33

Usually the crew would have had almost everything struck and loaded out this many hours after a race, but since they were heading into the midseason break and the Lennox factory was just a couple of hours’ drive away, her father had given everyone the night off. There was no one in the Lennox garage to even wonder why Mira had shown up there at midnight.

She hadn’t been lying to Violet, exactly. Even though the teams weren’t allowed to work on the midseason break, she knew she’d go crazy if she didn’t have access to her most critical paperwork. She retrieved her files, then headed to the garage to be sure everything going in the advance shipment to Monza was properly labeled. But now that she was here, she was standing between the two cars, clipboard in hand, and staring into space instead of working.

She needed to talk to Will, but she was terrified. What if she told him she wanted a real relationship and he … didn’t? That would hurt. Actually, it would be devastating, because no matter how hard she’d tried to keep a handle on her feelings, she had to admit, at least to herself, that she was crazy about him. And if he didn’t want her back—

“Hi.”

She shrieked and spun around.

Will was standing just inside the side door to the garage, hands in his pockets.

She flattened her palm over her pounding heart. “What are you doing here? You scared me to death.”

“I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing here alone at this hour?”

“Just going over some stuff.” She gestured to her ignored list.

He eyed her in that way he did when he knew she was bullshitting. “Really?”

She dropped her eyes to her checklist, fiddling with the frayed corner of the paper. “I wanted to check a few things—”

“Mira.”

She looked up at him. “Yeah?”

“I missed you today.”

She blinked, surprised. “You did?”

He took his hands out of his pockets and rubbed them together. He was nervous, she realized. Will was nervous . “I did. My parents were being assholes. I mean, no surprise there. But maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if you’d been there with me. They’d still be assholes because—”

“Will.”

“Yeah?”

“I missed you, too.”

He exhaled and smiled. Then he ran a hand through his hair and crossed the garage to stand in front of her. He was still wearing the fitted charcoal suit and black dress shirt he’d been wearing at the reception. When he was with her, he was either dressed for a race at the track or undressed in her bed. Seeing him dressed up and hot was making her feel all flushed and fluttery.

“Look,” he said. “I’m sorry about how that went with my family today. We haven’t really discussed—”

“You’re right. We didn’t talk about it. It’s fine.” If her feelings were hurt, that was nobody’s fault but hers.

“It wasn’t fine, Mira. That was fucking awful.”

“You were just doing what I asked you to do.”

He nodded slowly, looking down at the floor. “I was. But I don’t think I want to do that anymore.”

Her heart stopped beating in her chest. Didn’t want to do what anymore. This? Him and her? He’d said he’d missed her, but maybe he didn’t mean it like—

“You’ll like Jem and Ed,” he continued. “When you get a chance to meet them properly.”

She blinked, trying to halt the panic spiral she’d been falling into. “You want me to meet them?”

“I did today. I do. Listen, Mira …” He stepped closer, reaching out to snag her fingertips with his. “We’re off for the next two weeks, yeah? I was thinking … maybe we should spend some time together outside a hotel room. I’m heading to New York. I wondered … I mean, maybe you’d want to … Will you come with me?”

Relief flooded through her, so intense she felt almost weak-kneed. But as much as she wanted to fling her arms around him, cover him in kisses, and say yes, she still needed to proceed with caution. They were in the middle of a minefield, and things could explode around them at any moment if she fucked up.

“Traveling together is not exactly keeping a low profile,” she pointed out.

“But it’s America. Nobody knows who I am there.”

“Americans do watch racing, you know.”

He reached out and took her other hand, squeezing them both with his. She was shaking with nerves, hanging on to him like an anchor. “Look, I don’t know what it will be like. I can’t promise anything. But know I want you there with me. Will you come?”

She was still terrified. Terrified of everything that had gone wrong in her past, and terrified of everything that could go wrong in the future. But she could see in Will’s eyes that he was scared, too. This was new territory for both of them. And in the end, she wanted him. That was more powerful than her fear.

“Yes,” she finally said. “Yes, I’ll come.”

The grin he unleashed nearly washed away every reservation she had.

He pulled her into a tight hug. “Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me? You invited me,” she murmured into the crook of his neck.

He squeezed her tighter. “Because I get you all to myself for two weeks.”

“You’ve always got me all to yourself.” He could have her, body and heart, for as long as he wanted her, as long as she got to have him, too. As long as she could hold him like this.

“Always?” She’d heard that shift in his voice enough at this point to know when Will was thinking filthy thoughts. “Like now?”

She leaned back enough to see his face. “Are you kidding? We’re in the garage.”

“There’s no one here.”

“Someone could come.”

“It’s the middle of the night. No one’s coming. Except you, if you want to.”

His hand slid down the small of her back to her ass, where he squeezed. She was wearing the black dress she’d bought in Barcelona, and the thin silk was barely even a barrier between the warmth of his palm and her skin. Despite the less-than-romantic surroundings and the chill of the night air, she felt her body heating in response. She was so shamelessly easy when it came to him.

“I’m not getting down on that floor. It’s filthy and freezing.” She might want him, but not that badly.

His dark blue eyes lit up with mischief. “I wasn’t thinking about the floor.” Oh, she knew that look. When she saw it, she knew he was about to do something outrageous and heavenly to her.

“Then where—?”

He tilted his head toward his car, right behind her.

“Are you insane? It costs millions of pounds!” She pushed on his chest, but he didn’t release her.

“We’ll be careful.”

“And we wouldn’t even fit. You barely fit.”

He rolled his eyes. “Not in it.”

“Then what are you suggesting?”

Without looking away from her, he lifted his hands to the straps of her dress. “Let’s start here.”

She felt the tiny straps slide over her shoulders and she licked her lips apprehensively. Was she really going to let him do this here?

“God, I love you in this dress,” he said lowly, his eyes roaming over her. “And out of it.” He dragged the straps down her arms and she felt the silk slither down her chest. It caught on her nipples, because they were hard and pebbled, already aching for him.

“I’m not—”

“Not all the way off.” He leaned in and captured her mouth in a kiss. His mouth was warm and drugging. She forgot everything when he kissed her.

“Just this far off,” he murmured against her mouth, dragging the silk down to her waist. Her arms were pinned to her sides, still caught by the straps. He wrapped his arms around her and lowered his mouth to her breast.

“Will …” She sucked in a breath as he took her nipple in his mouth.

She swayed in his arms, getting hotter by the second, moaning every time he sucked her. By the time he lifted his head to kiss her again, she was so wild for him that she’d have let him do anything he wanted, even if the entire pit crew was here watching.

She managed to free her arms from the straps so she could reach for him, digging her fingers into his hair as she kissed him.

“I’ve always wanted to do something …” he said between kisses, beginning to walk her backward. “To try this …”

“What?” she whispered eagerly. She was already so wet for him. He could bend her over the nearest table and she’d be there in seconds.

He kissed her again. “Call it kind of a fantasy. For as long as I’ve been driving.”

Suddenly her calves hit the low nose of his car, right in front of where he sat when he raced.

“I told you,” she mumbled in between kisses. “We won’t fit.”

“Just trust me.”

Grasping her hips, he pushed her back until she sat down. She braced herself with her hands, unable to stop calculating what the carbon fiber body cost, even now when she was sitting on it half naked.

“What are you—” She bit back the rest of her question as he started shrugging out of his suit jacket. Her mouth went dry as he tossed the jacket to the side and got down on his knees. Oh.

“I’ve always wanted to do this.” He set his hands on her knees and spread them apart, leaning in between her legs. His hands slid up her thighs, pushing her dress up, and then he grasped the backs of her thighs, coaxing them farther apart as he kissed her. He had her nearly naked in the middle of the garage and she absolutely did not care.

“Lie back,” he commanded.

She did as he asked, leaning back, reclining across the front of his car. His expression was rapt as he looked her over. He caught the sides of her thong with his fingertips. “Can I take this off?”

She licked her lips and nodded.

He slid it down her legs and off, and then he leaned down and put his mouth on her. The moment his tongue touched her she arched up and gasped. With one hand, she fisted his hair, flattening the palm of the other to the cool glossy surface of the car, trying desperately to ground herself as he licked her core. She heard her own moan echo off the steel walls of the garage, but self-consciousness had become a foreign concept. All she wanted was him, his mouth, this moment.

Her release was already bearing down on her when he slid two fingers inside of her. “Will,” she breathed.

“Right here, on my car,” he whispered against her.

That was all it took. She was arching up off the car, gasping for air, shaking all over as her body was consumed with pure, aching pleasure.