Page 92 of All I Feel

“Fuck,” he growled. “Fuck, Tessa.”

Then it hit him. The muscles in his arms, chest, and shoulders rippled as he found his release. When it left him, he collapsed on top of me, burying his face in my neck. We stayed like that briefly before his weight became too much, and I wheezed.

Ace immediately rolled onto his back, taking me with him. My cheek was pressed against his chest, and he was still inside me as he stroked his fingers lightly along my spine.

I waited a while, giving him time to come down from the high, before I asked, “Was that okay?”

“Princess, there’re a lot of words I’d use to describe how that was, andokayisn’t in the top one hundred.”

Lifting my cheek from his chest, I brought my eyes to his and fell in love with the lazy, satisfied look on his face. “You’re so handsome, I could cry.”

He chuckled. “That’s not a good reason to cry.”

No, it wasn’t. But there was something else that did have me on the verge of tears. “Did you like your gift?”

He smiled, his fingers still tickling my back. “Best present of my whole life.”

I grinned. “And to think I believed you were turned off by me.”

Ace froze, the movement of his hand halting at my lower back. “What did you just say?”

“Remember the day I went out to lunch with Harper and Savanna?”

“Yeah.”

“I begged my sister to meet me. I was in crisis mode,” I admitted.

His brow furrowed. “Crisis mode? Over what?”

I licked my lips, noting the way his eyes dipped to them. “I was losing my mind over the fact that you had me in your bed, night after night, and only wanted to kiss me. I told them I thought you were turned off by my lack of experience.”

“I sure fucking hope they talked some sense into you.”

Soft laughter escaped. “They did. They got me to see that perhaps you were just trying to be a good guy who cared and didn’t want to push me for something before I was ready.”

“It’s not about me caring, Tessa.”

His response surprised me. “It isn’t?”

“No. It’s about me loving you.”

It was then my body’s turn to freeze. “You… You do?”

Smiling, he revealed, “I’m pretty sure I knew I loved you when you came back from getting your hair and makeup done to see what you’d look like on your wedding day. But it wasn’t until you opened your door to me in that nightie that morning when I came to take you to breakfast that I realized I didn’t just love you. I wasin lovewith you.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “Okay. Now Iamgoing to cry.”

“Kiss me instead,” he urged me.

I honored his request.

The need to cry faded.

And after a while Ace got up, disposed of the condom, and returned with a warm cloth to clean me up. Then, both of us still naked, he pulled me close, kissed my forehead, and tickled my back as he whispered, “I love you, Tessa Stone.”

I smiled and whispered back, “I love you, Ace Townsend.”

Minutes later, we were both asleep.