Ace in the Hole (7 page)

“Why not stay here?” He pulled her into his lap and linked his arms around her waist. “I told you this time would be different. Stay with me.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder and let out a soft laugh. “My parents would roll over in their graves if they knew I was shacking up with a man before marriage.”

“Then marry me.”

Her head popped up and her eyes widened. “What?”

“Hear me out.” He held tight as she started to pull away from him. “I’ve done a lot of thinking this past week. If I wouldn’t have screwed up, you’d be my wife, and this would be our child.”

“But that’s not the case.” Sorrow coated her words.

“Not yet, but there’s no reason it can’t be. You deserve so much better, but I realized this is all I can give you. If you allow me, I’ll spend the rest of my life proving you didn’t make a mistake. Gwen, I love you. You’ve always had my heart.”

Tears glistened in her eyes. “I love you too.”

“Then marry me.”

“There’s more to marriage than just love. I’m pregnant with another man’s child.”

He placed his hand on the curve of her stomach, feeling the roundness under his fingers. “Let me be a father to her.”

“I thought we were taking this slow.” She smirked. “This isn’t slow.”

“Then just think about it. When you’re ready, the offer stands. If we marry before you give birth, she can have the Diamond name and no one needs to know otherwise. She’ll be my daughter in every way.”

“I need to think about this.” She laid her hand over his. “I’m not ashamed of using a sperm donor…”

“Gwen, that’s not what I meant. I only meant that if you let me, she would be my daughter in every way. She’s a part of you, and I’ll love her just like I love you.” It didn’t matter the child wouldn’t be his flesh and blood; she would still be his daughter.

“What about your family?”

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. Wynn and Lucky already knew she was pregnant and it wasn’t his, but neither of them had said anything about it. He wasn’t sure where her worry was coming from.

“What about them?”

“Wynn stopped by yesterday. She mentioned the two of you got into it pretty good a few weeks after I received the letter.”

“I remember. I ended up with a black eye. Even Lucky took a few hits when I saw him. But what does that have to do with right now?”

“Your father laid into you about it too.”

He nodded. “I’m still missing the connection.”

“I caused all these problems because I shared what happened with Wynn. I never expected her to tell everyone. Oh, your family must hate me.”

“It was never your fault, only mine. They don’t hate you.” He wiped the tears from her cheeks. “During that visit where Wynn took her anger out on my face, Mom told me she always expected we’d get married. She wasn’t happy with how I went about things, but she believed things would work out in the end. Maybe if I would have come home sooner, it would have worked out long before now.”

“What matters is now.”

“Then let’s just enjoy that I’m home and you’re by my side.”

“What did you have in mind?” Her glossy pink lips curled up into a smile.

“Let me take you to bed. I want to hold you close while we sleep. Then in the morning, let’s just see what happens then.”

“Hmm, morning.” She winked at him before slipping off his lap to stand. “I’m tired, so if you’re coming…”

“Oh sugar, I’m coming.” He took hold of her hand. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

He didn’t care if it took his whole life, he’d convince her he was there for the long haul. Their past was rocky and there were things they’d have to overcome, but they could do it together. The love he had for her was strong enough they could overcome anything. This was the life he was supposed to have years ago and now he was claiming it. He wasn’t going to let Gwen slip through his fingers again.

D
ressed in a little black cocktail dress that hid the slight curve of Gwen’s growing stomach, she fingered the strand of her mother’s pearls around her neck, feeling sexier than ever. She checked the mirror again to make sure her hair was spiking in all the right places, before slipping into the heels she had set out. She wanted everything perfect. Going to Wynn’s for a small gathering seemed to add more pressure to her relationship with Ace.

Wynn was her best friend, but this one time Gwen wished she’d lay off. She needed time with Ace to work things out. Not to mention time to think about the marriage proposal.

“Gwen?” Ace called from the downstairs landing. “Are you ready yet?”

“Men are always so impatient,” she told her daughter, running her hand over her stomach. With one final check, she turned and headed downstairs.

Exiting her room, she found Ace at the top of the stairs. “I heard that.”

“You must have hearing like a dog, I barely said it aloud.” He stood there with his mouth open, staring at her like he’d never seen her before. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Wow.” He opened and closed his mouth. “You look beautiful.”

“You act like this is the first time ever.” Nervous, she bit her lip, waiting for him to stop looking at her like a freak event at a zoo.

“Not the first time, but damn, woman, you blow me away.” He closed the distance between them and slipped his arms around her waist. “What do you say about staying in tonight and letting me take you back to bed?”

As tantalizing as that offer sounded, she shook her head. “Tempting, but we made a promise that we’d be at Wynn’s tonight.”

“Someday my workaholic sister will understand.” He leaned his head down into the crest of her shoulder, his warm breath against her skin sending a line of goosebumps down her arm. “Wouldn’t you rather stay in and let me cherish your body, make love to you until you scream my name?”

“You’ve been home two days and now you want me?” She tried to sound hurt but it wasn’t working. Every word held a hind of desire rather than disappointment.

“Sweets, I’ve wanted you, but you wanted to take this slow. It’s been incredibly hard but I wanted to do right by you.” He kissed her neck, gently dragging his teeth over her skin. “I want you now.”

She curled her neck into him, drawing his mouth closer, and a soft moan escaped her lips. Need and desire coursed through her, until she was almost willing to forget the dinner and let him take her. “Ace…”

“Yes?” He kissed along her neck until he reached her earlobe.

“Tonight. After Wynn’s. Let’s go before my control snaps.”

“That’s almost an invitation to keep going. Once your control is gone we can forget going out and make it up to Wynn later.” He stepped back, and straightened his dress shirt. “Let’s get this over with.”

“You should be happy to spend the evening with your family.”

“She’s inviting us to see how things are progressing with us. Wynn has always been the nosiest of all of the Diamond clan.” He slipped his hand in hers, and headed for the steps.

“You do realize that is a
major
accomplishment, right?”

He stopped halfway down the steps and raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you saying my family is a bunch of nosy busybodies?”

“Oh, look at the time, we need to be going.” She slipped past him, quickly coming down the last steps.

“Gwyneth London.” There was a playfulness in his tone as he called after her. “Don’t you walk away from me.”

“On the risk of repeating myself, we need to be going.”

“Answer me, then we can go.” He came down the final steps.

“You’re not blind, you know what your family is like better than me.” She opened the closet door and grabbed their coats. “Lucky and you aren’t much better than Wynn.”

He took her coat and held out it for her. “I’m going to make you pay for that comment tonight.”

“Promises, promises.” She handed him his coat and waited while he buttoned the double breast jacket.

It was amazing they were able to have such ease between them after what had separated them. If only the ease would continue through the rest of the family. She hadn’t told Ace about the conversations she had with Lucky and Wynn urging her to stay away from him, because she didn’t want to cause any problems between the siblings. Things were going so well now, she could only hope they held their tongues tonight, and didn’t bring up what happened when he went off to boot camp.

A
ce stood on the balcony, the salty breeze from the ocean beating against him, cooling the desires that ran through him. His last shred of control was hanging by a thin thread, and every ounce of him wanted to rush back inside and whisk Gwen away. In his line of work he could be called into action any time, and all he could think about was having Gwen naked beneath him before he had to leave again.

The way that short black dress hugged every curve of her body had his shaft hard since she’d stepped out of the bedroom. He never wanted something as much as he wanted her that very moment. Damn Wynn for inviting them. Keeping him here was pure torture.

“We need to talk.” Lucky closed the balcony door behind him.

“Then talk.” It came out edgier than he meant, but he didn’t want to talk, especially not about what Lucky thought they needed privacy for.

“Man, I think you’re wrong. Gwen doesn’t need this. She doesn’t need to have her heart broken again. You weren’t around to see what it did to her before, but I was. You either stay with her, or leave her alone. Don’t screw with her, she deserves better than that.”

“This isn’t your business. Stay out of it, Lucky.” He clenched the wrought iron banister, refusing to give into his brother’s taunts.

“You weren’t here before. I was. That makes it my business. Wynn and I helped her put the pieces together. She was a mess, and I don’t want to see her go through that again.”

Ace spun toward his brother and let the anger flow through him. If Lucky wasn’t going to back off, Ace had to make him do it out of self-preservation. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think you had something for her. All those years when she was alone you didn’t make your move, but now I’m back and you’re jealous. I’ll kick your ass if I need to, but this is between Gwen and me.”

“You fuck this up and it’s going to be about all of us. I won’t stand by if I think you’re hurting her. Wynn and Dad have my back on this, don’t think you’ll get off like you did before.” Lucky turned back to the door, and grabbed hold of the handle. “Don’t mess this up.”

“What about Mom?”

“What about her?” Lucky glanced back in question.

“You said Wynn and Dad, but you didn’t mention Mom. I heard it all from her before, but you left her out of it.”

“Mom is the optimistic one of the family, she thinks this is going to work out and you’ll be the first of the Diamond crew to get married.” Lucky made it obvious he didn’t agree, then opened the door and went back inside, leaving Ace alone on the balcony to consider things.

Married? If only I can convince Gwen…

A
ce was still standing on the balcony, his fingers tight around the banister as he stared off at the endless ocean. The sun had set long ago, only leaving darkness in its wake, but with the lights from the condominiums, it was still bright enough to see the waves crash on the beach. The beach was the only appealing thing about Wynn’s condo, but he couldn’t give up the family home to move and be surrounded by people. When he was home and the SEAL team wasn’t there, he needed the quiet; it helped him center himself.