He stared at her for a moment, but it felt like an eternity before he answered, “Yes.”
“You do?” her voice squeaked.
He remained in place looking totally at ease. The only sign of any tension was a vein that popped out on his neck. “Yes.”
“Oh, good.” Exhilaration rushed through her like white water in the rapids. With renewed confidence she pressed on. “Okay, so the ground rules. This is sex. One night of sex. After that we go on with our lives. No strings. You don’t owe me anything, and I don’t owe you anyth—”
He cut her off, “No.”
“No?” she repeated as her heart dropped.
What could he possibly be objecting to? She hadn’t asked for anything?
“Dinner.” He stepped forward, closing the distance between them. “You agreed to dinner.”
“Oh, that.” She had figured that was his way of getting out of an awkward situation after she’d dumped all of her hardships on him. He couldn’t really just get up and say see you later. Maybe him bringing it up now was just because he was a stand-up guy that felt like it was the right thing to do. “Yeah, I guess we could do that.”
“No. I want you to promise me.” The tension that was rolling off of him as he stared down at her was intense and…hot. “Tonight we can do whatever you came over to do, but when I get back you let me take you out. That’s my ground rule.”
She was so stunned she couldn’t find the right words.
“Deal?” he asked, his tone gentle.
Her mouth watered and she was barely able to get the one syllable word out. “Deal.”
The possessive look that flared in his ocean-blue eyes when she agreed to his condition captivated her, holding her in a dimension where time stood still. Where the only thing that existed was the two of them. Not tomorrow. Not yesterday. Not work. Not family. Just them, here and now.
“Hi,” she whispered a needy sigh as his gaze drew her even further in.
“Hi,” he rasped.
His hand cupped her face. Closing her eyes, she luxuriated in the roughened texture of the pad of his thumb as it traced the line of her jaw and then brushed across her bottom lip. Her heart pounded beneath her rib cage at his gentle yet authoritative touch. Tingles rolled through her body in waves and as excited as she was to see what would happen next, she also wanted to stay right here, in this moment, for as long as possible.
Anticipation mixed with nerves and the combination had her feeling a little lightheaded. Never before in her life had she claimed to be psychic but somehow her body and her mind knew that Ace could give her immeasurable pleasure. It wasn’t a guess, it wasn’t hope, it was a fact.
Her lips parted and she let out a slow breath as the world spun around her. The only thing anchoring her to this moment was the pleasure of arousal spreading through her from Ace’s large fingers cradling her. If not for his touch, she would be lost in the sea of sensations crashing over her.
As tempted as she was to keep her eyes closed, to let herself float away into the bliss that felt just beyond her reach, she forced herself to open her heavy lids. When she did she was met with a sight that caused her knees to buckle slightly. The smile in his striking blue eyes was backlit with a sensuous flame burning brightly. His stare was equal parts predatory and playful, and her entire being responded to both as she sucked in a shaky breath. The look was so potent it sent a shock of sensation bursting low in her belly that had a ripple effect spreading all the way to the top of her head and down to the tip of her toes.
She was determined to memorize every look, every touch. Tonight was her happily-ever-after night and she wasn’t going to miss a single second.
Chapter 10
As Ace stared into Stephanie’s chestnut gaze he was still trying to convince himself that this was real and not a dream. That she really had shown up on his porch, come inside, and told him that she wanted to have sex. With him. And now she was staring at him with the look he’d told her made him want to do things he couldn’t, except now he could.
So why was he hesitating? Probably for the same reason he’d walked out her door earlier, because he was leaving tomorrow. Even though she’d made it clear that this was what she wanted, there was still a niggling feeling that this was too much, too soon. But he also wanted this more than he ever knew it was possible to want something.
This wasn’t a situation he’d ever been in before. Conflict had never been a factor when it came to sex. He’d always been upfront and open with his partners. They’d always been on the same page. That wasn’t the case with Stephanie. She was asking for them to have sex and he wanted more. He wanted to date her, to see where whatever was happening between them could lead. If her less than enthusiastic response to having dinner with him was any indication, she didn’t. He wanted to push the issue and make sure it was clear that this was special to him, that she was special to him, but he didn’t want to scare her off.
Before he was able to resolve the tug of war his hormones and heart were having over what the right thing to do was, Stephanie enticed him over the “this is happening” line. His hands dropped to his side as she lifted her T-shirt up and over her head, letting it drop to the ground beside her. Beneath her shirt she wore a simple white lace bra. The outline of her rosy nipple was visible through the delicate material and the erotic sight stole his breath away.
When she reached for her sweats he noticed that her hands were shaking. He stopped her, covering her hands with his. She trembled beneath his touch.
“You’re shaking.” He knew he was pointing out the obvious, but for some reason those were the words that came out of his mouth.
“I know.” Her chest rose and fell rapidly.
If she was having second thoughts, he needed her to know that nothing had to happen tonight. “We don’t have to—”
“No, yes,” she didn’t let him finish his thought, blurting out, “I’m just…I’m fine. I want to.”
He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face at her eagerness.
“I mean, but if you don’t want to—”
“I want to,” he gritted out.
She nodded, but didn’t look convinced.
Any reluctance that he’d had vanished when faced with her uncertainty. A sense of urgency swelled in him to erase any doubt she could possibly have. This was a show-not-tell situation.
Moving her still trembling hands to her sides he finished what she’d started. Slowly he slid her sweats down, letting the back of his knuckles brush against her soft skin as he did. Her hand rested on his shoulder as she stepped out with first her right, then her left foot. His eyes were drawn to her creamy skin. Her legs were smooth, and to him they looked as if they glowed with a light of their own. They didn’t even look real—it was as if he was suddenly inside of a fantasy. He had to touch them to make sure this wasn’t just an incredible wet dream.
He placed his palms to the outside of her thighs and moved them slowly and deliberately down the sexy, soft slope of her leg. A moan rumbled low in his throat. She was definitely real. This was real. He wasn’t imagining it. He knew that for sure, because touching her was so much better than he’d ever imagined. He was a smart guy, but never in a million years would his brain have been able to dream up something as perfect as Stephanie’s legs.
When his hands reached her knees, he slid one of his arms behind them and the other behind her back. He swooped her up into his arms in one smooth, quick motion. Her eyes widened and her arms snaked around his neck. The expression on her face was pure delight. Pride welled up in his chest at having put that expression there, and it was a feeling that was foreign to him. He wasn’t used to feeling territorial when it came to women. The only thought he’d ever had on the topic of making them smile was that it was better than making them pissed. He’d never had this testosterone-fueled kind of pride at putting a smile on the face of this woman, his woman.
Yeah. That’s how he thought of her. Not consciously, of course. He wasn�
��t delusional. He realized that, in the real world, in no sense of the word was she his—unless you counted her being his neighbor. She wasn’t his girlfriend, or even his date…yet. She certainly wasn’t his woman. But that’s how it felt in his heart, and in the deepest recesses of his caveman brain. He thought of her as his.
Carrying her perfect form, he stepped over to the couch and set her gently down on it.
“Don’t you want to go to the bedroom?” she asked, her brows knit together.
“I can’t wait that long,” he said, his voice strangled. His eyes raked up and down her body, devouring every angle and curve of her. The soft and heavy red waves that fell over her delicate neck and shoulders, the full, round curve of her breasts, the smooth, flat expanse of her belly, the feminine curve of her hips where the hem of her delicate lace panties rested. Every single bit of it perfection.
Lowering his head he took one of her stiff pink nipples in his mouth. Swirling his tongue in hot circles, he reveled in the rough friction of the lace against it. He used the texture of the fabric as he licked her, manipulating it to rub against her sensitive peaks and intensify the sensations he was giving her. He felt her muscles bunching and tensing under his palms as his hands roamed the exposed skin of her torso and he heard her desperate moans. He felt her hands clench and bunch up in the hair at the back of his head, urging him further south.
The pleasure she was feeling—that he was making her feel—was evident in every tiny movement of her body, every small noise that escaped her, every micro expression that flashed across her face.
“Don’t stop,” she instructed breathlessly.
Again, thundering pride rushed through him. Carnal need flooded his body. He’d never felt this primal, this savage.
He moved his head further down and pressed his lips to her belly, kissing the tender flesh there. She moaned and fisted her fingers in his hair. The sting shot straight to his dick making it throb with need.
As much as he wanted to ravage her, to mark every inch of her as his, he made himself go slow. Taking his time, he continued his sensual journey even lower. His lips brushed over each of her hipbones as he used his hands to spread her legs farther apart. He could see that she was already wet from the way that the lace in between her legs was a little darker than the lace on the rest of her panties. He smiled. He liked that. But he could do even better. He was going to make sure that she got even wetter before he touched her there.
He started by running his hands gently up and down her outer thighs, so softly, as if he were trailing his fingers through the surface of a still pond and trying to make as few ripples as possible. He cared about showing her that he was making love to her—another thing that was new to him. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about giving the women he was with pleasure, he did. But, by the same token, he also didn’t usually care about the rhythm of the encounter, the buildup, the emotion or about creating an unforgettable experience.
With Stephanie, that was all he cared about.
He moved his whisper-light touches from the outside of her legs inward. With expert precision he trailed his fingertips over her inner thighs from her knees upward, getting just a little bit closer to her pleasure core on every luxuriant trip as he continued kissing her along the edge of her panties. The skin of her legs was growing hotter and hotter by the second, and her belly and chest were flushed with red. Her breathing was quick and shallow, and her muscles trembled more fiercely with every new millimeter of tender flesh he caressed closer to her soaking center.
Damn, he was so hard it was actually painful. But he didn’t, not for one second, consider giving up on the slow seduction game he was playing. It was far more important to follow the rules and get this right. When he had achieved his goal—giving her an incredible orgasm—that was when he won.
Changing his focus he shifted lower and used his tongue to trace the same lines that his fingers had been traveling just seconds before. Heat radiated from her core. He could see that she was on the edge. He could feel it. All the signs that her body was sending telegraphed it.
He buried his mouth between her legs, not even moving aside the thin lace fabric that covered her sensitive center. Like he’d done with her nipples, he manipulated the texture of the fabric to increase the friction and thereby increase her pleasure.
When she arched her back as she mumbled, over and over, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” he knew the time had come to move the game on to the next level.
He quickly got into a rhythm. His head, his lips and his tongue all moved in concert with the pressure of her hands in his hair and her bucking hips. It was like a dance, choreographed to a beautiful melody that only the two of them could hear. One thing was for certain, though—they were both moving in perfect time to the beat. Whatever the song was that dictated the rhythm that both of their bodies moved to, it was the same song, being played perfectly in sync.
Stephanie’s hands clenched in his hair and she gave one powerful thrust upward with her hips. All of her muscles tensed and trembled, and he knew that he had achieved his goal. He continued to move his tongue against her in an increasingly gentle rhythm, wanting to draw out her release as long as possible. To give her as much pleasure as he could.
It was such a headrush, seeing her come apart for him. Nothing else mattered to him in this moment. Only her. Only her pleasure, her happiness. Nothing else was even in the running.
That realization should’ve scared him. It didn’t. The only thing that did scare him was the thought of not being with her. Not being able to touch her, to kiss her. He needed to make her his. That was the only mission he cared about now.
* * *
Stephanie stared down at Ace’s head, still moving slowly between her legs, and felt nothing but pure amazement at what had just happened. Holy hot tamale. Her body tingled from head to toe with afterglow. He’d taken her body to places that no other man had and technically they were both still dressed. She couldn’t wait to find out what was in store once they weren’t.
Ace kissed his way up her belly and then her chest, finally lifting his head to look into her eyes. She liked the little smile she saw on his face.
“You look pretty proud of yourself,” she teased, feeling more relaxed and like her real self than she ever had around Mason.
His grin grew wider. “You don’t think I have reason to be?”
She laughed. “Oh, I didn’t say it was unearned. In fact, you should be quite proud of yourself. So far, so good.”
“Well, darlin’ that sounds like a challenge if I’ve ever heard one.”
With that, he reached behind her back and deftly unhooked her bra. He drew the garment forward sliding it off her arms and throwing it to the floor. He stared at her breasts, real awe on his face. It hit her powerfully, like an erotic punch to the gut. She could feel his eyes on her like a physical touch. And then, he lowered his head and she felt his hot mouth engulfing her nipples, one at a time, alternating between the two of them.
Of course, the sensation of his hot mouth on her through the lace of her bra and underwear had been amazing. There was no disputing that. It had made her come with a rocketing ferocity. An orgasm that shook her right down to the bone.
But even with that, it was nothing—absolutely nothing—compared to the feeling of Ace’s hot tongue and lips on her nipples with nothing separating them. That was a feeling that she could never find the words to describe. It was beyond physical. The skin to skin contact was somehow creating a bond that stretched between the two of them. Building a little bubble around them that encased their bodies in a world of their own, shutting out everything else, narrowing the entire universe down to just the two of them and the pleasure they were giving each other.
“Please,” she begged. For what, she wasn’t even sure. Just more. She wanted more. “I need to…feel you. All of you. Please.”
At her plea, Ace stood and pulled her lacy panties down over her legs. His manner had changed. There was nothing slow and se
nsual about his energy now. It was commanding. Intense. Authoritative. This was a man that was done taking things slow. This was a man that would give her exactly what she was asking for…all of him. The thought sent a jolt of electricity rolling through her and she leaned back and moaned.
Ace undressed quickly. At least, as much as she could judge the passage of time through the fog of lust that encased her brain, she thought it was fast. Before she knew it, he was standing before her completely naked.
“Umm…wow. You’re perfect. And big,” she breathed as she saw all of him. Then she blushed. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud. But from the way that she saw his manhood visibly stiffen at her words, she didn’t think that he minded her spontaneous utterance. She didn’t think he minded at all.
He began to move back over her, but she stopped him. “Wait.”
As overwhelmed as she was with the events that were unfolding, she was gripped with the realization that this may be—and, in fact, probably was—her only opportunity to explore the wonders that was Ace’s body. Tonight was a one and done, as Misty would say. They’d agreed to it. If this was her only chance, she would be a fool not to take advantage of it and run her hands over every inch of his exposed flesh, to feel every muscle in his body rippling between her fingertips, to run her mouth and her tongue over every taut muscle in his godlike body.
Still, even though she wanted to lose her inhibitions and let her fantasy actions run wild more than almost anything in the world, it still felt too raw and vulnerable too just start pawing him. As comfortable as she was with him, she still wasn’t used to being the initiator, or taking that active of a role in sex. She’d just never felt inspired to do so. Ace inspired her.
“I really want to touch you,” she whispered.
He let out a breath of air. “Damn, darlin’, I thought you wanted to stop.”
She looked up at him. The heat that engulfed her face at that moment had a different quality than the hotness she’d felt on her skin from arousal. She knew it was partly from embarrassment, as her inexperience wasn’t something that she wanted to broadcast. Normally, that would’ve been enough to make her retreat. This time was different. Her arousal overcame her embarrassment. She wanted his body bad enough to push through her reticence and leave her comfort zone.
All He Needs – Ace & Stephanie (Crossroads Book 10) Page 9