A chuckle, this time coupled with a sardonic look. “Is anyone immune to your charms?”

“Only you.”

Her eyes flicked to the ceiling, but she was smiling. “Please. Me least of all. It’s why you make me so mad.”

“Make? Or made?”

“Both.”

It was my turn to chuckle. “You know, they say there’s a fine line between love and hate.”

“They also say not to shit where you eat.”

“Sure, but a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

“And curiosity killed the cat.” She took a sip of her drink, her eyes smiling at me over the rim.

“Well, drastic times call for drastic measures.” I set my drink on the cooler, taking hers once it was free of her lips. Because I had other plans for those lips, plans I didn’t care to wait to implement.

“I’ll take that with a grain of salt,” she said breathlessly, watching me as I moved closer.

And I slipped my arm around her waist and shifted, laying her down. Her hands gripped my arms from the motion, fingers tightening when I slipped my thigh between hers, opening them up.

“Then I’ll let my actions speak louder than words,” I whispered against her lips before I took them for my own.

This. This was what I’d missed last night. Her body beneath me, soft and sighing, mine for the taking. I’d wanted to lay her down so I could love her down, unobstructed by distractions like physics and furniture.

But she broke the kiss with a pop, her breath noisy and lids heavy as she looked up at me. “Wait,” she whispered. “Are you sure we should—”

“Yes,” I said and kissed her again. I kissed her until she was wound around me, until there was no space, no air.

But she stopped the kiss again, staying me with her hand. “When you do that, I can’t think.”

“Then don’t.”

When I kissed her once more, I felt her give herself over completely, felt her yield, felt the fight in her heart abandon her. And I took the chance to fill that space in her with me. I’d convince her I could be what she wanted, what she didn’t think I was. I could be that man.

I would be that man.

As the kiss deepened, I noted the depth of my desire. It reached beyond the surface, into the hidden spaces in me, places undiscovered, untapped. I didn’t care what it meant, didn’t question the difference. All I knew was this: I wanted to give Tess what she wanted. My body was hers, but that was the easy part.

Because if I knew Tess at all, I knew she didn’t do casual. And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t want to.

And the strangest part of all was that it wasn’t strange. Not even a little.

13

Ace

TESS

“I’ve got it,” I lied over my shoulder at Luke, who watched me wrangle the armful of flowers with dubious concern.