Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 31102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
She could tell where things were going, could sense that the sexual chemistry was climbing higher and higher, and that soon neither would be able to control it. Doing anything sexual with Ace after they’d been friends for this long, wasn’t the route she should be taking. They should be talking about things, but she couldn’t stop, especially not when he stroked his tongue along hers.
He pulled back, breathing hard, heavy. They stared at each other for several seconds, the heat and arousal bouncing between them, and intensifying until she was suffocating from it. She pulled back another inch, trying to breathe, to get more air into her lungs.
“Come here, Poppy.” His voice was low, hoarse, and there was a touch of dominance in it. There was a part of Ace that commanded people without having to do much more than give them a look.
Lauren licked her lips and moved closer to him until they could have kissed again. It would have been easy enough for him to move toward her, but she knew this wasn’t about who could surrender the most, but how much they wanted each other.
“I’ve wanted this for so long, Poppy,” he said and looked down at her lips. He reached out and cupped her cheek with one hand.
She’d seen the fresh wounds on his knuckles from the fight tonight and the healing ones from his previous ones and workouts. He held her cheek in a tight, almost painful grip. It was like he was afraid she would move away again. She wouldn’t, not in this lifetime.
“I’ve wanted this, too, Ace.”
He closed his eyes and breathed out. “Poppy,” he said softly. He brushed the pad of his thumb along her cheek.
Back and forth, back and forth. God, his eyes were so blue, so light. Lauren felt herself leaning forward even more, felt his warm and sweet smelling breath brush along her lips, and shivered.
But they didn’t kiss, and instead he moved the hand that held her face to the back of her head. He tunneled his fingers into her hair, tightened his hold on the strands until the pain mixed with her already climbing and repressed arousal, and then broke free into this explosive tingling sensation along her entire body.
“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted you, how much I want you now, Lauren.” He searched her face with his gaze. “Ever since that first day I went to high school, and you were there, making me feel like I wasn’t the biggest fucking outcast in the world…” He breathed out, and she felt her emotion swell for this man.
“Oh, Ace. I’ve wanted you for just as long, but I’ve never known how to even bring this up.”
He took his hand off her face and had it clenched tightly in a fist on his thigh. She looked down at it, let her gaze run over the sharp tribal lines of ink that started at his wrists and moved up, eventually melding in with the other tattoos that lined his forearm and bicep.
“I was afraid I’d lose this, lose you. I was afraid if I went further, told you how I felt, I’d ruin everything.”
She looked at him again after he spoke.
“I’m so fucking in love with you, Lauren. God, I am so fucking in love with you.” His lips were so close to hers that if he just leaned forward an inch he could kiss her. She was so desperate for him, so desperate with her arousal and love for this man.
“I love you, too, Ace.” She stared right in his eyes. “I’m in love with you.” She heard him swallow, saw the way his throat worked.
“No one will ever compare to you, Lauren.”
She closed her eyes and breathed out a stuttering gust of air. God, she’d never thought this day would come, but she’d imagined it enough. Lauren was filled with lust, need, and desperation. She’d never been this wet, never wanted a guy this much. Her heart was thundering, and she swore her wetness was soaking clean through her panties.
She stared at his body, at the sheer power he exuded. He was so much bigger than her five-foot-three, a whole foot taller. Ace’s muscles were also so pronounced. Lauren wanted to run her hands over the tattoos that covered his flesh, over the hard dips and lines that made up the definition. Lowering her gaze to his crotch, she felt her heart pick up at the massive looking bulge pressing at the fly of his jeans.
“God, Lauren, I want you so bad.” His voice was harsh, so low and deep. “I need you. Christ, I need you, but I don’t want to fuck things up.” And then he had his mouth on hers and his tongue speared between her lips. She wasn’t kissing a fighter, or a man that had been traumatized in his childhood and now lived with that corruption deep inside of him. No, she was kissing Ace, the man she’d always been in love with.