no choice but to phone for help. I grabbed the glass and splashed the liquid on her face.
She stopped.
I towered over her, the glass still in my hand, waiting for some sort of a sign that it was over.
“What are you doing?” she asked, as if nothing had happened. Her entire front was soaked, and my shirt clung to her bare breasts underneath. I let out a sigh of relief and set the glass aside.
“Me? Jesus, Zoey. You were having a nightmare.”
She got lost in her thoughts as if remembering the dream and her eyes glazed over. I sat down beside her, the pressure of my weight lifting her body closer to mine.
“I couldn’t get you to snap out of it. Do these happen often?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t usually remember them. Was I loud?” she asked.
Loud?
“No, you were thrashing around like a fish out of water, and your eyes were open. Zoey, you were scared to death. I’ve never seen anything like it. What the hell were you dreaming about?”
“Ahm, it’s over. I… I don’t remember.”