Alice could say with one hundred perfect honesty that she never understood what Ace was thinking. There were times she thought she did, but it was only a thought. Time and time again, he'd start to do one thing to only do something completely different than what she was expecting. It was easiest to just not expect anything from him.

"Alice is thinking something bad about me."

Her eyes went wide, her hands dropping the apple that she was peeling. Ace was leaning against the counter next to her, tapping the knife she was just using against his thumb. He was smiling at her, but it wasn't the smile that sent shivers down her spine, it was the tone of his voice.

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. He knew exactly what Alice was thinking, and he knew that she wasn't dumb enough not to figure it out. From the look on her face, it was as he had expected, she'd figured it out. Ace placed the knife on the counter, squishing it with his hand as he placed his other hand to the other side of Alice, successfully pinning her in like a caged animal.

The tone of Ace's voice was so sweet that for a moment Alice forgot that Ace was pinning her to a counter. "Alice, you've been reading a lot of books lately."

"I always read books, now move, Ace."

"You're forgetting I have a knife right next to your arm," he whispered into her ear.

Just to prove his point, he let the cold metal of the knife brush past Alice's delicate skin. She shivered in response, pushing herself further against the counter. Ace moved even closer to Alice when she moved away from him. He let his nose tickle the skin of her Alice's neck.

"Alice wouldn't happen to be lonely out here in this big tower?"

Alice's cheeks were starting to feel hot, a light blush starting to form. "Don't be stupid."

Ace picked up a piece of Alice's hair, twirling it his fingers. "But recently all you've been reading is silly romance novels. Are you thinking of me late at night when you read them?"

Her eyes narrowed as her cheeks increased in heat. "Are you teasing me?" Alice asked, a lot more breathlessly than she'd like.

"Nope," Ace answered, his hands now rubbing the back of Alice's head.

"Then what are you doing?"

The irritation in Alice's voice caused Ace to laugh as he bent down dangerously close to her lips. "I'm showing you how much I love you."