Ace (Royal Protectors Companion)

Prologue

Ten Years Ago

Ace

I walk into the brightly lit ballroom and tug at my tuxedo collar.

I hate these kinds of events, but when a state senator who used to be your commanding officer asks you to do something, you kind of have to.

Aside from the suit, it’s not so bad. The food is good, drinks are free, and there’s almost always an attractive woman who might be a fun distraction for a few hours.

As a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, I find women are plentiful.

I just don’t often have time for them. So, once in a while, it’s nice to get out and do something that isn’t military related.

I work in military intelligence now, so I spend a lot of time alone in front of computers or skulking around the world trying to find bad guys.

I get off on the adrenaline rush, but sometimes it gets lonely.

“Lieutenant Ross.” I hear my name and turn, smiling at Senator Wayne Barrow.

“Hello, sir. Nice to see you.” I shake his hand.

“I appreciate your coming out tonight.”

“I’m not sure why you wanted me here, but I’m happy to oblige. My mother drilled it into me that a real man should own and wear a tuxedo on the regular, so you gave me my excuse for the year.”

He laughs, his eyes crinkling. He’s gotten older since leaving the marines, but he’s been sick too. Cancer. Rumor has it he’s doing better, but he looks pale to me. “I’m glad to help you score points with your mother. However, now I’m hoping you can help me score points with my daughter.”

Oh, hell. I wasn’t expecting this, but I put on a smile and nod anyway. I owe him my career, so I’ll do my best for him.

Even if it means that I don’t enjoy the evening.

“How old is Shannon now?” I ask politely.

“Twenty-one.” He smiles wryly. “I know she’s not…

your type. If you could just be nice to her tonight, it would mean the world to me.

My wife made her come, and she hates these things almost as much as I do, but Samantha thought it would be good for her since she’s too shy for her own good.

Just a few dances, Ace. Maybe a drink at the bar.

That’s all. I’m not asking you to marry her or anything. ”

“No problem.” What else can I say?

Okay, I can do this.

If she’s painfully shy, maybe a few glasses of wine will help. I seem to remember a girl with Coke-bottle glasses and braces, but I haven’t seen her since I was in ROTC in college and she was a teenager. Maybe fifteen?

I turn, bracing myself, and look into those same Coke-bottle glasses.

But this Shannon isn’t the awkward, chubby fifteen-year-old I remember.

This Shannon is a grown woman with curves in all the right places.

It’s a shame her blond hair is pulled back in a tight, severe bun that doesn’t do anything to compliment her pretty face, and that those big blue eyes are mostly hidden by even bigger glasses.

Her mouth is full, with a slight bow to her upper lip, and it’s delightfully inviting with a sheer pink gloss highlighting it.

“Hello, Lieutenant.” Her voice is quiet but has a light, airy flair that makes me smile.

“Please. Call me Ace.”

“If you’ll excuse me,” Senator Barrow says, trying to hide his grin. “I’m going to find my wife.”

“I apologize,” Shannon says once he’s gone. “I know he lured you here tonight to be my date, but you don’t have to. I’m perfectly okay being a wallflower.”

“That seems like a shame.”

“I’m used to it.”

“A beautiful woman should never get used to being alone.” I didn’t mean to flirt, but the words come out anyway.

“You don’t have to say things like that, Ace. We both know I’m anything but beautiful.”

“I beg to differ.” I cock my head. “Despite your great attempt to hide them, you have gorgeous blue eyes. You have pretty features, a sweet smile, and I imagine there’s more to you than you let on.”

This time her smile is genuine, though there’s a faint pink tinge to her cheeks. “Well, I think the truth is somewhere in between those two things.”

“Which two things?” I ask, chuckling.

“The sweet smile and what you’re imagining.”

“Shannon, dear.” Samantha Barrow approaches us as if she’s on a mission. “Come. It’s time for dinner.”

“Okay.” Shannon smiles at me over her shoulder. “Goodbye, Lieutenant.”

“Bye, Shannon. Hello, Mrs. Barrow.”

The older woman gives me a stiff smile. “Hello, Andrew.”

God, I hate when people call me by my given name. No one, not even my parents, has called me that for years. Mrs. Barrow knows that, since I met her on many occasions while I was under her husband’s command. So, she’s just being a bitch and I have no idea why.

Whatever.

The bar is calling my name.

***After dinner and a couple of drinks, I’m cornered at the bar by a busty blonde who tells dirty jokes and laughs at them without waiting to see if I think they’re funny.

Normally, she would be a perfect target for a night of no-commitment sex, but tonight I have another woman on my mind.

I’m not sure why, either, because as her father said, she isn’t my type at all.

But every time I catch sight of Shannon, she shoots me an almost pleading look, and now I’m torn.

Senator Barrow asked me to look out for her, while his wife has made it clear she doesn’t want her daughter associating with me.

I don’t know which way to go with this, but Shannon is currently on the dance floor with some suspender-wearing dweeb who keeps stepping on her feet and it’s obvious she’s miserable.

Oh, hell, in for a penny, in for a pound.

I excuse myself as the song comes to an end and approach Shannon with a smile. “Excuse me, is the next dance free?”

“Oh, yes, thank you.” She all but turns her back on her current partner and gives me a grateful smile.

Luckily, the next song is a popular but slow contemporary song, and she moves into my arms easily.

“Well, hello again,” I say.

“Hi. Thank you for saving me.”

“My pleasure.” I look down into those gorgeous eyes and it’s on the tip of my tongue to ask her to take the glasses off, so I can get a better look at them. That might offend her, though, so I don’t.

She moves easily in my arms, light on her feet. I’m not a great dancer but I can hold my own, and Shannon seems perfectly content to go where I lead her.

“So, are you in college?” I ask.

She nods. “Yes, at American University here in D.C. Mom didn’t want me to go away. Something about peer pressure and unplanned pregnancy.”

I can’t see for sure, between her glasses and the dim lights on the dance floor, but I could swear she rolls her eyes.

“What are you studying?”

“Teaching.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“Mom is mortified. It’s the equivalent of going on welfare, in her opinion.”

“Your father isn’t like that, is he?”

“No, but Mom rules the house and he gets to escape to work, so mostly I’m stuck with her.”

“You’re not close, I take it?”

“We used to be, but once she realized I’m not the daughter she expected me to be, we drifted apart. She doesn’t understand that I’m twenty-one now, and just because she wants to marry me off to the first doctor that’ll have me, that’s not what I want.”

“What do you want?” I ask curiously.

Her smile turns shy. “To fall in love. To find my own personal Prince Charming, who sweeps me off my feet and takes me away.”

“So, the white picket fence and two point five babies?”

She shakes her head. “Not necessarily. A high-rise condo in London or a shack on a beach in Tahiti—it’s all the same to me as long as the man I’m with loves me unconditionally. And I refuse to settle.”

Wow, she’s sweeter than sweet and cuter than…almost anything. Too bad I’m not anyone’s knight in shining armor. “Bet your mom will take issue with the hut in Tahiti,” I quip, grinning down at her.

“I’m an adult, though she always reminds me I live under her roof.”

“Not when you’re in college, though.”

She sighs. “I commute every day. She wouldn’t let me live on campus.”

“Damn, honey, that sounds awful. Are you a senior?”

“A junior. So, a little over a year until I’m free.”

“Then what?”

“Then I’m going to walk up to the first cute guy I see and kiss him.”

I laugh. I can’t help it. “How come?”

She blushes again. “I have to start somewhere and I’ve never kissed anyone before.”

My mouth nearly falls open. “But…”

“I know. Believe me. It’s just never been worth the hassle.

Teenage boys were…gross. I tried once during a game of spin the bottle and it was not worth risking my mother’s wrath.

And now that my dad’s a senator, well, I never know what a guy’s intentions are.

I want my first kiss to be for me, not them. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

Holy shit. A sweet, smart, sheltered little virgin. I’m falling in love right here on the dance floor.

“I’m a little surprised, but it makes total sense.”

“I was embarrassed my father asked you here tonight to be a kind of unofficial date for me, but I’m glad now. You’re not what I was expecting.”

“I had no idea you father had an ulterior motive, but you’re not what I was expecting either. And I’m glad too. Want to get a glass of wine?”

“Absolutely.”

We talk and dance for the next couple of hours.

She’s the kind of woman who makes me wish I’m not leaving for the Middle East in a couple of days.

My job in intelligence is going to take me all over the world, and I’m the last guy a girl like her needs.

I indulge in a momentary fantasy, though, imagining being the man of her dreams.

Because she’s special.

A delightful breath of fresh air that makes me yearn a little.

Just a little.

“It’s almost midnight,” she says, bringing me back to the present.

“What happens at midnight? Do you turn into a pumpkin?”

“Mother says nothing good ever happens after midnight, so a lady should take her leave.”

This time I roll my eyes. “Your mother is a pain in my ass.”

“You have no idea.”

We laugh together, but I grab her hand. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?” she asks, allowing me to pull her toward the exit.

“Here.” I found a small alcove earlier, when I went to the restroom, and it’s the perfect spot for us to be alone for a few minutes.

“What are we doing?” she asks breathlessly.

“Nothing,” I say softly, looking into her eyes. “I wanted a moment alone with you to ask for a tiny favor.”

“O-okay.” She looks a little nervous, but my intentions are mostly innocent.

“Can I look at you without your glasses?”

“Oh.” She blinks. “Sure.” She takes them off without hesitation, and my whole body tenses with arousal.

Not the sexual kind, believe it or not, but the kind of excitement you feel when you look into someone’s soul.

I’ve known her as an adult for four damn hours, and she makes me want things I shouldn’t want.

I can pretend, though. For one moment in time, I can pretend I’m just a regular guy who wants to fall in love and live a normal life. A life that doesn’t include the CIA and all the dangerous missions in my future.

“Ace?”

“Hmm?” I’m so caught up in the blue depths of her eyes, I have to snap back to the present.

“I want it to be you.”

“What?”

“My first kiss. I want it to be you.”

“Shannon.” I put one hand on the side of her face. “I leave for Iraq the day after tomorrow. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” I pause. “If I’ll be back.”

“I knew you were special.” She doesn’t seem at all daunted. “A literal knight in shining armor, out to save the world. Just the man for my first kiss.”

“Oh, baby.” I lean in, one arm circling her waist and drawing her close. She doesn’t need to ask me twice. I want to kiss her more than I want to breathe, and when my lips touch hers, it’s more blissful than any other kiss ever.

Her mouth opens under my guidance, and I slide my tongue against hers easily, slowly, savoring the taste of her. She’s exquisite, and when I deepen the kiss, she’s right there with me.

I keep it gentle, regret twisting through my gut as I realize this is the one and only time I’ll ever touch her.

Damn, I want more, and she does too.

The little whimper that escapes her makes me so hard it hurts.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, drawing back. My forehead is pressed to hers, our bodies close together. “In another time and place…”

“It’s okay.” She smiles, that sweet, guileless smile that reaches right into my heart and wraps itself around it. “You made one of my dreams come true. I’ll cherish this always.”

“Shannon! Shannon, are you out here?” Her mother’s voice makes us jump.

We shrink into the shadows, biting back laughter as her mother blows right past us, oblivious.

“Be safe, Ace.” Shannon presses her fingers to her lips and then puts them against mine.

I lean into the warmth of her skin.

“Thank you, sweetheart. Be well and stay true to yourself. I’ll keep this memory right here.” I touch my fist to my chest, brush my lips across hers, slip out of the alcove, and stride toward the exit without looking back.