Page 57 of Steal My Breath Away

“I’ll come with you.” I was about to follow her to make sure Lucas did, in fact, just want to dance, when the crowds parted, and Ace walked through the patio door.

Damn. If Ace was at the party, then so was Matt, which meant I wouldn’t be there for long.

I moved into the shadows at the edge of the patio and took the opportunity to drink my fill of Ace. He’d stopped coming by the house as often after the night I sat beside him on the couch, and when he did, he rarely spoke to me. Then he’d joined the air force, and the few times he’d been home, he’d stayed at his grandmother’s place and Matt had gone to see him there.

But it was a night for indulgence. He was deploying in the morning, and I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again, so I took my time, studying every inch of him, committing him to memory.

Dark hair, cut military short. Dark eyes. Tanned skin. He’dmentioned once that his mom was Italian, and it showed in his sensual mouth and the sweep of his thick lashes. He was bigger than I remembered—more muscular. He’d definitely been working out. He wore a pair of jeans low on his hips, and a black T-shirt that clung to the ridges of his broad chest and rippled abs. He wasn’t classically handsome, but something about the way he looked always took my breath away.

Our gazes met. Locked. His eyes swept down my body and then up again. Slow and sensual, his visual caress sent tingles through my body.

My cheeks flamed, and my stomach flipped. Even if this was all I got, I would always remember the way he looked at me that night.

And then he was there, standing in front of me, his body a breath away from mine.

In the few moments we’d stared at each other, I’d imagined a dozen different things he might say:You’re beautiful. I want you. I’ve been waiting for you all my life.

“Paige is wasted,” he said. “You need to get her away from Lucas.”

I bit back my disappointment. “I’m keeping an eye on her.” I glanced over at Paige flailing in front of Lucas, lost to the music. “She’ll be fine.”

His head bent, his dark hair tickling my cheek. I inhaled deeply and the scent of his cologne sent a wave of heat between my legs. Powerful. Primal. Utterly masculine. If I were writing a song about it, I’d have called it “Killer Instinct.”

“Are you fine, too?” he murmured in my ear, the deep, rich sound of his voice curling around me like a warm blanket on a cold winter night.

I wasn’t fine. Not with Ace standing so close. Looking at me. Speaking to me. Treating me like I was a normal girl, and not his off-limits, uninteresting, last-person-he’d-ever-want-to-be-with best friend’s little sister.

“I’m good. I can hold my liquor.” I immediately regretted my words, but instead of chastising me, Ace just smiled. “I know.”

Did he know I could hold my liquor, or did he know I was good? And if the former, how did he know I could drink like a champ and still walk a straight line home? He’d only ever seen me drunk that one time at the high school dance, and even then, I was sober enough to understand just what was going on.

“Where’s Matt?” I figured that was why he was here, and since there was no way Matt would let me stay, I might as well get the lecture over with.

“Your mom’s dishwasher broke after dinner. He’s trying to get it fixed before he leaves.”

Of course he was. Matt didn’t care that this was his last night before his first deployment, or that he might not see his friends for a very long time. He didn’t think about how he needed to kick back and relax or mentally prepare himself for what lay ahead. Mom needed him. He was there. Just like he was always there for me, even when I didn’t want him.

“I thought dishwasher repair was your jam.” Ace was always fixing things around our house. He loved to take machines apart and put them together again, much more so than Matt, who was more academically inclined. Usually, they’d work together, with Matt reading through instruction manuals and Ace putting the information into practice.

“When Matt got a message about the party, I knew you’d be here,” he said. “You seem to have a knack for finding your way into places you shouldn’t be.”

“You and Matt went to parties when you were my age,” I countered. “No one showed up to drag you away.”

“We had more self-control.”

I snorted a laugh. “Is that what you call Matt throwing up in the bushes outside the house or being so hungover he couldn’t go to school?”

“One of us had self-control.” He glanced over at Paige. “Inyour case, it’s usually Paige, but tonight it looks like the roles are reversed.”

“I didn’t want to be hungover when Matt leaves tomorrow,” I admitted. “It’s been so great to have him home. He’s different now. Nicer and not so bossy. We didn’t fight once. I’m really going to miss him.” I hesitated, biting my lower lip. “What if he doesn’t come back?”

“You don’t need to worry,” he assured me. “We’ll be deployed together. I’ll watch out for him.”

“Promise me you’ll keep him safe,” I begged him. “You know what he’s like. He’ll forget about his own safety if someone is in trouble. I need him home, Ace. I need you to protect him.”

“I promise I will keep him safe, bug. He’ll come home to you.” Ace’s eyes softened and he gently tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. His hand lingered for a moment, fingers brushing the curve of my neck.

My breath hitched, and I shot a look at Paige, mentally screaming, “Ace touched me,” but she was still lost in her own world of alcohol-inspired interpretive dance.

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