Chapter 6
ACE
There’s always a first time for everything, they say. And they are fucking right. I never expected I’d feel jealousy over a woman, not when I never cared for one. But the moment I saw her standing there, not alone, but smiling at another man who wasn’t me...
I went blind. Rage made the world go red, and, fuck, I hate that.
What is this woman doing to me? I’ve never felt this way, and I don’t know how to make it stop or how to explain it.
Ivy is not meant to be mine. She’s engaged, and Victor has been messaging me every few hours to ask about her.
He’s possessive of his sister, worried, but something tells me he’s not worried for the right reasons.
Could he be this shallow? Could he truly be interested only in selling his sister to the highest bidder? The thought of it makes my gut twist.
I reach out and increase the speed of the treadmill.
My feet hit the track with hard thuds, but I don’t make it easier.
I increase the angle, too, making my thighs work even harder.
The burn in my muscles is nothing. I need to sweat this desire off.
It’s making my mind muddy. The only thing in my head, day in and day out, is Ivy.
Her body against mine, how soft she is. The way she smiles at me, how her laugh sounds.
Her lips, the kiss we shared. The scene replays in my mind nonstop at every waking moment.
This is a crazed obsession. And if exercising until I almost pass out doesn’t work, I’ll have to find another way.
I’ll have to think of something to wash this lust away.
Because it has to be it. Lust. Never felt before, an unimaginable lust for a woman I can’t have.
Perhaps I’m a masochist. Or this is all because she’s unreachable.
I don’t know. It doesn’t matter, because it has to stop.
Another increase in speed, my feet hitting the mat fast. I grind my teeth together and release air. Sweat runs down my spine, but I keep my eyes ahead, forcing my mind away from her.
If only that were possible.
At first, I think I’m imagining. The scent of white rose and jasmine. I flare my nostrils and let it fill my lungs, then shudder it out. Fuck, the smell of her is amazing. I’m so fucking obsessed I’m imagining it.
Then I see her out of the corner of my eye, ambling into the gym with that innocent look of hers... And everything goes to shit.
I hit the stop button and slow down my run.
The moment I’m sure I won’t topple down the mill, I jump off and turn around to face her.
Ivy has pulled her blond hair back in a ponytail, and she’s looking at the machines with veiled interest. She’s in those shorts and a t-shirt, and I wonder if she hasn’t tired of the same clothes.
Should have bought her more. The urge to buy her dozens and dozens of expensive clothes for her to choose from rattles me for a moment, then I shake myself back to reality.
This has to be just lust. It has to be. But buying her gifts shouldn’t apply.
“Hey,” she greets me when I’m close to her. She looks up with those enormous eyes, then sucks her lower lip between her teeth. Fuck. She’s so fucking sexy.
“Hey. You want to work out? I can show you how to use them,” I offer, my voice mechanical and cold. Keeping my distance is the best I can do. That and exercising, hoping this lust will eventually go away.
She shakes her head. “I was just wondering... about how long I can stay here. You’ve been keeping your distance since... that day. So I haven’t found time to ask.”
Shit. She can stay forever. Wait, what? No, no, she can’t.
I shake my head, then give her my back to go for my towel.
My cock is so hard it’s creating a tent in the gym shorts.
They’re too thin to hide the bulge, and I don’t need to give her more reasons to think I’m a fucker, not after I went apeshit with jealousy.
“I’ve been keeping him updated,” I tell her. “You can stay for at least a couple of days more. Until Saturday.” There’s a big game on Saturday, and I need to get my head around this matter before then. She’ll be leaving, and she won’t even remember me in a month.
Ivy looks at her feet, then moves her head in half-hearted agreement. “Saturday. So soon.”
I nod, then notice the sadness on her features.
What is that? Did she want to stay? Why?
I take a step closer, her gravity too strong, and reach out to pinch her chin, tilting her face up.
She bats her lashes when our gazes lock, and I keep her this way for a moment, my heart beating loud in my ears.
“Why do you do this?” I whisper.
She cocks her head. “Do what?”
“Say these things,” I take a step closer to her. “Make me think you want to stay.”
Ivy moves closer, too. “I want to stay. I barely know you.”
“Why would you want to know me? We’re nothing alike.”
She furrows her brow. “Why not?”
“You’re... young. Beautiful.” I let my hand roam down her cheek, her neck, to her soft arm. “Soft. You’re smart. Brave. I’m just a big guy who’s gotten lucky playing ball. We’re nothing alike.”
She cracks up. “You’re kidding.”
“No.”
“You have to be,” she says, and her hands reach up to my chest. “Because you’re not just some guy, Ace. You’re dedicated, and you’re so handsome it hurts.” Her cheeks go pink, then red. “And you’re good. All that charity work?”
“It’s the least I can…”
She grips my shirt and rises to the tips of her toes. “You’re good, Ace. And I want to learn more about you. Let me stay with you.”
Fuck, I want her to stay. I want her to stay forever. But... “Ivy. This is not right.”
She tilts her head and chews on her bottom lip. “Really? But it feels so right.”
And it’s the look on her face that undoes me.
Before I know it, I kiss her. Hard. I devour her lips, eat her up, and feast on her pretty mouth.
She throws her arms around my neck, clings to me, and our bodies move in unison against one another.
The sharp edges of my muscles against the soft curves of her body.
I grip her ass cheeks and haul her up against me, grinding into her core.
She moans against my lips, moving in time with me, her fingers burying into my hair.
I need to have her. I need to get her out of my system, watch her come apart once, and then I’ll have to let her go.
Sitting her down, I kneel between her legs and yank her t-shirt off.
Ivy gasps as my mouth trails kisses down the mounds of her breasts, and I cup both in my hands, feeling them up.
She bites her lower lip as she grips my hair, and I lick down her stomach, leaving a wet trail to her navel.
Part of me wants to tease her, to torture her a bit, but there’s no way I can handle that.
I grip the waistband of her shorts and rip them open.
No time for buttons now. She squeals in surprise as the metal clangs to the ground, but it doesn’t stop me.
I bury my face between her thighs and breathe in the scent of her.
Fuck, the white rose and jasmine are even stronger here. She’ll get me addicted with one lick.
“Ace,” she trembles out and I stop, looking up into her eyes.
“You sure you want it?” I ask, my entire body shaking with need. She nods. I reach up and pop her lower lip from between her teeth. “Say it, gorgeous. One word and I’ll stop.”
“I want it,” she murmurs, her voice raspy with lust. “I want you so much.”
It’s all I need. Ripping off the triangle of her pretty cotton panties, I part her lower lips with my fingers and lick a stripe up her pussy.
Ivy jerks with the contact to her sensitive nub, but I don’t stop.
I latch onto her clit, playing with her entrance, and I drink from her delicious juices.
Fuck, she’s amazing. She smells amazing, and she tastes even better.
My cock twitches, harder than ever before, ready to poke a hole through my shorts.
Ivy bucks against my face, her legs closing around my head.
I pry them open once more and attack her clit with circles of my tongue.
Her back arches off, her fingers gripping even tighter to my hair, and then she comes apart.
It’s beautiful. Her cries reach straight into my soul, her pussy clamping down around the tip of my finger.
She’s so fucking tight. So perfectly tight.
But I can’t ruin her. I can’t take this from her, not when we’re not for real. We’re not endgame.
Pushing that thought aside, I stand up and kiss her again.
Ivy moves fast, her body not pliable yet, but ready for another go.
She fumbles with my waistband and fishes my cock from my boxers.
I almost blow on the spot. With her fingers around my shaft, her hand moving up and down in an unsteady rhythm, I groan against her mouth.
“Fuck, you’re so perfect,” I say, nibbling on her lips.
“Fuck me,” she asks, and it takes everything in me not to bury my cock to the hilt right here, right now.
“Can’t,” I say, and it’s all I manage before pleasure barrels down my spine.
I stand straighter, taking my cock from her hands and fisting it tight.
With my other hand, I grip her hair near her nape and tilt her head back.
Her eyes are pure lust when she meets my gaze. “Part these pretty lips for me.”
She does, sticking her tongue out, and it’s the most erotic thing I’ve ever seen.
Holy fuck, this woman will be my doom. My fist races up and down for another couple of seconds and I blow, my thick come spurting all over her chest and neck, hitting her tongue.
My heart slams against my ribcage, and I pull back, letting her hair go as I catch my breath.
And I expect her to wipe off the stickiness and move away, but Ivy licks at it as if it’s the best delicacy she’s ever had. Her eyes still glint with that unstoppable desire. And at that moment, I’m sure of it.
I won’t be able to let her go after all.