Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 153946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
She stared at my hand’s slow movement up and down her arm. The honeysuckle-and-jasmine scent in her hair was getting to me in the close quarters.
Focus up, man. She needs you.
“You’ve done more than enough to make yourself and your mother proud. You don’t have to race if you don’t want to. People will notice, but not one of them will think any less of you.”
She dug her forehead into my chest and shook her head. “That’s the whole problem of me, Wade. I will think less of me and I do want this. At least, I want to want it. But as usual, whenever I get close enough to a deadline or finish line that people expect me to cross with flying colors, I hesitate.”
“You know that’s not true.” I blew out a breath against her hair. “I swear, Retta women are the most stubborn females on the planet. You hold yourselves to impossibly high standards. You finished two books. You joined a Lemons team and got them all behind your vision. You survived a hurricane, let a grumpy old mechanic into your life, and designed the perfect memorial to Sam’s life with the car she loved. Those aren’t insignificant accomplishments, August. You might not be able to see it, but I do. And you dazzle me every day.”
She lifted her head and stared into my eyes, her lips parting in surprise. “I dazzle you?”
I wrapped my hand around hers, holding the water bottle with her so she’d know I was telling the truth. “If we’re being honest, you always have.”
Tell her.
I swallowed hard around the tightness in my throat. “You know whatever you end up deciding to do, Gus—race or no race, stay or go—I’ll always be on your side, and at your side.”
She leaned forward and kissed me before I could tell her that the reason I would be there was because I loved her.
I’d tell her in a minute.
29
AUGUST
My panic was receding with every beat of his heart under my palm, every stroke of his tongue against mine. I wanted to sink into him and never let go.
His words were a balm for my soul. An aphrodisiac that had my body straddling his hips without my permission. He groaned, his large palms gliding down to cup my ass and rub me up against his hardening flesh.
It struck me that I’d written a scene in—and on—a car without testing out the mechanics. He was so big that I could feel the top of my head brushing the roof, which was fine for now but might end up giving me a concussion in the heat of the moment. Too late; the book was already out in the world. But next time I’d have to be more thorough with my research.
Wade was too tall to be comfortable folded into the back, and I had no idea how we could easily get our clothes off, especially since I was wearing my bizarre cooling suit underneath my overalls.
Not that I wouldn’t be willing to try under the right circumstances. When he managed to find my breast with his hand, I knew that if a very important, life-altering event weren’t fifteen to twenty minutes away from happening, I’d find a way to make it work.
He growled in denial when I started softening my kisses, reluctantly parting our lips and trying to get my breathing under control.
“We better get back. The team needs their mechanic.”
“Dalton can handle it,” he said in that melting-honey voice I loved, his gaze hot on my mouth and promising long, sweaty hours of endless debauchery. “We could spend the day at home with no interruptions. Todd and Phoebe have the dogs, and everyone else is here. We could be alone together. Maybe go for another swim. Only this time, skinny-dipping would be mandatory.”
My thighs clenched, because that sounded pretty damn good. But somehow, I found the strength of will to place my hands on his chest and keep him from his goal.
“You have no idea how tempting that is, but I’ve got a race to drive in. I know Gene has the first couple of hours, but I should be there to support the team, shouldn’t I? Yes is the only acceptable answer to that question when I’m already wearing this Tron outfit for the occasion.”
My thin white cooling shirt and the upper section of the pants were covered with squiggly tubes that eventually met on one side and dangled at my waist. I was apparently supposed to attach them to a cooling system in the car in lieu of air conditioning.
The entire team was wearing the same thing, so it couldn’t be a prank.
“You’re driving?” Wade sounded disgruntled and confused as I slid off of him and out the car door. “You changed your mind again?”
I straightened my overalls and opened the honesty bottle for a much-needed drink to cool myself off. “Yes, I did. Well, you did, then I did. It was a team effort.”