Chapter 25 #2
His eyes searched hers again. “You ready for that?”
Joy blinked up at Ace blankly, her mouth slightly agape as she tried to make sense of his words.
Her body was ready. It’d been ready since the moment they met on the roof.
But he wanted access beyond what she was willing to give him tonight. He wanted her to stay exposed once the lights came on and the alcohol wore off.
Joy didn’t know if she was capable of that.
Ace seemed to read her answer in her silence.
“Exactly.” He placed a soft kiss on her lips, then pulled back, going to the dresser on the other side of the room and returning with one of his t-shirts. “Here. I’ll order some food to soak up some of that alcohol. You can put this on and shower if you want,” he said.
"You're serious?" Joy gawked.
"Deadass serious, Rose."
Joy simply nodded and followed him into the bathroom.
After showering and moisturizing with Ace’s products, Joy walked down the stairs in search of Ace and finally looked around the extravagant house.
Ace’s home was exactly how Joy imagined it would be.
As she stepped into the living room, she took notice of the black leather seating, sleek black side tables that housed expensive looking lamps, a glass coffee table, floor to ceiling windows, and a fireplace in the front of the room.
It was clean, orderly, and dark. There wasn’t a speck of dust or a throw blanket out of place.
Standing in the middle of the room, Joy spotted Ace coming down the foyer they’d entered through with a to go bag in his hand.
“Is this your real house or your hoe house?” Joy asked with a hand on her hip.
Joy didn’t know why but the thought of Ace bringing her to the spot he used to keep from bringing his hoes where he laid his head made her angry.
Ace smirked as he approached her, setting the bag on the coffee table beside her.
“This is my real house. I sleep here every night. Alone,” he assured her.
“Hm,” Joy hummed.
“You know I think more of you than that, Rose,” Ace spoke low into her ear before kissing her earlobe.
She heard him chuckle after she shivered but she was too aroused to be upset.
“Have a seat. Get comfortable,” Ace said as he backed away. Joy did just that, sinking into one of the soft leather couches.
The notes of a saxophone floated through the air and Joy looked in Ace’s direction to see him fiddling with the speaker.
She watched as he crouched before her and removed their plates from the bag. He handed her one and a brief inspection revealed that it was a burger and fries. Joy wiggled excitedly, she hadn’t realized how hungry she was until the aroma of meat, veggies, and fried potatoes hit her nose.
“You always this happy over food?” Ace asked, watching her.
“Don’t judge me,” she mumbled, already reaching for a fry.
“I’m not,” he said. “Just taking notes.”
She glanced at him. “For what?”
“Future reference.”
They ate on the couch in comfortable silence with nothing but the soft jazz and occasional smacking filling the room.
The quiet wasn’t awkward. It was easy and comfortable, like just each other’s presence was enough.
Joy wasn’t used to that, but she’d be a liar if she said she didn’t enjoy it.
“You like jazz?” she asked once they’d finished. “Or are you just setting the mood?”
Ace chuckled. “You think I’m trying to seduce you?”
“Are you?”
“Is it working?”
“I was seduced before I got here. The ambiance isn’t needed.”
Ace threw his head back and laughed. “Nah. I like jazz. It calms me. I spent a lot of time with my grandfather growing up and this is the only thing he listened to.”
“Training to take over the business?”
Ace’s expression shuttered for only a moment before he answered. “Yeah.”
“I like it,” Joy said. Though the last song that played was only an instrumental, the one that began a moment later held the sultry vocals of a Dinah Washington.
“Yeah… Helps calm me. Slow things down. Pops always stressed the importance of being decisive but not rushing.”
Joy tilted her head. “You don’t strike me as the patient type.”
Ace grinned as he began clearing their plates. “Depends on what I want.”
He took their plates to the kitchen, then rejoined Joy on the couch.
He pulled her into him and Joy couldn’t help but to snuggle into the heat and hardness of his body.
At the thought of hardness, Joy’s attention went to Ace’s hard dick poking her in her stomach.
She dragged her hands from his chest to the waistband of his sweats intent on continuing what they started but Ace’s hand gripped her wrist.
“Have you changed your mind in the last hour?”
Joy huffed. “No,” she mumbled.
“Then neither have I,” he said, placing her hand on his chest.
Joy didn’t argue.
“You don’t have a tv,” she whispered her observation of the spacious room.
“I don’t watch tv.”
“What about if guests want to watch tv”
“I don't have guests.”
Joy refrained from pointing out that she was there and indeed a guest.
“What do you do for fun?” she asked instead.
“I haven’t had fun since I was 12,” he answered flatly.
Joy wracked her brain for the last time she had fun and came up empty as well. Ace pulled her leg over him and began stroking her thigh with the pads of his fingers in a repetitive soothing motion.
“You know what I like about you?”
Joy glanced up at him. “You already answered that.”
He shook his head with a chuckle.
“Nah. Not that.”
“Then what?”
“You don’t flinch.”
“What do you mean?” Joy asked, her eyes lowering as her body relaxed.
“Every day, people fear me. Avoid me. Respect me but keep their distance. They flinch. Because of who I am, who my family is. You don’t though. You don’t watch your words or your tone with me. You don’t flinch away from me when I touch you. You talk to me regular.”
Joy let out a quiet huff. “You are regular, nigga.”
That was a lie. Ace was many things but regular was not one of them. He was regal as his name suggested, not only in his anatomy but also in his presence. The way he carried himself was larger than life.
Ace smirked.
“Yeah. You the only one who treats me like it.”
“That sounds… lonely.”
“It is.”