Beautiful Illusions (27 page)

“Reese.” He lands his hot mouth over mine as he continues to thrust himself inside me.

My body trembles with pleasure. Every part of me feels far more alive than I ever have before. I can’t imagine sharing this with anyone else—I wouldn’t want to. I thought this would finally satisfy my ache for Ace, but it only makes me want him more. It feels so natural to want to say those magical words that can change everything. But we’re far from I love you. My vocal cords beg to whisper something just as meaningful, but I put a clamp over my throat and refuse my heart the privilege. I have a feeling there’s no quicker way to end our prospective weeklong party than for a sober confessional in the middle of outrageous sex.

Ace reaches down and touches me right where his mouth was moments before and all of my wanting, my aches—every desire I’ve ever had for him pushes from me in a spasm so explosively beautiful I want the moment to last forever.

Ace trembles over my body right along with me, and it feels as if we’re expending ourselves, breaking down our bodies in one glorious fit—wringing our pleasure out from the inside without another inch to offer.

He collapses over me, his skin dewy with sweat as we try to catch our breath.

“Reese.” He washes my face in kisses, pausing at my lips while a soft laugh bubbles from me. “You’re fucking amazing.” He dives his tongue into my mouth, and delivers an achingly sweet kiss that make me dizzy all over again.

“
You’re
amazing.” I peck a kiss over the tip of his nose and take him in with his dark hair, his five o’clock shadow prickling over his cheeks. “So when can we do it again?”

Ace gurgles out a laugh. He rolls next to me and scoops me into his arms until my bottom is tucked into his stomach.

“Let’s catch our breath,” he whispers, pressing his lips over my ear, making my back arch with pleasure.

His fingers lock over mine, and I nuzzle into him still high off the charge from our heated exchange.

“Was that good for you?” I glance back, turning slightly to see his gorgeous dimples siren on and off.

“Hell yes that was
great
. Did you like it?”

“Nope.” I peck his lips with a kiss and his features melt. “I
loved
it.”

“Good.” A smile ticks on his lips. “You scared me for a second.”

“I want to do things you haven’t done before.” I stroke his rough cheek with the back of my hand like petting a cat. “Is that possible?”

Ace glances out of the tent for a moment as if he was considering this, and I give a dark laugh.

“I didn’t think so.” It kills me to think that Ace has been with other girls—that he will be again one day.

“You’ll make everything better—everything already feels new.” He melts a kiss off my lips. “Plus, I’ve never done it in a tent before.”

“How about at the falls?” I’ll die if he says yes. I want to be the only one to ever share this with Ace.

“Nope, never at or in the falls.”

“Good. I call the falls.”

“Oh, you do, huh?” He tweaks my ribs a second.

“So you’ve done everything.” I glance down a moment. “I feel like a newborn, like a kitten.”

“A kitten?” He drizzles his lips over my neck. “How about I give you a couple of balls to play with to keep you busy.” He growls into my ear.

“I bet you will.” I wrap my arms around him until we’re facing one another. “Do you feel different about me?” Crap. What the hell is he supposed to say? You had me at that last orgasm? “I mean”—I’m not entirely sure what it is I mean—“do you think we can still be friends without all the weirdness we’ve just created?” Nice. Equate making love to him as
weirdness
. That’ll go over well.

Crap.

“No, you’re still weird to me.” He bumps his nose to mine, and, strangely, he still very much feels like regular old Ace. “I thought maybe one good roll in the tent would cure it but, nope.”

“Be quiet.” I swat him over the shoulder. “You’re still you.”

“And, you’re still you. Only now I know what the inside of you feels like.”

“What does it feel like?” The smile glides off my face in hopes he’ll say something profound that I could squeeze the fantasy that he might love me out of.

“It feels like home.” His chest vibrates over mine when he says it, and I melt in a puddle of everything I wish we could be. “Like I was made to be there.” His dark eyes drift over mine as if he were sad to say it. “I think this summer fling was the most brilliant idea you’ve ever had.”

Summer fling. Brilliant or tragic—only fall will tell. Speaking of fall, it’s coming all too soon.

“Hey”—I tap his bare ass, and a smile spikes on his face—“you ready for round two?”

I’m not sure whose bright idea it was that we don’t bother with clothes as we streak over to the falls, but I can’t stop giggling as we climb down the boulders disguised as shadows in this post-midnight world.

Ace takes my hand and guides me carefully down the jagged embankment. It’s not until we land at the base do I notice the metallic square in his mouth.

“I see you’re making every effort to try to protect me. I bite the metallic wrapper from his mouth and snap it between my fingers. “You’re always one step ahead. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And, trust me, I’d rather not use it, but I doubt you want to carry my child so soon in life.”

“
Aww
,” I tug at his chin a moment. “I’d love to populate the world with a million baby boys that look just like you.”

“And what if they were girls?”

“They’d better have your dimples—and your navy eyes. I’d let them get away with murder.” A hard protrusion grazes against my thigh. “Let’s get in the water before you get arrested, wielding that snake around like a weapon.”

“You think you’re funny, don’t you?” He scoops me in his arms and walks us to the ledge of the granite base where I used to dive in as a child. Come to think of it, the last time I swam here was with my mother.

“Three,” he says, sailing us off into the air. Gravity wraps her arms around us and sinks us into the cold mouth of the water as it swallows us whole. I pop up for air with a scream locked in my throat.

“You!” I splash a wall of water in his face, but he turns and deflects my efforts. “I’m going to get you.”

“I’m going to
let
you.”

He pulls me in by way of my cheeks, landing his fire-hot mouth over mine. Ace pulls back a moment, washing his gaze over my features.

“God, you’re so beautiful, Reese.” It streams from him as if it were the greatest tragedy.

“Thank you,” I say it dull, unsure of what the right answer might be. All I know is, right about now, my insides are throbbing to have him again. I hold up the condom in my hand, still wrapped in its shiny packaging. “You think this works underwater?” Not that I’d care. I’d have his babies if he let me, starting tonight. I’m on an Ace Waterman high and both the future and my uterus be damned.

“It’d better.” He takes it from me and swims us over to the rocks while biting the wrapper open.

“Here, let me.” I take it from him and secure it over his tip, carefully pressing down until it covers him like a slimy water balloon. “It barely fits. I think next time you should opt for the next size up.”

“There is no size up.” He lands in the water next to me while floating us directly under the soft flowing falls. “Reese”—he runs his heated kisses all over my face—“I want you to remember this always.” He pulls me up until my legs are wrapped around his waist.

I touch my forehead to his. “I promise you that every day I live, I’ll replay our time here at the falls.”

The sky explodes in a lime green ball of powder, followed by a barrage of errant fireworks that light up the night like demonic stars.

“Since this is your first time, having a girl at the falls”—I say it playfully—“I want to make sure
you
remember it.” I bite down on a smile as I guide him in. “Don’t let me hurt you.”

His chest thumps. “What if I want you to hurt me?” His dimples go off. The moon shines over him like a blessing, and my stomach singes just looking at him.

“Ask and you shall receive.” I fan my nails over his back like wings, and he takes in a breath through his teeth.

“Oh my, God! Did I hurt you?” I spike up in the water, effectively evicting him from my body in the process. Not only am I a novice, trying to pull some serious sadistic moves, but I’m lucky I didn’t pluck his penis off in the process.

Ace pulls his lips into a line. “You’ll have to try harder. But, first, I want you to reach down, and put it back in.”

“Yes, sir,” I say never taking my eyes from his.

Ace flutters his lids as I gently sink myself over him.

“Nice.” He moves us closer to the falls stealing molten kisses off my lips as we cut through the water. His fingers tighten over my waist and he thrusts himself in and out. I ride over his hips while the water sprays over my shoulders like a baptismal rite. I arch my head into the violent stream as my body jostles in rhythm to his.

Ace and I are making new memories, making moments I’m hoping we’ll both never forget. And if he tries, I might just have to lure him right back to the falls and remind him of the magic we once had—that we can have, forever.

He thrusts into me hard, and each time it feels as if his body is saying I love you straight into mine.

He loves me, again, and again, and again.

Our weeklong adventure bumps by in breaths, in the tug and pull of limbs, in kisses that spell out forever and eternity, with the poetry we write with our hearts.

Ace makes eggs and bacon for us each morning, well, late afternoon when we finally rouse from our delicious slumber—not that there’s been a whole lot of sleeping going on.

I made it a point to leave my phone in the car so I wouldn’t have to hear the annoying beep from the barrage of texts I’m most likely receiving. For the most part I trust Kennedy to do a good job of staving off my father and anyone else who might care to know where I’m at.

“Where does your family think you went?” I comb his hair back with my fingers. I could have said his dad, but I wanted to include Neva in the mix without saying her name. I’m sure just verbalizing it would conjure her up like a demon. God knows she’s doing her best impersonation in every other way.

He lets out a breath as he stares up at the tent. “I told them I was going to screw Reese Westfield in the woods for a week.”

“Right.”

“No I did, but they didn’t believe me because what are the odds?”

“Very funny.” I swat him with a pillow.

“Gavin knows.” His expression sobers up and my heart thumps at the thought of anyone knowing outside of the people I told.

“That’s okay.” It makes it real. My chest pounds at the idea of Ace and I having something real.

“You don’t look okay.” His dark brows narrow in on me and I trace my finger over them, content to be here doing just this.

“I was thinking maybe everyone should know.” I give a little wink to defuse the idea.

“Every cell in my body knows,” he teases, rolling me on top of him.

“Oh, yeah?” I laugh into his mouth as he grazes his teeth over mine. “What if I said that wasn’t enough?”

“All of me isn’t enough?” His dimples dig in, and I have a tiny orgasm by proxy. “Thanks a lot for insulting the hell out of me.”

“Very funny. That’s not what I meant.”

“I think you just want to show off to the other girls at Yeats—make them feel bad that they haven’t seen my mattress moves.”

“I would never do that because for one, you’d have a line around the block, and secondly, I need you to save all of your mattress moves just for me.”

“Come here.” He rolls me onto my back. “I’ve got a new move for you.”

“Are you ready to make love to your sweet innocent bride once again?” I love calling myself his bride. I’d die for it to be true.

“Nope. I’m going to fuck you.” He slaps my bottom playfully. “Get on your knees.”

“Oh, sounds kinky,” I say, complying with his wishes.

“It will be.” His dimples twitch as he fiddles with his never-ending condom supply. It’s safe to say, Ace estimated just the right amount of prophylactics to bring along for the ride. “Bend over.” He gives a wicked grin.