Chapter 6
six
Trace
My cock is still rock hard from watching Ember orgasm in my shower, my name on her lips.
Damn, it was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.
I head straight to my bathroom and turn the shower dial to hot.
I strip off my clothes and step under the spray as visions of Ember pleasuring herself dance through my mind.
I lather some soap in my hands, then grasp my dick.
I stroke myself, imagining what it would feel like to sink into her silky pussy, wrapped tightly around my cock.
My balls draw up tight to my body as my orgasm begins, and I jerk myself faster and harder.
I bite my lip to keep from shouting her name the way she shouted mine.
But the memory of her naked, trembling body in this very shower, coming with my name on her lips, sends me over the edge, and I sag against the shower tile as rope after rope of cum shoots onto the shower floor and down the drain, not into Ember’s pussy where it belongs.
Coming temporarily satisfies my hungry cock, but I’m far from happy without the real thing.
Stepping out of the shower, I hurry through drying myself off and throw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt in my haste to see Ember again. Rushing to my living room, I stop dead in my tracks.
“What the hell?” I come to a complete stop when I spot Ember in my chair, with my dog, Barney, in her lap, wearing my old Marine sweatpants and a hoodie from when I was eighteen, a scrawny little kid.
I was a late bloomer, so I grew six inches and gained seventy pounds of pure muscle in my first couple of years in the Marines. But damn, she looks good in my clothes.
I glance at her hair, up in a lopsided bun on top of her head, then at her scrubbed-clean face with no traces of makeup, and I realize she’s more beautiful without all that makeup and perfect hair.
“Oh, hey, Trace,” Gray’s sister, Mae, says from my couch, with a curious Josie by her side. “Gray said you were back. We thought we’d drop Barney off and invite you and your guest to family game night.”
Ever since Gray’s wife died, leaving him a single dad to a now twelve-year-old Josie, his sister Mae moved in with him to help raise Josie and run his security business. She keeps everything organized with her spreadsheets—so much so that she’s known as the Spreadsheet Queen.
“I don’t know. Ember hasn’t even had a chance to settle in.” I glance at Ember, and she looks more than settled in, wearing my clothes, sitting in my chair, and petting my dog.
“Come on, Trace. Please don’t make me have family game night with only Dad and Aunt Mae.” Josie rolls her eyes in a dramatic preteen way.
“I don’t mind. My twin sister and I always had family game night once a week when we were Josie’s age.
Well, family game night with our maids and butlers.
” Anger bubbles up inside me as I think about Ember and Elsa having to have family game night with the hired help instead of their parents.
I don’t realize I’m glaring at Ember until she speaks.
“Sorry, I didn’t have anything casual to wear.
” She plucks at the hoodie she’s wearing.
“I’d planned to ask you to take me shopping tomorrow.
I hope you don’t mind that I’m wearing your clothes. ”
Mind? If it were up to me, I’d either keep her wrapped in my clothes or keep her naked in my bed forever. “No, it’s fine. I’ll take you shopping in Valor Springs tomorrow.”
“Then it’s settled. We’ll see you up at the house in fifteen minutes.” Mae rises from the couch, taking Josie’s arm and leading her to the door and out of my home.
“What’s wrong?” Ember looks at me, her hand absently stroking Barney’s head.
“I’m just not very good at card games, that’s all.
” I lie, not wanting to tell her I’d rather stay home with her than share her with Gray and his family.
“The foster homes I bounced around to weren’t big on family game night.
” Shit, why did I tell her that? The last thing I need is her pity.
But instead of pity in her eyes, I see a kindred spirit.
She knows what it’s like to want a normal family life but never got it.
Even though we were raised in two different worlds, our childhoods weren’t that different.
“We should probably get going before Mae sends a search party out for us.” I joke, trying to lighten the mood.
“It’s not Mae I’m worried about. I’m more worried about Josie.
Did you see the look in her eyes? I think if we didn’t show up, she’d come back and drag us there.
” We laugh like an old married couple sharing a joke until I remind myself this isn’t real—Ember is just part of my assignment—an asset, as Gray calls them.
***
“You’re cheating!” Josie accuses her father.
“I know you have two aces in your hand, Dad.” I’m not sure how we ended up playing Go Fish, but here we are, four adults and a twelve-year-old going on thirty-two, playing a children’s game.
But it doesn’t matter to me what game we’re playing as long as Ember is happy, and by the smile on her face, she’s extremely happy.
“Okay, okay.” Gray holds up his hands in defeat.
“Here you go.” He pulls out the two aces from his cards and hands them to Josie.
“You win. Trace and I need to take a break. Why don’t you ladies play chase the ace while Trace and I dish up dessert?
” It’s a ploy to get me alone to discuss the assignment.
I knew it was coming, but I wasn’t ready for it.
“It looks to me like you’re getting pretty cozy with your asset.
She’s even wearing your clothes. Don’t think I didn’t notice.
” Gray says as soon as the kitchen door shuts behind us.
I feel like a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “It’s not like that, Gray. She didn’t have anything else to wear to game night. Our relationship is purely professional.”
Gray stares for what feels like forever, sweat breaking out on my neck, and I almost confess my attraction to Ember.
I guess that’s what makes him so good at his job.
“Well, make sure it stays professional. Tonight was Josie’s idea, so I let it slide, but you have to get Ember back out in the public eye so we can capture the guy who’s after her. ”
Damn, I’d almost forgotten the assignment, so wrapped up in these strange feelings for Ember that I lost sight of the endgame.
“Not a problem. I’ll take her to a club tomorrow night.”
“You do that. And make sure to let her dance with other guys. That’s the best way to draw this guy out.”
I clench my jaw, not wanting to picture Ember dancing with anyone but me. But I know my assignment. “Yes, Sir.”