#Swag (GearShark #3) (15 page)

Still, he made me feel like this wasn’t just us combusting in a fit of attraction. He made me feel like he didn’t regret it. Even after the high of release began to fade, he was still here, still inside me.

Jace didn’t do what was expected. He didn’t do perfect, and he definitely didn’t do what every other guy I’d ever dated did.

Not that I was dating him. You know what I mean.

“Leave your car here. I’ll fix what Kurt did to it,” he said, brushing my hair back over my shoulders so my chest was accessible to his eyes.

“I fix my own car,” I informed him.

“You can’t drive all the way across the state on that temp tire.”

Before we’d left the race location, I’d put on the spare, because the one Kurt nudged was ruined. I was pretty sure I was going to need a new rim, too, because I drove on it anyway just to beat him to the finish line.

It was worth it.

There were also some scratches and minor bodywork needed as well, nothing the shop back at Gamble Speedway couldn’t knock out in one afternoon.

“I know. Drew will take me to get a new tire, maybe another rim, tomorrow.”

His jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything. I wasn’t about to start depending on any man for maintenance on my car. Good drivers did their own work, or at least knew well enough to stand around and watch while someone else did it.

When a driver was out there on the street, on the track, or anywhere at a race, the quality of his car sometimes meant life and death. The work done on the car was equally important. Shoddy service got more than one man killed.

It was the reason the pro’s racecars were thoroughly inspected the night before every race. Once they passed a series of checks, they were signed off on and moved under lock and key. No changes. Not so much as even a steering wheel cover could be added without accusations of cheating, hefty fines and penalties that could include being disqualified.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Jace (though, I admit he was still earning that from me. I didn’t give trust easily); it was a code of the sport. Just like letting other drivers look under hood was something sacred.

I fixed my own car. I didn’t need or depend on anyone else to do it.

“I’d get a new rim.” He agreed. “If it was my car.”

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s a good call.”

“Drew have everything you need to put it on?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think him and Trent are still putting together a working garage on the compound they share with their family.”

“Text me if you need a place. You can come here, use the garage.”

See? You can support someone and still make them feel looked after without swooping in and fixing everything.

“I don’t have your number, Jace.” I used his name, not because I needed to, but because I loved saying it. It was my favorite word. My favorite sound, and I loved the way he looked at me when it rolled off my tongue.

“No one else calls me that.” He confided.

His tone coupled with the statement chipped away at a piece of my heart.

“No?” I tilted my head, considering his words.

Warmth from his palm seeped into my cheek when he cupped it. “No one.”

“No one has ever called me Josie.” I admitted, wanting to give him a little of what he’d just given me.

“It suits you,” he murmured, stroking my cheek and then running his fingers over my long curls. “You’re so very beautiful.”

Total girl moment. Emotion welled up in my throat. It surprised me, and I could tell by the wary look that crept into his eyes he saw. I couldn’t help it.

“No one ever calls me beautiful,” I whispered.

He made a scoffing sound and rolled his eyes.

I grabbed his face and forced him to look at me. “I’m serious.”

Disbelief clouded his eyes. Mirroring my position, he cupped my face with his hands. “That’s impossible. You are without a doubt the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“I don’t need pretty words, Jace,” I told him.

“Good, ‘cause I don’t have any. I tell it like it is, and your beauty just is.”

A million things bubbled up and spilled onto my tongue.

No one’s ever looked at me the way you do.

I love the darkness in your eyes. I like the way your hair is way too short on the sides but too long on the top.

You have a really big cock.

I didn’t say any of it out loud. I kept it all in. I let it swirl around inside me and hoped it soon found a place to land. One night of really good sex didn’t mean I had to tell him how awesome he was.

“They’re even harder on you than you let on, aren’t they, Josie?” he asked softly.

My heart stopped beating for one beat, but it felt like much longer. Tightness in my throat abounded. “Who?”

“The other drivers.”

I shrugged a shoulder. “It’s not so bad.”

He looked at me like he knew better, like he saw deeper.

I kissed him, wrapped my arms around the back of his neck, and pressed in. It was a slow, lazy kiss, very unlike the ones we shared before.

I got lost in sensations, in the way his breath mingled with mine, how he breathed in without parting from me completely. I enjoyed the way his fingertips rubbed along my spine as we made out and the way his cock started to grow within my body.

My eyes opened, surprised he was filling me up again. He couldn’t be getting hard already… It hadn’t been that long. Hell, he hadn’t even left me yet.

I felt him smile as we continued to kiss. His eyes opened and stared into mine. His hips thrust up.

He was definitely getting hard again.

His desire was enough to incite my own. New moisture pooled, mixing with the old I’d yet to clean away.

I ripped my mouth free to kiss down his neck, across his shoulder, and then onto his pec.

He sprawled back like he was lounging, the same way he’d sat the day of our interview. Except this time his long legs were bare. I felt the corded muscles in his thighs intimately as he moved beneath me.

I started to move as well, using the rhythm he began. Hands reached behind me, filled with my ass cheeks, and kneaded as I rode him.

I worked him the way I drove, full throttle, but always knowing when to back off. That was the key to good driving—knowing the road.

I might have only just been with Jace, but my body instinctively seemed to know him. I let go and did what I felt.

He moved along with me, and soon we were straining against each other and my teeth were sinking into his shoulder as bright light exploded behind my eyes.

I collapsed, completely spent, on top of him, knowing he wasn’t quite there, feeling his twitching cock inside me. I tried to push up, but I was so damn languid. He was just so incredibly good.

Jace took over, even from beneath me.

I don’t know how, but he lifted me up and down, literally sliding my core over his cock. It made me moan all over again.

I saw the edge in his eyes when he was about to come, and I bore down on him and rocked so his head rubbed against my inner walls.

He shouted my name.

The one only he called me.

Another little piece of my heart chipped away.

Jace was dangerous.

But I was too far gone to care.

Lorhaven

I offered to fix her car.

She told me no.

I liked her even more for it.

The fact she was naked and cradling my dick inside her body when she said it? Made it the sexiest no I’d ever heard.

I knew it would be hot with her because I saw the passion that ran under her skin. Everything I’d seen Josie do was not without passion. The way she raced, the way she spoke, the way she took pictures… hell, even the way she slapped me in the face.

Josie wasn’t exactly who I thought she was.

Okay, she wasn’t what I assumed she’d be at all.

My initial opinion was she was a spoiled daddy’s girl who got everything she wanted, and right now, she wanted a pretty racecar and a fancy racing gig.

Usually, I was a good judge of people, but this time, I was so far off base it was like I’d been in outer space.

What was worse was most people thought the same as me. Did any of the other drivers ever try to get to know her? Did they ever look past the fight she put up every day?

She must be exhausted.

I knew she could take care of herself; I saw it. Oddly, her independence made me want to do it more.

Josie asked for nothing. It made me want to give her everything.

Not only that, but she was fucking fantastic at sex.

A lioness to my lion. A twenty-four-inch hoagie to my raging appetite.

Fuck. Yes.

Currently, my naked ass was sticking to a chair. It wasn’t the best position to be in, but I wasn’t ready to move yet. Josie was draped across me, her hair pretty much everywhere. I didn’t know how long she was in town, why she was even here, or if I’d see her anytime soon after she walked out tonight.

I did want to see her again; that much I knew.

Her warm body stirred. Her hand pushed against my shoulder, using my body as leverage to sit up in my lap.

Unabashedly, I stared. Her curves were rocking. The hourglass shape all her strength was packed into was pleasing to the eye. And to the touch.

Her waist was narrow, her bust and hips flared out, and her long, slender legs the perfect fit around my waist.

“They’re probably wondering where we are,” she said.

I shrugged. “They aren’t stupid.”

“Is that what you and Drew were arguing about earlier?”

“We weren’t arguing,” I rebutted. “But yeah, he’s protective over you.”

“He’s my friend. Trent, too.”

I made a sound. “You staying at their place?”

She nodded.

I wanted to tell her to come stay at mine. The image of her in the center of my California king was very enticing.

The things I could do to her body when I had hours and a bed…

But I said nothing.

My cock slipped out of her when she moved. After everything we’d done and two orgasms, we both were a little messy. I lifted her out of my lap and grabbed a couple towels out of a nearby locker.

“Here,” I said, taking it across the room and handing it to her.

She looked down.

“It’s clean.” I assured her.

Our fingers brushed together when she reached for it. My stomach felt like I’d just sped over a dip in the road at full speed.

We were quiet as we cleaned up, but it wasn’t awkward.

When we were done, we untangled our clothes and found the rest. I watched her as she dressed, the way the black boyshorts slid up her legs and molded to her round, perky ass. Her underwear wasn’t tiny like most women’s.

They hugged her hips and ass, looking like tiny shorts. I liked them better than the ass-floss shit. They were sexy.

When she bent to pick up her bra, I didn’t like the distance between us. I moved right up behind her and pressed my hips against her ass.

She stood, her back brushing my chest. I wrapped an arm around her.

We stood there for a few minutes, not saying a word, while I held her one last time tonight.

There wasn’t anything sexual about this contact, and for that reason, it shook me more.

After a minute, I pulled back, and we finished dressing. When she was done, I used the clean end of a towel to wipe a smear of grease off her cheek.

“Where’s your phone?” I asked.

She grabbed it out of her car.

I took it and entered my number. “Text me tomorrow. I’ll open the garage for you.”

“Okay.”

I grabbed her wrist. “Text me anytime you want. For anything.”

“Even sex?” She wagged her eyebrows.

I laughed. “I’m down with a booty call.” I paused, then added, “But for anything else, too.”

“Where’s your phone?” she asked.

I produced it, handing it over.

She added herself to my contacts, then handed it back. “In case
you
need anything.”

“Cheeky,” I drawled.

“You really wrecked your Corvette to protect your brother?” she asked after abandoning her phone back inside her car.

I groaned. “I told her that was off the record.”

“Well, something tells me Emily doesn’t listen very well.”

“She talks too much,” I muttered.

“Aww, you didn’t take her for a ride?”

A slow smiled pulled my lips. “Someone’s jealous.”

She shrugged one shoulder. “I like your car.”

“Is that all you like?”

“Someone’s fishing for a compliment.” She poked me in the ribs.

I caught her hand, folding it inside one of mine. “You gonna give me one?”

She debated. Like, I saw her thinking in her stare.

I was offended. Clearly, I was very compliment-able.

“You’re not as bad as I thought.”

I scoffed.

She giggled.

I’d never heard her giggle before. I liked it. “That’s all you got, Josie?” I cajoled.

She mumbled something I couldn’t hear. I squeezed her hand.

“I want to come back tomorrow.” she said again. This time I heard every word. “So I can see you again.”

It felt like I just rushed over the finish line first in a big race.

I tugged her close and kissed her slow. I liked the way she melted against me when I took my time against her mouth.

When I lifted my head, she ducked hers. Her forehead hit my chest for only one second before she pulled away.

“Jace?”

“Yeah?”

“I would appreciate it if we could keep what happened here between us. I’d rather not give anyone anything to talk about.”

Now that pissed me off. I crossed my arms. “You really think I’d do that?”

“I know how guys can be in the pit.”

I tamped down my temper. Even though I wanted to be an asshole, I decided not to be, because she was right. “No one’s going to hear shit from me.”

“Thank you.”

The fact she said it all without derision or accusation was what drained the rest of my annoyance. She was relieved… almost grateful.

It was just one more thing causing me to wonder what her life was like in this sport.

Was her father right to ask Drew to keep an eye on her?

Was this the reason she wanted to crossover?

What exactly was Josie not saying?