Playing to Win (The Players)

I have Ace in my bedroom and I’m suddenly nervous. My palms are damp and my heart is racing and I’m experiencing a serious case of self-doubt. I don’t know why. He’s made it more than clear that he likes me. That he wants me. And we’ve hooked up before. What we’ve already shared was pretty amazing, so I know it’ll be good between us.

Scratch that. It’s going to be great between us.

So why am I panicking now?

“You’re so modest,” I finally murmur as I take a step away from him, letting my gaze sweep over him freely. Everything lately with Ace feels so…covert. Like we’re spies having to sneak around to see each other. Communicate with each other. I don’t like it. Not really. I’d rather let the world know what we’re doing.

At least the campus.

“I’m just giving credit where it’s due. I can’t play like that without them. I need that team just as much as they need me. Maybe even more.” He rubs his chin, his narrowed gaze lingering on me. “So. What are we waiting for, Red?”

My stomach jumps. “What do you mean?”

“Shouldn’t we be getting naked by now?” He cocks a brow.

My body grows warm at him using the word naked.

All sorts of images pop into my brain, all of them involving Ace with no clothes on.

“You start first.” I wave a hand at him.

“If you say so.” He reaches for the back of his shirt and pulls it off in one smooth move, revealing his magnificent chest.

I clamp my lips together so I don’t do anything embarrassing while I stare at him, like drool.

“Your turn,” he drawls when I still haven’t said anything.

Slowly I tug my CU shirt off, revealing the white lacy bra I wore special for the occasion. As if I knew this moment would happen.

I was definitely hopeful.

His gaze turns heated as he takes me in. “You have the best tits I’ve ever seen.”

Laughing, I roll my eyes. “Best tits? Your language is rather coarse, Acey Baby.”

A growl leaves him and I giggle even more. “Did you really just call me that?”

I nod. “You don’t like it?”

Without warning, he lunges for me, making me gasp, taking me down so I land on the bed behind us, with him on top of me. His hands are everywhere at once, tickling me, making me laugh harder, but then he cups one breast, his big hand completely covering it and the laughter dies in my throat.

Swiftly replaced by a soft moan.

“Guess I only like it when you call me that,” he murmurs, his face in mine, so close I can feel his breath feather across my lips. “No one else.”

He lifts away from me before I can say anything, tracing the lacy trim of my bra with his index finger, gooseflesh rising on my skin. He does the same to the other breast, his barely-there caress making me squirm, wanting more. When he reaches for the clasp between my breasts and slowly undoes it, I breathe a sigh of relief.

This is what I’ve been craving since our last encounter. His hands on me. The delicious way his touch makes me feel.

Ace sweeps the cups away from my breasts with the back of his hand, dragging his knuckles across my hard nipples and I sink my teeth into my lower lip, my eyes falling closed when he does it again. He shifts his hand back and forth over my nipples so lightly, they start to ache with need.

“They really are pretty,” he murmurs, and I crack my eyes open to find him staring at my chest with longing. His gaze lifts to mine and his expression turns somewhat guilty. “I’m a tit man.”

“No kidding,” I tease.

He pinches my left nipple, making me hiss in a breath. “I’m also an ass man.” He slips his other hand beneath me and palms my ass, giving one cheek a squeeze. “And a leg man.”

“So you like all the parts.” My breath stalls in my lungs when he sweeps his hand down the outside of my thigh, making me quiver.

“Only your parts.” His smile is soft. Intimate. “I guess I’m a Ruby man.”

Oh my God. He shouldn’t say things like that. My heart is soaring out of my chest and my head is filled with all sorts of ridiculous thoughts.

Like what we share could turn into something real, which is impossible. I need to keep this moment light. Sexy.

“More like a Ruby fan?” I counter.

“Whatever you want to call it.” He leans down and brushes his mouth against mine, pulling away before I can really kiss him back. Such a tease. “I’m going to savor you tonight.”

His deep voice seems to vibrate right through me, leaving me breathless.

“Oh.” That sounds absolutely wonderful.

It also sounds like pure torture.

“I want to touch you everywhere.” He kisses my cheek, his hand sliding down to rest on my stomach. “Kiss you everywhere.”

I nod, needing to hear more.

“And after I make you come at least once, maybe twice, I’m going to fuck you.” He removes his hand from my stomach to rest it on my throat, his fingers curling around it lightly. “You want that?”

I nod, loving how he calls it fucking. No guy has said that to me before, and I know it’s a small thing, but it’s also a really hot thing. As in, it’s making me hot.

But I’m already so far gone for this man, he could call it boning and I’d probably find that sexy, when really? That word is most decidedly not.

His mouth finds mine once more and I lose myself in his deep, drugging kiss. Getting swept away by his searching tongue and persuasive lips. His hand is still clamped around my neck, his fingers exerting the slightest pressure and I close my eyes, savoring the sensation. His thumb rubs along my jawline. His other fingers streak across my throat. It’s sensory overload and I love it and I never want him to stop.

What makes it even better?

He’s doing this because he knows I like it and God, I do. I actually love it. It feels like he owns me and for some weird reason, that’s what I want. For Ace Townsend to claim me. Own me.

Completely.

We kiss for long, wondrous minutes, his hand eventually moving away from my neck to drift down the length of me. I’m trembling when he touches my breasts, his fingers playing with my nipples. Shivering when he touches my stomach, sliding his fingers beneath the waistband of my denim shorts. He undoes the button and slips the zipper down with ease, a whimper escaping me when I feel him touch the thin waistband of my skimpy panties and then he slides those magical fingers beneath the sheer fabric, sinking into me.

“Always so wet,” he murmurs against my lips. “Fucking love that about you.”

He shouldn’t use the word love so freely around me. A girl could start to get the wrong idea.

I spread my thighs open, allowing him more room and he takes advantage, his fingers searching me. Rubbing my clit in slow, tight circles. Ratcheting up those sensations growing within me with every stroke. I lift my hips, seeking more of his touch, my mouth hungry, my hands reaching for him, holding him to me. Until I finally have to break away from his kiss so I can catch my breath, overwhelmed with sensation.

“Baby, we need to get these clothes off of you,” he says, and I can’t take it when he calls me that. Baby. It’s the sweetest thing. The sexiest thing.

What’s sexier is this big man taking care of me. Shifting down the mattress so he can tug at my shorts, pulling them down my legs, his mouth following after his hands. He kisses each hip bone. My stomach. The tops of my thighs. The inside of my thighs, his lips so soft, so damp, I almost shoot off the bed.

Eagerly I kick off my shorts and spread my legs wider, wanting him to hone in on my pussy and he does.

Oh God, he does.

I reach behind me, grabbing at the pillow and clutching it to the back of my head as he tugs my panties aside, revealing my glistening wet pussy. Pausing, he glances up at me to find I’m already watching, a slow, sexy smile curling his lips and I want to throw a pillow at his beautiful head.

I also want to beg him to never stop what he’s doing.

“Want me to lick it?” he asks, his voice so deep it sounds like he’s growling.

I nod furiously, desperate for him to lick it.

“Beg.”

“Wha?” I frown, finding it difficult to speak full words.

“Beg for it, Red. I wanna hear you beg for my mouth and my fingers on your pretty pink pussy. Can you do that? Tell me what you want, baby. Let me hear it.”

This man. What in the world? No one has made me beg for anything before. And certainly never like this.

He dips his head, his tongue swiping across my clit, making me cry out before he pulls away again. “Beg for my tongue. You know I can make you come with it. You’re already close.”

I’m so close. He’d probably only have to breathe on my clit and I’d fall apart.

He teases it again, just with the tip of his tongue, and I suck in a harsh breath, nearly choking on it.

“Come on. I wanna hear you use your manners.”

We stare at each other for a moment and I realize…he’s giving me what I want. What I crave. Hot sex for one night.

And he’s going to make me beg for it.

“P-please, please,” I stutter, spreading my thighs as wide as I can. This big, broad man is currently lying between them, his face right at pussy level, and I am dying to feel his mouth on me again. “I need you to…”

My voice drifts and I close my eyes.

He traces my folds with a single fingertip, driving me out of my mind with lust. “You need me to what?”

“Lick my pussy,” I whisper, closing my eyes for a moment. It’s not a word I say out loud. Pussy. Not really.

He does exactly that, flattening his tongue and covering as much territory as possible with that wicked tongue of his and lord save me, it feels amazing. “What else do you want? Get creative. Tell me exactly what you need, and make it as dirty as possible.”

I hesitate and he must see something flicker in my eyes because his expression gentles.

“You’re safe with me, Ruby.” His voice rings with sincerity. “You can say whatever you want. Ask for whatever you want. No judgment.”

His words are like a dam breaking inside me.

“I want you to fuck me with your fingers and your tongue,” I whisper. “I want you to suck my clit. I want you to put your whole mouth on my pussy and suck and lick me. I want to ride your face, and after you make me come, I want you to kiss me so I can taste myself on your lips.”

His gaze darkens and he gives me exactly what I want, sliding two fingers inside me at once and steadily pushing them in and out of my body, curling them. Touching something deep with every thrust that has me slowly unraveling. I lift my hips, arching into his hand and when he replaces his fingers with his mouth, I grip the back of his head, holding him to me, much like I did the last time we did this.

He doesn’t seem to mind as I basically smother him with my pussy. God, he eats and eats at me, giving me what I asked for. His lips and tongue toying with my clit, drawing me closer and closer to the edge. I feel like I’m going to fall straight over it at any moment. As if I’m freefalling in the air, and there’s no net to catch me. It’s exhilarating.

It’s terrifying.

He grabs hold of me, his hands slipping beneath my ass, lifting me up, his mouth still attached to my pussy and my hands fall away from his hair. I grind against his face, whimpering. Moaning. Ohhh…

Oh.

“Ace.” His name falls from my lips on a pant and he zeroes in on my clit, his tongue and lips working the bit of sensitive flesh. Circling. His fingers teasing the crack of my ass, sliding closer to a spot no guy has ever touched before. He spreads my ass cheeks with those big hands, fingers dipping deeper, tongue flicking at my clit and shit.

That’s it.

I’m coming.

Coming.

“Oh God,” I choke out as the orgasm hits me hard, my head spinning, my entire body shaking. He never lets up, his mouth working me into a frenzy, my clit becoming so sensitive that when it’s over, I’m pushing him away from me because I can’t take it anymore.

It’s too much. He’s too much.

Truly, he’s not enough.

“Roll over,” he demands and I automatically do as he says, turning over onto my stomach. He yanks me into position so I’m on my knees, my upper body still pressed into the mattress and I wiggle my ass back and forth like the shameless woman I’ve become thanks to him, shivering as the cool air hits my heated flesh.

I can feel him looming behind me. Hear him kick off his shoes—oh my God, he just did all of that to me with his shoes on, and I don’t know why, but the idea makes me giggle.

Ace pauses. “Are you laughing at me?”

A shiver pulses through me at the sound of his deep voice. God, he sounds like sin and sex. “No.”

“Better not be.” He smacks my ass, his palm connecting with my flesh, making me jolt forward, a moan falling from my lips.

Heaven help me, that felt good. I never thought I was into spanking. Seriously, the idea of it always sounded kind of silly to me, but what he just did?

I swear I’m dripping down the inside of my thighs, it was so hot.

“Look at you.” His tone is admiring as he contemplates me and I can hear him get rid of his jeans. Most likely his underwear too. I’m tempted to turn around and check to see if he’s naked, but there’s something so delicious about lying here with my face basically buried in the pillow I find myself clutching and my ass sticking up in the air. I spread my knees a little, wanting him to see all of me and he smacks my butt again. A little lighter this time but still hard enough to sting.

To burn.

I feel that burn all the way to my clit.

“You are a dirty girl, Red.” He massages the spot where he just slapped me, his touch gentle, making me tremble. “I plan on fucking you like this someday.”

Oh, the promise in his voice. I can barely take it.

“From behind?” I ask hopefully.

“Mmm, hmm.” The mattress sags when he climbs onto the bed, his hands on my hips as he pulls me into him. I feel the brush of his cock against my exposed pussy and good God, all I want to do is back up even more and feel him slide into me. Just like this.

“Why can’t we do it now?” I ask, my voice muffled by the pillow I’m clutching.

He goes still, his large hands spanning my hips, his cock right there, poking at me. He’s long and hard and I’m dying to feel him slowly enter me. Dying to experience the delicious friction.

Oh god. I could come again just thinking about it.

“You really want me to fuck you like this?” He sounds surprised.

“Yes, please,” I practically scream into the pillow.

“I do love a woman who’s polite,” he says jokingly, pulling me into him, his cock sliding along my folds, teasing them. Between my lower lips. Back and forth, nice and slow, driving us both out of our minds. “Fuck, you feel good like this, Red.”

“So do you,” I whisper, rocking against him.

We keep this up like we’re unable to stop, the mattress creaking with our movements, both of us panting. He increases his pace, his cock slipping inside me, just the tip, and we both pause, the guttural groan coming from deep inside Ace’s chest sparking something primal inside me.

I want to hear him make that sound again. Now.

“Fuck me, you are so tight.” He inches inside, just a little bit more, and I whimper. “I need a condom.”

I go completely still, his cock barely inside me, my chest aching with the need to just push back and engulf him completely but…

“I don’t have any condoms,” I admit.

He’s quiet for a moment, like he’s struggling to find words. “I don’t either.”

My stomach sinks.

“Oh my God,” I whisper. “Are you serious?”

“I mean…yeah.” He pulls out a little.

Pushes back in a little.

I moan, enjoying the torture.

“You’re Ace fucking Townsend. Biggest player on campus,” I remind him.

“Don’t remind me,” he mutters. “I haven’t fucked anyone in ages.”

“Define ages.”

“Since you came back into my life.”

“Wait…what?” I’m shocked.

Is he for real?

“I’m serious.” He runs his hands up and down my sides, making me shiver. I can’t get enough of him touching me. “I’ve never fucked anyone without a condom before.”

Is he just saying that?

No. I get the sense that Ace respects me. Actually likes me. We get along. Conversation is always flowing and I want to know more about him. I think he wants to know more about me too. I like this man. He wouldn’t lie just to have sex with me. If that was the case, he would’ve tried something a long time ago, I probably would’ve fallen for it and we’d already be done-zo.

“Really?” I ask.

“Really,” he says firmly.

I went on birth control my senior year in high school and I’ve never stopped taking it. Should I tell him that? It’s not foolproof and I don’t know his sexual history so I’m the type who likes to double up on safety. I don’t like putting my health at risk and babies?

Yeah, no. Not for at least ten years.

“Me neither,” I admit softly. “And…I’m on birth control.”

He rocks his hips, sliding in deeper, the bastard. Trying to remind me of how good it feels like this. “I’ll pull out of you before I come if you want.”

“Come all over my tits again?” I ask teasingly.

His hips buck against me. “Damn, woman, don’t say those words. Conjures up all sorts of images in my brain.”

Aw, he’s so cute. And sexy. And easy to rile up.

But I forget about all of those thoughts when he slides deeper, entering me until we’re both completely still, getting used to each other. I feel so full of him, stretched out completely because he’s long and thick. Like a dream dick, if I’m being real with myself, and of course Ace has a dream dick.

He’s a dream guy. It makes sense that he’d come properly equipped.

“Lift up, baby. Brace yourself on your hands,” he demands, and I do what he says, sending him deeper, making us both moan.

Gripping my hips, he steadily fucks me, sliding in and out, slow and easy. Driving me out of my mind with pleasure. I knew the friction would be good. That slow drag of his cock inside of me pulling almost all the way out before he plunges back in. Over and over. I can feel his fingers trace along my folds that surround his cock, his gaze hot on my skin, and I don’t even have to see him to know this is happening. To feel it.

“This is sexy.” He drifts his fingers back and forth over my pussy, along his dick. “Watching you take me.”

I duck my head and moan at his words, my tits swaying with his every thrust as he increases his pace. We fuck like this for so long, I marvel at his stamina, at the fact that he’s driving me closer to orgasm yet never quite getting me there. Like he’s drawing it out on purpose.

He most likely is.

“Jesus, I can’t take this.” Ace pulls out of my body completely, grabbing my waist and giving me a tug. “Roll over.”

I glance over my shoulder at him. “Why?”

He flips me onto my back with ease, his body hovering over mine as he grabs hold of his cock and guides himself into me. I’m so wet, he slides home easily and I lift my hips, meeting him halfway. “Because I want to look at your beautiful face when I make you come.”

Oh God. He says things like that and I want to melt. I want to fling myself at him and never let him go.

Ever.