by Terri Lane
I glanced towards the new gang of guys, who all looked friendly enough, but if I was totally honest with myself I didn’t totally feel ready for that just yet. I was too new to this life, I wasn’t experienced enough to know how to go to an after party, plus I had work really early in the morning.
At least that was the excuse I was giving myself. If I was totally honest, I wanted to know what was going on with Leo. I wanted to see for myself whether or not he would go home with Grace. If I didn’t find out for sure then the chance was I wouldn’t be able to relax.
“Oh no, I think I’m going to get home,” I replied regretfully. “I feel shattered and I have to get up early. Maybe next time, okay?”
There were a few groans at my decision, but soon enough the group left me by myself at the track. Now all I needed to do was see what was going on with Leo, then I could find a cab or a bus to get myself home. The only problem was there were still hundreds of people around and I couldn’t see Leo anywhere…
“All by yourself?” As his chocolaty voice whispered into my ear, I didn’t spin around at first. I remained frozen on the spot, just enjoying the warmth of him behind me. When I turned, things would become too real, for now I could just relish the fantasy for a little while longer. “What are you doing here, Karly?” There was a teasing to his tone, as if he knew that I was there just for him. That was the only thing that could make me actually face him, just to defend myself.
“Annie, my new work colleague, invited me actually. I didn’t even know you would be here.”
My heart thundered so loudly in my chest I thought he might be able to hear it, as he gave me a knowing smile. “Oh right, sure. Well where is this ‘Annie’ now?”
I narrowed my eyes, hating the way he didn’t believe me. “She’s gone to a house party with some guys. I think I just want to get home.” I tugged my jacket tighter around me, trying to disguise my crappy polyester work uniform.
“Yeah, I think I might be going home too.” He flickered his eyes around the track, giving the impression that he was bored of it all now that the race was done. “Would you like to come back with me?”
Oh…my…God.
Everything churned up and flip flopped inside of me at the idea of going anywhere with this man, which was silly because it saved me getting a cab, and since we were going back to the same place it made a lot of sense. But still…I didn’t quite know what to say.
Say yes, you idiot!
No, say no, this is a bad idea, it’ll only encourage him!
“Yes,” my mouth made the decision before I was actually ready to. “Erm, yes, thank you. That sounds great.”
“Right this way,” Leo teased. “Your carriage awaits.”
Chapter 8
Leo
I opened the truck door for Karly to step inside, acting the perfect gentleman before I turned into the dangerous man that you’d never take home to mommy–my default mode–and I couldn’t stop myself from smirking, even as I pushed my motorbike into the back to take it home with me.
I was utterly over the moon that not only was Karly there at the race to see me win, but also that she’d agreed to come back home with me afterwards. Sure, I would piss off Grace and cause myself issues over the next few weeks, but it was utterly worth it just to have her warming to me, to have her walls crashing down. And I knew it was mostly because we were going to the same place, but this still felt like a massive step.
“So, did you enjoy yourself at The Track?” I asked casually as I pressed my foot on the gas. “I bet it’s nothing like you’re used to, is it?”
“Just because I come from a small town, doesn’t mean I didn’t do anything,” she snapped back defensively. “I might not have been to bike races, but we did used to have fun.”
I already knew that it was a touchy subject, so I didn’t delve any deeper into it. Instead I sat back and drove, just waiting for her to speak out once more. The atmosphere was thick and tense, but soon it’d dispel…I hoped.
“Sorry, I just feel a bit out of place here,” she eventually sighed, giving in. “I feel like I’ve been left behind a lot in life, that’s all. Just ignore me.”
She wasn’t satisfied with the way things were going, which I got. My plans to move out were crawling along too slowly as well, and there were times when I found that frustrating, so I wasn’t mad at her for taking that out on me. Actually, it was a little touching that she’d open up to me at all.
“Yeah well, sometimes I think being left behind isn’t such a bad thing anyway. Sometimes being ahead of the curve isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.”
Karly snorted with laughter, her whole mood changing with my words, which I found contagious. We both chuckled loudly, which lightened everything.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure it’s really held you back. You seem to have it all,” she sneered teasingly. “A cool career bike racing, or whatever, adored by everyone, a different woman in your bed every night.”
“Hey, it isn’t just like that,” I insisted. “And I’m sure you’ve had a lot of men in your bed too.” There was something about that topic of conversation, something that I wanted to delve deeper into. “Right? I mean you can’t always have been a good girl.” Karly didn’t even bother to answer that, she simply swung her head around and stared out of the window. “Or have you always been a good girl? Karly, are you a virgin?”
I wasn’t sure why it was so important to me to know, but it really was. However, I didn’t need a verbal answer, as soon as she turned to look at me I could tell, so I swung the car into the nearest parking lot, and I wrapped my hands around her cheeks.
“What are you…?” Karly gasped, as if I’d left her breathless.
Then I pulled her to me, and I crashed my lips hard against hers. I allowed all the passion I felt inside to flow between our mouths, connecting us deeper. I held onto Karly, but it wasn’t necessary because she’d totally fallen into the kiss. I thought that she might resist, that she might try to fight her feelings, but she didn’t. She simply fell into me and parted her lips to allow my tongue to snake through.
As we pulled apart, I rested my forehead against hers and I stared into her eyes for a moment. It was a more romantic gesture than I normally pulled with women, I usually wanted it to be very clear that it was only ever a physical thing, but there was something about Karly that I wanted to inhale. Her sparkly hazel eyes drew me in, especially as they were properly looking at me for the very first time.
Karly opened her mouth, ever so slightly, as if she was about to start questioning things which was the opposite to what I wanted. If she started thinking and panicking, this would derail everything and now that I finally had her, I didn’t want to let her go. There was no time to get home, here would be fine. In fact, here would probably be better. It was in the middle of nowhere, in my truck, not a reality at all.
I leaned in and I kissed her once more, while slowly pushing back to hover over her. Karly slid backwards with ease, she fell back onto the seat and she let me claim her body.
This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I ran my hand slowly down over her body, pausing for a second at the peak of her breast, knocking her jacket out of the way as I went. As I brushed past her nipple through the material of her dress, Karly arched her back against me and an involuntary moan fell past her lips. As her eyes fell closed, she looked angelic, which made my heart swell and ache for her. There was something about Karly, something very new.
Then I slid lower and lower to where her untouched desire was waiting for me, crying out for me, ready to be taken in the best way possible. I needed this experience to be incredible for her, whatever happened next, because I didn’t want her first time to be a terrible one.
Maybe I’d taken virginities before, maybe not, but this was the first time I’d been acutely aware of that, and it was also the first time that I’d cared about her either.
Chapter 9
Karly
What the hell am I d
oing?
My head lolled to one side as I felt Leo’s calloused fingers move up over my thighs and start tracing the outline of my panties. This all felt like it was happening too quickly, too fast, out of my control, but also not quick enough. I wanted Leo in places where I hadn’t ever had anyone before, and I almost didn’t care how wild this was. We were in a truck, in the middle of nowhere, after an illegal bike race, and I just wanted to lose it; to throw off all my responsibilities, to just have fun.
“Oh God, Leo,” I gasped as his fingers dipped inside my white cotton underwear. I was pulsating for him, aching to have him touch me, my body wanted to press into him to make this happen immediately. “Oh my…”
“I love the way my name sounds on your lips,” he whispered against my neck, his breath tickling me into submission. “It sounds really good.”
I felt needy, breathless, my fingers began to claw at his back, almost tearing through his shirt. His lips kissed me lightly, sending me wilder and crazier, my heart hammered, my chest was hot, my stomach swirled. I needed everything.
As he finally started to explore my wet, hot heat, a yell burst free from my throat. I couldn’t control it anymore, it was like all the days of unwelcome flirting, of pent up sexual frustration, they were all freed in that moment. I could now admit it to myself that I wanted him badly, that I needed everything about his body.
“Oh fuck.” My mouth flew wide open as his fingers plunged deep in, and he brought his thumb into the mix, tracing it along my clit.
The brushing and thrusting had a crazy pressure building in my chest. I could feel a blissful sensation creeping up through my toes and up through my veins. I grabbed onto Leo’s face and kissed him, trying to communicate exactly what he was doing to me without using words. He had my ears buzzing with lust, my head dizzy with passion, my body trembling with desire. I’d never felt this way in my life before, and it was growing, it was getting bigger and more overwhelming, I didn’t even know where I was anymore…
Then the waves of pleasure crashed over me, shattering through my body, causing me to buckle and thrash on the front seat of Leo’s truck. My hot skin pressed into his body, I could feel his tender hand holding me, while the other one sent me flying over the edge. I would never, ever have allowed myself to be so vulnerable with another person, had it not happened so spur of the moment.
Now I’d given myself over to Leo, he had hold of me, and I wanted him to. He hugged me tight to him as my heart rate slowed down and my breathing return to normal, and I remained collapsed into him. He was refilling the lonely hole that I’d probably had for far too long. I needed to keep on gripping tightly to him, I wanted to keep feeling his body, even if it was wrong…
Oh God.
I bolted upright in an instant, shoving Leo off of me. His eyes widened, as if in shock, but all of a sudden it was as if I was sober now, with the clearest head ever.
This was wrong, so, so wrong. Our parents were together, married, and even if we hadn’t grown up together and we’d only just met recently, that didn’t make it any better. Plus, I was supposed to be using this time of my life as a stepping stone, I certainly wasn’t supposed to be making complex webs to weave myself out of.
“I…I have to go…” I slammed the door open, and refused to make eye contact with Leo. The magic was gone now, the lust was gone from the car, all I needed to do was get home, to escape this nightmare. “I’m sorry, I…”
“Wait, where are you going?” Leo cried out. “What are you going on about? You can’t get out now, it’s late and dangerous.”
But the fresh air hitting my face felt much better than in there, in that truck felt far more dangerous. “No, I need to just go. Just leave me.”
I walked away from the truck as quickly as I could manage, refusing to acknowledge the truck driving ever so slowly behind me. That shouldn’t have happened, whatever me and Leo felt for one another we shouldn’t have done that. Especially considering it was only lust anyway. There was certainly nothing serious going on.
“Karly,” Leo leaned out the window and called behind me. “Karly, don’t be mental. Get back in the truck, I’ll drive you home. No funny business, I promise.”
“I can’t…I just need to get home. This was all a big mistake.”
But he seemed to care too much to leave me behind. He was driving ridiculously slowly, it was like a freaking joke, so with a deep sigh I swung back around and I hopped back into the truck. I sat as far to the side of the seat as I could manage and I fixed my eyes out of the window. I couldn’t look at Leo, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to again. He’d taken my body to somewhere brand new, just like he’d promised, and now we were both in a very sticky situation. We had to live under the same roof knowing that we’d acted insane around one another. To know that we’d given in to lust despite the overwhelming evidence that it should never have happened.
To him I was just another notch on the never-ending bed post, but to me that moment was important. I should’ve never given myself away so easily. Now my need to move out was even more intense.
Chapter 10
Leo
I watched wistfully as Karly stomped out the kitchen the moment I stepped in, in exactly the same way she had done for the last week and a half. Ever since that crazy night in my truck, she’d been doing her utmost to avoid me, and I had to admit that it hurt. For some inexplicable reason, I couldn’t just write her off like I would anyone else. I couldn’t just take it as a hook up never to be repeated, then move on to someone else. I was stuck on her, I couldn’t let her go.
Maybe it was because we were under the same roof, and it was damn near impossible to avoid her. It didn’t help that she always looked so good, even when she wasn’t trying. It made my heart yearn for her in a way that I hadn’t ever done before.
“Hello there again, Leo,” my mom’s voice popped up from behind me, making me jump out of my skin. “And to what do we owe the pleasure this time?”
“Huh?” I felt as dumb as I sounded in that moment, but I really didn’t know what she was on about.
“Well, you’re here all the time these days, and I guess me and Hank are curious as to why.”
She leaned her back against the kitchen counter and gave me an innocent enough look as she sipped her mug of coffee, but I knew there was more to her question. She’d been talking about me to Hank, which meant something was afoot.
“I dunno, I guess I’m just growing up a bit,” I lied. Well I couldn’t exactly let her know that I couldn’t stand to be away from Karly now, could I? “I want to start taking life a bit more seriously. I need to get my stuff organized so I can move out.”
“You know we will help you…”
“I don’t want your help,” I snapped back instantly. “I don’t need it anyway, I’m almost there.” If it was Mom’s money, then maybe I would’ve taken a loan, but it wasn’t. I couldn’t have help from Hank. Even though I currently resided under his roof I still paid for everything myself. Maybe that was my pride getting in the way, and slowing down the moving out process, but that was what I wanted to do. For myself. “So don’t worry about it, I’ll be out your hair before you know it.”
“Oh, don’t be like that,” Mom cooed, trying to bring me back around. “I’m just interested in your life…”
“Well, don’t be.” Okay, maybe I was taking my temper out on the wrong person. Really, I was angry at myself, because I felt like I’d screwed things up between me and Karly, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that now. “Just leave me be, okay?”
With that I stomped from the house and I hopped right into my truck to drive to work. At home I felt at odds with myself, but at the garage I could throw myself into the latest bike repair job and forget about the rest of the world. It was that knowledge alone that burned up my temper enough for me to be in a relatively good mood by the time I actually arrived.
“Oh, here he is,” my work mate and constant prankster, Terry, called out to me. “Lover boy.
”
“Oh God, what now?” I groaned. My escapades had gotten me into trouble far too often. I tried to allow women to know that I wasn’t ever in it for the long haul, but somewhere along the way that message got lost in translation.
“Gracey, she’d been going wild about you ditching her last week. Spreading all kinds of rumors about you, like…”
“I don’t want to hear it.” I held out my hands to shut him down before he got into a full-blown rant about it. I honestly didn’t give a shit, I came here to forget my problems, not to have more bundled onto my shoulders. “I don’t care what Grace has to say, everyone knows what she’s like. If anyone believes anything she says then they aren’t worth speaking to anyway.” I hoped he got this hint with that remark, that I certainly didn’t expect him to trust Grace’s words.
“She’ll be there, at the end of the month though, doesn’t that worry you?” I gave a Terry a look, one that clearly displayed that I had no idea what he was on about, which thankfully had him continuing. “You must know about it, they’re calling it The Big One. The race at The Track with the hundred grand prize money. I would’ve assumed you were right in there for that one.”
“The prize isn’t ever that big,” I scoffed, pushing past him and rolling my eyes. “What are you on about?”
“How do you not know about it? I thought everyone was aware. I dunno really, there’s some mysterious sponsor, some people think it might be a scout, looking for some newbies to go pro. Sounds right up your alley.”
I didn’t say anything to that, instead I just went to the next job and got to work, but I couldn’t deny the fact that my mind was spinning. Even if this wasn’t a scout with the opportunity of a lifetime under his belt, it was one hell of a prize, and could get me anything I wanted. With that money I could buy a place outright, one that was comfortable enough to live in without me ever needing to worry again. I could finally have everything that I ever wanted.