Authors: Audra North
After lunch, she leaned back and stretched out her legs, pulling her sundress up to the middle of her thighs. The air was warm with a slight breeze and the sun felt good on her skin. She hadn’t relaxed like this in years.
She closed her eyes, feeling drowsy. “God, this is incredible. I haven’t done something just for fun in—well, I can’t even remember.”
“Really?”
She nodded, her hair scraping on the fiberglass beneath her head. “Racing takes up my whole life. You’ve seen how it is during the season. Race, travel, race, travel. And the few months that I’m not racing, I’m training or helping out in the garage. There’s not a lot of time for the other things I like to do.”
“Like what? Writing?”
“Well, yeah, but that’s not something I do for fun, really. That’s still a part of my racing.”
A warm hand landed on the exposed skin of her thigh, rubbing in gentle strokes. “What about this? Is this something that you like to do?”
“Mmmm. Maybe?”
He stretched out next to her and touched his lips to the corner of hers. She could feel the light stubble of his beard scraping against her skin. He smelled like sun and salt and man. “What about this?”
“A definite possibility.”
He kissed her then, leisurely, the sun warming them both as they lay on the bow. He pushed up her sundress even further, his hand trailing along the top of her thigh as he pushed the material to her waist, exposing her swimsuit bottoms.
He hooked a finger under the elastic and gently rubbed along the edges of her opening. She was already wet for him. The feel of him spreading the slick moisture over her skin made her swell and throb and moan.
“Ranger.”
She clutched at his shoulders and put her mouth on his again, sucking his tongue, a rough kiss with clear intention. She bunched the material of his T-shirt in her hands, pulling it up his back until he broke away and ripped it off, tossing it aside.
He pushed her dress higher, the stretchy fabric sliding over her head and floating down to the bow. Her bikini top was a halter that tied behind her neck and in the middle of her back. He slipped his hands inside the material, caressing the soft flesh of her breasts, and she moaned into his mouth.
“What about this? Do you like doing this?”
She ran her hands down his chest, over his hard stomach and around to the lean muscles of his back, pulling him toward her. “Yes, I like to do this.”
They eased out of the rest of their clothes by degrees. Her swimsuit top, his shorts, her bikini bottom. When they were completely naked, he knelt between her legs and stared at her with so much intensity that she blushed.
“Damn it, Kerri. You’re beautiful. So beautiful.” She was so spread open like this, her bare body being heated in the warmth of the sun and his hot gaze. He brought his hand between her legs and played his fingers between her folds, slipping in and out in shallow strokes, rubbing up over her clit, making her writhe and buck, wanting more of him. Wanting
all
of him.
When she cried out that she couldn’t take anymore, he crawled over her, nudging her legs a little further apart. He was big and hard, and the heat of him burned hotter than the sun, and when he thrust into her, she nearly combusted.
It was the greatest thing she’d ever felt.
“Do you like this?” He smiled at her, teasing. Wild.
“Yes. God, yes. Ranger, I want you.” She tried to buck up, to get him to move inside of her, but he picked her up and rolled so that he was lying on the bow and she was straddling his hips. She smiled down at him, a wicked grin and rose up on her knees until just the head of his cock was still inside of her, teasing at the crown by bouncing gently on top of him and swiveling her hips.
“Oh, fuck. You’re going to torture me for fun, aren’t you?”
She gave a strangled laugh. “It’s torture for both of us. But I promise it’ll also be fun for both of us.”
But then the boat bobbed on a wave, and she sank all the way down, making her moan and arch, her nipples hardening to tight points as the sensation of being stretched and filled took over.
“Still feel like torturing me?” He was trying to tease her, but his voice was strained and he was pushing his hips up, grinding into her.
She laughed and rose up again, then back down. Then again, and again.
He groaned. “I take it back. You have no idea how fucking amazing you feel. I love watching you take all of me inside you.”
She felt her inner muscles tighten around him at those words, and he brought one hand between her legs, teasing at her clit as she rode him, hard. Before long, she was crying out with an orgasm, slamming down on his cock over and over, riding out the spasms before collapsing atop him. He rolled them and thrust once more, pumping his own release into her body.
Yeah. She definitely liked that.
* * *
He hated being away from her.
They’d come back from their day on his boat and Ranger had flown out the next day, heading to Texas for Lee’s next race. Kerri didn’t go with them, since she had a race in Michigan the following weekend and had long planned to go up there early to visit a girlfriend from high school. Those days apart, he’d nearly torn his hair out from missing her. By the time he landed in Michigan on Thursday night, he was practically dying to see her.
He’d only known her for six weeks, but somehow he’d already forgotten what his life was like without her.
She met him at the airport, standing just outside the security area in a pair of hip-hugging jeans, her shining, light brown hair loose down her back. Despite how small she was, he picked her out of the crowd immediately, honing in her smile that made him feel like he was coming home. It didn’t matter that he’d just been to the place where he actually
lived
, that after Lee’s race in Texas he had gone on to Harrisburg and spent a couple of days in his apartment, driving his Mercedes to a corporate office that smelled clean. No gasoline, no motor oil.
No matter where Kerri was, coming back to her felt like coming home.
He swept her up in a hug immediately, swinging her around and causing a scene in the arrivals hall, but he didn’t care. She was here, and he’d missed her, so he was damned well going to spin her around if he wanted.
When he set her back down, he kissed her long and deep, and she melted exactly the way he’d remembered her doing.
“Let’s get to the hotel, fast.” He murmured the words against her lips, thrilling when she smiled and nodded. They headed to the car and she got into the driver’s seat. Funny, how he’d always preferred to drive when he’d been out with a woman, but with her it felt natural to let her take the wheel. They talked for a bit about Lee’s race and Kerri’s visit with her friend before a comfortable silence settled between them.
Of course, his mouth wouldn’t stay shut.
“I was talking to my mom last night,” he began, as Kerri merged onto the highway.
“Oh?” She was relaxed, one hand on the wheel and the other resting in his lap, fingers laced in his.
“Yeah, and, uh—”
Don’t bring it up right now.
“I was telling her about the Natural Light offer.”
Good job on not bringing it up, champ.
Her fingers jerked in his, just barely, but he felt it before she had a chance to smooth out her reaction.
“And what did she say?”
Shit. Now Kerri sounded tense, where just a few minutes ago she’d been all easygoing smiles and relaxed silence. But it was starting to get to him. They were on a deadline, and she hadn’t said a word over the phone while they’d been apart. Nothing that indicated whether she was even leaning in the direction of Natural Light.
He took his free hand and laid it on top of hers, sandwiching her palm between his. She didn’t pull away, which he took as a good sign.
“She was pretty excited. Said she uses their stuff…” He trailed off and shrugged. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought this up. I promised myself I wouldn’t pressure you.”
She squeezed his hand. “Hey, Ranger. It’s okay. I don’t—I mean, it’s your job. No matter what else is between us. I have been thinking about it. I still am. I promise I’ll tell you soon. I just need to wrap my head around it, is all. I’ve spent so long trying to fight the whole idea of being treated differently because I’m the only woman in racing that I’m just not sure how I feel about doing something like this, that’s only on the table
because
I’m a woman.”
He blew out a relieved breath. Damn. He hadn’t even realized how tense he was until he felt his shoulder muscles twinge as they relaxed. And she was thinking about it … that was all he could ask for right now. At least, all he wanted to ask for. Because even though she was right—it was his job to make decisions like these—what was between them mattered more than he was ready to admit.
On Saturday morning, Ranger and Kerri had just stepped out of the hotel and were walking to the car when he heard it.
“Ranger.”
He froze.
He
knew
that voice. The one that had called his name from behind. The one that, for the past six weeks, had been plaguing him over the phone.
“What’s wrong?” Kerri’s eyes widened. Scared.
God, he must look like a crazy man if she was alarmed. But he couldn’t bring himself to say
anything
, just shook his head and slowly turned around.
Sure enough, Al Colt was standing just outside the hotel entrance.
What the fuck was
he
doing here?
“Al.” He waited for his jaw to clamp tight, his shoulders to bunch together like they usually did whenever he met his father face-to-face. But for the first time since he’d started working for Colt International, he felt only surprised … and curious.
Something had happened to him.
“We need to talk.”
Since when did Al Colt personally fly somewhere just to “talk”? Did this have anything to do with getting back to his roots, with Al calling him on this project to ask what was going on with Kerri and the team?
That same hope that Ranger thought had died years ago was growing back. He tried to ignore it, but it was rising up too fast, clogging his throat and preventing him from saying anything.
A small, warm hand slipped into his, squeezing gently.
Kerri.
Al sighed. “Look, this is an emergency. I have another deal on the table and I need you on it. It’s big, it’s high visibility, and it’s
money
.”
Of course. Al had flown out because there was a lot of money on the table, not for any other reason.
Ranger should have expected that. Hope, so hard-won, so easily destroyed.
Fuck Al Colt. It was payback time.
The hand squeezed harder.
Ranger narrowed his eyes. “What about Hart Racing? That was our deal. Are you trying to sabotage things here so you won’t have to give me that promotion?”
“Do this project and you’ll get the promotion the moment you land in Paris.”
The fuck? Al had promised him the promotion for
this
project, not some French corporate deal. What was he trying to pull? Ranger curled his lip in a snarl. “What do you mean? You sonofabitch, you can’t just change the terms of the deal like that! What are you going to do, string me along forever? I haven’t been suffering through this bullshit for nearly two months so that you can renege, old man.”
He heard a gasp beside him.
Oh, shit.
That wasn’t what he’d meant to say. He hadn’t been suffering, not really. It was just that he wanted—
needed
—this validation that he was better than his asshole of a father …
Her hand slipped out of his and he wanted to snatch it back, but he was too focused on Al. He couldn’t leave things unfinished with the bastard. He’d apologize to Kerri afterward. She knew how hard he’d worked for this, how much pain Al had caused Ranger and his mother. She’d understand.
Wouldn’t she?
“Fine. You’ll get the promotion as soon as you step foot on the plane. Takeoff is scheduled for three o’clock and I won’t wait for you. Your choice, Ranger.”
Al didn’t even bother to wait for an answer, just turned on his heel and walked back into the hotel. Mother. Fucker. For him to be here this early, he had to have stayed there at least overnight. Why hadn’t he approached Ranger yesterday? Given him more time to think? At least given him enough time to see Kerri race? The flag went up at two o’clock. If Ranger went—
“You’re going to go, aren’t you.”
It wasn’t a question. Kerri didn’t even look at him when she said it. Why wouldn’t she look at him? This was Kerri. Take-no-prisoners, grab-’em-by-the-balls Kerri.
His
Kerri.
Could she really not see that he’d had to have that out with Al? That Ranger hadn’t meant what he’d said about suffering?
Look at me.
She stared out at the parking lot.
It made his heart hurt. “I’m sorry, Kerri. I didn’t mean it, before. I just … I
can’t
. I can’t pass this up.” He knew he was pleading, but he couldn’t bear her indifference.
Look at me, damn it!
“I know you weren’t suffering. I know why you said that.”
“You do?”
She did?
“Well, then, why—”
“You did it because beating Al is more important to you than the people who actually care about you.” Before he could protest, though, she added, “I didn’t realize you were getting a promotion out of this deal.”
Why did that make him feel even worse? It’s not like it was a secret. He just hadn’t told her. “Yeah. Exactly. I mean, this promotion, it’s big. I’ve been working for this my whole life. I have to—”
“No, Ranger.” She finally turned to face him, her face twisted in anger and pain, and the shock of it made him recoil. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare lie to me. You have not been working for a fucking
promotion
your whole life. You haven’t even been working to beat your dad at his own game, like you said before. I saw you just now. I saw the way you looked at him. I saw the way—” She stopped, gasping for breath. “You’ve been working for his
approval
your whole life. This isn’t about being better than him. This is about him being
proud
of you. That’s what you’ve been struggling for this whole time but you haven’t bothered to admit it. You keep pretending it’s about revenge when really it’s just—it’s just sad, Ranger.” She sighed. “I accepted your terms in exchange for your promise to do your job, remember? And I believed you. I put my faith in you and I—fuck, Ranger. I put my body in your hands. My—” She cut herself off and shook her head. “What I’m saying is, if you’re willing to walk away from this team and what you
promised
us you would do, just to get Al Colt to pat you on the back and make you feel like you made it, then you’re not the man I thought you were.”