Page 63 of The Sentinels

"Oh, fuck!" he grunted, jerking behind me. "Fuck!"

We were both breathing fast and hard.

Ace held himself deep inside me until he was spent. The feel of his hot cum filling me caused a mini-orgasm to trigger, and I whimpered helplessly as it took control of my body. I slowly collapsed onto the bed and released the headboard.

"I'm wiped out," I murmured into my pillow, taking in shallow breaths because Ace was still on top of me. "I can't move." He didn't say anything. "Did I kill you?" I joked.

His laugh went through me. "I'd go a happy man if I died while I was inside your pussy, baby," he breathed huskily against my ear as he rolled to the side, taking me with him. I settled against him with my head on his shoulder and my arm across his chest. We were both glistening with sweat, the musky aroma of sex hovering over us like a steamy cloud.

"Now that you're better, shouldn't I go home?"

The sound that came out of him could be considered a grunt of some kind. "Not until I'm sure that the trouble we've been dealing with is over."

His response disappointed me, because I didn't really want to leave at all. I wanted Ace to want me there. I wanted him to go all caveman on me and tell me that I wasn't going anywhere. Then I told myself to slow down. That we might never get there at all. That we still needed to get to know each other. The sex was off the charts, but great sex didn't always make for great relationships.

"How long before you'll know?"

"A day, maybe two. You in a hurry to get away from me?" he joked.

"Not at all." I tilted my head so that I could meet his eyes. "I'd like to get to know you better."

Smiling, he pulled me on top of him easily. "Yeah?" He seemed pleased. "We can start now. What do you want to know?"

"Well…" I reached up and ran the tip of my finger over his smooth, bottom lip. "Are your parents still alive? Do you have any siblings? Have you ever been seriously involved with anyone? What was your childhood like?" He grunted, and I stopped. "Too much?" I giggled.

"How about one question at a time?" he suggested. "But in response to the ones you've asked, no, my parents aren't alive; no, I have no siblings; no, I've never been seriously involved with anyone. As for my upbringing I'd say it was good. My folks were loving, died in a car crash when I was thirteen. I came to live with my grandparents. They were good to me. Left me this place." His lips twisted. "My life in a nutshell."

Short and to the point, but it had been a lot of talking for Ace.

"I'm sorry about your parents," I said softly. "It must have been hard losing them both at such a young age." I recalled how devastated I'd been when my mom had passed.

He released a deep breath, his hand smoothing over my hair. "That's life, baby, and life's not always fair. They were hit head-on by a semi, killed instantly. At least they didn’t suffer. What about you?"

I froze. I hadn't counted on him being curious about me, too. I should have realized that by asking him questions about him he'd have his own about me, but there was no way that I was going to talk about my father, and that dark chapter in my life.

After a minute of silence, he asked, "You keeping secrets, baby girl?"

I could hear the frown in his slightly hardened tone. "No!" I rushed out, kicking myself for hesitating. "I mean, I was, um, trying to remember my parents." I'd never been a good liar, and now was no exception.

"You don't remember your parents?" His eyes narrowed down at me, filled with disbelief and suspicion.

"Of course I do." I lowered my eyes from him, thinking back to my early childhood, when things had been good and my mother had still been alive. Back then, my father hadn't shown any signs of being a monster. He'd gone to work, taken care of my mom and me. He'd treated us decently. Everything changed when my mother had died, and my father began to drink.

Looking back now, I remembered how he had encouraged me to invite Sophie and Gracie over for sleepovers; how he’d liked chaperoning school dances, under the guise of wanting to look out for me. Then there'd been the odd looks and accidental, inappropriate touches, touches that had eventually turned into nightmares. At the time I'd explained so much away.

I would never get over the guilt of being the daughter of a sick psycho.

I decided that I could tell Ace about the good years, because there had been good years. "I guess you could say that I had a fairly normal childhood, too. Both my parents worked, we had a nice home, nice things. No siblings either, but I had cousins I was close with. We were all like sisters. Grew up and went to school together." I stopped when I realized how true my words were, and felt a little sad that it had all changed around the time that we'd entered high school. "My life in a nutshell," I mimicked.

"I have a feeling there's a lot more to your story." Our eyes met, and I worried that he could see the reluctance in mine to continue. "You're hiding something."

My heart raced. "I'm sure you have a few secrets of your own. After all, you're a lot older than me—ouch!" He'd slapped me on the ass, and not a love tap either. I glared up at him.

"You want more of that?" he growled, rubbing the sting away. "Is my age a problem for you?"

My eyes rounded at the seriousness in his tone. I didn't want him to believe that. "Of course not, I was kidding. And we're only fourteen years apart."

He snorted. "I'd already lost my fucking virginity by the time you were born."