Banging the Superhero (11 page)

On the couch. Making the heavens move to their embrace.

"Faster, baby, faster."

His voice sounded hoarse, which only made her more turned on. She had done this to him. He was a superhero and he pleaded with her for more. Yes, she would give it to him.

Sitting higher on her knees, she made her movements faster, sharper, more intense. Reaching up, she grabbed her breasts as Ace's hands played havoc with her stomach and back.

She couldn't stand it. The pressure built inside her, driven by the fire she and Ace created together.

"Shit. Alice. I need to move faster."

She could barely speak. "Do it."

Ace grabbed her by her waist and flipped her over backward, awkwardly. For a second they were just badly strewn body parts—arms and legs that weren't sure where they should be placed. Then it all came together, and she gasped as Ace plunged deep inside her pussy. Wrapping her legs around him as he pushed her to the edge of the couch, she felt his hand catch her head before she banged against the armrest.

Yes,
this
was what she wanted. In and out, over and again, he moved. She bit down on her lip. Her muscles clenched. She wanted to come.

Ace spoke nonsense to her. She had no idea what he said. Some seemed dirty, some of it sweet. It all had the same effect. His voice only added to the intensity. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She knew seconds before it happened. Her insides exploded in a frenzy of feelings and colors, the likes of which she had never before experienced. Her back arched from the couch. "Yes," she screamed, and then screamed his name, thanking the heavens, all at the same time.

Moments later, Ace followed with a window-rattling shout. His arms came around her as he fell forward and tugged her into a tight embrace.

She closed her eyes, desperately hoping she wouldn't have to think for the next several hours. She wasn't sure she'd be capable.

"Um . . . I'm home."

Ace's head shot up as he stared over the couch. "Shit."

Alice opened one eye, as the post-coital bliss she'd envisioned fled from the room. She whispered. "It's Lael, isn't it?"

Ace didn't look at her. "You're not supposed to be home for another hour."

Opening the other eye, she noticed Ace's coloring had turned a distinctive red.

He was embarrassed. She supposed she should be also, but both Ace and the couch concealed her. Lael couldn't see her at all. Plus, it wasn't like he was five years old. He was a teenager. He might even have sex. Inwardly, she shrugged. Maybe she'd be humiliated later.

"They cancelled my last period. The teacher never showed up, so one of my friends drove me home early." Lael had laughter in his voice. "I'm going to go down to my room and let you crazy people get dressed."

With that, she heard fast footsteps heading from the stairs.

Ace finally glanced at her. His hair was everywhere, half of it covering his face. "I guess we really didn't think this through very well."

"It'll give him something to embarrass you with for the rest of your life."

"I suppose."

He bent down to kiss her and she let herself close her eyes to the feel of his strong lips on hers. It felt nice to just exist for a moment.

"At least he didn’t arrive any earlier."

She opened her eyes at that thought. Yes, that would have been worse. "So?"

He arched an eyebrow. "So?"

"Are you a parrot? Were you able to
do it
to your satisfaction with me or not?"

Ace ran a hand through his hair. "Did you worry about that the whole time?"

"No." She shook her head. "Answer the damn question."

His grin spoke volumes. At the moment, he looked like a little boy who had a secret he knew he could taunt her with. "What will you give me if I tell you?"

She pushed at his chest. "Let me up."

"Yes, Alice, I was able to, as you so charmingly put it, do it to my heart's content."

She swallowed, unsure if she had stopped breathing for a second.
"Really?"

He raised his hand. "I do not lie."

Good news. She blinked. Very good news. It meant he would want to do it with her again. Her heart beat hard. So, why was she panicking?

Ace sat up straight.

"What is it?"

"Phone in the basement is ringing." He jumped up, grabbing his pants as he did.

Awkwardly, he stumbled back into them.

"How can you hear it?"

He pointed to his ears. "Super hearing."

"Really?" She laughed as she called after him. "How can you hear anything through all that hair on your head?"

Truthfully, she loved his hair now. But it felt more comfortable to tease him. That had been their natural banter. Changing it . . . well, that would
mean
something and she wasn't going to be
that
woman. Sex was sex. Love was love. And lately, for Alice it was

"never the twain shall meet".

Really good sex, she'd learned in her twenties—and granted this was mind-blowing—did not have to warrant mushy feelings that ended with her eating chocolate ice cream, watching Humphrey Bogart, and sobbing at infomercials.

Ace sprinted back into the room, now fully dressed.

She shot up on the couch. "What is it?"

"Someone launched a missile at the United States. I have to bring it down for the military."

She jumped up, grabbing her clothes off the floor. "What?"

"Usually Draco brings down the missiles. But today it's my turn."

She stared in horror as he busted out the door without another word. She didn't know what part of what he'd said horrified her more. First, a missile headed toward them. She bit down on her lip at a thought too horrible for words. Her palms began to sweat.

Second, Ace had said Draco
usually
handled the missiles.

How many times did this sort of thing happen? She dressed fast, feeling really exposed now that Ace had left the house.

Perhaps, however, the most disturbing thing was the grin on Ace's face as he'd run from the house. He'd reminded her of a child who had just been told he got to play with the cool toy his brother usually hid from him. She rubbed her arms.

He was heading out to, hopefully, put down something that could cause tremendous amounts of harm and he was happy about it. How could anyone function, whose happiness came from handling this kind of situation in his or her day-to-day life?

"You're dressed, right?"

She swung around. Lael had entered the room, his eyes covered with his hands.

She grinned. There was something so likable about the teenager. He made her think of what Ace must have been like as a young a young man.

"I am. The coast is clear."

He took his hands down. "That's good because I really don't need to see my future sister-in-law naked."

Alice felt like the world shifted beneath her feet. She gripped onto the side of the couch for support. "Lael, I'm afraid you've gotten the wrong idea. Your brother and I are very good friends. I'm his client, which complicates things. I'm not going to be your sister-in-law."

"Yeah?" Lael shook his head. "I've never seen him look at anyone like he looks at you. I've never come home and found him on the couch with any of his other
clients
before."

She needed to change the subject immediately. "Why did you lie to him?"

Lael stood very still, the smile falling off his face. "What?"

She walked into the kitchen. No matter where she was, the kitchen always became her safe spot. "You heard me."

Lael walked up behind her, stopping at the island. "How did you know I lied?"

She shrugged. "I was a teenager once. I know when someone's cutting class."

Lael tapped his hands on the island. "Are you going to tell him?"

"I'm not your mother, Lael." She opened the fridge to see what was inside. Food seemed to magically appear in there. She was going to have to ask someone how that happened. "I think you should tell him before the school calls and tells him."

"What are you going to cook?"

She pulled out one of the drawers and found something that looked appealing.

"Chicken sound good?"

"Food always sounds good. I don't usually care what I'm eating."

She groaned. "That's so far from how I feel, I can't even begin to relate to that statement."

Silently, she moved to the island and stood next to Lael. "Get me a pan to cook these in and some olive oil, please."

He nodded and scurried around the kitchen to do as she asked. "I hate math. The teacher gives me a hard time. I really fell behind in it when I ran away."

She raised an eyebrow as she poured the olive oil into the pan. "And you thought it was a good idea to miss more school so you could fall even further behind? Seems pretty stupid."

He banged his hand on the counter. "I'm not dumb."

"No." She shook her head. "I didn't say you were dumb. I said missing school when you've already missed was dumb." After seasoning it with salt, she dropped the chicken gently into the pan. "And you clearly have a temper."

In a move she'd learned from her mother, she stared down at the hand he'd banged on the counter as if it was a bug she wanted to squish.

"I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't display my anger like that."

"You're very strong. You have to be careful how you express yourself."

Cooking helped. It calmed her, to concentrate on accomplishing a goal, instead of over thinking things.

"I don't think Draco was ever young, and Ace is rapidly forgetting how to be fun."

Alice shook her head. "It's called being a grown up."

A vision of Ace's joyful face as he left to go do something about the missile filled her mind. He, obviously, had his own version of fun at this point. It wasn't what anyone else considered amusement. Apparently, however, it worked for him.

"What happens next? Ace brings down the missile and then what?"

Lael walked to the fridge and took out a soda. "I doubt if he's bringing it down alone. He probably has Zee or one of the other Superheroes with him. When they get done they'll probably hit a dance club and then stumble in sometime in the middle of the night. It's his MO."

Alice's knife slipped, hitting the side of her finger. She dropped it and hissed as she put the now-bleeding wound into her mouth and ran to the sink to wash her hands.

Damn it, when was the last time she'd done something like that?

"He's going to go to a dance club?" While she was here and they'd just had sex?

She knew there was something else she should say but heaven help her she couldn't think of what it was.

Lael nodded. "You okay?"

"Yes." She pulled the cut out of her mouth to look at it. "Could you get me a Band-Aid?"

"Sure thing."

As Lael turned to leave the room, Alice paced back and forth around the kitchen.

She needed to get control of herself immediately. It was the stress of the whole situation. That's all. There was a madman after her—set in his course of action by her own family—and she'd had sex with a Superhero.

Really, she didn't care what Ace did. It didn't make one little difference to her whether he handled dangerous situations, and it wasn't her business, at all, whether or not he met women at dance clubs . . . when he could come back here and be with her instead.

Lael returned holding the bandage. "Here you go."

"Thank you."

She smiled, even though she felt sick to her stomach. Ace had to catch The Mask so she could go home. She needed out of his house.
Fast
.

Chapter Nine

Ace sat atop the missile. He placed his hand on it, letting the mechanics of the projectile rocket speak to him. It was going to be no problem to destroy it. All he had to do was to turn it off. The wind hit him hard in the face and he coughed as some kind of insect flew into his throat. He bet those sorts of things never happened to Draco.

"You got this under control?"

Ace glanced up to see Zee, one of Powers, Inc.'s most loyal Superheroes, flying next to him.

He raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "Oh, ye, of little faith."

She laughed and rubbed her nose. "Are you ready?"

"I'll turn it off, you catch it."

"I'm on it." With a kick of her feet in the air, she flew two feet down until she was directly beneath the flying missile.

Turn off
.

It was so easy to speak to the machines. They never argued. Never did anything he didn't want them to do. But then again, they didn't hold him close at night or smile at him first thing in the morning either. And they certainly didn't challenge him and make him hard as hell at the same time.

He shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking about
her
right now. Only he couldn't seem to stop. He wondered if she'd gone to his room to wait for him or if she'd ever gotten off the couch.

Beneath him the missile let out a loud groan and sputtered as its forward momentum ceased. Two seconds later, it plummeted from the sky. Beneath it, Zee raised her hands and caught the object before it carried on toward the ground. He jumped off, not wanting to add to the tremendous weight she already shouldered.

Instead, he flew next to her, helping to hold half the missile.

They set it on the ground. The government retrieval team awaited. He smiled at the general who shook his hand.

"Usually, we deal with Draco."

Although he kept his smile big, inwardly he sighed. "Yes, I know. Today you got to deal with me instead. I charge slightly less than he does."

"That's true but you had to call in a second Superhero to assist. That's going to cost the taxpayers twice as much."

Zee interrupted. "I'm pro bono today."

"Well." The general who Ace knew was actually on a first name basis with Draco sputtered. "I suppose that is different then."

"Right, then I suppose I'll leave you to it."

The general stepped forward. "When does Draco return from wherever he is?"

Ace shrugged. "I'm afraid Draco Powers doesn't discuss his plans with anyone else. I'm currently running Powers, Inc. I assure you, General, we will take care of your needs until he returns." He'd lied for so long and so often about Draco that he was downright good at it now.