by Daniels, Joy
What was she afraid of? Him?
She cleared her throat. “If you could point me toward the guest room…” She stopped, a look of realization coming over her face. “Damn it,” she said under her breath.
“What’s the matter, darlin’?”
She pointed over her shoulder toward the garage door. “My bags. They’re in the trunk of my car. Up on the lift.”
“Nah, they’re in the garage. I took them out before I put the car up.”
“Oh. Thanks.” She started to turn away, then looked back. “Then you knew the whole time that I wasn’t going to get out of here tonight.”
He felt a twinge of guilt. Yeah, he could have mentioned it sooner. But then she’d have hied off to some hotel hours ago instead of accompanying him to the track—or spending the night here.
“That was clear as soon as I saw your car.”
Her brow creased and she took a deep breath—to tell him off like he deserved?—but let it out again like a deflating balloon. Cole itched with the need to pull her against his chest, but knew he had to take it slow. Let her call the shots now.
“Well then, I’ll get my bags and be off to the guest room. I’m sure you have better things to do tonight than entertain me.” She blushed as she said this and Cole suppressed a grin. No, he certainly did not have better things to do.
“What’s the rush? Come.” He gestured at the sofa. “Have a seat. I don’t know about you but I’m starving. I can whip something up for us in a jiff.” He thought for a moment, then pointed a finger in the air. “I know just the thing—some of my sister’s fried chicken. I’ll bet you’ve never tasted better.” He headed for the kitchen before she could protest.
Sarah followed, shaking her head. “That’s really not necessary. I mean I’m not hungry.” Her stomach chimed in with a contradictory rumble and Cole gave her a pointed look.
“Okay, maybe I am a little bit hungry. But really, you don’t have to feed me.”
“Don’t have to?” Cole stepped toward her and gently clasped her upper arms. Her floral scent rose up to his nose, mixed with the familiar scents of the track. “Darlin’, I would feed any guest who stayed with me. That’s how I was raised. But you and me? We were as close as a man and woman could be without sharing the same skin and you didn’t even buy me dinner first.” He stepped back with a wink. “Surely it’s okay for us to have a bite to eat.”
There. Now it was out in the open. If she’d thought he was going to pretend they hadn’t been doing the nasty back there at the track, she had another thing coming. Hell, he was hoping they’d do it again.
Her jaw dropped and she took a step back. “Well, if you insist,” she said and fled into the living room.
Cole took a deep breath. Cars, he knew how to fix. Stressed-out women? A different challenge entirely.
According to his mama, good food could fix almost anything. Wine couldn’t hurt either. Cole retrieved some leftovers from the fridge. He piled a plate high with cold chicken, dumped some raw veggies into a bowl and tucked a bottle of wine under his arm. It wasn’t fancy but it would do. And man, was he starving. Driving took almost as much out of a man as sex and they’d done both.
Sarah stood in the middle of the room, her arms folded. Her ample breasts rested on her forearms and the vee of her sweater gaped a bit, revealing some mighty impressive cleavage. The hard-on he’d willed away stirred once more. She looked both vulnerable and sexy, making him want to tuck her into bed and tuck into her all at the same time. Instead he approached slowly, skirting the side of the coffee table farthest away from her. He put the food down and retrieved a pair of wineglasses. After pouring wine for both of them, he settled onto the sofa.
“Have a seat.” He patted the spot next to him. Without waiting for a response, he dove into the food, taking a drumstick and a sip of wine.
Sarah crept closer and reached for the chicken, proving that food was the universal lure. Cole would have loved to believe it was his own magnetism that had attracted her, but the wariness he’d sensed since the track was still there, lurking under her New York bravado. He was dying to know what was going on, to get under the hood of this woman and see what made her run, but he bided his time. After all, races weren’t won in the first lap.
She sat down on the couch a cushion-width away from him. Silence settled between them, disturbed only by the comforting sounds of chewing and soft sips.
After demolishing one piece of chicken, Sarah reached for a second. Cole smiled. It was nice to eat with a woman who actually enjoyed her food. Eventually she leaned back against the cushions. “Who’s that?” she asked, gesturing with a half-eaten drumstick at the framed picture by the door.
Cole turned toward the door. “Zach Wilder and me at the Brickyard three years ago. He’d just won his first race at that track.”
“Zach Wilder? You mean the guy in the underwear ads? The one who dates all those supermodels?”
His smile disappeared. “Yeah, that’s him.” Cole took a slow breath and reminded himself that Zach was a great guy and didn’t deserve to have his photo shredded into little pieces.
“It says that he couldn’t have done it without you,” she said around another sip of wine. “What did you do?”
So she’d read the inscription. “I made some changes to his engine, tweaked a few things. Nothing that big, but it bought him a few hundredths of a second. Races are won on less.”
“Really? That’s cool.” She put down the drumstick and looked around the room. “That’s him over here too, right?” She pointed at a photo near the mantle. “In the blue-and-yellow car.”
“Same car—well, same number and team but different sponsors. The red was a few years back. This,” he said and nodded toward the mantle, “is the color scheme he has now.”
She nodded, then sat up straight. “Wait, that’s the car in the garage.”
“Not the exact one but yes, it is one of the team’s cars. They have three.”
She nodded, then pointed back toward the door. “Who’s the woman in the other photo?”
Cole stiffened. Sarah seemed more interested in racing than Natalie had been but would that extend to women drivers?
“My sister,” he said, forcing his voice to be steady.
Sarah twisted around to look at him, incredulity on her face. “Your sister races cars?”
“Yes.”
“For a living?”
He nodded curtly. “And she’s damned good. She’s been working her way up and is running a few races at the national level this year.”
His tone was harsh. Hurt flared in Sarah’s eyes and she leaned away, raising her hands in a placating gesture. “I wasn’t criticizing, just asking. I didn’t know there were women who raced professionally.”
Cole’s shoulders relaxed a fraction. “There aren’t many. She’s had to work really hard to get where she is.”
She nodded slowly. “I bet. She must be pretty amazing.”
Cole heard the admiration in her voice and something in his chest thawed, a part of him that had flash-frozen when he’d seen the hurt in Carrie’s eyes. “She is. I’m really proud of her.”
Sarah nodded. “Of course. Who wouldn’t be?”
Who wouldn’t be?
Three simple words but they sent warmth through Cole, burning away the last shreds of his resistance to this woman. He shook his head in amazement.
Seemingly unaware of his epiphany, she gave him an assessing look. “So how about you? You ever race? You seem to like being in the driver’s seat.”
Cole bit back the smile that jumped to his lips, pretty sure her allusion to his earlier words was unintentional. “I’ve raced a bit. Started out with quarter midgets when I was a kid—they’re small open-wheeled cars that look like go-karts. Moved up to sprint cars when I turned eighteen. At the same time I started getting interested in how the cars were put together.” He shrugged. “Instead of continuing on the circuit, I decided to go to college to study engineering and ended
up building engines instead of racing cars. But I still race for fun every now and then.”
“I can see why.” She settled back onto the cushions and started to tuck her feet under her, then stopped, seeming to realize that she was wearing boots. She crossed her ankles primly instead.
“Let me get those for you.” Cole scooted off the couch and onto his knees in front of her. Before she could protest—and he knew she would—he took one of her boots in his hands and started to tug it off. Off-balance, Sarah sank deeper into the cushions.
She struggled to sit up. “What are you doing?”
“Relax,” he said, pulling the boot off. “I’m trying to make you more comfortable.” He removed the second boot and returned to his seat on the couch. “Better?” She nodded. “Good, now turn around.”
With the look of suspicion that flashed across her face he might have asked her to strip and dance naked. The image of that nearly distracted him from his purpose. “You were headed to a spa, right?” She nodded. “Well, just ‘cause you’re not gonna get there tonight doesn’t mean that you can’t get a little relaxation. I’ve been told I’m pretty good with backrubs. By my mother,” he added when her eyes narrowed.
She gave him another assessing look and Cole felt a moment’s pity for anyone who came across that face in a courtroom. He held up his hands, trying as hard as he could to look harmless. Trustworthy. Whatever she needed him to be to feel safe and relax. It must have worked because she shrugged and turned, presenting her back to him. But she was still sitting on the other end of the couch.
“Maybe an orangutan could touch you way over there, darlin’, but for this to work you’re gonna have to get a whole lot closer.” Leaning forward, he slipped his hands under her arms and pulled her across the couch and onto his lap. She started squirming as soon as he set her down, sending a pulse of pure lust through Cole’s groin. Her thong was still in his pocket, which meant that her sweet spot was bare under that skirt… He bit down on a groan. They were basically in the same position they’d been in at the track, her ass nestled against his crotch.
So what went wrong? Things had seemed to be motoring along nicely back there until suddenly they weren’t. Cole hated to think that it was something he’d done. He was usually in sync with his lovers and enjoyed figuring out what would excite them the most. He’d thought she would enjoy a little mild dominance and submission—strong women often did. But not this one.
Cole turned his attention back to Sarah’s massage. At his urging, she leaned forward and braced her hands on his knees. Her motion arched her back, moving her warm valley right over his cock. It was a struggle not to press upward but he resisted. Relaxation first.
He spanned Sarah’s shoulders with his hands and got to work, pressing his thumbs into the sides of her neck. “Got some serious knots in here, darlin’. Something got you wound up?”
“Hmmm? Oh, you know. This and that.”
No, he didn’t know but he’d sure like to find out. “You worried about your car? ‘Cause there’s no need. I promise you that I’ll fix it and take care of you until I do.”
“Nah, not worried ‘bout that,” she said, her words a bit slurred. Was that the wine or was the massage working?
“A work thing then. Them New York City law offices can be real tough places, I hear.”
The muscles under his hands twitched. Jackpot. Not too surprising given her reaction to the call she’d received in his truck.
She didn’t reply. He was going to have to do a little digging.
“You didn’t seem too happy when the phone rang earlier.” He smoothed the muscles of her shoulders down with the heels of his hands as he spoke.
“It was our newest associate, Charles. He’s the son of one of my boss’s buddies. I’ve been assigned to mentor him.” Her fingers made air-quotes around the word mentor.
“Not part of your job description?”
She made a soft hmph. “For an associate at a law firm there’s nothing that’s not part of the job description. Don’t get me wrong. Normally I wouldn’t mind working with a newbie, but the bastard doesn’t actually do anything. We get the assignments but I end up doing all the work. Which is just as well because the jerk is totally incompetent.” She shook her head, disgust thick in her voice. “I don’t know how he even passed the bar.”
“Why would the firm take on someone who’s not qualified? I mean even if he is the son of a friend, wouldn’t they be worried about their reputation?”
“You’d think so, right? I think my boss owes this guy’s father a favor. Maybe it’s about money. Anyway it’s been made very clear that no one cares how the work gets done, only that it’s done right. Of course, since there’s supposed to be two of us that means that I get twice the work with no additional help.”
Things were becoming clearer. “Aw, darlin’, that sucks.”
“Yeah, it does,” she said, but some of the vehemence had left her voice.
He worked on the muscles of her upper spine for a few moments. “It’d be nice to be able to unload some of that burden, wouldn’t it?” he asked softly. “To not have to be the one in charge all the time?”
“Would it ever.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “It’s been like this for months. It’s…it’s really starting to take a toll on me, you know?”
“Yeah, darlin’, I know.” Cole rubbed his hands all over her back, sweeping up and down before coming to rest on the upper curve of her behind. It was a delicious ass but Cole’s mind wasn’t only on sex. Sarah needed more than a good lay—she needed someone she could lean on. Someone who would support her while she shouldered the load that had been dumped on her. For the time that they were together, Cole wanted to be that person.
Relaxing warmth flowed through Sarah’s body and she fought back a moan. The feeling of Cole’s thumbs digging into the tight muscles of her back was almost as delightful as the pressure of his erection under her ass.
How had they ended up in this position anyway? When she’d bolted from the car, she’d wanted nothing more than to hide in his guest room until it was time to leave. Now the twin pleasures of his hands and his cock were almost enough to make her forget her earlier humiliation, to beg him to pick up where they’d left off at the track. Before everything had gone to hell.
What happened? Although she’d feared that her body would let her down, she wasn’t sure how it had come to pass. She’d been enjoying sex with Cole, really loving it. The way he’d pulled her from the car as if he couldn’t wait another second to kiss her. The heat in his eyes, the feel of his hand on her thigh. And when he’d turned her around and told her to brace herself… A shock of lust licked her core at the memory and she shivered. Had any man ever made her feel hotter? It was almost enough to make her want to go at it again.
Almost but not quite. She’d had quite enough humiliation for one night. He was being pretty awesome about it and for that she was grateful. He hadn’t even taken his own pleasure. That was odd. None of her other lovers had stopped when she failed to reach orgasm. She hadn’t even bothered to fake it with them. So why had she tried tonight?
Because she cared about what Cole thought of her.
That realization was so disturbing that it made her sit up in surprise. This guy was practically a stranger, why did she care about his opinion? After tomorrow she’d probably never see him again.
“Something wrong, darlin’?”
His voice was so tender that she wanted to melt back against his chest and stay there all night. And the way he kept calling her darlin’? It warmed her up from the inside out—
Whoa. This guy was a stranger. A gorgeous stranger with the hands of an angel and the body of a god, but a stranger nonetheless. There was no room for tenderness in a one-night stand, even one that included bone-melting back massages. She shook her head to clear it. “No, everything’s fine.”
Cole resumed the massage. His hands wrapped around her ribs as his thumbs pressed into the muscles on either side of her s
pine. His fingers brushed the underside of her breasts and her nipples tightened to painful peaks. Oh, yes. When Cole groaned and his cock twitched beneath her, she realized that she’d said it aloud.
“Glad you’re enjoying it.” His lips brushed the skin behind her ear. His chest was inches away and this time she didn’t fight the urge to lean back. When his arms wrapped around her torso and he sat back, she settled into the circle of his arms. A stranger’s arms but warm and comforting nonetheless. Her head fell against Cole’s shoulder. His hands slid up over her breasts and they swelled at his touch. Desire crept through her veins.
And fear. She stiffened.
“There are no expectations here,” he said as if he’d read her mind. “Just two people cuddling and relaxing together. Enjoying each other’s company.”
Cuddling. Relaxing. That she could handle. And she was enjoying him all right. His magical hands and firm muscles. His hard, hot cock under her ass—
Cole sat up, bringing them both upright. “I know, how about a nice hot shower? Wash the tension right out of those muscles.”
Mmmm, shower. Naked. Wet. Hot.
With his hands on her hips, he brought her to her feet, then got up himself. When he turned to her, his blue eyes were warm with desire and something else she couldn’t name.
He held out a hand. “Come.”
Chapter Nine
The long hallway at the top of the stairs had a wooden floor covered by a long, dark red runner. Sarah caught glimpses of a guest room and what looked like an office before they arrived at a bedroom the size of her Manhattan apartment. She got an answer to her earlier question—his bed was king-sized with cream-and-crimson sheets and a headboard of twisted wrought-iron bars. Dark wood furniture was scattered about the room—a dresser, twin end tables and an armchair.
