“Jesus, Jared,” Noah said, gripping the door handle. “Slow down.”
“There’s something wrong with Paisley. We need to get to the hotel, pack our stuff, and try to get an early flight back to London.”
Noah’s face creased in worry. “What do you mean there’s something wrong?”
I shook my head. “That’s the limit of my knowledge. She asked me to come home early. Said she didn’t want to tell me over the phone.” I shot him a sideways glance. “I’m shitting myself. What if something’s very wrong?”
Noah looked as concerned as me. “Let’s not panic yet. This is Paisley we’re talking about. She has a tendency to lean toward drama.”
I almost punched him. I would have if what he said wasn’t accurate. But something about this particular situation was different. Normally, I’d put it down to a regular Paisley flip-out over something as simple as the fact she burned the pancakes. Not this time. I knew my girl, and there’d been an undertone in her voice. Whatever she had to tell me had her seriously concerned.
“And get us there in one piece, yeah?” Noah said as I took a turn on the fast side. “You’re not on the track now.”
I ignored him, my mind racing, running scenarios of what might have caused Paisley to call me home.
The second I pulled into a parking space in front of the hotel, I dashed inside and ran up the stairs. I haphazardly threw my clothes into a suitcase, fastened it, and hauled it outside. Banging on Noah’s door, I shouted, “Hurry up. I’ll go down to the lobby and check us out.”
I didn’t wait for his reply.
As I waited for the receptionist to finalize my folio, I rang the airline. They didn’t have any seats available, but they did manage to book us on a flight with another airline leaving in two hours. That would get me home at seven this evening, five and a half hours from now. Not ideal, but I couldn’t exactly teleport.
I glowered at Noah when he finally showed his face. “About time,” I groused. “I got us new flights.”
“Then we’d better get a shift on,” Noah said, cutting in front of me and striding outside.
“Jackass,” I muttered, following.
The next few hours were among the worst of my life. Time dragged, each second a dagger to my chest. As soon as we disembarked, I ran, dodging through the crowds, my cap pulled low over my eyes in case any journalists spotted me. If they tried to snap a photo, or ask me a question today, I was likely to throw a punch, and Paisley did not need me ass in jail. She needed my ass at home.
We got lucky with the traffic, and forty-five minutes after leaving Heathrow, the taxi pulled up outside my apartment block. I shot Noah an apologetic look.
“Bud, sorry to do this to you, but can you check into a hotel tonight?”
He grinned. “Already booked my room. The penthouse suite at the Ritz. I told them to charge you.”
I laughed, despite the anxiety slicking my palms with sweat. “I owe you at least that for fucking you around.”
“Nah, it’s all good, bro.” He gave me a shove. “Go see Paise. Give her my love. And call me when you can.”
The elevator ride up to our floor took an interminable amount of time, although in reality, it traveled at the same speed as always. Only my anxious state made it appear slower.
I pressed my thumbprint against the pad beside the door, and the locks popped open. Pushing open the door, I strode inside. “Paisley?”
She appeared from where she’d been lying down on the couch, and the second she saw me, her face crumpled. She launched across the room and threw herself into my arms.
“Hey now,” I soothed, stroking circles on her back. “Talk to me, Pixie Ley.”
She hugged me tighter, her face burrowed into my neck. She trembled in my arms, her reaction sending my unease stratospheric. I let her have her moment, then gripped her wrists and removed them from around my neck. I held them at her sides and took a step back.
“I need you to tell me what’s going on, Paise. I’m fucking freaking out over here.”
She bit her lip, her gaze troubled.
“I’m so sorry, Jared. I’m pregnant.”
Paisley
I barely took a breath as I waited for disappointment, disbelief, and maybe even anger to cross Jared’s face. Bombshell dropped. Now I waited to see whether I should run for cover.
He cupped my face, his thumbs brushing my cheeks. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “Positive.”
He whooped and swung me into his arms, whirling me around the room. “You, my little Pixie, are fucking wonderful.” He set me on the floor, then pulled me to him, his mouth covering mine in a kiss full of reverence and adoration.
All my fears scattered on the winter’s breeze, Jared’s enthusiastic response dispelling every ounce of fear that had dogged me since I found out first thing this morning. I wrapped my arms around his neck and sank into the familiarity of his lips roving over mine. Three years on and while the intense burn of our passion in the early days had cooled, I still wanted him desperately. Hence my initial panic that a baby would destroy us. Clearly, Jared disagreed.
“How?” he asked when he’d finished thoroughly kissing me.
Never one to pass up an opportunity to focus on the lighter side of life, I arched a brow. “If you don’t know, then I can’t help you.”
He gave me one of those adorable looks where his lips pinched to the side, and his eyes told a tale only I could decipher.
“A comment like that will earn you a place over my knee, Pixie Ley. Pregnant or not.”
I allowed a shiver to run through my body. “Promise promises.”
He moved fast, faster than I could run. He caught me around the waist, then tossed me over his shoulder and marched over to the couch. I giggled uncontrollably as Jared plunked himself down, flipped me over, yanked up my dress, pulled down my underwear, and playfully smacked my rear end. Once. Twice. A third time. I laughed so hard I got the hiccups.
He righted me, lifting me astride his lap. His hands slid up my thighs, his thumbs rubbing in circles, his hot gaze locked on mine, all signs of mirth gone.
“For three years, you’ve brought so much happiness to my life, and now you give me this gift. I’m speechless, Paise. How many weeks along are you?”
“Six, I think. I’ll need to go to the doctor to get a proper test done.”
He nodded. “We’ll call tomorrow and get the first available appointment.”
I swallowed, a multitude of emotions rushing through me. Chuffed at Jared’s impassioned reaction to my news, yet panic-stricken at the number of obstacles ahead of us. “I’m scared,” I whispered.
He slipped one hand around the back of my neck and pulled me in for a brief kiss. “Me too, Ley. But we’ll figure it out, together.”
His ecstatic response had given me pause to whether I should voice my fears relating to my beloved work. But Jared and I didn’t have secrets. That was our superpower.
“What about my career, though?” I asked, hating the selfish light asking that question put me under. “I’ve worked so hard, Jared. The thought of giving it all up…” My voice trailed off, and my eyes slid away from his. I didn’t want to witness his pity.
“Ley?”
I kept my gaze on the floor. “Yeah?”
“Look at me.”
I slowly raised my head. Instead of pity, I saw concern.
“You can have it all, Ley. I’ll make sure of it.”
I sighed. “No one gets to have it all.”
He leaned in, brushing his lips over mine. “You will be the exception.” He stood with my legs still hooked over his hips. Damn, the man had strong thighs. All those lunges, and squats, and wall sits sure paid off.
He started walking.
“Where are we going?”
“To bed. It’s been a long two nights without you beside me.”
Using his elbow to open the door, he toed it open, kicking it closed behind him. He knew I liked the door closed. Weir
d, considering we were alone, but it felt more intimate that way. Laying me down on the bed, he dug his phone out of his pocket, tapped the screen, and soft music filled the silence.
He crawled onto the bed and lay on his side, tracing a fingertip down the front of my dress.
“I like these buttons.” He fixed his gaze on my chest. Using his thumb and forefinger, he slowly unfastened each one. The material parted. He slipped a finger inside the lace cup of my bra and brushed my nipple. “I wonder if your tits will get bigger,” he mused.
I rolled my eyes. “Men. One track mind.”
He grinned unashamedly. “I like tits. All men like tits. If I was a woman for a day, I wouldn’t get anything done. I’d just play with them for hours.”
I laughed. “You play with mine for hours.”
“This is true.”
He flipped out my boobs and bent his head, sucking one of my nipples into his mouth, his large rough hand kneading the other. I groaned at the familiar connection between my upper and lower body. My inner muscles clenched, and a fluttering sensation filled my belly. I arched my back and Jared took the opportunity to flick open my bra clasp. I shifted to allow him to remove my dress and slip the bra straps down my arms.
Straddling me, he eased down my panties. And then he just sat there, legs astride mine, his burning gaze tracking over every inch of me. Goose bumps skittered down my arms at his ardent appraisal.
“You still take my breath away, Ley. I could fuck you for hours.”
“Better get your fill now, hotshot. Soon I’ll be fat and ugly, and you’ll spend all your time down the pub.”
I’d meant it to come out with in a teasing tone. Instead, my words were underlined in bitterness.
Jared eyes flared, a hint of anger burgeoning in his irises. “I don’t ever want to hear you talk about yourself in that way again. I love you, Ley. You. Not how you look, or the way you dress, or how flat, or otherwise, your stomach is. Do you hear me?”
I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth and nodded. “Yes.” It sounded like “No”.
He canted his head. “Fine. I’ll spend the next seven and a half months showing you.”
Undressing quickly, he settled between my thighs. He curved his hands around my face and kissed me, slowly at first, his soft lips exploring, tasting, savoring. Then his passion exploded into a blistering furnace. My toes curled as he ravaged my mouth, demanding I return his intense fervor.
He left my lips on a groan and moved down my body, his lips touching, tasting, exploring. Lingering over my midriff, he gazed at my abdomen with a sense of wonder.
“You’re going to be a terrific mom,” he murmured, his voice so full of reverence tears pricked my eyes.
Blinking furiously, for the first time I allowed my imagination to roam. I pictured Jared holding our child, watching as he comforted them when they cried, listening to their laughter when he blew raspberries on their rounded bellies. The way their eyes would light up the second he walked into the room—as mine did.
Jared’s tongue circling my clit brought me back to the present with a euphoric jerk. I moaned, my hips bowing off the bed. He slipped his hands beneath me and clutched my arse, tilting me further, allowing him greater access.
I gasped as he pushed his tongue inside. Heat. So much heat. My hands burrowed into his hair, and I fisted the soft strands.
A swell grew inside me. Not yet. I forced myself to relax. If I clenched now, I’d come.
It made no difference. All the angst of the past twelve hours culminated in a physical release, an upsurge that spiraled outward and sent a warmth to the tips of my fingers and the ends of my toes.
“Oh god,” I moaned. “Jesus, fuck.”
I felt Jared smile, his lips still connected to my most private part. He crawled up my body and kissed me, allowed me to taste myself.
I wrapped my legs around his back, tilting my pelvis against his cock. I rocked back and forth, rubbing my slick folds against him, coating him in my desire.
“Christ,” he muttered, feathering kisses over my face, my neck.
I drew a ragged, juddering breath into compressed lungs, recovering from the intensity of my orgasm. Jared always took me from naught to sixty in three seconds flat. Gripping his butt, I urged him on. We could take our time later. He said he’d show me how much he loved me. I needed him keep doing that.
He caught my urgency and pushed inside. My body welcomed him, widening to the familiar feeling of his cock inside me.
Laying his arms either side of my head, his intense gaze never averted from mine as his erection slid in and out. “I love you. You, Ley,” he repeated.
I traced my hands down his sides. “I know.”
“Do you, though?” he asked, keeping his pace steady, even as we conversed.
My throat tightened at the doubt in his voice. Doubt I’d put there. I lifted my head and kissed him. “I do.”
Relief swam in his eyes, and he thrusts faster, shifting his pelvis to brush against my clit on every push forward.
“Christ, you’re good at this,” I groaned as another enormous wave began deep in my abdomen, growing in magnitude at an exponential rate. I wriggled my hips, searching for more friction, impatience to get to the finish line driving me on.
He smiled. “You’ve always been great for my ego.”
Reaching between our bodies, he pressed his thumb hard on my clit. He knew what I needed, and he gave it to me. My body detonated, and a shudder swept through me. A tingling sensation spread through my legs along with a lightness that made me feel like I was floating above my body.
Jared plunged into me several times more, then found his own release. He buried his face in my neck, muttering in my ear how much he adored me, how he always would.
I couldn’t believe I’d ever doubted him.
Jared
I nestled my hands beneath my head and watched as Paisley slept, her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm, her breathing soft and even.
My girl thought she’d have to give up everything she’d worked so damned hard for. And I’d promised her that wouldn’t happen. All I now needed was a solution that I didn’t have—yet.
Throwing back the covers, I picked up my phone off the nightstand and padded out of the room, quietly closing the door behind me to make sure I didn’t wake her. I needed time alone to work through the possibilities. There had to be a way she could have her cake and eat it.
I made a coffee and mooched over to the window, looking out at the bright London lights, the city I’d made my home since leaving IndyCar racing in America and joining the European-based world of Formula One racing. I’d conquered IndyCar, winning every title possible, and Formula One had given me a new challenge, one I’d coveted. And I’d succeeded here, too, with two World Championships under my belt in the last three years.
As a boy, I’d dreamed of escaping the abject poverty I’d grown up in, but even in my wildest dreams as that young man who’d cleaned car windshields at the stoplight, and fetched groceries for elderly neighbors to earn a buck, did I ever imagine this would become my life.
When was enough, well, enough?
My phone dinged with a text. I glanced at the screen. Noah.
Everything ok? Txt me.
I wasn’t ready to share the news yet. For one, I hadn’t discussed that important decision with Paisley, and secondly, my parents should be the first to know. I wondered if Paisley had told Jack and her mom. She hadn’t mentioned it, but I’d be surprised if she hadn’t, especially as I’d been away when she’d taken the test. She was so close to her parents I’d expect her to reach out to them for support.
I cursed the timing of my trip with Noah. I wouldn’t have gone if I’d had any idea what Paisley was going through, alone.
I texted Noah, reassuring him all was fine and that I’d see him tomorrow. He was flying back to America on Tuesday, which meant I’d either need to call my parents—who were in California—tomorrow afternoon and then tell Noah, or
drop in the news on the drive to the airport. Just imagining his face brought a smile to my lips. Before I met Paisley, I guess you could call me a player. I certainly hadn’t been short of female company. And now, three years later, I was in a happy, committed relationship and had a baby on the way.
Everyone grows up eventually.
The answer to Paisley’s conundrum hit me in a rush of elation. I had grown up, and that meant compromise, sacrifice, putting the woman I loved before myself.
Confident I’d carved out a solution, albeit one I’d have to talk to Jack about, I vowed to go see him first thing tomorrow. I finished my coffee and returned to bed. Paisley had rolled over, her back to me. I snuggled under the covers and wrapped my arm around her, settling my palm on her stomach. She made a keening noise, then sighed contentedly in her sleep.
I closed my eyes and drifted off with my girl safely in my arms.
The next morning, I woke alone. Paisley’s side of the bed was still warm, meaning she couldn’t have been up long. I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and sauntered into the living room. Paisley was sitting at the dining table nursing a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper. She greeted me with a smile that did funny things to my insides. I crossed over to her and kissed the top of her head.
“Have you seen this?” she said, indicating the newspaper.
I arched a brow. “Unless I read it in my sleep, no.”
She stuck out her tongue in response to my teasing. “Jordan racing have signed the first woman driver. Sofia Flores.” She fist-pumped the air. “About fucking time. Women rule.”
I leaned over her shoulder to scan the article. Sofia Flores was the current Formula Three world champion, a feeder route into Formula One, the pinnacle of motor racing. There had been rumors that a couple of the teams were looking at her for a seat next season, but nothing concrete—until now. But everyone had assumed one of the smaller teams would sign her. An Australian billionaire had recently taken over Jordan racing, and he’d sunk a ton of cash into hiring the best from the team principal right down to the most junior mechanic. Alexander Coutinho, their number one driver, was tipped to win the championship next season, although Jack wouldn’t give up his hard fought for number one spot that easily.
The Full Velocity Series Box Set Page 59