Six
Kema
“Oh my God… It’s hot as hell.” I sighed fanning myself with my hand as we stepped off the private plane Ace had arranged for us to take to Cancún. Yes. Private. Fucking. Plane.
Because apparently Ace Davis had money. And not regular money either. That had been one of the many things I’d learned about him over the past few days. Before this week, if somebody asked me what Ace did for a living, I would’ve said he owned Ace’s. That was it. That was all I knew about him.
Come to find out, that damn bar was probably the least impressive thing he owned. Ace owned a winery, several rental properties, a few commercial buildings, and apparently had investments in some other shit he tried explaining to me before my eyes glazed over and I told him to stop talking.
The nigga was a millionaire. Like rich-rich. He had assets, properties, and investments. He had the type of money that probably required lawyers, accountants, and he even had an investor with a company called Vaughn Investments. Somehow, I’d known this man for years without knowing any of that.
The more time I spent with Ace, the more I realized I didn’t know shit about him. We’d talked damn near the entire flight about our families, our childhoods, things we wanted, things we hated, and random shit that had nothing to do with the fake relationship we were supposed to be creating.
I’d learned the winery had originally belonged to his grandparents.
When they passed, Ace inherited the winery while his sister inherited the family farm.
His sister still lived there with her husband and their daughters, and from the way Ace talked about his nieces, those little girls had him wrapped around every single one of their fingers.
He was close to his sister. His parents?
Not so much. Ace told me both of them were drug addicts, which was why his grandparents eventually stepped in and raised him and his sister.
From the way he talked about them, they were his parents in every way that mattered.
They gave him the stability his actual parents couldn’t.
We didn’t stay on the subject long. Ace had already accepted his parents for who they were, and I understood not wanting to dig around in shit you’d already made peace with.
The more we talked, the more I realized Ace had always just been Markel’s friend to me.
Now I was getting to know Ace. And I liked him.
Probably more than I needed to. “What’s wrong with your face? ” Ace asked.
“Nothing. It’s just hot.”
“Should’ve dressed for the weather.”
I looked down at my outfit. “What’s wrong with what I have on?”
“Nothing.” His eyes traveled over me. “You look good you're wearing pants though."
“I'm not this is linen.”
“Still pants. I was just pointing out why you were hot."
“Linen is not like jeans. And furthermore you don’t have all this body.” I waved a hand over myself. “This ass I'm carrying is why I'm hot.”
Ace laughed and pulled me underneath his arm. “Now we both hot.”
“You’re so annoying.”
“You keep saying that.” His hand settled against my waist like it belonged there. He was becoming a problem.
A few days ago, I’d decided sleeping with Ace was a mistake. Now we were in Mexico pretending to be together after having very real sex. Nothing about that sounded like a smart thing to do. But it was too late now.
The driver loaded our bags into the SUV while Ace grabbed the heavier ones himself. I watched his shirt pull tight across his back before he glanced over his shoulder and caught me staring. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“You sure?”
“Load the bags, Ace.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I rolled my eyes and climbed into the SUV. By the time we reached the resort, I had dozed off against Ace’s shoulder. He nudged me gently. “Kema.”
“Mmm.”
“We here.”
I opened my eyes, wiped the little drool from around my lips, and looked through the window. “Oh shit my bad. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you.”
Ace laughed. "You good love."
I ignored him and continued looking at the resort. The resort was beautiful. White stone, palm trees, open archways, and water so blue it almost looked fake. “This is nice.”
“You ain’t look at the pictures?”
“No. Because we really didn't have a choice this is the resort she's having her wedding at.”
He nodded. By the time I stepped from the SUV, Ace was already beside me with his hand out.
I took it without thinking. Then I looked toward the entrance.
Of fucking course. Sierra and Stephen were standing with part of the wedding party.
So were Markel and Tiana. And they were looking directly at us.
More specifically, at our hands. “Fuck.”
Ace leaned closer. “What?”
“They’re here.”
“I see.”
I started to pull my hand away, but Ace tightened his fingers around mine. “What are you doing?”
“What we came here to do.”
Before I could respond, his other hand settled against my waist. My body immediately remembered that hand. Traitor. “Relax,” he murmured.
“I am relaxed.”
“You squeezing the fuck out my hand.”
I loosened my grip. “Sorry.”
Ace looked down at me. “You good?”
I glanced at Markel. He was still staring.
Tiana stood beside him looking exactly how I remembered her.
Pretty as hell, unfortunately. I wasn’t about to lie just because I didn’t like the bitch.
But seeing them together didn’t hurt. No knot in my stomach.
No urge to cry. Nothing. Well. Look at God. “I’m good.”
Ace studied me for another second before nodding. “Aight.”
We walked toward them. Sierra saw us first, and the smile that spread across her face told me that bitch was enjoying this entirely too much. “Kema!”
I released Ace long enough to hug her. “Look at you, bride!”
“Oh my God, we’re really here.”
“We’re really here.”
She pulled away and immediately looked between me and Ace, eyebrows bouncing. I gave her a warning look. She grinned. Which knowing Sisi meant she absolutely would. Ace hugged her before dapping Stephen up. Then I heard the voice I’d been preparing myself to hear. “Kema.”
I turned. Markel stood a few feet away with Tiana beside him. This was the first time I’d seen him in months. He looked the same. And I felt nothing. “Markel.”
His attention moved to Ace. “What you doing here?”
Ace stepped beside me. “Attending a wedding.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No. What do you mean?”
Here we go. Markel looked at our hands. “You came with Kema?”
“He’s my date,” I answered.
Markel looked at me. “Your date?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
I laughed. The audacity of this nigga. “Since when do I have to clear my dates with you?”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“Then why are you asking?”
His jaw tightened. Tiana shifted beside him, and Stephen cleared his throat. “We ain’t doing this.”
“I ain’t doing nothing,” Markel said.
“Could’ve fooled me.”
Markel looked at Ace. “You ain’t tell me you was fucking with Kema.”
Well. So we were doing this. Ace didn’t move his arm from around me. “Didn’t know I needed permission.”
“That ain’t what I’m saying.”
“Sound like it.”
Markel looked between us. “How long this been going on?”
“A couple months,” Ace answered. My head almost snapped toward him. A couple months? This nigga was already freelancing.
“We kept it private,” he added. Markel stared at him, but I was done with the conversation. “Baby, can we check in? I’m hot.”
Baby? Where the fuck did that come from? Ace’s eyes flashed with amusement. “Yeah. Come on.”
His hand moved to the small of my back. “We’ll catch up later.”
The second we made it inside, I slapped his arm. “Ow. What the fuck?”
“A couple months?”
“You panicked.”
“I did not panic.”
“Why did you call me baby.”
“That’s called acting.”
“And what I did was called acting.”
“No. What you did was called changing the damn script.”
Ace laughed. “Same shit.”
“It is not the same shit.” I wanted to stay irritated, but Markel’s face popped into my head. And I smiled. Ace caught it. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Nah. What?”
“He was mad.”
“He was surprised.”
“I know that man. He was mad.”
“And you like that?”
I started to say yes. But I didn’t. Not as much as I thought I would. “I thought I’d feel more.”
Ace looked at me. “More what?”
“Something. Seeing him with her.”
“And?”
I shrugged. “Nothing.”
And damn, that felt good. Ace slipped his hand into mine again.
This time, nobody we needed to convince was around.
I looked down at our hands but didn’t pull away.
Check-in went smoothly until the woman behind the desk handed Ace two keycards.
“Your oceanfront king suite is on the seventh floor. Enjoy your stay.”
King? I waited until we were away from the desk. “Ace.”
“What?”
“Did she say king?”
“Yeah.”
“As in one bed?”
“What other kind of king she supposed to mean?”
I stopped walking. “I requested two beds.”
Ace started laughing. “This ain’t funny.”
“It’s a little funny.”
“We need another room.”
“Kema, it’s a wedding block. They probably don’t have another room.”
“You don’t know that.”
“You scared?”
I looked at him. “Of what?”
“Sleeping next to me.”
“Please.”
“Sound scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Then we good.”
“We are not sleeping together again.”
“I know.”
“For seven nights.”
“I can count.”
“You better stay on your side.”
“Aight.”
“No touching.”
“Aight.”
“No cuddling.”
“Aight.”
“And stop saying aight!”
He laughed as I walked ahead of him. When I opened the door to our suite, I stopped. Rose petals covered the king-sized bed. Two towel swans sat in the middle with their necks shaped into a heart, and a bottle of champagne was chilling beside a card. I picked it up.
Congratulations to the happy couple. Enjoy your romantic stay in Cancún.
I slowly turned toward Ace. He looked at the bed. Then at me. “This is Sierra’s fucking fault.”
Ace busted out laughing. I threw the card at him. “It’s not funny!”
“Kinda is.”
“Ace!”
Seven days. One bed. And a man I’d already slept with once. Cancún was already trying me, and we’d been here less than an hour.