27
SOME KIND OF MAGIC
I DIDN’T KNOW how long I’d lain there in Ace’s bed, but as the daylight was swallowed by darkness, the night crept inside the large windows and chased the sun into the shadows. Some time ago, I’d kicked off my shoes and rolled to my side, hugging the pillow under my cheek as though it was an anchor to reality, because what had happened today—that had to be some kind of horrible nightmare. Right?
Several times over I’d tried to shut my eyes and fall into the oblivion of sleep, but each time I did my brain rewound the interview from earlier, and replayed it on the inside of my eyelids. Then it followed up with a quick recap on me telling Ace to dump my pathetic ass before it was all too late, and the memory I had of his face as those words had tumbled from my mouth made me want to fade away all over again. It was hard to believe all of that had happened when just last night we’d been celebrating, but I knew from the dull ache in my chest that it had.
I had no idea where Ace was. All I knew was that he’d done what I’d asked and given me space. And now that the anger, embarrassment, and pain had combined to numb my body, I could think of only one person that could shock me back to life.
I rolled to my back and scooted to the end of the bed, intending to get up and track down the man whose room I had commandeered. But I stopped short of standing when I made out Ace’s silhouette in the white wingback chair that usually sat in the corner of his large room. He’d moved the seat so it was situated at the end of the bed, dead center, and I wondered how long he’d been sitting there brooding.
“Hey,” he said as I shifted so my legs were hanging over the edge of the mattress. I ran my palms along my thighs and tried to blink him into focus, but the room was too dark and Ace had chosen his position with care.
“How long you been sitting there?” I asked.
“Two hours.”
Damn.
“I told you. I like to watch you sleep.”
Yes, he had told me that, hadn’t he? When was that? This week, last? It felt like years ago now as we sat there with all this weird distance between us. Distance I’d put there.
“Ace, I—”
“No. Don’t. It’s my turn, don’t you think?”
I clamped my mouth shut and glanced over at the windows, trying to swallow back the emotions that were threatening to pour out of me and make me drop to my knees and tell him how sorry I was. But before I could get down to the ground, he was talking again in a voice that demanded I face him and pay attention. So I did just that.
“I’ve been sitting here trying to think of the best way to explain to you how I feel about everything that you said to me downstairs today. But the more time that passed by and the longer I waited for you to come find me, my reasons for why I’m with you changed.”
Oh God. That didn’t sound promising. He sounded like a man who’d been sure one minute and then changed his mind the next. And considering I knew he loved me with all of his heart the night before, that didn’t bode well for me now. But…I was determined to hear him out. After all, I was the idiot who’d issued the stupid demand that he think over all the reasons he was with me, so it wasn’t like I could ask him to forget about it now. Could I?
“Here’s the thing, Dylan. If I could change the world, if I could wrap you up in my arms and make sure nothing bad ever happened to you again, you need to know that I would do that in a heartbeat.”
“Ace—”
“No,” he barked, and this time got to his feet. “It’s my turn.”
I nodded in the dark, where I remained perched at the end of his bed, watching him close the distance.
“You asked me two very important questions earlier, and you’re damn well going to listen to my answers.”
When he held his hand out to me, palm up, I slipped mine into his, and when he drew me to my feet, I went. Toe to toe and eye to eye, I could see him clearly now through the shadows playing off the walls and curtains of the room. His eyebrows were drawn together and his lips were pulled tight in a stern line, and while he looked as though he wanted to throttle me, I could also see compassion and worry etched in the lines of his face.
“The first thing you asked me is what I’m doing here with you.” Entwining our fingers, Ace took a deep inhale, and when he let it out, it was as if it were the first full breath he’d taken since he’d last touched me. Then he whispered, “I’m living.”
I could feel tears welling in my eyes, and when I shut them to stave them off, I heard him say, “Look at me, Dylan.”
And when I blinked and refocused on him, I was shocked to see his own eyes were glistening. “The second was why. Why am I with you…” As Ace’s voice trailed off, he brought his other hand to my cheek and asked, “Where else would I be?”
My mouth parted, but before I could get a word out, he swooped in and took my swollen lips in a kiss that was sweet and full of promise and had me placing my hands on his chest for purchase as I swayed into him. When he rested his forehead against mine, he said against my mouth, “I love you. Where you are, I want to be, and I realized that as I paced the length of this house for three hours straight. It didn’t matter that you were up here and I was down there—you chose to stay even when you needed space. And that means everything to me.”
I was such an idiot. But instead of saying that, I leaned in and kissed him all over again. Conveying without words that I felt the same and was sorry for saying what I had downstairs when anger and frustration had been riding me.
I lost myself in that kiss as we reconnected there in the intimate embrace of night, but when I thought he would maybe lower me to the bed and pull me into his body to sleep this horrible evening away, Ace once again did the unexpected. He pulled away from me and said softly, “I don’t want you to worry anymore. I already called Logan so we can sit down and hash out what legal recourse the two of us have in this kind of situation, and…”
I was relieved to hear we would be able to chat with a lawyer regarding the whole Brenda situation, but there was something else going on here too. I cocked my head to the side and took in the wry grin I could see curving Ace’s lips.
“And?” I finally said, letting him know I was more than fine so far with how this conversation was going.
When he nodded and took in another deep breath, he said, “I called Roger and Martina, and told them to get Carly Wilde on the phone and set up that interview she’s been after.”
When my mouth fell open, Ace put his pointer finger under my chin to help me close it.
“Why are you so shocked, Daydream? I think it’s time that ‘Ace and his camp’ were a little more vocal about the mysterious new man in my love life. Don’t you?”
“But…but…I know how much you don’t want to—”
“I changed my mind,” he said with a huge grin now that had me chuckling.
“Just like that?”
“Just. Like. That,” Ace said, and punctuated each of his words with a kiss before taking my hand and leading me to the bedroom door. “Come on—we have some phone calls to make and some meetings to schedule, and then you and I are going to come up here and sleep in our bedroom.”
As we headed downstairs, I couldn’t help but wonder over the magic Ace held, because even on the worst of days he had the innate ability to make everything seem as though it would all be okay.