“You first,” Ace says, nodding at the ladder.
I place my hands on the rungs, pull myself up, and start to climb. It’s only when I get halfway up that I remember I’m wearing a loose shirt style dress, and I’ve made no effort to hold it down as I’ve climbed. If Ace is directly beneath me, he’s getting a great view of my panty-clad ass.
Darting a look over my shoulder and down, I catch Ace as he whips his head away to look over his own shoulder.
“Ace!” I protest.
“What? It was right there—like the moon.”
I risk losing my balance to kick a sneakered foot down at him. “Oh, my God. Stop it. Don’t look.” I need my hands to climb, so I can’t even hold the back of my dress down if I’d wanted.
“Okay, okay. I’ll climb with my eyes shut.”
I look down again, and sure to his word, his eyes are firmly squeezed shut. I make a pretend move, testing him, and he fails epically, his eyes pinging open.
“Ace!”
He chuckles and throws me a wink before closing them again.
“Next time,” I mutter, “you can go first.”
I reach the top of the ladder and climb into the hayloft. Mama cat knows we’re there, as she comes slinking out of her little hay nest, and, to my delight, several kittens follow.
Ace joins me.
“Look, their eyes are open already,” I exclaim aboutthe kittens. “Oh, my God, they’re so cute.” They let out little mewls as they follow their mother on wobbly little legs. “I can’t believe they change so fast.”
“Give it another couple of weeks, and they’ll be chasing each other all over this place.”
“Hey, Mama” he greets Marmalade.
She winds herself around him, butting her head into his hand and purring with happiness. Does she just associate Ace with food, and that’s why she’s pleased to see him, or is she generally drawn to him like nearly every other female seems to be?
“Who needs therapy when you have a little furry head to kiss?” He demonstrates this by planting a series of firm, rapid kisses on Marmalade’s head.
She doesn’t seem to mind; why would she? I don’t think I’d mind Ace kissing my head either, and I find myself smiling.
He gets to work dividing out the meat then handfeeding it to Marmalade. She purrs as he strokes her back while she eats. There’s also a bowl of water in the corner, which I assume she drinks from, and he uses a little to rinse off his hands.
Ace was right; I do feel better being around the cats. Marmalade finishes eating and accepts a little more fuss from us before she rounds up her kittens and takes them back into her nest.
Ace glances over at me.
“See, I told you?—”
He cuts off, suddenly lurching to his feet as a look of sheer panic takes over his face.
My stomach clenches in response. “What’s wrong?”
“Shit, shit, shit.”
Ace dances around the hayloft like someone set hisfeet on fire. He reaches for the hem of his T-shirt and yanks it up over his head, tossing it to the hayloft floor.
I should be worrying about what’s wrong with him, but all I can do is stare. It takes me totally aback seeing him bare-chested like this, because wow, he really is perfectly formed. His skin is smooth and tan and the perfect canvas for all the tattoos covering his chest and biceps. His abs are beautifully defined, and there’s a faint dusting of hair between his nipples that extends in a tantalizing line down his stomach. I drag my gaze back to his face, though, as he’s still dancing around, and he’s starting to alarm me.
There isn’t a huge amount of space up here, and Ace is not exactly a small man. The vision of him toppling over the edge and breaking multiple bones panics me.
“Ace,” I cry. “Be careful! What the hell are you doing?”
