Ace’s deep voice sounded behind her and even though she knew he was there, obviously, for some reason it startled her. She jumped as a gasp escaped her.
Feeling ridiculous she let out a breathy apology as she spun around, “Sorry. I was just thinking about ground rules.”
“Ground rules?” His brows rose slightly.
She nodded.
“For what?”
“For this.” She waved her hand between them.
Tilting his head slightly to the side, his grin grew wider. “This?”
She knew this was the time to ask for exactly what she wanted, something that she’d never done before. All of her life she’d taken care of other people, done what other people wanted. When she was intimate in the past she’d enjoyed herself but she’d never had a voice.
Somehow she knew this might be her only chance to do this. She’d never been as attracted to someone as she was to Ace. This kind of chemistry didn’t occur every day. Combine that with the fact that she trusted him completely and felt more comfortable talking to him than she did with anyone else she’d ever met and he was basically the holy trinity of hookups.
The only question that remained was finding out if he was interested or if she’d been reading too much into his behavior. Had she been projecting what she was feeling onto him? Well, there was one way to find out.
Her heart was racing like it was holding a kilo of cocaine and the police were chasing it and her entire body felt like it was covered in a sheen of moisture. Flop sweats had never been something that Stephanie had given much thought to, mainly because she wasn’t a person that perspired much. At least, she hadn’t been up until this point.
“Do you want to sit down?” Ace motioned to the left.
Do I want to sit down? Good question.
Her eyes darted nervously towards the oversized couch sitting in the middle of the family room facing a huge flat screen TV mounted on the wall above the fireplace.
Inhaling slowly, she tried to gather the nerve to speak. The same feeling that she’d gotten before she dove off of the high dive at ten years old engulfed her now. It was a combination of nerves, excitement, fear and exhilaration. So she did the same thing she did then. She took a deep breath and jumped.
“I want to have sex.” She hadn’t meant for it to come out so bluntly, but at least he didn’t have to wonder about what she meant or have to read between the lines.
The only change in his expression was his eyes widening slightly. “Okay.”
She didn’t really think the clarification was necessary, but just in case she added, “With you.”
“Okay,” he repeated.
Now she was the one that needed clarification. Did he mean ‘okay, let’s do it’ or ‘okay, that’s good to know’? She was so confused she thought briefly about throwing in the towel. Aborting the mission. Running back to her condo and pretending this never happened. But she was tired of doing the right thing, the safe thing. Taking care of everyone else’s needs. She wanted tonight for her.
“Do you want to um…you know…um…” As she began stumbling over her words she took a deep breath to calm her nerves and look at the situation logically. Ace would be leaving tomorrow for who knows how long and she knew herself, by the time he got back she would’ve talked herself out of doing this. It was now or never. Standing taller she rolled her shoulders back. “Have sex?”
She noticed his jaw tick as it tightened before he rasped, “Yes.”
“With me?” Even she could hear the hopefulness in her question.
Did she sound desperate? Perhaps. But for some reason she didn’t care. When she was around Ace it was like nothing else mattered. Not the family stress, the demands of her career and certainly not her pride.
Her heart was beating so loudly she was sure that he was able to hear it as she waited for his response. What was the worst that could happen? She could get rejected. People got rejected every day. She wouldn’t be the first and certainly wouldn’t be the last.
He stared at her for a moment, but it felt like an eternity before he answered, “Yes.”
“You do?” her voice squeaked.
He remained in place looking totally at ease. The only sign of any tension was a vein that popped out on his neck. “Yes.”
“Oh, good.” Exhilaration rushed through her like white water in the rapids. With renewed confidence she pressed on. “Okay, so the ground rules. This is sex. One night of sex. After that we go on with our lives. No strings. You don’t owe me anything, and I don’t owe you anyth—”
He cut her off, “No.”