~ Ace ~
Opening his eyes to the sunlight creeping in through the blind, Ace could feel the beautiful redhead snuggled up to his side as if she belonged there. Last night had made up for every missed episode of sex in his entire life.
Barbara was perfect in every way. Her delicate body had been soft and compliant under his sensual assault. Images ran through his mind of her opening her pretty legs. Grasping one of those delicate ankles, he’d slid her down to the edge of bed and kneeled to worship at the altar of a true goddess. Tasting her had been a stark reminder of all that a woman could be. Having her going wild beneath him more than once had spoken to him as a man.
In sharp contrast to the women in his life who’d been put off by his ugly scars, the pretty redhead was fascinated by everything to do with his body. Her hands traced over his scars, tattoos, and muscles, making him feel a little worshiped himself. He was used to women backing the fuck up when he stepped forward. This one always came running full speed ahead. Her behavior in the bar had tipped his world back into alignment, making him feel more like himself than he ever had a day in his life.
They’d fallen asleep twice and woken up for more. One thing was certain in his mind: the sexy woman hadn’t had her needs taken care of in a nice long time, if ever. She eagerly rode his cock every single time he offered it and was amazingly responsive to his touch.
Strange, he’d spent his life thinking women were hard to please. He’d always had to work pretty damn hard to make sure they came properly. Barbara was a sweaty, compliant mess within minutes and had one wild orgasm right after another at his rough hands. She orgasmed so easily, he might have thought she was faking it. Only he knew she wasn’t that deceitful, and the woman was an open book when it came to emotions. She didn’t have an ounce of guile in her sweet little body.
Well, he would have to give her a day or two to recover after last night. Unless he missed his guess, she would definitely be feeling him today. He must be a true and proper bastard, because that thought put a gigantic smile on his face.
She moved against him. Burrowing closer, she murmured sleepily, “I’m canceling the morning, so we can stay right here.” Rubbing her pretty nose in his armpit, she flung one leg over his. “You smell nice.”
Fucking hell, this woman was going to be the death of him. Moving his arm pit out of her face, he informed her quietly, “Sorry, my sweet, but the guys tore outta here at dawn to hunt down intel on our situation. They left me in charge of the club.”
“That’s real nice of them, but us having to get up just proves good things don’t last forever.”
Moving a strand of her hair back, he looked down into her drowsy face. “I would have thought that you got your fill of me last night.”
Her eyes popped open and she bit her bottom lip. “You are pretty…umm…filling.”
He smirked. “Am I?”
Nodding, she told him all about it. “Yes. I’ve fallen hard and fast for Little Ace.”
“Well, that was quick.”
“What’s not to like about the sexy bastard,” she said. “He’s big and tough and handsome. When he goes into battle, he doesn’t give up until the job’s done. He might get the wind knocked out of him a time of two, but always gets right back up, dusts himself off, and goes right back to work.”
“He’s really confused. The poor guy thinks he’s working for heart-shaped stickers.”
Running one finger around the shell of his ear, she murmured playfully, “That can be arranged.”
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Well, if my lady parts weren’t down for the count, it’d happen all over again. This is prime example of the mind being willing but the flesh being weak.”
Twirling a lock of her gorgeous red hair around one finger, he gazed down at her adoring face. “For men, it’s usually the other way around. No matter how good our intentions are, our cock ends up gettin’ us into trouble.”
“You mean like pounding a woman eight ways to Sunday without a condom?”
Ace felt his mouth drop open. “I’m real sorry about that. I wasn’t thinkin’ straight.”
“Then at least you have an excuse. I remembered and sealed my lips right up.”
Blinking down at her, he tried to make sense of her words. “If you are looking to get knocked up, I can be all kinds of accommodatin’ about it.”
“You are just about the most clueless man I’ve ever met. Don’t you remember me calling dibs on you last night? You’re mine, and a Little Ace would just… I mean an Ace Junior would be icing on an otherwise beefy cake.”
Stunned that she’d just come out and say something like that to him, he mumbled, “Sorry I named my junk Little Ace and you don’t think it’s appropriate to call our son that. We could do some renaming if you want.”
“You’re skimming right over the getting claimed by me part.”
“I just plan to enjoy the hell outta that for however long you choose to stay.”
An emotion he didn’t quite recognize flashed across her face so quickly he wondered if he imagined it. Lifting herself, she kissed him with such tenderness that it made his chest ache. That’s when it hit him. This feeling in his chest was the bittersweet feeling of falling in love. It had simply never happened to him before, but it couldn’t be mistaken for anything else. It made him feel vulnerable and exposed. Having known the cloying sweetness of her company, going back to being alone would be pure hell.
Tearing himself away from her, he stalked to the bathroom and started a shower. Standing with his hands against the wall, as the warm water fell over his massive shoulders, he tried to chase away all the images of their lovemaking.
Beautiful doctors with everything in the world going for them didn’t stay with scarred-up, uneducated ex-convicts. That was a simple fact of life that everyone knew. His twisted mind immediately began churning up a plan to keep her at arm’s length emotionally, even as he drew her closer physically. He’d been stupid to share his feelings and talk about his seriously shitty childhood. Those kinds of conversations were too intimate.
The answer was simple. He would shut his stupid pie hole and let her ride his dick as often as she liked. Then when she walked out, he would hurt a hell of a lot less. Feeling a small measure of calm replace the panic, he dried himself off and got dressed in clean clothing as she sat in the bed staring at him. To her credit, she didn’t say a damn word.
He barely looked at her as he said, “You can sleep in or come on down for breakfast. I’m sure they saved us some food.”
Nodding, she responded evenly. “I’ll be right down.”
Forcing himself to turn and walk out the door was almost physically painful. Ace felt the ground underneath his feet shift one more time with each and every step he took away from the woman he was falling in love with. Images of her fat with his child gnawed at his determination to protect his heart from her. Hell, he was the kind of person women and judges kicked right out of a kid’s life.
“Hey, dude, you finished having hot sex with our teacher?”
Barely slowing his pace, Ace nailed Jack across the face as he walked past, knocking the mouthy man to the ground. What he really needed was a nice strong cup of coffee to start the day.
Three whores were in the kitchen when he barreled into the room. One look at his ugly mug and they scrambled away like cockroaches. Heading for the coffeepot, he didn’t give their behavior a second thought. It didn’t bother him ‘cause he was all too used to being treated like the fuckin’ plague. Damn, smelling the scent of fresh coffee and having none in his mouth felt like a particularly cruel punishment from the java gods.
Picking up the pot, he was disappointed to discover it was empty. That’s it, he was cursed above all the men who walked the earth with cups of coffee in their hands.
Jerking out the basket, he dumped it, slammed in another filter, and was heavy handed with the scooper. He needed strong black coffee like he needed his next breath. Once it began dripping, he realized he could swap out the pot for his cup. Smiling like a crazy fool, he waited for his cup to fill.
In the quiet of the morning, he could hear Tiffany talking to the glorious Stuart on speaker phone in the next room. He wished like hell that he could unhear most of what that man said.
Remember when I used to poke you with a pencil when we were kids?
I sure the heck do. I clearly remember that it hurt.
You taught me to poke you gently with the eraser side.
Well, you weren’t about to stop poking me, so getting jabbed with the soft tip was preferable. Are you going somewhere in particular with this little trip down memory lane, Stuart?
Did you ever wonder why I did that?
No, after watching you do nonsensical things all the time, I finally gave up on trying to figure out what motivated you to do crap like that.
I poked you because you jumped every single time.
You liked seeing the cause and effect?
At home nothing I said or did made a difference. My father ignored me, and my mother was so worried about keeping him happy, she overlooked me most of the time as well. I guess doing stupid shit like that made me feel like I mattered.
You always mattered to me, Stuart.
You were my best friend when I had nobody, and look how I repaid your kindness.
Unless your treatment team wrote a healthy dose of self-loathing into your treatment plan, I don’t see how this line of thought is helpful.
They changed my medications. It calmed my brain down and gave me a chance to think of a lot of shit that I’ve been avoiding.
That’s actually a good thing. You’re supposed to talk that stuff over with your…
Grabbing his cup of coffee, Ace made a run for the back door. He just couldn’t do Stuart this early in the freaking morning, especially when he had a double dose of his own issues to deal with. Sitting in a rocking chair, like one of the old-timers, Ace sipped his strong black coffee and thought long and hard about his situation.
A few minutes later, the door opened, and he watched Tiffany walk out. She must have finished her conversation with her ape-shit crazy ex.
“Hey you, did you have a nice night with your lady? Everybody’s talking about what a good catch she is.”
The moment Tiffany dropped down into the chair across from him, Ace lit into her for no good reason. “You’re making your rounds pretty early this morning, aren’t ya? Checking on all your mangy strays?”
Her eyes flew open. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been thinkin’ that maybe you should mark me off the list of crazy fuckers that you think need lookin’ after.”
Tiffany jerked back slightly. “Wait, did I do something to offend you?”
“No, ma’am. You did your good deed. Now you can leave well enough alone.”
“I thought we were friends.”
“We ain’t shit,” he said, knowing he was being a total asshole but unable to stop himself. “I’m Ryder’s friend and you’re his old lady. See how that works?”
“I like you and I thought…”
Digging down deep, Ace pulled out his best Darkness move. “I don’t really care what you thought. I’m a grown-ass man and I don’t need your pity or you tryin’ to run my life. You’ve got a new pet project in Stuart, so you don’t need me anymore. I’m asking real nice like for you to leave me the fuck alone.”
Coming slowly to her feet, tears sprang to her eyes. “I don’t understand where all this is coming from all of a sudden. I’ll leave you be, but if you change your mind and want to talk, just let me know.”
Feeling like every inch the dirty son of a bitch he was, Ace forced his emotions all back into their little boxes. The one thing really eating at him wasn’t being afraid that his new lady would wake up one day and hit the road. It was being afraid that she wouldn’t. The woman didn’t deserve to be stuck with a monster like him for all eternity. He could see her getting fed up with him and the club one day and just mentally checking out, just like his mother did back in the day. Sure, she was much stronger, but being married to an outlaw would eventually get to her. He hadn’t seen it before because he hadn’t wanted to.
Ace made a silent vow to himself that if he never did another decent thing in his life, he was going to break it off with her after the danger passed. Until then, he would enjoy what little sweetness was coming his way.