right now.”
“Hannah—”
“I get it. You don’t want to hurt me. But I don’t need you to protect me. I don’t
want
that. I’ve protected myself from everything for way too long. I thought I could build the perfect life around myself, but I couldn’t. I wasted so much time, Brody.”
“That’s why—”
She didn’t let him finish, interrupting with an impatient shake of her head.
“When Reece was racing, he almost died, but he fought his way back. Abby’s family home burned to the ground, but then she found Reece and started a new business. She goes to her house in France now, for goodness’ sake. You had to put your life on the line every day to race, and then you hurt yourself riding a horse, but you want to get back on the track. Everyone around me takes risks. Sometimes they get hurt. But look at what wonderful things happen, too. I sit and watch from the sidelines. No more.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Really? Do you remember when I asked you if you worry about dying when you get in the car before a race?” she asked.
Brody did remember. He thought about the safety of others on the track, and he knew the risks. They all did.
He also knew that even if he did everything perfectly, something could still go wrong, something out of his control, but he couldn’t get in a car thinking that way. He had to be all in.
When he got in the car, all he thought about was winning. Facing the unknown was part of the excitement. That was what he’d told her.
And right now, all he wanted to think about was Hannah.
He understood what she was saying, and so he did what she asked. Pushing all of his reservations, worries and what-ifs to the background, he tugged her closer. He’d walked away from her twice now, and he wasn’t going to do it again.
Brody snugged the V of her thighs against his erection and pressed upward, grinding into her. The sound she made in response, the way her lips parted, her eyes getting soft as her cheeks warmed, sealed the deal for him.
Leaning forward, he found the hard nub of a nipple, bare under the soft cotton of the T-shirt she wore, and closed his lips around it, drawing through the fabric, making her moan as she pressed back against him, her fingertips biting into his shoulders.
He wanted her naked, now.
But this was Hannah’s moment, and as much as he wanted to take her, he pulled away, reclining against the hard back of the stone bench. He pinned her with a look, loving how undone she was already.
He raised an eyebrow and smiled a challenge.
“Okay. I’m all yours, Hannah. In public, you can be my very well-behaved girlfriend, but in private...whatever you want, however you want it. If you dare...”
5
F OR A MOMENT , Hannah’sthoughts blanked. It was so easy to hand over control, to get Brody to agree and then let it happen, but clearly he wasn’t playing that particular game.
No. If she wanted this—really wanted it—she was going to have to take it.
He was calling her bluff—not that it was a bluff, really, but it had been words. Now he was telling her to make good on them.
You can’t think about failing—you think about winning
, Brody had once told her. At least in his world, the results of failing could be fatal. They’d all seen crashes, seen friends and competitors hurt, and worse. He’d said that the pressure was so intense that if he thought about it too much, he’d never go out on the track in the first place.
Her second thoughts lasted less than a second. Her smile met the challenge in his eyes.
Hannah
wanted
to win. Big-time.
“Oh, I dare.”
Pushing everything else out of her mind and focusing only on the rise and fall of his chest, the way his hardness fit perfectly against her sex and the hunger that fed the challenge in his gaze, she leaned in and kissed him again.
It was a small kiss, almost chaste. Light, teasing and slightly naughty when she flicked her tongue out to taste him before standing up from the
“Hannah—”
“I get it. You don’t want to hurt me. But I don’t need you to protect me. I don’t
want
that. I’ve protected myself from everything for way too long. I thought I could build the perfect life around myself, but I couldn’t. I wasted so much time, Brody.”
“That’s why—”
She didn’t let him finish, interrupting with an impatient shake of her head.
“When Reece was racing, he almost died, but he fought his way back. Abby’s family home burned to the ground, but then she found Reece and started a new business. She goes to her house in France now, for goodness’ sake. You had to put your life on the line every day to race, and then you hurt yourself riding a horse, but you want to get back on the track. Everyone around me takes risks. Sometimes they get hurt. But look at what wonderful things happen, too. I sit and watch from the sidelines. No more.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Really? Do you remember when I asked you if you worry about dying when you get in the car before a race?” she asked.
Brody did remember. He thought about the safety of others on the track, and he knew the risks. They all did.
He also knew that even if he did everything perfectly, something could still go wrong, something out of his control, but he couldn’t get in a car thinking that way. He had to be all in.
When he got in the car, all he thought about was winning. Facing the unknown was part of the excitement. That was what he’d told her.
And right now, all he wanted to think about was Hannah.
He understood what she was saying, and so he did what she asked. Pushing all of his reservations, worries and what-ifs to the background, he tugged her closer. He’d walked away from her twice now, and he wasn’t going to do it again.
Brody snugged the V of her thighs against his erection and pressed upward, grinding into her. The sound she made in response, the way her lips parted, her eyes getting soft as her cheeks warmed, sealed the deal for him.
Leaning forward, he found the hard nub of a nipple, bare under the soft cotton of the T-shirt she wore, and closed his lips around it, drawing through the fabric, making her moan as she pressed back against him, her fingertips biting into his shoulders.
He wanted her naked, now.
But this was Hannah’s moment, and as much as he wanted to take her, he pulled away, reclining against the hard back of the stone bench. He pinned her with a look, loving how undone she was already.
He raised an eyebrow and smiled a challenge.
“Okay. I’m all yours, Hannah. In public, you can be my very well-behaved girlfriend, but in private...whatever you want, however you want it. If you dare...”
5
F OR A MOMENT , Hannah’sthoughts blanked. It was so easy to hand over control, to get Brody to agree and then let it happen, but clearly he wasn’t playing that particular game.
No. If she wanted this—really wanted it—she was going to have to take it.
He was calling her bluff—not that it was a bluff, really, but it had been words. Now he was telling her to make good on them.
You can’t think about failing—you think about winning
, Brody had once told her. At least in his world, the results of failing could be fatal. They’d all seen crashes, seen friends and competitors hurt, and worse. He’d said that the pressure was so intense that if he thought about it too much, he’d never go out on the track in the first place.
Her second thoughts lasted less than a second. Her smile met the challenge in his eyes.
Hannah
wanted
to win. Big-time.
“Oh, I dare.”
Pushing everything else out of her mind and focusing only on the rise and fall of his chest, the way his hardness fit perfectly against her sex and the hunger that fed the challenge in his gaze, she leaned in and kissed him again.
It was a small kiss, almost chaste. Light, teasing and slightly naughty when she flicked her tongue out to taste him before standing up from the
Similar Books
