Ace's Key: Book 1 Read online

  “You’re perfect,” I whispered against her lips.

  I carried her to bed and pulled her tightly to me. Sleeping and awakening with a beautiful, luxurious woman was as close to heaven as it got.

  Mia was my temporary angel, delivering me from recent darkness. I fell asleep hoping she was a woman who could do a non-committed agreement because I wasn’t done with her.

  * * *

  After Mia left my bed the next morning, I wasted my day replaying our evening. The memory of her creamy flesh on mine scorched me. Normally, I could fuck and forget, but something told me that last night had changed momentum for me.

  I had to make a quick trip back to Italy before the holidays for personal reasons. I’d hoped Mia would say yes to my invitation. I sent her a text.

  Come with me

  I waited for her to respond, but she ignored me. Maybe she couldn’t handle a casual situation. My behavior would appear to many as callous and something purely selfish, but I never begged for anything or anyone. If Mia Kennedy wanted to find me, she knew how and if she wanted to be with me… She had my key.

  Chapter Ten

  Mia

  After avoiding everything and everyone on New Year’s Eve, I spent the holiday listening to the news in the background, while I created an account on the local Meetup. I’d heard folks at the office use it for various get-togethers.

  Photography of architecture was a big hobby of mine. I found Meetup had a group for inspiring photographers, and I signed up for a few classes. It was a welcome change.

  But as hard as I tried, I couldn’t erase the feel of Ace’s skin on mine or the feeling of emptiness without his cock in me. I wore out my vibrator, trying to achieve even the simplest of orgasms to no avail. Frustrated, I went for a run. When I returned, I saw the furniture delivery guy leaving my building with that just-been-fucked look. He didn’t notice me, but I watched as he retrieved his car from the valet and was shocked to see him leave in a Range Rover.

  Unable to keep a smile from crossing my face, I rang Ashley’s bell.

  “Good morning,” she mused with that same just-been-fucked look.

  “Well, make that afternoon, honey.”

  “What. Time. Is. It?” she pouted.

  “Almost two o’clock. You two been at it this whole time?” I teased her.

  Her eyes opened wider and looked as though they were going to explode from her face. “I, uh…what…um…what are you talking about?”

  “I just saw him leave. How was it?”

  “We didn’t have sex.”

  “Really? You trying to hold back from me? I think maybe he’s still panting while waiting on his car at valet. Let me go ask him.”

  “Stop! Don’t you dare.” She laughed. “Okay, we didn’t do the deed, but we did play around, and he spent the night.”

  “Define ‘play-around’,” I uttered through laughter.

  “He went down on me several times, and it was so hot, so freakin’ amazing.”

  “And what did Mr. Hotandamazing get in return?”

  “Two fabulous blow jobs. I’m learning that I like this stuff.” She grinned.

  We discussed the evening, and she told me Claire and Mason had a great night as well, according to the text she’d received. I hadn’t heard from anyone, so I knew I’d gone to the top of Claire’s shit list. I needed to rectify it. Just as I had forced her to get over Nick, she was trying to force me to come to terms with Ace, and as painful as it was to think about, she was right. Either see him or move on.

  That was what the photography was about…an opportunity to move on, meet new people, and do fun things.

  “Hey, get a shower. Dinner at my place tonight. I’m going to run to Eatzi’s. We can carb-out on pasta and wine. Sound good?”

  “Delish, I’ll let Claire know.”

  “You know what, let me do that. I owe her an apology anyway for last night. See you at seven-ish.”

  I showered and headed to Eatzi’s, a local Italian market. I hadn’t been gone long when Claire finally decided to call me back. Seemed she and Mason hadn’t called it a night and were still together. She agreed to come to dinner, and apparently, her sex-filled night made her forget she was mad at me.

  I had my basket full to the brim with fresh bread, pasta, and all the trimmings, including Tiramisu. With the addition of two bottles of my favorite wine, my arms overflowed.

  “Do you need some help with that?” A deep, accented voice emitted from behind me.

  Immediately, I recognized the accent and turned to see the gorgeous, familiar face behind the voice.

  “Hi, beautiful,” he whispered.

  “Um, hi back at ya.”

  Our eyes danced and held the other’s, while the lady behind the register coughed.

  “We’re holding up the line,” I stammered out.

  “Looks like you’re having a party?” he asked.

  “Dinner with my girlfriends.” I noticed he was holding several large packages of what looked to be flour. “And you?”

  “Running short of specialty flour for our bread that we’ll need for tomorrow.”

  “That bread is nothing short of fabulous. Have to have flour.” I winked.

  He smiled.

  I paid for my purchases and started to walk out when he surprised me by grabbing my hand. “Don’t go. I wanted to talk to you. Do you have a few minutes?”

  I nodded.

  When he’d paid for the flour, we walked outside the store. I’d parked right in front with “princess parking”, so I put the bags in my car.

  “I was hoping I could see you again,” he said, while squinting in the sun. He turned and propped on my car to get the light out of his eyes.

  “Look, Lucas, I know you don’t do relationships, but I can’t do casual. I’m afraid we need to leave it as what it was…a beautiful night.”

  “I’m not ready to stop this. Something happened. I can’t stop feeling you on my skin. You’re all I’ve thought about.” He touched my face with his free hand. “Please come with me.”

  “I can’t. My friends are coming for dinner. I’ve not been a good friend lately. I can’t back out. I’m sorry.”

  “Then, invite me,” he whispered against my lips.

  When he kissed me, I forgot where I was or even that I was in public. His touch drove me insane. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled our bodies close. My flesh crawled, trying to be covered by him, and my sex clenched, wanting to be filled with his delicious energy.

  I broke the kiss long enough to ask him to dinner.

  “I’m following you home. I’ll help you cook.”

  “Okay,” was all I could muster.

  On the way back to my place, I called to ask Ashley and Claire to bring their “plus-ones” and we’d make it a group date. Seemed they’d all spoke with Lucas the night before and had a great time with him…without me.

  I made a conscious decision to explore our togetherness, or whatever label could be placed on it, by taking it one moment at a time. Lucas said he didn’t do relationships…but that was before he met me.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Do you have a big glass bowl? I need to proof the bread.”

  “You’re making your special bread here tonight?”

  “Don’t look so surprised. I know what you like.”

  “So, you’re trying to get into my panties with the bread?”

  “I think it worked the last time, or was it the wine?” He winked before he pulled me into a vigorous kiss.

  His presence alone made me hot and bothered, but his kiss sent me to the edge. I couldn’t wait to be him again. I walked us towards my bedroom, our contact uninterrupted.

  When he got to the edge of the bed, I fell backwards, pulling him down with me in a giggle. “I want this. I want you.”

  “We can’t.” His voice was strangled, his jaw clenched. He pulled away from me and sat on the edge of the bed.

  I froze in horror, unsure of what had happened to chan
ge his mind.

  “I don’t have a condom.” He rubbed his temple, then ran his hand through his hair.

  “I’m on the pill. I never miss. You want to check my pack?”

  He shook his head. When his eyes met mine, he studied me hard, leaving the four chambers of my heart to play ping pong. The folds between my legs became a creamy playground, and my nipples were so hard and tight they ached. I needed him more than ever.

  “I’m fucking crazed with you.” He quickly grabbed my face in his hands and kissed me hard on the mouth before ripping my clothes from my body. “I can’t wait.”

  “Neither can I,” I whispered against his neck.

  The stubble on his chin tickled and aroused my sensitive cleft. With a few licks from his tongue, I bucked in response to a crazy-good climax.

  “You’re delicious,” I moaned.

  “Turn over, baby.”

  He rubbed the tip of his cock on my slick clit before grabbing my hip with his hand. Slowly, he eased into me, stretching my pussy to accommodate his girth.

  “You’re so fucking tight,” he uttered.

  “Fuck me hard,” I begged, watching him from the mirror on my dresser.

  His cock pounded into my tight channel, making noises as his sac slapped against me. He rode me hard and moaned before pulling out and spraying cum on my back. It was so fucking erotic, when he saw me watching us in the mirror above my dresser.

  “You like watching?”

  “I didn’t know I did, but yes…yes, I do.”

  We cuddled for a few minutes before I realized the time. I flew off the bed and grabbed a quick shower, while he made the bread. Then he grabbed a shower before everyone began to show up.

  My apartment was abuzz with company. What was nice was that we were all three newly-formed “couples” of some degree, so we were all on a mutually equal playing field.

  “This bread is going to kill my thighs,” Ashley teased.

  “I’ll work it off you, baby,” Sean answered, stroking her cheek.

  “Oh, would that be a private lesson perhaps?” Claire asked.

  “Stop teasing, Claire.” Ashley pouted.

  Lucas sat down on the sofa and pulled me into his lap. He held me close to him in a protective, coupling way. I could feel the stiffness of his erection under my ass. I loved that I turned him on so easily. Maybe that’s why he’d pulled me close, he was using me to cover his arousal.

  We were all having a great time hanging out and things got a little wild when we started playing Jenga. I seriously did not have steady hands. I sent the damn thing crashing more than once. The more I drank the worse it got, and I became the subject of comic fodder.

  Curiously, I thought everyone was going to end up in the building. Mason and Claire went to his apartment on the eighteenth floor, and Ashley and Sean were headed to her place. After everyone disappeared, I was curious how the night was going to end with Lucas and me or if it was. All I knew was I didn’t want it to.

  When Lucas started cleaning up, I wondered if he’d run out the door the minute everything was put away.

  “I’m not ready for the night to end. May I stay?” he asked between kisses.

  “You don’t have to ask.”

  He picked me up and carried me to the sofa, sitting down so I was in his lap. “Tonight was fun with your friends. It’s been a very long time since I’ve done something like that.”

  “Hmmm,” I mumbled against his jaw. I trailed kisses down his neck and nibbled at his shoulder. I felt the stiffness of his cock beneath me as I straddled him. Slowly, he peeled off my t-shirt and bra and started paying sweet attention to my breast.

  “So beautiful,” he mumbled between biting and sucking each reddened bud. “I want to fuck these.”

  He slid me off his lap and removed all of his clothes before removing the rest of mine. He went to the bathroom and returned with lotion. With several pumps of the almond and shea butter lotion in his hand, he stroked his cock then rubbed some of it on my breasts.

  “Push your breasts around my cock, baby.”

  I did as he asked. I thought I’d do just about anything when he called me baby. Each time his cock thrust between my breasts, I saw the head come really close to my lips. I decided to lick at the head of his cock, teasing him.

  “That is so fucking hot, baby. Yes, God, yes.”

  His feral moan of climax roared through my body as cum splashed across my lips, neck, and breasts. With my thumb, I wiped my lips, licking it off.

  “You’re so fucking hot, baby. I’m gonna fuck you hard.” He grabbed my hand and yanked me towards my bedroom, bypassing the bed and going straight to the bathroom. When he turned on the shower, I simply watched him. With his hands on either side of my neck, he used his thumbs to tilt my face up to his. “I’ve done nothing but crave you since the minute you left my bed. Why didn’t you answer my text last week?”

  “You said you couldn’t do relationships. I thought I wanted more. Right now, I just want to be with you and enjoy the best sex I’ve ever had and real orgasms, unlike anything my vibrator can give me.”

  “I wished you’d have called me back. I had to make a quick trip to Italy and was hoping you’d go with me.”

  “I’m here now.”

  As he held me to his chest, I couldn’t help but notice our reflection in the mirror again. I saw a glimmer of pain on his face. Maybe he was trying to hide his feelings, maybe he was finally admitting to himself he needed more, or maybe he’d had enough to think about for the evening. Whatever it was, I hoped eventually I’d be able to change his mind.

  When the water was warm, he led me under the stream and washed my hair. Then he bathed me. After we’d washed each other, he slid his hand down to my cleft and palmed me. The friction felt good, but it was going to take more than that for me to come. “Make me come, babe. I need more.”

  He fucked me with his fingers before he slid down my body and nibbled on my clit. God, it was hot to see him kneeling between my thighs.

  “Where’s your vibrator?”

  “Bottom drawer of nightstand on the left. Why?”

  “I may use it on you later.”

  After we were dry and warm, I blow-dried my hair while he propped up on the counter wrapped in a towel and talked to me. It was the first time he’d been this talkative, and I didn’t want him to stop.

  “I have a married, younger brother with a little girl who is three. She is so cute.”

  “Isn’t it difficult to be so far away from your family?”

  “It was harder being there.” His face grew solemn. He walked into the bedroom and got into bed, playing with my iPad that I’d left lying on my nightstand.

  Damn. If only I’d kept my mouth shut. I wanted to know what he was running from. What was it in Italy he didn’t want to talk about or want me to know? I tried hard to change the subject and hide my disappointment.

  My white silk nightie was hanging behind the door. I slipped it on and instantly made a mental note to go shopping for more lingerie. When I walked past the bed, Lucas pulled at my hand.

  “Where ya headed?”

  “To get some water. You want some?”

  “Love some with ice.”

  I thought Europeans didn’t like ice, I quietly questioned. I filled up two glasses and came back to bed on his side, which was normally my side, and sat beside him.

  He twisted the hem of my fabric between his finger and thumb, as he stared at my breast area, which was covered in sheer lace, for several seconds before he lifted his eyes to mine. “What are you doing to me? I can’t get enough of you.”

  He threw back the covers and pulled me to his lap. With his lips on mine, he sucked and nibbled before teasing me with his tongue. We kissed sweetly before his tongue finally invaded my mouth. When he pulled away, I was gasping for breath and in a dreamy fog.

  I was sure we would, and more than ready to, make love again. Instead, he turned off the lamp and pulled me close to his chest. There was clearly
something on his mind, but Lucas wasn’t giving in to speaking about it, and I clearly didn’t want to ask.

  His breathing was deep and rhythmic, and I gave him the space he seemed to need. He was beside me, and that was all that mattered.

  Chapter Twelve

  I woke up to something very cold on my sex. It was startling at first, but when I reached out, I found Ace’s head between my legs, licking and sucking on my clit. It was erotically stimulating.

  “Something’s cold,” I said between giggles.

  “Ice.”

  “You put ice on me?” I squealed.

  Trying to pull him up by his ears didn’t work, just made him laugh before he took his long fingers and held my wrists to the side as he had his way with me. It took me a minute to get used to the cold, but what a sensation all its own! Totally sexy in a very cold way. My orgasm was hot enough to melt the ice and then some.

  “More, babe,” I pleaded.

  He slowly crawled up my body to my breasts and sucked on the side of my nipple until I felt the blood come to the surface. He was leaving hickeys on me! So fucking hot I didn’t care; he could mark me all over. It was epic.

  Hovering over my body, he continued to mark my other breast and my shoulder. “I don’t want anyone touching your body, except me,” he said, nuzzling my neck.

  “Since you’ve marked me, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

  “I’ve only begun marking you.” He gently lifted my knees to my chest and placed his cock at my opening. Before he entered me, he rubbed the tip in the slick essence of my orgasm. “I love how fucking wet you get for me.”

  When his cock was fully inside me, he used his hands to lift my hips in the air. I gasped. He was bumping my cervix with every thrust. This man knew how to fuck.

  “Come for me, baby,” he pleaded between shallow pants. When he hit my clit with the vibrator, I arched into him and cried out with pleasure as I came all over him.

  He slowed his pace and waited until my climax subsided; then he pulled out of me. His cock filled me so, that when he pulled out, I heard a ‘pop’ sound.