10. Symphonies #2
When, at last, they stilled, chests heaving, slick skin pressed together, it was less surrender than a standoff. He could feel the pulse of her, the aftershocks of her release still trembling around him, and his mouth trailed to her pulse point, his tongue flicking, tasting the heat of her skin.
“Gods, Scarlett,” Ace groaned, his voice thick with awe and desire, the words like a burning brand against her skin. “I could drink you in… every inch of you… taste you until you’re nothing but mine.”
Scarlett’s breath hitched, her pulse racing at the edge of something darker. Her eyes flashed with heat, but a knowing smile curved her lips. “Then stop talking,” she rasped, her challenge thick with a predatory glint. “And do it.”
Ace’s lips brushed the curve of her throat, trailing upwards with burning intent, his breath hot against her skin. “I could mark you,” he murmured, voice a low, heated promise. “Claim every inch with my teeth, until you forget who you were before me, until you’re nothing but mine.”
Her fingers dug into his back, both a warning and an invitation, her voice a challenge. “You’re welcome to try,” she whispered, her words dripping with a mix of desire and defiance. “But you'd better make it worth it.”
Ace’s eyes darkened, his chest rising with labored breaths.
“Oh, I will,” he promised, his hands pulling her closer, his lips brushing her ear.
“But first…” He let his teeth graze the edge of her neck, a fleeting bite that sent a shiver through her.
“I want to see you break for me again. I want you screaming for me, begging me to make you forget everything but me.”
Her nails dug into him as she pulled him tighter, leaning in to whisper against his ear. “I won’t break, Ace. Not for you. Not for anyone. You’ll have to work harder for it.”
His grin was dark, possessive. “I’ll break you in ways you won’t expect, Scarlett. In ways you can’t control. You’ll beg me to make you forget... and when I’m done, you won’t know where I end, and you begin.”
Scarlett’s lips brushed his in a tantalizing kiss before she pulled back, her voice a seductive whisper. “You’re a lot of talk, for so little power.”
He growled as his hands moved to grip her around her waist, his body pressed against hers as he pulled her closer with a raw, relentless force. The piano beneath them whined in protest as their storm of passion began again.
But as the heat of his touch ignited her once more, Scarlett’s mind flickered to the men she wasn’t willing to let go of.
“You’ll have to share me, Ace,” she said, her voice low, tainted with both desire and a bitter edge.
Placing her hand against him, she pushed him back by the middle of his chest. “I’m not giving up, Arley and Maddox, no matter how much you think I’m yours. ”
Ace’s gaze darkened, frustration tightening his jaw—but beneath it, something sharper burned. “You think I’m going to stand here and pretend I’m just one of them?” His voice dropped, edged with something dangerous. “I don’t share, Scarlett. Not like this.”
Dropping her hand from his chest, she didn’t flinch.
If anything, she straightened her spine, chin lifting in quiet defiance.
“That’s the problem, Ace,” she said, steady despite the storm between them.
“You think I’m yours to win, but you don't have a choice. If you want to be with me, you have to share me, and accept them.”
His eyes flickered, his obsession unsettled, breaking through the control.
“It’s not a choice I’m willing to make,” she continued, pulling back enough to look him in his eyes, her voice softer now but no less firm. “Not between you. Not between them.” Her breath hitched, but she held his gaze. “I won’t carve myself into pieces just to make you comfortable.”
Ace’s expression hardened, but there was a crack in it now, hidden in his eyes.
“You may have me in ways I don’t fully understand yet,” she admitted, voice thick with truth, “but they have me too. In ways you can’t touch.” A pause—heavy, loaded with tension. “And you don’t get to ask me to give that up.”
Silence stretched between them, taut as a blade. Her eyes didn’t waver. “If you want me, Ace….then you take all of me. Or you walk away with nothing.” Ace gripped her by the throat, pulling her back toward him.
His grip faltered for just a second, the storm in his eyes flickering with something darker, possessive—and yet, it was that same obsession.
“I don’t give a damn about them,” he rasped, his teeth flashing as he kissed her neck, the desperation in his touch only growing.
“I’ll claim you. Every inch of you. I’ll make them watch as you give yourself to me, until you forget them. ”
The words, with that primal need in his voice, made her pulse quicken, but she didn’t give in. Instead, she pushed against him; the energy between them was boiling with unresolved tension. She wasn’t just going to give him her surrender without a fight.
“I don’t need to forget anyone,” she whispered back, her lips curling in defiance. “I won’t forget them. I won’t forget what they mean to me.”
Ace’s expression twisted with frustration and something darker, but instead of pulling away, he pulled her closer, forcing her to meet his intensity head-on. “Fine.” The agreement was simple, but heavy with truth. Ace would share, or he wouldn't have her at all.
With a smile quirking her lips, Scarlett gripped his shirt and tugged him close as she took his shirt off.
Ace slid his hand behind her back, pulling her close to him, dragging both of their bodies on top of the piano.
The piano keys clashed with every heavy, chaotic movement as Ace’s feet planted firmly against them.
Scarlett gasped as her back pressed into the cool wood of the piano.
He lined himself back up with her entrance and slid into her gently with every bit of control he had left in him.
The room seemed to shrink, the realm outside fading into a blur of heat and sound. Scarlett could barely keep up with him, each thrust pushing her further, making her feel like she was unraveling, thread by thread.