Endeavor: A Driven World Novel (The Driven World)

by S. E. Rose

  “Don’t wait,” I urge him. “I need you now.”

  “We have all the time in the world, Emma. And today, I’m taking my time with you. I want to memorize every millimeter of your body. I want every curve seared into my retina for all of time. I want to see all the lines of your perfection every time I close my eyes from now until eternity.”

  I sigh as he leans back, his hooded eyes as glazed over with lust as mine. “Men don’t actually say things like that,” I whisper.

  “This man does.” And with that, he leans down and completely obliterates my thoughts again with his lips. His kiss is beyond a kiss, it’s an entire experience in and of itself. By the time we both pull back, panting, I’m unsure of what continent I’m on and what my name is. All I know is that I need him inside me now.

  I reach down between us and tilt my hips, rubbing my wet slit along his erection.

  “Fuck, hold on, baby. I need to grab a condom,” he mutters.

  I pause, gripping his arm. “H-how often do rock stars…get checked?” I stammer.

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  I blush. “I mean…I’m on the pill and I’m clean…we don’t need…I mean, if you are…then…” I trail off as I fight to form a complete sentence, my face reddening with each word.

  He places a hand on my cheek and gently runs his thumb over my lips.

  “You’re in luck. I had a physical two weeks ago. I’m clean. I admit I haven’t always been the best with getting checked out in the past. But I always used a condom and I haven’t been with anyone except you since then, I don’t want to be with anyone but you…” He trails off and looks into my eyes. I swear I see something beyond lust in them.

  I don’t speak; instead, I grip his erection and guide him into me, both groaning as his length impales me.

  “Fuck, you have no idea how good you feel,” he murmurs.

  “Likewise, Casanova,” I reply with a grin against his lips, which is quickly replaced with a moan as he thrusts inside me.

  I lose myself to the feel of him. He’s so wet from me, sliding in and out with ease. It’s as though his dick was designed just for my body, stretching me just to the point of burning but not to the point of pain. But as I get wetter, he glides faster, both our bodies covered in my arousal. The entire room is just…us, the sounds of our bodies slapping together, the smell of our desire, the feel of heat from our skin as we move in perfect harmony, both of us chasing the need to free-fall into ecstasy.

  It’s when he grabs my legs and pushes them up and over his shoulders, finding a deeper position that I begin to shake. He thrusts once more, deep, filling me completely and that’s all it takes to completely throw me off the cliff. I howl his name as I tense and then release like I never have. Sounds I don’t even recognize as me leave my mouth as I convulse around him. He follows a moment later, his groans joining mine like a soundtrack to our desires.

  We lie entangled as the minutes pass, our breathing slowing, our bodies languid.

  “Fuck, that was…”

  “Amazing.” I finish his thought, and we grin at each other like fools.

  He rolls off me and we both lie there, holding hands as our bodies reawaken once more. “Fuck it, I need you again,” he curses and pulls me onto him, letting me take control. He doesn’t have to say it twice. I slide down onto his still wet cock, riding him like a fucking cowgirl that’s in it to win it. All that’s missing is my hat and boots, the thought of how fucking sexy that would be crosses my mind for a split second before he does something with his hips that sends me over the cliff again, and into an abyss where I have no thoughts. It’s a place I wish I could stay for a very long time.

  I collapse onto his chest and settle there, listening to his heartbeat slow, and drawing little hearts over a tattoo of a music note.

  “Let’s just stay in this bed for the entire weekend,” I murmur.

  “I’m good with that idea,” he says, laughing.

  “Good, we’re in agreement, your cock is living in my pussy until Sunday night.”

  His laughter ticks up a notch and he rolls us over, pulling out of me as he does. I pout because I really do want his amazing dick to stay buried inside me.

  He kisses my nose. “Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty more of that, but first. I did arrange for a tasting for us…with food. If we are going for a marathon sex session, we ought to eat first.”

  “I can’t argue with that,” I say.

  Grady

  After the wine tasting and dinner, we lazily walk back to our suite. I keep her hand in mine, loving the feel of it there. It’s calming, and I can use all the calm I can get right now. Being here with Emma is like being a million miles away from my worries. She’s so easy to talk to and our conversation hasn’t stopped for a second since dinner.

  “What about your favorite movie?” she asks as we swing our hands back and forth in a childlike manner.

  “Don’t laugh,” I demand.

  She giggles. “You can’t say that. What if it’s funny?”

  I give her a look, and she grins. I pull her to me and kiss her gently. When I pull back, I almost stop breathing. She’s looking at me with such admiration, such pure joy, that I almost want to tell her I’m a fraud. I’m not a good person, but I don’t want to erase that look in her eyes. Even if it only is for this second, I want to remember it forever.

  “The Love Bug,” I admit.

  “Like, the old movie about the race car with a mind of its own?” she asks.

  I nod.

  “How come?”

  I sigh and drag her over to a bench overlooking the rolling hills of grapevines. We sit, and she curls into my embrace.

  “The first time I saw it was with my dad. He had seen it with his dad. I never met my grandfather, he died from cancer before I was born. I guess, I just felt this connection. Dad told funny stories as we watched the movie, stories about our family. He loved racing, and I guess it was the first movie I remember watching. He made it a whole experience, and we had a whole viewing party in the family room. It was before people had big theater rooms in their houses. It was…special.”

  She looks up and smiles. “That’s nice.”

  “What about you?”

  She grins. “Finding Nemo.”

  I chuckle. “I like that movie, too, but don’t tell anyone,” I say, looking around, “I’ll lose my man card if I admit it.”

  She giggles and pokes my belly. “No, you won’t. Chicks dig a man who likes watching cartoon movies.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Yep, a total reason to fall for a guy.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” I say, half-wondering if she’s falling for me, scratch that, half-hoping she is.

  “Have you talked with your brother again?” she asks.

  “Yep. We talked about meeting up next week. Honestly, I should reach out again and set up something. This week has just gotten crazy.”

  “I hear you. I’m glad it’s going well though.”

  “Me too. I mean, I don’t know if we’ll be able to form any kind of real relationship, but it’s a start. So, how’s school going, besides your documentary? I feel like I never ask about the rest of it,” I say, feeling a little bad about not inquiring earlier.

  “It’s fine. My classes are good. It’s a lot of work. I sort of wish I didn’t take a full load this semester. But hindsight is twenty-twenty. At least it means if I take summer classes, I’ll only need one more semester to earn my degree,” she says.

  “That’s great! What do you think you’ll do after you graduate?” I ask. And I realize that I’m honestly interested. I want to know everything about her, and that thought is a little jarring for me.

  She shrugs. “I thought I knew but now…well, I guess I’ll be pushing my documentary and trying to get it into some film festivals. I might try to get a job with a film studio or something to pay the bills while I figure things out.”

  “You don’t have to have it all figured out, you know?�
��

  “I know. I just…” She gives a small laugh. “My friend Kate always says you should have a plan a, a plan b, a plan c, and a plan d, just in case.”

  I look over. This is the first time she’s mentioned, Kate. “Who’s Kate?” I ask innocently.

  She gives me side-eye. “Oh, come on, I know you’ve Internet stalked me as much as I have you.”

  I grin. “Ohhhh, you mean your best friend, the former first daughter who is now a princess? That Kate?”

  She playfully punches my ribs. “You are a jackass. Yes, THAT Kate.”

  I laugh. “I was just waiting for you to mention her.”

  She rolls her eyes at me. “I bet you were, asshat.”

  I press my lips together to prevent more laughter from escaping them.

  “So, tell me about your BFF,” I say playfully.

  She snuggles back against me and I have to stop my mind from going to dirty thoughts. Down, boy, I think to myself, we have all night for that.

  “I met Kate during our freshman year. She was already seated when I got to a class. There weren’t a lot of seats left, and I asked if the one by her was open. She said yes. We started chatting and the rest is history.”

  “When did you figure out who she was?”

  She giggles. “Uh, well, right after class, a girl walked up to me and was like, OMG, I can’t believe you just talked to her like that. And I was all like, what are you talking about? She said Kate was the president’s daughter. And I felt like an idiot. I mean, she did look familiar, but she had just dyed her hair, and I wasn’t thinking. It was an early morning class, and I guess my lack of coffee is my excuse to this day. Kate still makes fun of me for it.”

  “But I bet she loved that you didn’t know who she was and still wanted to be her friend,” I point out.

  “True. Very true. Anyhow, now she’s just Kate.”

  I laugh again. “Does ‘just Kate’ know about me?”

  “Uh-huh,” she replies without looking up at me.

  “And what does ‘just Kate’ think?”

  “She’s protective of me…” She trails off. “But she thinks I should give you a shot.”

  “Oh, does she?”

  She punches my ribs again as she lifts her head. “You can be such a—”

  I don’t let her finish as I press my lips to hers, drowning out her words with a flick of my tongue against hers.

  She moans as I deepen the kiss, grabbing her and pulling her onto my lap. I grab her hair, tugging her head to the side, giving me more access to explore her. I kiss along her jaw, her ear, her throat. The little whimpering noises escaping from her mouth go straight to my dick. She grinds against me, and I’m lost in her once more. Without another word, I pick her up, carrying her up to our suite as we kiss. I don’t care if people see us. Hell, I don’t care if someone puts a photo of us online. Right now, all I care about is getting back inside her, making us one.

  I throw open our door after struggling to open it. Kicking it closed with my foot, I lay her on the bed.

  “I hope our break helped you recharge your energy,” I say as I start ripping her clothes off. Positioning myself between her legs, I run my tongue up her center, and she cries out. “Because we won’t be sleeping tonight until we pass out from pure exhaustion.” And with that, I feast on her pussy until she’s pleading with me to fuck her.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Emma

  I don’t know where I am at first. The curtains are closed, and it’s dark. As my eyes adjust and my senses wake, I realize I’m curled up in a ball against a very warm Grady.

  I snuggle closer, and his arms tighten around me.

  “You ready for round three already?” he asks groggily.

  I lean up on my elbow staring at him the best I can in the darkness. “You’re kidding, right? We had round three hours ago, followed by rounds four, five, and six.”

  He laughs. “Come back here.”

  I tuck myself back against him. “My vagina needs a rest.”

  I’m half-kidding. Not only is this man some sort of wizard with his willy, but he’s also able to go only minutes between rounds, and by rounds, I mean a straight hour of sex. I’m lucky that my vagina is still intact this morning, or is it afternoon?

  “What time is it?” I ask.

  “Doesn’t matter because we don’t have a schedule today.”

  “I do have work to do,” I state, reminding him because I feel like he needs reminding.

  He kisses the top of my head. “And you can do it later. Right now, let’s just enjoy our time here in the dark, just you and me.”

  I place my head on his chest, drawing little letters. I stop abruptly when I realized I’ve written “I love you.”

  “Why’d you stop? That felt nice,” he balks.

  I start again, this time more cognizant of what I’m writing.

  “You should call your brother today. It’ll give you something to do while I’m working.”

  He squirms beneath me, and I wonder if it’s my suggestion or my light touches.

  “Maybe I will. I sort of want to be careful with him until we get the stalker thing resolved,” he admits.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I hadn’t thought of it that way,” I reply, feeling like a jackass.

  He puts his hand under my chin and raises my head, pressing a sweet kiss to my lips. “Don’t be sorry. Your suggestion is a good one.”

  “I just…I wasn’t thinking about…everything.”

  “Emma, it’s alright. Leave the crazy stalker stuff to my security team and the police, and let’s not think about it right now, OK?”

  I don’t know if he’s trying to make me feel better or himself, but I nod, and he lets me nestle my head into the crook of his neck. I press a kiss to his skin.

  “Any word from them? Do they have any leads?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “Not yet. Whoever it is, knows what they are doing.”

  I shiver and his hands press me closer to him. “I hope they can figure it out soon.”

  “Me too. I hate it.”

  We’re silent for a while, just holding each other. “I have an idea,” he says, breaking the silence.

  “OK…” I trail off, waiting to hear it.

  “Let’s get dressed and…” He picks up his phone and looks at the time. “Shit, it’s lunchtime. Let’s get dressed and grab food, and then I want to take you somewhere.”

  “And afterward, I get two hours to do some work,” I add.

  He kisses my cheek. “Agreed.”

  “Cool, then you have yourself a date, mister,” I reply as I hop out of bed and head to the shower.

  Thirty minutes later, following some very hot shower sex, we are in Grady’s car going to some secret location.

  He turns off a freeway and pretty soon I see something akin to a tower which confuses me because there is no airport here. A hill blocks the view as we park.

  “Where are we?” I ask, looking at him in confusion.

  He holds out a hand, and I take it as he leads us down to a small office building next to what looks like an industrial garage. Hedges Inc. is the only sign, and I have no idea what that means. Grady opens the door.

  “Hedges, you here?” he calls out. I raise an eyebrow as the name matches the one on the building.

  “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” a man’s deep voice calls out with a British accent from somewhere in the building. A moment later, a man around my dad’s age appears. He holds out a hand to Grady and pulls him into a hug.

  “What are you doing out this way?”

  Grady motions to me. “This is…my girlfriend, Emma.” I want to squeal at the sound of him calling me his girlfriend. “I was hoping we could maybe take a car out for a spin.”

  “Of course, anything for Ken’s boy. I have a prototype that’s been tested, and we actually are building a new one based on it. But it’s good for a run. Nice to meet you, Emma. I’m Burl Hedges, an old friend of Grady’s dad.”


  I look around for a second, taking in the images and awards on the walls. “Nice to meet you,” I reply, shaking his hand. “You…design cars?” I ask him, guessing from what I’ve witnessed so far.

  He grins. “You can say that.” He laughs and motions for us to follow him.

  As we exit the other side of the building, I look down and see a racetrack, or what looks like one. Its neatly paved roads run in various shapes and interconnect.

  “What is this place?” I whisper to Grady.

  “Hedges here is a race car engineer. He designed most of the cars that Dad drove. This is his design workshop and out there is the test track. And you and I are about to test one.”

  “Wait.” I stop. “We, as in both of us?” I motion between us with my finger as my mouth opens and closes as if I’m a fish out of water.

  Grady laughs as does Hedges. “I do believe we have a newbie,” Hedges says as he leads us into the garage. There are several cars in there in various states. One is nearly taken apart, another looks shiny and new, and another looks a little beat up.

  Hedges leads us to one that isn’t new, but not super beat up either.

  “I call her the Gretel,” he says as he slaps the hood.

  “We’re going to drive that,” I say, pointing to the car.

  “Of course,” he replies.

  In a matter of moments, I’m strapped in with a helmet and fireproof suit. Grady drives us out onto the test track.

  “Ready?” he asks me.

  I look at him, really look at him. “But…you don’t race anymore,” I say over the loud roar of the engine.

  He shrugs. “I don’t, well, I didn’t for a long time after Dad died, but a few years ago, I came out here. Hedges let me drive around the track. It’s been our little secret ever since.”

  “That’s why you brought me here,” I state.

  He nods. “I wanted to share it with you. I…wanted to share a part of me with you that no one else sees, well, not any longer.”