Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ace
I press myself harder against her, my cock aching in my jeans.
"What's it going to be, pretty girl? You comin' home with me or is that a goodbye kiss?" I ask.
Her fingers trail down my abs, and she cups me through my jeans. My vision whites out for a second. It’s been a long time.
"I need you, Ace. Right fucking now," she breathes out. Her eyes are full of fire. The Harper I remember. The one who takes what she wants and doesn't apologize for it.
"Fuck," I groan.
I lace my fingers around her throat and kiss her again. I can't stop. Every time I pull back, her mouth chases mine, and every time her lips find me, I lose another piece of whatever restraint I had left.
"I'm gonna come in my boxers, Harper. I'm not joking. I can't last the ride home."
She giggles, that beautiful blush spreading up her neck, her heart hammering against my palm where it rests on her chest.
She scans the area. The dirt track. The fence line. The dark, quiet ranch house with no lights on and no truck in the drive.
"My parents aren't home."
I nod and step back. Put distance between us before I take her right here against this truck in full view of God and the neighbors.
I run my hand over my jaw. Breathe. Think. Try to get blood flowing back to my brain.
I know exactly what my girl wants. It's the exact same thing I've dreamt about for years. Every night. In every version. In every fantasy that kept me sane and drove me crazy in equal measure.
She wants to run, and she needs to be caught.
“Remember our system?” I ask her, keeping my voice low.
“Yes. Green, good, keep going. Yellow, I need you to slow down a little, but I’m good. Pink, I’m close to red. Red, I need you to stop right now.”
“Good girl,” I growl.
She takes a step closer, and my eyebrow arches.
"I'm going to chase you, Goldie. And when I catch you—" I pause, watching the way her chest rises and falls. The darkness pooling in her eyes. The way her thighs press together. "You'll remember exactly who you belong to. You. Are. Mine."
I swipe my thumb along my bottom lip, my eyes locked on hers.
She doesn't hesitate.
She runs.
And my whole body lights up. Every instinct, every nerve, every primal part of me that has been dormant snaps awake.
I watch her go. Her little skirt swaying, her boots kicking up dust, her hair streaming behind her as she darts between two smaller outbuildings and heads toward what I remember to be the stables.
She's still fast. She always was sneaky, taking turns I didn't see coming, doubling back through shadows. The girl knows how to be chased. She was built for it.
I count to ten in my head. Heart slamming. Blood roaring.
I grab the black bandana from the dash and tie it around my face. I did this once for her, and I’ll never forget how hard she came. It gives the chase that extra layer of fear that makes her fall to pieces for me.
"Ready or not, Harper. I'm comin' for you!" I shout into the dark, loud enough that she hears it wherever she's hiding. Loud enough that she feels it in her chest.
And then I go.
I follow her trail, the scuff marks in the dirt, the gate she left swinging, the faint trace of her perfume hanging in the night air. My boots are quiet on the hard ground. I've stalked men through darker nights than this. But nothing has ever made my pulse hammer the way hunting Harper Jones does.
I head straight for the barn at the back. Jump the fence in one stride and kick open the door.
"I know you're in here, baby," I call out, tapping my hand on the doorframe. My voice is muffled behind the bandana. "I'll always find you."
Silence. Just the creak of old timber and the rustle of something shifting.
I walk through the empty barn. Ranch equipment along the walls. Hay bales stacked along the back. Moonlight cutting through the slats in sharp silver lines.
There's a stack of bales in the far corner. Taller than the others. I stop breathing. Just listen. Over the pounding of blood in my ears, I catch it.
The faintest little breaths. Trying so hard to be quiet and failing because her heart's beating too fast.
I grin behind the bandana. Keep my feet silent on the dirt floor so I can close the distance.
And in one move, I slam the top bale off the stack. It crashes onto the floor in an explosion of dust and loose hay.
She yelps.
I chuckle, but then she's out. Scrambling off the bales, ducking under my arm, racing past me so fast her hair whips across my face. She catches me completely off guard.
She heads for the door. I sprint after her.
She only just makes it out into the open air when I grab her waist, plant my feet, and throw us both backward, taking the impact as I land on my back.
She lands on top of me. The impact knocks the air from both of us, and for a second, we're just a tangle of limbs and heavy breathing.
I don't waste a second. I roll us over, caging her in, my forearms on either side of her head, my knee between her thighs, kicking her legs open.
"Fuck, this is hot," she pants, already tearing at my T-shirt, dragging it up my chest and over my head. Her nails graze my skin on the way down, and she pulls me closer by my belt.
I look down at her. Pinned beneath me, hay in her hair, chest heaving, eyes wild and dark and absolutely fucking fearless. Her mouth curves as she grins up at me.
"Caught you," I murmur, pulling the bandana down around my neck.
"Took you long enough," she whispers back.
I lower my mouth to hers. Slow this time. Tasting her. Savoring her. Because the chase is over and the catching is the reward, and I'm going to take my time with every second of it.
My lips trail down her jaw. Her neck. The hollow of her throat where her pulse is hammering so hard I can feel it against my tongue. She arches into me, her fingers raking through my hair, gripping, pulling.
"Ace," she breathes. "Please."
That word. Please. On her lips. In that voice. Wrecked and desperate and all fuckin’ mine.
I've never denied this woman anything. I'm not about to start now.
My hand slides down her side, over her hip, and I lift her skirt. My fingers run over her black lace panties.
"Is this what you want?"
She nods frantically.
I lean in, running my lips along her cheek. My fingers dip under her panties, but I don't touch her where she needs it yet.
She's already squirming under me.
"I'm going to eat you out until you're screaming this damn barn down. I ain't stopping until you're shaking. And once I'm done with that—" I sink two fingers inside her.
She moans my name against my cheek, and I nearly explode.
"I'm going to fuck your tight little pussy. Choke you. Pull your hair. Just like you always needed, Goldie."
Two more pumps of my fingers and her back arches. She's dripping all over my palm, and I grin.
I've still got it. Even after all this time. I was made to pleasure one woman, and one woman only.
"Ace, I-I'm gonna come," she whimpers.
She almost sounds shocked.
"You missed me, huh? No one else can get you going like I can, can they?"
She shakes her head, squeezing her eyes shut.
I can't think about her with anyone else. But that's life. She had every right to try to find someone to make her happy. She had to learn that there ain't no one else except me.
I chose to stay celibate because I already knew the truth. My dick belongs to her. Plain and simple.
But the past is the past. I just need to prove that her cowboy is the one who makes her scream. No one else.
I kiss my way down her body until I settle between her legs. Slowly, I drag her panties down and spread her thighs, lifting her up by her ass.
I glance up. Her eyes are closed, her breathing measured, trying not to come too fast.
"Eyes on me, gorgeous. Be a good girl for me. I wanna see how much you've missed me," I mutter, letting my breath hit her.
One slow stroke of my tongue and she's crying out.
When I circle her clit, her body shakes around me.
"You can come if you want, Harper. But I ain't stopping until I'm finished with you."
She sucks in a breath. "I-I can come? As many times as I want?"
I grin. I could eat her out until the sun rises.
"Yeah, baby. Today ain't the day for edging. Just give me everything. Come all over my fuckin' face as many times as you want."
I sink two fingers inside her and suck on her clit, the combination she goes wild for. My fingers dig into her ass, hard enough to leave marks.
"Ace! Ace! Fuck!"
She comes violently, shaking against my face, and I still don't let up.
Even as my entire body tenses. I'm groaning against her as I lick up every last drop she gives me.
Watching her fall apart is all it takes.
I can't stop myself. It hits me like a goddamn explosion. In my boxers. The kind that takes your breath away. I almost see fucking stars.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck," I grunt out.