**edited 21/01/2021**

Elle

Wednesday 26th December 2018

My eyes fluttered open on Christmas Boxing Day and I groggily looked over at a still sleeping Ace. There was still a dull ache between my legs and I almost flinched at how sensitive I was as I rolled over to snuggle closer to Ace. Once I was facing him, I rested my head on his warm chest and threw my leg lazily over his own.

He stirred at my touch, moving his arm so it was wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me closer to his body. "Good Morning beautiful," his glorious groggy morning voice made an appearance and my heart skipped slightly.

"Morning," I hummed contently.

He finally forced his eyelids open and glanced down at me, pressing a sweet kiss to the top of my head. "How're you feeling?" He asked me tentatively and I smiled at how thoughtful and gentle he was being, I bet he had no idea that he could act this way.

"Sore, but never been happier than I am now," I admitted.

He hummed in agreement. "You don't regret anything?"

I shook my head, looking up at him to see concern etched on his features. "No, do you?" I asked worriedly.

"Course not, last night was amazing," he said, leaning down to attach his lips to mine. I turned slightly so I was in a more comfortable position to move my lips against his gently, my hand placed firmly on his chest to hold me up.

"Definitely, I didn't know I actually enjoyed sex," I chuckled, thinking back to what occurred with Carson. I didn't want to continuously put him down, but he never took care of me sexually in the way that Ace did, even down to drawing me to an orgasm by touching my clit during sex, Carson would have never done that.

Ace looked down at me. "What d'ya mean?" He asked.

"Oh-um," I stammered slightly. "I never really, I don't know, liked sex with Carson. It's different with you, I guess," I tried to explain the best that I could and Ace nodded, smirking to himself.

"So he never made you-"

He started to say, but I quickly covered his mouth. "No, okay, he didn't... Stop it," I said with flushed cheeks an embarrassment radiating through my body.

Ace laughed and shook his head. "Well now you have me, and I promise I will always make sure you orgasm with me," he said with a wink and I rolled my eyes, but knew he was completely telling the truth.

"Okay, okay, change the subject!" I said with a laugh.

"What's the plan for today?" He asked me, changing the subject for me.

"My gram comes over every Boxing Day," I told him, yawning and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "We basically just eat a load more food and spend some time with her," I explained.

Ace nodded. "That sounds fun, is she your on your mom's side of the family?" He asked me.

"No, she's my dad's mom. My mom doesn't talk to her parents anymore," I explained to him without getting into too much depth about my mother's past traumas with her family. "Gram is a cuckoo lady, she's loud, boisterous and makes overly sexual remarks," I told him with a short laugh. "She'll love you, you might end up with a different girlfriend by the end of tonight," I teased him and his eyes bulged.

"Am I going to be hit on by some old lady?" he asked and I let out a laugh.

"Probably, yes," I nodded with a grin. "She's a lovely woman really, just very over the top."

I could see that Ace wanted to say something else, but before he could my mother's voice sounded from downstairs. "Breakfast!" She called.

"I guess that's our wake-up call," I said and pecked Ace's lips before rolling out of bed.

After a second of standing I was suddenly very aware of my lack of clothes and I rushed to tug on my pyjamas, but once I turned around I could tell that Ace had been watching me like a hawk the whole time. "Did nobody tell you it's rude to stare?" I smirked.

He averted his eyes to my face and smiled. "How did I get so lucky?"

"A miracle of some sorts, I think," I teased back, before picking his pyjama bottoms off of the floor to throw directly at his face. "Get ready or I'll eat all of your breakfast."

He feigned hurt by gasping and placing a hand over his chest. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me," I said mischievously before darting out of the door and rushing downstairs, throwing my hair messily up into a ponytail as I did so.

I got into the kitchen and saw mom and Sawyer were the only ones awake. "Morning Sweet Pea, do you want some bacon and eggs?" Mom asked me, pressing a kiss to my cheek.

"Yes please," I nodded, pouring myself some coffee as she plated me up some food. It wasn't long before Ace walked into the kitchen looking absolutely breathtaking and my mother asked him the same question about wanting breakfast.

"Yes please Lydia," he said with a cheeky grin and she smiled, her cheeks turning slightly pink. I think she hated to admit it to herself, but Ace's charms worked on her too.

"Here you go dears, eat up," she told us, and I took one of the plates from the counter and sat at the table with it where Sawyer was. "Morning bro, where's Cady?" I asked.

"She's shattered this morning, I think mum's relentless hyper activeness and persistent game playing last night exhausted her," he said, and mum turned around to stick her tongue out at him. "Harley's just being a typical teenager and not getting out of bed," Sawyer added which made me smile.

"What time is Gram getting here later?" I asked mom, chomping on some of the bacon on my plate.

Mom sighed. "You know that woman, she'll get here when she gets here. I told her 10 o'clock which in her books is about 12," she said to me with a shake of her head. My mom complained about Gram like there was no tomorrow, but we all knew deep down that Gram was basically her mother. Mom didn't have a stable relationship with her own mom growing up, and her relationship with Gram was way more mother-daughter like than her relationship with my Nana.

"Good ol' Gram," Sawyer grinned.

Mum sat down with her own plate of food and looked at Ace. "Ace, my mother-in-law... She's a wonderful lady and we all love her dearly, but... how can I put this? She's a bit much," mum said in a strained voice. "So ignore anything she says, she'll probably be drunk and not really know what she's saying either."

Ace chuckled and shrugged. "She sounds amazing, can't wait to meet her," he reassured my mother who smiled at him before starting to eat her own breakfast.

. . .

After breakfast, Ace and I disappeared upstairs. We both showered separately and dressed ourselves ready for the day, I pulled on my long-sleeved burgundy colored dress and stood in front of the mirror, struggling to reach behind me for the zip.

"Need some help?" Ace asked, and I turned to my bedroom door to see him walking in with a towel hung loosely around his waist. I couldn't help but train my eyes up and down his chest for a moment, drinking in his inked, toned chest, down to the v-line that led somewhere underneath the towel. "Or d'ya wanna drool over me a little more?" He quipped with a smirk.

"As much as I want the latter, I can't reach my zip," I said to him, lifting my hair slightly so I could show him the zip on my back.

Ace closed my bedroom door behind him and walked over to me, his rough hands immediately going to the bare skin on my back. I could feel his steady, slow breathing on my neck as he took ahold of my zip and gradually dragged it upwards, his cool fingers sending shivers up my back. "You look gorgeous," he breathed, pressing a gentle kiss to the base of my neck.

"I'm nowhere near even half ready," I chuckled, turning around once the dress had been zipped up fully.

"And still, you look beautiful," he reiterated, pressing another kiss to my lips this time.

"Thank you," I smiled, my cheeks heating up slightly under his gaze. "You look pretty amazing too."

Ace gasped and stood back from me. "I'm half naked, Miss Matthews. Are you coming onto me?"

I grinned, rolling my eyes at him. "Get dressed, my Gram doesn't want to see your nipples when she gets here," I said, walking over to him and flicking his left nipple.

"Ow! Alright, alright, I'll get some clothes on," he said, kissing me once more before he headed to his suitcase to choose some clothes to wear.

I walked over to my dresser and sat down, looking into the mirror as I started applying some light make-up. After I was happy that I had covered all my blemishes, added some volume to my eyelashes and some color to my lips, I then focused on my hair. My hair was naturally quite wavy, so I just decided to drag a brush through the tangles and then dry it.

Once I was finished, I turned to Ace and saw he was lying on my bed with his phone in hand, looking bored. "Are you done yet?" He asked, pouting like a child.

"Once I put my necklace on, I will be done," I said to him, grabbing my small silver heart necklace from my dresser to clip it around my neck. Once I was done, I struggled with putting the bracelet that Ace got me too and then I was done.

I looked up at Ace and he was looking directly at my wrist where the bracelet was. "What?" I asked, my eyebrows threaded.

"You're wearing it," he said, sounding surprised.

"Of course I'm wearing it, why wouldn't I?" I said with a small laugh.

He shrugged. "I've never really... bought anyone a present before. I didn't know if you'd actually wear it," he said and my heart literally shattered.

I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his body. "I love the presents you got me, you could get me a bag of flour and I'd still love it because you got it for me," I said honestly, smiling when I felt his arms wrap around me too.

"I don't know what you're doing to me," he whispered.

I pulled back from him and smiled. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"You're making me feel things I don't get- like feelings in my chest. I want to tell you what these feelings are but, I just- I don't know what they are," he said, his eyebrows threaded like he's frustrated with himself. "You probably think I'm mental."

"No, of course I don't. I get you don't understand how you're feeling and that's okay, I can help you learn along the way," I said before I pecked his lips.

Ace nodded and was about to say something when my mother called up the stairs. "Gram is here!"