were automatically together forever? Not necessarily. I was naïve, but I wasn’t that naïve.
Life wasn’t a fucking fairy tale; it was a lot of trial and error.
I really hoped I didn’t turn out to be a big fucking error in Ace’s life.
He rolled to face me, propping himself up on one arm to look down at me. “You are thinking really hard over there.”
I glanced sideways at him. “Sorry.”
He placed his left hand on my chest, brushing his thumb over my collar bone, just a soothing stroke. “Don’t apologize. This was a big step. It’s okay to think about it.” He leaned in, making eye contact. “It’s also okay to talk about it.”
I couldn’t look away from that warm hazel gaze. Licking my lips, I tried to put my feelings into words. They were chaotic and jumbled, hard to grab onto. “You have been this … ultimate fantasy of mine for so long.”
“Wow, okay,” he said with an embarrassed sounding chuckle. “I sort of knew you might have a crush when you were younger.”
“Understatement.”
He looked down, dark lashes shielding his gaze. I sensed he was a little flustered. It was strange, thinking I could fluster the great Ace Collins. He’d always been this larger-than-life figure to me. That’s what it came down to, though. Trying to meld Ace the fantasy with Ace the reality.
“So, was this… Did it live up to your expectations?” Ace asked. He kept his eyes down, but his thumb continued to stroke along my collar bone, back and forth, slowly. My skin prickled, body tightening with renewed lust.
“That depends.”
He froze, his gaze snapping to mine.
“The sex was great. But in my fantasies, it always ended there.”
His eyes searched mine. “Tell me what you want. Because this wasn’t just sex for me, and if it was for you—”
“No,” I blurted, stunned at the emotion that had choked his voice. It hit me, then, that this wasn’t just something happening to me. It was happening to him too. He was with me in this. We were navigating this unexpected, new stage of our lives together.
I hooked a hand around the back of his neck and drew him to me. He was still tense, but he let me kiss him. I let my eyes flutter closed, let my heart open, and pressed my love into that kiss. When I drew back, I felt steadier. I knew what to say.
“You’re more than a fantasy. This is real.”
“Yeah,” he said, voice hoarse. “It is.”
“What now?”
“Now, I get a washcloth and clean you up,” he said. “Then we could watch some TV or something. Hang out before I take you home? Then we do this all over again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.” He cleared his throat. “If you, uh, if you want. I’m not gonna beat around the bush, Benji. I want to be your boyfriend, okay? I want to be the guy you bitch to about class, the guy who brings you coffee in the morning, the guy who gets to take you to bed.” His gaze raked over me, hot again. “This isn’t casual.”
“And my brother?”
“I don’t want to take him to bed.”
I groaned a laugh. “That’s a relief.”
“We have to tell him,” Ace said. “He’s my best friend, and he’s your brother, and he’s going to find out eventually.”
“I like the sound of eventually.”
He smiled. “Well, it doesn’t have to be right this second,” he said, his hand sliding over my skin again. He must’ve liked something about it because he couldn’t keep his hands off me. “But sooner is better than later.”
“Mm-hmm,” I said, my mind already drifting elsewhere. I turned toward him. “So about that plan for the rest of tonight.”
“Yeah?”
I pushed his hand toward my cock. “I’m not ready to go home.”
“Mmm, I feel that,” he said, stroking me slowly. His voice dropping, he said, “You wanna come for me again, Benji?”
I groaned. “Fuck, yes.”
Ace rolled on top of me, kissing me hard, and it was everything. He was everything. We were really doing this, becoming boyfriends, and it wasn’t just a silly pipe dream. I never wanted to leave our bubble of kissing and rubbing and coming together. Of tentatively exploring with mouths and fingers. Of eating cold pizza Ace grabbed from the fridge while talking about everything and nothing until we fell into an exhausted sleep and I had to rush to the dorm to shower and change for class the next day.
Being with Ace was no longer a fantasy,