Reflecting On Wishes (The Wishes Series) (6 page)

“Okay, mista man. I’m gonna hold you to that.”
The teasing banter between them was so easy. She was always quick to come back at him with something cute or funny and it made him want to eat her up, quite literally.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but did you
just now agree to go out on another date with me?” The smirk he gave her set her off giggling again but this time she playfully punched his arm.

“God you are a cocky son of a bitch aren’t ya?” She shook her head and rolled her eyes, refusing to answer his question.

“Hey, I’m just saying…and I have to add to that, when girls punch a guy, it’s how they show him they like him right? I mean, I don’t date a lot so I’m just tryin’ to see if I’m reading you right.” Dakota propped his arm on the bar, leaning on it while he looked at her, waiting for her response.

“Tell ya what
, big guy, if you couldn’t tell that by the kisses we shared on the dance floor, there is no hope for you. None at all!”

“Oh yeah?” He eased up to her until he had her back pressed to the bar with his arms braced on either side of her. He towered over her petite frame as he whispered in her ear. “I read those kisses just fine
, beautiful. I want more, so much more. That taste of you wasn’t near enough.”

When she looked up at him she merely issued a challenge. “If you want it so bad, why don’t you take it?”

Her eyes were smoldering up at him. The line in the sand was drawn. He of course, wouldn’t dare back down from such a scorching hot request. He could rush it, kiss her hard, yank her out of the bar taking her back to the truck, the hotel or her trailer to have his way with her. But he was a gentleman—sort of. His hands reached down to cup her bottom, lifting her onto the barstool so she was closer to his height and brushed the hair from her face, cupping her head. With one soft brush of his lips, she sighed against his mouth in such a way it made him instantly hard. There was no way he was stopping just yet. One more kiss, that’s what he needed and then he would pick the conversation back up so they could get to know each other better. Dakota had never been the kind of guy to rush intimacy in a relationship. Not that he was old fashioned necessarily, but he tried to be respectful. This was something he didn’t want to mess up. He wanted more than a one night stand. This was the kind of girl a man wanted to marry.

Somehow though, all thought was lost when her nails dug into his shoulders and she tugged his bottom lip with her sharp teeth, licking over it and making the sexiest growling sound he’d ever heard. “Fucking hell, Angel.”

Her wicked little laugh could tempt a saint.

“What’s wrong
, big guy?”

“What’s wrong is you’re making me want to toss you over my shoulder and carry you out of here.”

She kissed him once more, soft, brief, yet enough to make him groan. “So why don’t you?”

Her teasing was shameless and without mercy. It was driving him crazy. “Because, my dick is raging hard that’s why. Fuck…”

“Mmm, I like that I have reduced you to having a case of the fucks, Papi. Especially when you say it, all gruff like that.” Angel leaned back against the bar and fanned herself, grinning wide “Ay yi yi!”

Dakota couldn’t help but laugh with her. She was so damn sexy and playful. “Mhmm, I’m gonna make you say
ay yi yi
in passion before this night is over,” he whispered, his voice laced with hunger. Tugging her off the barstool and positioning her directly in front of him they quickly weaved their way out of the bar and into the warm night air. It was then he did exactly what he’d wanted to do all night. Dakota scooped her up over his shoulder and smacked her ass, making her squeal and giggle as he carried her through the drizzling rain to the truck. The fact that the entire time he walked the short distance she was playing the imaginary drums on his ass had him laughing and shaking his head.

Once they were seat-belted in and the truck was running with the a/c going full blast, he turned on the headlights and
ran his finger under her chin to tilt her face up to his. “As cheesy of a line this is—my place or yours?”

Angel smirked, “Unless you want to take the chance my
papá comes knocking, we should probably go back to your hotel for a while.”

“Good point,” he replied with a grin on his face.
He kissed her once more—a slow, languid kiss that he felt all the way to his toes. It took everything in him not to break the speed law getting them back to the hotel.

***

There was an annoying beep that kept penetrating her brain, interrupting her wild dream that involved Dakota. It was one of those dreams that was so real she could feel the warmth of his skin and smell his cologne so vividly she just wanted to bury her face against her pillow and breathe in. Funny thing was, when she nuzzled her face, it wasn’t against her pillow. It was against a firm chest that had a rumbling growl coming from it.

“Is that your phone
, baby?”

Dakota’s sleepy voice had her jerking herself upright and looking around the sunlit room in horror. “Oh shit. What time is it? Where’s my phone? Oh crap, please don’t tell me I’m late!” Angel practically fell out of
bed; dragging the blanket with her while she scrambled around looking for her phone. “Beep again dammit. Beep so I can find you!”

“Baby,
it’s only seven thirty. You’re not late. Come back here and kiss me good morning.” Dakota grinned at her, the sheet barely draped over his groin when she looked up from her crouched position where she had been searching under the bed for her cell phone. Her eyes moved down his body, noting the bulge under the thin sheet, then traveled up to his face with a flabbergasted huff.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Do you realize what this means? My father knows I stayed the night with you for crying out loud! And…and I’m always there, never late, not once in my entire career have I not been there when the gates open. We have to go. Like…now. Get up, get up, get up
, Dakota!” She was flapping her arms at him now, freaking out over the thought of having to face her dad with the walk of shame from not coming back to her trailer last night.

Angel was running around, grabbing her clothing that was quite literally, all over the room when she heard the first snickering laugh. Turning too fast, Angel found herself twisted in the blanket and falling to the floor in the most ungraceful way ever. Tha
t only made Dakota laugh louder as he crawled to the edge of the bed and laid on his stomach, grinning at her while she lay sprawled on the floor.

“You’re beautiful
, Angel, even when you are freaking out, flapping your arms like a chicken and squawking around. You’re absolutely beautiful.”

“You are
insane
. My papá is going to kill you.” Angel had the most serious look on her face.

“I found your phone on the nightstand baby. Call him and tell him you’ll be there soon. We’ll take a shower and get dressed. It’s okay, really.”

“I can’t call and tell him I’m here! He already knows. We have my brothers’ truck remember? Oh God, Rage is gonna knock you’re sexy face off.” Her almond shaped eyes were wide as silver dollars when she took her cell from his hand and flipped through her text messages. “Dammit, he says papá is pissed off I stayed out all night on a race day. Shit!”

Dakota took her phone from her hand and dialed her brother, ho
lding the phone to his ear. By the time he picked up, Angel was biting her fingernail nervously.

“Rage, hey
man, Angel and I just woke up. We’re gonna shower and be on the way in a little while. Want us to bring anything? Alright man, yeah, she’s worried about your dad being mad or one of you guys wanting to kick my ass.” Dakota was laughing when he reached over and swept his fingers down Angel’s cheek, pulling her finger from her mouth and winking at her. “I’ll let her know, bruh. See ya in about an hour or so.” He ended the call and handed her phone back to her.

“See, everything is fine. Rage doesn’t want to hit me and neither does your dad. Rage said your dad is frustrated you weren’t there but that he’s not all bent out of shape.
Your brother will have him settled down by the time we get there. Oh, and we’re supposed to get donuts.” He grinned at her and rolled off the bed to push her back on the floor and kissed her with such tenderness that when he pulled back, she had tears in her eyes.

Her soft hands cupped his cheeks and she sniffled, “I swear to God, Dakota—if you hurt me after stealing my heart I’ll kick your ass.”

The look on her face was so serious that he couldn’t even tease her. He kissed her forehead and placed a tender kiss on each cheek then said, “I promise, baby. I don’t ever want to do anything to hurt you. I want to make you smile, laugh, whimper, moan…a lot of good things, not hurt you.” He gave her another soft kiss, then pulled back to smile down at her.

“So far, you’ve proved to do all that very well. But for now, I need a shower and to get back to the track.”

With a cocky grin on his face he got up and held out his hands, pulling her to her feet. “If we share a shower it will be faster.” It pleased him that she didn’t try to deter him. Instead she took the lead and let the blanket drop, walking to the bathroom while running her fingers through her tangled hair.

She winked over her shoulder at him
saying, “It better be quick. We need to leave here in the next twenty minutes.”

By the time she turned the shower on he was right behind her, stepping under the steaming stream of water. When she turned towards him he
swiftly lifted her up, entwined her legs around his waist and eased inside of her. Angel wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him fiercely, hunger taking over as he pressed her against the shower wall and thrust inside of her. She was so tight. Her inner walls were slick with silky heat and he knew it wouldn’t take long before he would lose it. He reached between them, his thick fingers finding her hard bundle of nerves, strumming it until she raked her fingernails down his neck, scoring his back with fiery heat when she peaked and screamed out his name. Dakota choked out groan when she rippled around his shaft. His fingers gently skimming up her body to take her hands in his, pinning them to the shower wall as he unleashed the power behind his hips, pounding her through her orgasm until she was sobbing in pleasure and he was gasping out her name, exploding inside of her.

“Fuck
baby that was…” he was gasping for breath, kissing her neck and nuzzling his hips in a slow grind against her. “That was fucking…”

“Ay
yi yi, you have a case of the fucks again, Papi,” she replied with a throaty laugh. It was one of the sexiest things he’d ever heard.

“Mhmm, and I told you I’d make you say
ay yi yi
again, this time in passion. Maybe next time you’ll even scream it.” His grip on her hips loosened and she slid down his body with a satisfied purr.

They
were both laughing and sharing kisses as they took turns soaping each other’s bodies and washing their hair. It took them an hour and a half to make it to the race track with the promised donuts. They were so wrapped up in each other they didn’t even notice the smirks her family was giving them. Nor did they pay a single bit of attention to the teasing that Dakota’s brother and best friend gave them when they saw them. To top it off, when it was time for Angel to qualify, she placed first and when Dakota swept her off her feet as soon she got back to the trailer she kissed him hard, right there in front of everyone without a care in the world.

“Happy
birthday, Dakota,” she murmured against his lips.

“Best birthday ever!” He grinned at her and sat her back down so she could hug her family and celebrate since Rage was already cracking open beers for everyone.

Chapter 5

Angel

She was on cloud nine.

Stretching her arms above her head Angel purred like a well satisfied cat before she stripped out of her leathers and climbed into the cool shower. The qualifying race couldn’t have gone better. She was beginning to think Dakota just might be her good luck charm. The weather had been a perfect eighty-one degrees, partly cloudy with a faint breeze. She had the right side of the track, which for whatever reason, she seemed to favor and today was no exception. Her first pass was flawless. She was the first one to get a time under 6.9 seconds at 195.392 mph down the track. It was exhilarating! There was no way the smile on her face would be leaving anytime soon. Her second qualifying round was a clean pass as well. She was still under a 6.9 second run so she kept her first place spot. Tomorrow would be the elimination rounds and her chance to win the
NHRA Southern Nationals
. Never in her career had she been this close to the victory she’d always wanted. It meant the world to her to get the win for her home state.

For now, her thoughts strayed to the man who had so suddenly become important to her. It wasn’t just because he was incredibly sexy and was great…no,
fantastic
in bed. He made her laugh. He was fun to be with, smart and supportive. Not to mention he was an incredible dancer. And the kisses,
good gravy
his kisses were earth-shaking. How many times had he tried to flirt with her over the last eight or nine months? Now she felt stupid for ignoring it. All that time she could have been kissing him, teasing him and taking showers with him. She sighed and tilted her head back into the water, rinsing the shampoo out before turning off the water. Her thighs were already tender and had a few faint bruises from the shower they took together this morning. It made her grin every time she felt the tenderness there. The man was a beast in bed. And tonight was his birthday dinner at
The Spaghetti Shack
with his buddy, Tank and his brother, Dominic. He was even so sweet as to invite her family along as well. Later, she planned to give him a birthday he would never forget, nor would she.