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Sierra shook her head and then dropped her hand to squeeze his shoulder. “A man who fled a frame-up to find justice. And something tells me there’ve been other stories, too. Stories about the man they all grew up with, the one who’s stood by them through thick and thin. The man they’ll always love as a brother—”
“But I’m not their brother, as you pointed out,” he said bitterly. “Just someone who happened to be around while we were all coming of age.”
“What’s family anyway?” she asked. “Is it somebody like my mom—or your own biological mother, whoever she might really be—who took off with no forwarding address and never looked back or made contact? Or is it the people who were there for us...like my dad, as flawed as he was, or the high school coach who steered me into a youth boxing program when he saw I was spiraling toward big trouble? Or what about the sister who hired you a lawyer and the brother who might not always know the right words but worried over picking you out the right clothes and grabbing your favorite boots to wear for your homecoming today? I can tell you which people I’d pick out, if I had the damned luxury of those kind of choices. If I had anyone at all left on the planet who cared half as much for me.”
Coming to his feet, Ace caught the hand she’d touched him with in his, his gaze fierce as words had been as he drew her into his arms. “You must really be something in the ring, Sierra Madden. Because when it comes to speaking the truth, you certainly don’t pull a lot of punches, do you?”
Her heartbeat quickened, her stomach swooping as he leaned toward her, hesitating long enough to lock in on her gaze, an unspoken question forming in the depths of his brown eyes. The downy hairs along her forearms and the back of her neck rose in answer, and a delicious rush of heat burned away every other thought but the imperative to close the space between them, to push her lips against his in a manner that removed all doubt of what she had no business wanting but ached for with a hunger that had caught her wholly by surprise.
* * *
Ace didn’t think. He couldn’t, with his senses overwhelmed by the passion of the woman who kissed as fiercely as she tackled every other challenge. The woman who could have taken her money and hit the ground running but had instead gone straight to work to keep her vow to rescue him from hell.
Regardless of what she’d claimed about his freedom being the result of a group effort, he knew damned well it wouldn’t have happened, perhaps not for weeks or months or even longer, if she hadn’t put her mind to finding Destiny and unraveling her lies.
But as grateful as he felt, as exhilarated to be free of the immediate threat of custody, it was that eager little murmur of Sierra’s, the way she wriggled closer as he pulled her tight body against his, that had him wondering what he’d ever been doing wasting his time, his life, pursuing the kind of women, the kind of life, that didn’t count, when a human firecracker like this was waiting for him.
As he explored her mouth with his tongue, he ran his hands through her long hair, losing himself in the sensation of thick, silken sleekness tangling in his fingers. But he couldn’t long be content, no more than she seemed to be rubbing circles along the back of his shirt. There were too many impediments between them, and way too many damned clothes. As a white heat blazed up between them, as undeniable as it was unmeasured, she led him to the queen-size bed where the fresh clothing he had so recently changed into very shortly hit the floor.
For all the eagerness she’d shown in helping him remove it, and every bit of appreciation that warmed her green eyes when she saw the effect she was having on his body, he couldn’t help but notice how Sierra winced as she moved to pull her long-sleeve T-shirt over her head.
Remembering her ribs, he suggested, “How about you let me help you with that—if you aren’t too sore?”
“If you don’t get me naked fast,” she promised, her face flushed and her swollen lips slightly parted, “I promise you, I’m not going to be the only one who’s feeling pain.”
Chuckling, he said, “Well, I wouldn’t want to end up with another black eye, now, would I?” before peeling off her top—and stopping at the starburst of deep brown-and purple-centered bruising he saw along her left side, which sparked a memory of Ice Veins kicking her so brutally while she was down.
“Seeing that makes me want to kill that bastard all over again,” Ace growled, his protective instincts once more roaring to life. “Makes me want to be sure he felt a hell of a lot more pain that second time around.”
“Forget about that. It’s okay now.” She tried to cover the spot with the sheet, but he gently caught her hand.
“It’ll never be okay, the things that happened to you that night. When I think about that Taser, and that bastard hauling off and booting you like a piece of—”
“Don’t do that.” Frustration digging a V between her red-blond brows, she shook her head at him as she stretched out, so strong and toned, yet softly female in all the right places, beside him on the bed. “Don’t focus on the bad times, or the challenges to come. Not now, Ace. For one thing, you and I—we’re a hell of a lot more than the sum of our wounds, our bumps and scars and bruises.”
With a delicacy that took his breath away, her fingertips feathered along the edge of the light bandaging on his chest before drifting lower. “Or would you rather let the people who’ve hurt us, who have taken so much away from you and your family already, steal this joy from you, too?”
With that, she turned her head, leaning to devour his mouth with another kiss. As she did, she stroked the length of him, making him painfully, exquisitely hard and hot for more.
Part of him knew that this was crazy, that what he was feeling, what they were doing, was far more than the physical act of making love. That as he rolled her over, giving in to the need to worship every gorgeous inch of her with his hands, his mouth, and finally, the union of their bodies, that he was setting himself up big time.
That when the time came for her to leave him, as she surely would, this beautiful, brave woman would be taking half his heart.
* * *
A few hours later Sierra drove toward the industrial area of Mustang Valley—and Ace’s condo. “Do you—do you like music?” she asked, darting an awkward look toward Ace. Since the sun had set hours earlier, the car’s interior felt claustrophobic, a dim cocoon where she was trapped with her misgivings. Along with the low thrum of her sex-sated nerves, it made for an awkward combination.
“Um, music’s fine. Whatever you like,” he said, sounding just as uncomfortable as she felt. Probably far too nervous about seeing his family and meeting the daughter he had never seen, except in the photo she had shown him, to even wonder what the two of them had been playing at back inside her room.
She turned on the radio, scanning through the few stations she could find, including one playing a warbling old country crooner, another with an angry woman shouting about politics and a third an overpowered station broadcasting from south of the border blasting loud accordion music.
Switching it off, she said, “Turns out, I guess, that whatever I like best is silence.”
“Good call,” he murmured before adding, “except, Sierra, I don’t want silence between us. Or any regrets, either. I—”
“You think I regret what happened? Or even that I didn’t want it? Want you,” she said. “I’m not going to pretend I didn’t just happen to have that fresh, new pack of condoms on hand.” She felt her face heating with the admission that she’d been thinking of the possibility—imagining how it might be, if they were allowed even the briefest window of time alone together—but she charged ahead nonetheless. “It’s been...it’s been a long time for me—a really long time, between my dad getting sick and everything that happened after, and I didn’t want to be caught off guard...in case...in case something happened before I have to go.”
It was those last few words that tightened her throat, making her eyes burn as her mistake sank in. The realization that, with a connection forged in the fires of survival, one mind-blowing round of sex, meant to take the edge off their raw attraction, could never be enough. Instead, the all-too-fleeting hours they’d shared had only served to underscore the darkness of the lonely years she’d endured.
