Reunion Read online

  Reunion

  Ace’s Wild Book 7

  Neve Wilder

  Copyright © 2019 by Neve Wilder

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  All products and/or brand names mentioned are registered trademarks of their respective holders/companies.

  Cover design: Sleepy Fox Studio

  Editing: One Love Editing

  Proofreading: DJ Jamison

  Beta readers: Kat Horn, May Archer, Louise Auty

  Contents

  Synopsis

  Author’s Note

  1. Cole

  2. Dane

  3. Cole

  4. Dane

  5. Cole

  6. Dane

  7. Cole

  8. Dane

  9. Cole

  10. Cole

  11. Dane

  12. Cole

  13. Dane

  14. Cole

  15. Dane

  16. Cole

  Epilogue: Dane

  Free Read from Neve

  Available now: Dedicated

  Available Now: Want Me

  Available Now: Resonance

  Afterword

  About Neve Wilder

  Synopsis

  Cole:

  Dane was everything I wanted to be in high school. Popular, confident, insanely hot. He was also my best friend and secret crush until I managed to screw that up.

  When I see him again after nearly a decade apart, I’m floored. If anything, he’s even sexier. But more importantly, he’s not holding any grudges. In fact, he seems…interested in me. And when my soon-to-be sister-in-law drops a little secret about him, I’m done for.

  I want him. It doesn’t have to be forever. I just need one night, one down and dirty interlude on my primarily vanilla existence, and I’ll be set for life.

  Dane:

  The second I spot Cole at his brother’s wedding, I might as well be back in high school all over again.

  All those old feelings come rushing back: the pining—my god, the pining I did for this man—and all the regret I’ve carried for being too afraid to tell him back then.

  But now that Cole’s out of the closet and looking for some kinky action, I can’t resist. Because that happens to be my forte, and I’m more than happy to give him exactly what he needs.

  One night should be enough to leave us both satisfied, right?

  There’s no angst to be found in this kinky novella, but there is: humor, swoony moments, light impact play, creative and liberal use of dessert foods, and two men who get the second chance they deserve with each other.

  *PLEASE NOTE: For the first 90 days of this title’s publication, all sales and page reads will be donated to the Just Us Program at the Oasis Center in Nashville and The Magic City Acceptance Center of Birmingham.

  Author’s Note

  Ace’s Wild is a multi-author series of books that take place in the same fictional town. Each story can be read in any order. The connecting element in the Ace’s Wild series is an adult store owned by Ace and Wilder. The main characters from each book will make at least one visit to Ace’s Wild, where they’ll buy a toy to use in their story! The only characters who crossover to each book are Ace and Wilder. And with various heat and kink levels, there’s sure to be something for everyone!

  Thanks for giving the series a chance. We hope you enjoy the books.

  Christina Lee, Riley Hart, SE Jakes, Alice Winters, Devon McCormack, Max Walker, Annabella Michaels, Neve Wilder, Jaclyn Quinn, Morningstar Ashley, Davidson King, NR Walker, Luna David, and Lane Hayes.

  1

  Cole

  “How about him?” Grandma Merkle prodded my ribs with her bony elbow, nearly upsetting the plate in my hands as she widened her eyes indicatively in the direction of the bar area. She was trying for subtlety, but Merkle—who wasn’t actually my grandma, but a great-aunt—and subtle had been foes for long decades now.

  With a sigh, I scanned the sea of faces, trying to determine who she was giving the googly eye to. “Which one?”

  “Periwinkle shirt, with pants that actually sit at his waist like they’re supposed to.”

  “For you or for me?” It was a necessary clarification since Merkle had no qualms about putting the moves on men of any age whatsoever.

  She rolled her eyes with as much vigor as the dowager countess of Downton Abbey, but I didn’t dare point that out because the last time I had, she’d popped me as soundly as she had when I was a kid. So I located the guy she was crowing over and assessed him top to toe. His pants did fit him nicely.

  “I don’t know about that periwinkle, though,” I said, just to get a rise out of her. “And also, that’s uhhhh, Perry Fortner, I think. He went to grad school with Aaron. Pretty sure that woman next to him is his wife and that she’s pregnant with his child.”

  “You don’t know that. Never assume.” Merkle gave me a gimlet-eyed stare that I rebuffed with a snort.

  “He actually said, ‘This is my wife, Sara.’ And then he rubbed her belly. No one does that if it’s just a potbelly. That would be weird.”

  “Unless they have a thing for Buddha.”

  “Still weird.” I laughed. “But no. Not him. Stop now, please. I’m trying to enjoy some”—I glanced down at my plate—“empanada.” It’d been abandoned for the last ten minutes as Merkle did the verbal equivalent of a Grindr swipe through my brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law’s wedding party and out-of-town guests. “I don’t need any help getting a man. Or choosing a man. Or whatever it is you have in mind.”

  “Considering your last boyfriend, I beg to differ.”

  I pointed the empanada at her. “You met him once.”

  “It was enough. He was a prissy little thing.” She sniffed.

  “Yes, well, you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” I tried to turn the conversation on her, in no mood to rehash my last relationship. Because she was right on that count. Merkle had seen in seconds what had taken me…far too long. “Your drink is empty, by the way.”

  She held up her rocks glass and examined the ice cubes within, then me.

  “Nope. I already got you one refill. Go find someone else to do your helpless-old-lady schtick on.”

  She raised the stakes by narrowing her eyes, but I held my ground and stared her down until her lips quivered at the corner and she broke into a smile and patted my shoulder. “You’re not my favorite grandson, but you’re really close.”

  “I’m not technically your grandson, either.” The words fell mostly on Merkle’s back as she ambled toward the bar, and I resumed my lazy lean against a tall table on the periphery of the club’s dance floor, where I’d been doing an excellent impression of a wedding Scrooge since we’d arrived from the ceremony rehearsal. Aaron and Shay lived in New York, and most of the members of their wedding party and many of the guests were people I’d only heard of in passing. The upside was that also made it the perfect hunting grounds for a casual fling.

  On a large screen behind the dance floor flashed images of Aaron and Shay throughout their courtship. Now that most of the guests had been through the club’s eclectic tapas buffet, the DJ had shifted from soft background tunes to aggressive remixes of popular classics, and people were starting to respond to the seductively thumping bass lines. I needed at least another drink before I attempted the dance floor, though.

  When my phone vibrated with a text, I glanced down at the name and my stomach flip-flopped.

  Jason: I just tried to call.

  Cole: Brother’s wedding weekend, remember?

 
Jason: Oh right. Sorry.

  Cole: What’s up?

  Jason: Did you take the fancy corkscrew with you?

  I took a deep breath and forced my grip to relax on the phone as the fluttering in my stomach became a knot of frustration.

  Cole: Nope

  Jason: Do you know where we might have put it?

  Cole: Check the drawer under the microwave

  Jason: Already did.

  Cole: Okay, well, I didn’t take it.

  Jason: Oh, here it is. Was in the junk drawer.

  Cole: Great. Is that all?

  Jason: Yes. Enjoy the wedding.

  Cole: I plan to.

  I tucked my phone away and rattled the cubes in my cup. Swallowing the last of a gin and tonic, I let my gaze roam the crowd, engaging in the classic wedding pastime of scouting for a potential hookup. I had no plans to be picky. Easy, down, and dirty were the only things on my wish list.

  Our sex life is boring… We’re boring. I think we’ve run our course.

  I cringed at the memory. Jason had spoken the words in a way that made it sound like our relationship had been a virus. Maybe it had. Not that it had made the breakup any easier. It was over and done with now, I reminded myself. Time to move on.

  I crunched down on a piece of ice, scattering the thoughts, and eyed the guy I’d spotted in the buffet line earlier—a pretty twink with artfully disheveled hair and pouty lips who’d given me a quick but promisingly coy wink before my mom had tasked me with helping Merkle to the buffet.

  Now my twink was on the dance floor, shaking his ass enthusiastically with a group of women. He threw his hands in the air and shimmied, hip bumping the petite blonde next to him, then happened to glance up again. When our eyes locked, he gave me a flushed, cheeky smile and clamped down on his lower lip before a returning hip bump threw him off balance and he dissolved into laughter as he flailed to stay upright.

  He’d do fine, I decided. If he surprised me by being a top, all the better. I just needed a solid rebound fling, not perfection.

  I considered my approach: Join him on the dance floor? Wait until he headed to the bar and refresh my own drink, as well? There would be the required small talk that would hopefully transition into flirting. That would then lead to a few more drinks and, best-case scenario, end with us dirtying up some fresh hotel sheets. It could also be that this twink was more of a cut-to-the-chase kind of guy. I could appreciate that. Or maybe, just maybe, I could be that kind of guy. I snorted at the thought, because I’d rarely made a first move in my life. Then again, when I considered my current status as sideline wedding creeper…maybe I should go all in. I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath, some opening lines flashing through my mind.

  “Very attractive.”

  I startled at the nearness and suddenness of the voice even as a prescient flush warmed the back of my neck. I knew that voice. A little deeper, a little rougher, and with an added confidence in it that time or profession lent. But I knew it, and it sent an unexpected flutter through my stomach as I swiveled my head to meet its owner and damn near did a double take. Not that I’d expected Dane Miller to be any less handsome than he’d been in high school. Good genes and excellent symmetry rarely evolved badly, but Jesus, there should be some kind of statute of limitations on this man’s attractiveness. Because he was, if possible, light-years hotter than he’d been the last time I’d seen him almost a decade ago. And he’d given me butterflies back then, too.

  I’d just been too damned determined not to acknowledge them.

  “What?” I said smartly.

  “The guy you’re ogling over there, Chase Halstrom. Hardly recognizable, right?” Dane ticked his chin toward my intended hookup, razor-sharp smile softening to a mellow curve that was somehow even more appealing. I quickly tried to catalog the differences between the man standing before me now and the one I’d spent most of my high school years in the company of. He was leaner, the cut of his jaw more pronounced, with those attractive shadows in the hollows of his cheeks broadcasting great bone structure. His eyes were still the stunning slate blue I’d always envied. In short, he was still a masterpiece. To me, at least.

  “What?” I repeated. Christ, I did go to school, right? I was capable of speaking English? I blinked away the daze. “That’s Chase Halstrom? Really?” Chase had been filed away in my mind as a shrimpy, bookish type who’d never spoken a single word during the entire year of the senior history class I’d shared with him.

  “Mmm.” Dane nodded mildly as he slid his coat from his shoulders and draped it over his arm, and I couldn’t be entirely certain he didn’t know what kind of effect the gesture would have. Generally speaking. Not that he was aiming it at me in particular. But of course I noticed the breadth of his shoulders, the perfect fit of his shirt. My gaze pinged back and forth between Dane and Chase as I tried to compose myself. Dane had an air about him that made me instantly want to square my posture.

  He extended his hand smoothly. “Good to see you again. It’s been a while.” He sounded genuine, which I supposed meant we’d be going the diplomatic route, which was perfectly fine. It wasn’t as if I was expecting his eyes to light up with excitement or to dim with fury. We’d been friends in high school and had drifted apart. It happened all the time. A decade later, did anyone really care?

  I gripped his hand in return and tried not to imagine those long, agile fingers around my cock. I failed, of course. But that was my fault for coming in hot to a wedding weekend after an extremely long, extremely dry post-breakup spell. My bedroom was a desert wasteland. A knot in a tree might’ve gotten my motor running at this point. “So it has. You live here, right?” I knew the answer but was scrambling for something to say.

  “Moved back about five years ago, yeah.” Dane let his arm fall back to his side, gaze shifting over my shoulder. He waved to someone, then turned his attention back to me. “I hear we’re walking down the aisle together tomorrow.”

  I barked out a surprised laugh. In going the nontraditional route, Shay had also insisted the best men—hers and my brother’s— walk down the aisle together. “I hear the same. Hopefully you’ll actually be on time for that,” I teased. There we go. That was better. Less stiff. “I heard about your flight. That sucks,” I was quick to tack on when Dane grimaced apologetically, because I knew the delay hadn’t been his fault.

  “I’ve always wanted to try out a Mini Cooper, but maybe not for three hours straight. I’m still waiting for the circulation in my legs to return,” he quipped, and then another wide smile broke loose as Shay squealed and cut between us, wrapping her arms around Dane’s neck. Dane swung her in a quick hug and then set her back down as she swiped hair from her forehead.

  “You made it! I thought you wouldn’t be in until tomorrow. Did you find another flight?”

  “Nope. Everything was grounded, so I rented a car.”

  Shay swatted his shoulder. “You didn’t have to do that. You could’ve waited until tomorrow. God, I’m sure it was a zoo.”

  “It was absolute chaos,” he confirmed.

  My brother had told me Dane had messaged Shay earlier about a bomb threat in the airport where he was waiting for his connecting flight. It’d turned out to be a hoax but had grounded flights for the rest of the day.

  “Let’s get you a drink—you deserve it. And some food. Are you hungry?” Shay fussed with Dane’s suit jacket before seeming to remember I was there. “Cole, you want a drink, too? Looks like you’re empty there. Come with us!”

  I waved her off with a grin. “You two catch up. I’m taking a breather.”

  “All that standing around is tiring, isn’t it?” She poked the tiny dimple in my chin, a long-standing family habit she’d picked up on. It drove me crazy. Dane smirked as I batted her hand away.

  “Hey, I’m—” I gestured toward the dance floor. “I was heading in that direction. At some point. Maybe,” I finished in a mumble.

  “Great, save me a dance, then.” Shay tugged Dane toward
the bar, and I watched them go, which wasn’t exactly a hardship. The man clearly had a good tailor who knew how to fit a suit to take full advantage of Dane’s assets. When he glanced back over his shoulder and arched a brow in exaggerated fashion as he caught me staring, I started to jerk my attention away and then figured, hell, I’d already been caught anyway. So I gave him an equally dramatic brow arch in return. Like any mature adult would.

  2

  Dane

  2.5 seconds. That’s how long it took the enormous high school crush I’d had on Cole Green to come roaring back with a vengeance the moment I’d spotted him. I would’ve thought that years of other partners, of good sex—of fantastic sex—might’ve muted that old yearning. At least a little bit. But no, it’d flooded through me with the force of an afternoon deluge as I’d stalled nearby, watching Cole watch Chase with a kind of desire I recognized all too well.

  I shoved Shay lightly as she guided me toward the buffet table and nearby bar. “You could’ve warned me that Cole was still hot as hell.”

  Shay beamed. “He’s a cutie for sure. Did you short-circuit?”

  “I might have if my body wasn’t still trying to figure out which limbs were controlled by which parts of my brain.”