“Now, there’s something I love.” I give a quick wink collecting my glass winnings.
Ace frowns into me a moment before breaking out into his killer grin. “You’re about to go down, Westfield.”
He takes the shooter and proceeds to knock a single marble out of the ring, and just barely at that. I reach over and pick it up. It’s a chalky yellow, pocked with a thousand little holes that make it lighter than air.
“Hey, this is made out of cork or something. I don’t think this counts.”
“It was in the pile.” His cheek rises seductively as he takes it from me. “All’s fair in love and marbles.” He holds my gaze this time and neither of us moves.
“I think maybe we should have outlined the rules a little better.” My throat dries up as I say it. Ace Waterman is making my panties disintegrate with nothing more than that serious gaze of his—that steady stream of innuendos that I wish meant something more.
“Sometimes it’s best to let things play out.” He places his hand over mine as he lays the shooter in my palm but he doesn’t move. Instead he warms me with his eyes, his skin over mine. “Things have a way of ending up just the way they’re supposed to.” His fingers pull from mine, achingly slow and my insides cry out to have him, right here over this bed of miniaturized rolling stones.
“Do you believe that?” It comes from me childlike, tragically innocent.
“I do.” His gaze never wavers. “I really, really do.”
I take in a deep breath as the woodsy scent from the fireplace permeates the air with the pleasant bite of hickory. I wonder what those words mean to Ace, but I’m too much of a coward to ask. Maybe after the summer…
“We’ll be friends forever, right?” I ask while trying to shoot an entire mob of marbles out of the circle, and not one of them twitches under my command.
“That’s right.” His lips press into a line as he shoots into the exact same spot and lands six of them off the carpet without much effort. “I’ll always be in Loveless. You know where to find me if you’re ever in the mood for an affair.” His chest pumps just once.
I shoot at a clear yellow marble and land it on the line.
“It still counts,” I say, scooping it up as a win.
“You like to make your own rules, don’t you?” He shoots another half dozen off the rug, and I shake my head at the fact Ace is kicking my ass.
“Sometimes making your own rules is the only way to go.” Ace might be landing the marbles where he wants them but I’ve managed to land him where I want him, and tomorrow night, that’s exactly where he’ll be. Too bad it’s not a permanent arrangement. Too bad I’m not better at figuring out how to keep what I win.
We continue our game until I’m effectively decimated, and, as the loser, I have to scoop up all the marbles on my own, but Ace helps anyway.
“Come here.” He lands me over his lap and we stare at the fire, listening to it sing its broken song through a series of wild crackles.
“I like it like this.” I snuggle into his chest, pulling his arm over me. “In the dark—the fire the only light around. I wish we could end every night like this. You should come to Yeats, and I’ll sneak you into my dorm.”
“Do you have a fireplace?” His hand smooths up my arm, and a tingle erupts between my legs as if his fingers were there all along.
“No, but for you, I’d move off campus and get one.” I dip my hand up under his T-shirt hinting at the fact I’d like the night to end with our bodies wrapped around one another like a vine, but I’m too embarrassed to ask.
“You’d move for me?” He seems genuinely impressed.
“You’re worth a move. Of course, you’d have to bring your firewood along. There’s nothing like a wood burning fire.”
“Knew it.” His chest rumbles beneath me as he singes my neck with a kiss. “You’re just using me for my logs.”
“I guess my secret’s out. And it’slogas in singular.” I tickle his ribs. “I hope it doesn’t bruise your ego, too much.”
“Are you kidding?” He tightens his grip around my waist. “I’d let you use me every day of the year and twice on Sundays.”
“Just twice on Sundays?” I twist around until I can get a better glimpse of his blessed by God features. I’ve loved his gorgeous face, body and soul as soon as my hormones kicked in. “You’ve had me blushing since I was thirteen, you know that?”
His head ticks back a notch as if it were the last thing he expected me to say.
“No, I guess I didn’t.”
“Have you ever had any, you know,specialthoughts about me?” I trace my finger over his jawline.
