Beautiful Oblivion (3 page)

Ace floats back a few inches, but the gap he’s building may as well have an entire continent between us. A part of me wonders if he finds me too repulsive for that ever-elusive kiss. I might be leaning toward the dramatic, but I’m probably not too far off base. Rumor has it he’s slept his way through the entire state of Connecticut, and, yet, I’ve never garnered so much as a second look from him. Not that I’ve put out any signals that I was interested before, at least not like I am now. I think he’s right, I’m drunk off night magic, and it has me fearlessly asking for the very thing I’ve always wanted—Ace himself.

“And what about that kiss?” It comes from me barely audible, broken—because if he doesn’t deliver I might raise the water levels of this lake with tears.

“Reese,” he presses my name out in a broken whisper. “You’re going to regret it in the morning. You’ll probably realize Warren is the exact person you’re going to marry one day, and you’ll hate me for taking advantage of you like this.”

“I’m not marrying Warren.” I huff an incredulous breath. “God—you sound just like my dad.” Warren’s father and Dad are golf buddies who have not so secretly been working out the finer details of our prenuptials while they walk the green all day. They own a law firm together, Westfield and McCarthy. They’ve been fostering a budding bromance ever since law school, and now they’re ready to take the next logical step in their relationship by marrying their children off to one another. The scary thing is, Warren would probably go along with it because a wife is just another thing you acquire on your way to prison for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme. But I’m not going along with this prearranged marriage of inconvenience. Not now, not ever.

A devilish grin takes over as I swim over to him and boldly wrap my arms around his neck.

My bare chest brushes over his, and I die a little as an electrical current travels from his skin to mine. A heated breath gets locked in my throat as I try to stave off a groan. My heart thumps in my ears, my vocal cords go into lockdown.

Dear God. I’m holding Ace Waterman in the nude—his naked everything just inches away from mine, while the lower half of my body roars out an invitation for him to come inside.

“Whoa.” His chest rattles a dull laugh, but his eyes grow serious, his dimples wink in and out like a warning. “You sure you want to do this?” His warm breath rakes over my cheeks as his chest pumps with an adrenaline all its own.

Ace and I are straddling the platonic line that’s carefully kept us on the opposite side of the sexual divide, and tonight, our feet, every square inch of our bare flesh, is ready to cross it.

Ace doesn’t move, which begs the question maybe he wants this, too. Maybe he’s
not
repulsed by the sight of me. Maybe he does think of me as something more than his sister’s friend—a girlfriend, someone to wrinkle the sheets with. And, at the moment, I’m feeling every bit the contender.

“Hell, yes, I want to do this,” it comes from me breathy. “The only thing I’ll regret in the morning is if I don’t.”

A laugh rumbles deep in his chest, but he doesn’t let it cross his vocal cords. “Well, if you feel that strongly,” he says it low, seductive. His dimples quiver with the trace of a smile. Ace pulls me in by the small of my back and caresses my curves as his hands glide up my body, warming me, electrifying me to heaven and back in the process. “But, for the record, it’s going to be
me
kissing
you
.” He presses out a slow-spreading smile before his expression melts to something all too serious. “Get ready, Reese, because I’m about to blow every kiss you’ve ever shared with that banana republican right out of the fucking water.”

My insides pinch with heat. Every ounce of my being shakes because Ace Waterman just threatened me with an expletive in the most erotic way. Hot damn. His mouth is coming for mine, and now all of my dreams, my fantasies, are about to come to fruition.

Ace pulls me in gently by the cheeks and lands his mouth over mine. His lips brush over me, softer than air, far softer than I would have ever pegged them to be. My legs circle around his as I give an involuntary moan. He secures me by the back of the neck and glides his tongue over mine, sending a quiver between my thighs until it creates its own beautiful spasm. The entire night sky breaks out in a hallelujah choir because Ace Waterman is loving me with his mouth in ways that I had truthfully never expected.

I cinch my legs up around his waist, tight as a coil, landing the most intimate part of me against his heated skin. Here I am, spread wide and vulnerable as a series of climactic seizures rocket off in my sweet spot, straight up to my belly. I’m not sure this is the response Ace wanted—me dry humping him, having a string of orgasms right off his body while his mouth explodes in mine like a series of shooting stars.

I clamp my arms over him like an anchor, securing me right where I was destined to be as I wash myself in moonbeams, making magic in the night with the only boy I’ve ever really cared about.

Ace gives a groan that thunders from his chest, primal and urgent. His kisses intensify and methodically blow each vanilla exchange I’ve ever shared with Warren right out of the fucking water just like he predicted.

I wonder if my mother would be disappointed to know that I’m kissing a boy in the lake after midnight with his hard-on rising to greet my bare bottom. But I’m merely doing exactly as she requested. This is the summer I’m going to chase my ecstasy—create my own adventure. And I’m starting right here under a firefly moon, kissing a beautiful boy.

Ace

For the better part of my life I’ve had a hard-on for Reese Westfield, but never in my wildest wet dreams did it ever play out like this with her feasting on my tongue while my erection does its best to impale her.

Her soft skin presses hard against mine, the weight of her tits against my chest is about all I can take, not to mention the fact her hips are tucked against my stomach with her hot slick buried in my abs. It takes everything in me not to perseverate on that one sensation because if I do I’ll lose it.

“Nice.” I pull back an inch and inspect her in this dismal light, the cool of the lake rinsing over our shoulders every now and again. That kiss was a hell of a lot better than
nice,
but I’m not ready to verbalize how whipped I am for her just yet. Not that my dick is doing anything to hide the way it feels.

First, I didn’t think for a minute she’d shed the stitches and hop into the lake with me. And, second, that kiss was enough to fuel every wet dream I’ll ever have until I’m nothing but a bag of bones, one step away from a casket, and, at that, I’ll probably die with a hard-on from the memory of it.

“It
was
nice.” She gives an impish grin. “We should do this more often.” She presses in another kiss, and this time she lingers, no tongue. “Like every single night.”

“You didn’t hit your head earlier, did you?” I’m only half-teasing. Reese and I go way back, and I have no memory of her ever coming on to me. I mean, sure, we’ve stolen glances, I’ve caught her looking in places that would happily salute her efforts for even acknowledging their existence but nothing like this, tonight blows doors off stolen glances.

“Nope. Didn’t hit it.” She licks her lips as if she’s hungry for more. “Who are you again?”

“Very funny.” I run my hands along the underbelly of her thighs, and she cinches herself around my waist. Her tits are pressed over my chest so tight, I’m about to come without much more effort on her part. “You know, the sun is going to come up, and you might want to reprise the amnesia.” I swallow hard. “And, if you do, I promise I won’t hold it against you.” It feels like an odd thing to say since I’m holding just about everything else against her. “I won’t kiss and tell if you won’t.” I give a playful wink. Really, I just wanted to give her the out. A long time ago my father suggested I point my boner the hell away from Reese Westfield. He said that people that came from money feel like they’re better than the rest of us—that mixing with someone like Reese would never work out in the end. Of course that was days after Reese’s father refused to bail him out on a DUI. That sort of killed their friendship, and it was right about the time Neva and Reese axed theirs. Although I doubt one had anything to do with the other. I’m still not sure what the fallout was there, never could get my sister to open up about it.

“There’s not a chance in hell I’ll forget this.” Reese runs her tongue over her lips, glossing them a deep shade of crimson even in this dull light. “You probably will.” She splashes water in my face, and I hold back from retaliating like I normally would. “I bet I’m second rate compared to the girls you’ve let defile you with their body parts.” Her face pinches with grief a moment before that playful smile bounces back to her lips.

She couldn’t be further from the truth. Reese detonated in my mouth like a powder keg, twisting my guts like a pretzel in every good way.

“There’s nothing second rate about you.” I try to sink her hips off me in an effort to defuse the real bomb ticking away, the one between my legs. “I think we’d better get you home. Kennedy is going to have every P.I. in Connecticut on the hunt for you in just a few minutes.”

“Let them look.” She tilts into me, stroking her fingers through the back of my hair. “I’m right where I want to be.”

A dull smile rides on my lips. “I’d better get some clothes on you, and then I probably should throw myself in a cold shower.” I leave out the fact I’ll be alleviating the tension brewing in my balls while I’m in there, and it wouldn’t be the first time she’s put me in that position.

“Throw me in there with you.” Her cheeks darken, and I’m ready to call her bluff.

“There’s nothing we can do in there that we can’t do right here.”

The whites of her eyes expand like stars as she fumbles for words.

“Knew it.” My chest rumbles over hers with a quiet laugh. “I call bullshit.” I sink out of her grasp and start swimming toward shore.

“Hey,
wait
.” She glides up alongside me and latches onto my arm. “I’m not playing games.” She glances down at the water and takes a measured breath. “I thought maybe, you know, we could have some fun.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll beat you at basketball in the morning. I’ll make sure you have lots of fun trying to steal the ball from me.”

She wrinkles her nose, and I do my best to hide a smile. Reese is cuter than hell when she’s pissed.

“Do you think I’m pretty?” She bats those amazing lashes at me, but there’s a hint of sadness layered just beneath the surface.

“What?” Reese is a masterpiece in and out of her blue jeans, and if she doesn’t know it, she’s got some serious self-esteem issues. “I think you’re a beautiful goddess.” There. That should cure her.

Her mouth curves with a slow smile. She seals her hips to mine once again, and my gut flinches because it’s torture having her so close and not being able to touch her the way I want, the ways I’ve meditated over for so many years.

“I want you to be my first, Ace.” The smile melts off her face as her lips come in close again. “I want to know the things you know, do the things you do—
with
you.”

“Reese,” I let it out in a heated whisper. “You need to do those things with someone who means something to you—someone special. Don’t waste your time with a guy like me.” I came within an inch of calling myself a loser which I don’t believe for a second, but, in a way, I think my dad has been right all along, Reese doesn’t belong with someone like me.

“
You
mean something to me.” She takes a hiccupping breath as if she’s about to cry. “I think you’re someone special, Ace.”

“I think we’re great friends”—I force a weak smile—“who just shared something amazing. But you need something bigger like love. You need flowers and candles—everything that comes with it.”

Her eyes narrow over mine, and, for a second, I think she might clock me.

“Yeah, well, I’ve already made up my mind that I’m going to have a wild time this summer.” She pushes off my thighs until she’s floating on her back. Her tits roll back just under her neck, solid and round as if someone shoved oranges under her skin, and suddenly I’m very fucking hungry for oranges. She glides backward, fanning her arms around her like an angel. “I’m so tired of my boring life,” she whispers the words to the sky, and suddenly I feel like an intruder. “I’m ready to move onto the next. Dive into the ecstasy of it all and see what the rest of the world keeps talking about.”

I swim up beside her and pull her in until her body is upright and pressed against mine once again. Reese gives a pouting smile and takes my breath away with her beauty.

“Promise me you won’t have a wild summer.” I touch my forehead to hers for a second. “Just because I’m not going to have you, doesn’t mean I want some other asshole to cash in on your brain malfunction.”

“You’ve had a wild summer every year since you were sixteen.” A laugh bubbles from her throat, and her skin vibrates in tune.

“I’m a guy—wild summer’s are practically a rite of passage.” All of the blood in my body rushes to my dick, and I might pass out and drown if I don’t do something about it soon.

“Trust me, this is far from a brain malfunction. This is happening.”

She lifts her knees to my hips, and I gently push them back down.

“Reese”—I close my eyes a moment—“what made you decide to have a wild summer? Hell,
when
did you decide?”

“
You
and about fifteen minutes ago.” A sly smile plays on her lips. Hot damn. Reese Westfield is hotter than a wildfire and is threatening to get out of control like one, too. Nope, I’m not going to let that happen. I think what we need here is a controlled burn under the watchful supervision of someone who cares—someone like me.

“Okay.” I take a quick breath. “I’m in.”

“You’re in?” She marvels. Her mouth parts as if she were ready and willing to start tonight.

“Yes.” I shake my head, disbelieving. “I’ll be your wild summer—your fling, whatever you want to call it.” Now it’s my face filling with heat.