Chapter 21. Haley #2
Ace chuckled. “I hope not. I like to think after all the shit I’ve gone through over the years, I’ve changed. I’ve done a lot of running away, but I don’t feel like running now.”
“I don’t feel like running either.” I took one of his hands and dropped it back down to my thigh.
His hand tightened, fingers digging into my skin through the thin fabric of my dress. “What do you want? Tell me.”
“I’ve never had sex in the forest,” I said softly. “And the idea that someone could come around the corner at any moment and see us is very—”
“Very what?” His voice dropped low as he pushed up the hem of my dress, backing me against the railing of the small wooden bridge.
“It turns me on,” I whispered, even though there was no one to hear us.
Ace crushed me against him and kissed me hard and deep. I breathed in his scent, woodsy and more intoxicating than the crisp, earthy scent of fallen leaves mingled with the sharp tang of evergreen needles. In that moment, I let go of my doubts and surrendered to the pull between us.
“You are impossible to resist, especially in this dress.” Ace’s hands moved with purpose, roaming down my back as he pressed my hips against his, letting me feel just how much he wanted me.
I arched into him as he slid the dress up and over my hips. “You were so fucking sexy on that stage. Every man in that bar wanted you. I thought I’d have to fight them all off.”
“You say the nicest things.”
“I wasn’t thinking the nicest thoughts.” He pushed down the straps of my dress and undid the catch of my bra, pulling it away to bare my breasts to the cool night air.
His lips trailed a path from my neck to my collarbone, his tongue darting out to taste my skin as he kissed his way down.
“These are for me to see.” He bent down and took my nipple between his lips. “These are for me to taste.”
The sensation of his touch sent shivers through my body. I ran my hands through his thick, soft hair as his tongue rolled over the sensitive peak of my nipple, then he sucked hard.
My fingers contracted against his scalp, my nails scraping against his skin as pleasure fuzzed my brain. He turned his attention to my other nipple, rolling it between his teeth. I arched into him, feeling his erection press against my hips as he inhaled a stiff breath.
He palmed my breasts with cool hands, but his kisses were hot. “Is this what you want? Or do you need more danger?”
Before I could respond, he yanked on my panties, shoving them down to my knees and exposing me completely to the night. My heart pounded, and we worked together to get them off until I was completely exposed, raw and open to whatever he wanted to do to me.
“Spread your legs.”
I did as he commanded, aching, waiting, bracing for his touch. Ace dropped to one knee in front of me. The moment his fingers slid between my thighs, we both groaned.
“Touch your breasts,” he said. “Imagine my mouth on them, my hands.”
I cupped my breasts, squeezed them gently, imagined his rough palms on my skin, his lips on my nipples. He watched me, chest heaving, his dark eyes heated, intense.
“You’re beautiful.”
“And you’re not moving,” I groaned, impatient. “I’m doing all the work.”
He smirked and slid his hands slowly up my legs from my ankles, then along my calves to my thighs. His fingers moved inward, his thumbs massaging the sensitive skin, closer and closer to where I wanted him to go.
“Touch yourself.” His voice was low, raw and husky with desire. “Show me how you like it.” He lifted my left leg over his shoulder, spreading me wide.
I was so wet, so close, so needy, I did as he asked, first circling my clit and then slipping two fingers inside. His eyes never left mine, and the intimacy of being watched so intently sent my desire sky-high.
“Stop,” he ordered, grabbing my wrist. “I didn’t say you could come. That’s my job.”
I didn’t know this side of Ace. Dominant and demanding. Utterly in control. But maybe it had always been there, and maybe that’s why he always made me feel so calm. Part of me knew that no matter how wildly I spun out of control, he would always be there to ground me.
“Maybe you should get to work then,” I gritted out, my voice tight with unmet need. “Or I might have to file a complaint with your manager.”
“You won’t have anything to complain about when I’m done with you.” He pushed two fingers inside me and moved in to tease my clit with his tongue. My hands weaved into his hair, holding him in place as he teased and tormented me, the sensation of his hot wet mouth driving me wild.
“I got you.” Ace curved his fingers, pressing against my inner walls as he circled my clit, drawing out my pleasure until finally the world exploded in a shower of sensation. I collapsed back against the railing, utterly spent.
“I love watching you fall apart.” He lowered my leg and stood to kiss me, his hands cupping my face as gently as he’d once held a butterfly that had been trapped in our garden shed back home. “That was almost worth a walk through a dark, dangerous forest.”
“Almost?”
“I’ve put you at risk.” He tugged my dress down over my hips.
“Wait.” I grabbed his wrist. “What about you?”
“I think we should get you home.”
“But…” He wanted me. I could see the bulge beneath his fly, feel his desire in the lightness of his touch.
There was more to this than a concern for my safety, more than the risk of being caught, more than the ambivalence he had shown me so long ago.
I didn’t know why he was backing off, but I wasn’t letting him go.
I pressed my body up against his and kissed him, hands in his hair tugging him down. He tensed, resisting, but then he shuddered, groaned, and suddenly I was crushed against his body. He threaded his hand through my hair, tugging my head back as he took my mouth in a mind-bending kiss.
“You want me,” I murmured, pulling away.
“You know I do.”
“Then it’s my turn to watch you fall apart.” I didn’t give him a chance to respond. I unbuttoned his jeans and reached beneath his boxers to free his hardened length. His body tensed, and I met his gaze as I dropped my sweater on the ground and knelt to take him into my mouth.
“Haley…” His voice caught, broke. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I want to make you feel good.” I licked the velvet head of his shaft, tasting the salt on his skin. The moon filtered through the trees, lighting him from behind, his hard body taut against the deep grays and blacks of the forest.
“Fuck. You have the sweetest mouth.” He groaned and fisted his hands in my hair as I sucked him deeper, running my tongue down the hard ridges and over hot skin.
Wrapping my hand around the base of his erection, I worked him in time to every stroke of my tongue until his body tensed, and his thighs trembled. There was power in taking a man to the edge, and feeling his need in the quiver of his muscles made me hot all over again.
“I need to be inside you.” His hands tightened in my hair, holding me still.
“I want to finish you.” I swirled my tongue over the head of his cock, and he cursed.
“Not here. Not like this.” With a pained groan, he pulled me to my feet and kissed me full on the mouth. “Turn around. Lean over the railing. Lift your dress and show me that ass.”
My head reeling from his sudden change in demeanor, I did as he asked. I heard the crinkle of a condom wrapper, the gentle pressure of his hands on my hips, the press of his tip at my entrance, and then with a hard push, he was inside me.
“Fuck, you’re so wet for me.” He pulled out and thrust in again, enough to tease but not enough to give me what I wanted.
“Harder.”
He withdrew and gave me just an inch, holding me in place with a firm hand on my hip. “Bossy.”
I hissed out a breath. “I’ll be anything you like if you keep going.”
“Be mine.” He pushed all the way inside me. And then he leaned over and pressed a kiss to my nape. “Tell me you’ll be mine.”
“Ace…”
His free hand slid over my hip to my clit, and he circled it slowly, moving closer and closer to the center. Pleasure built with every breath. His body was hard and heavy against me, his shaft filling me completely. He pulled out the tiniest bit and thrust in again, spiraling my pleasure.
I was so close, and he was so deep. I was him and he was me and we were together in a way that felt like it was always meant to be.
I came before I had to answer, my body tightening around him, hands gripping the cold wooden rail so hard my knuckles turned white. He followed me quickly into oblivion, my name on his lips as he fell apart.
He hugged me close after we dressed, kissing me softly, his eyes lingering on mine. We held hands in the car on the way home and then we spent the night together. But he never asked me for my answer. And I was glad. Because I didn’t know what to say.