by Audra North
He finally slipped away amidst the bustle in the pit, the crew preparing for the upcoming race, and made a dash for his rental. He felt like he was driving back to the hotel even faster than he had in the quals.
When was the last time he’d been this keyed up over a woman?
Never.
He made it to the hotel in record time, parked the car, then ran inside, still in full racing gear, only to be swarmed by fans who had apparently been waiting for just this chance.
“Ty! Oh my God it’s Ty Riggs!” Two teenaged girls ran over to him, practically deafening him with their squeals. Damn. He wished he’d brought Frank with him to field this mess, but he couldn’t let Frank know where he was going. Frank was even more paranoid than Dad, and would no doubt insist on clearing Cori through a security check first and then setting their date up like a sterile interview instead of casual coffee.
The girls jumped up and down, brandishing glossy photos of him—where the hell did they get these things, anyway?—to sign, and when he looked up, he saw a line forming behind them.
Damn again. He was going to be late to meet Cori.
But he looked out over the group of people gathered patiently behind the excited girls, who—despite their initial squeal attack—politely asked to take a photo with him, and he knew he couldn’t just walk away. There were kids here of all ages, of all ethnicities. Girls and boys. Hopeful mothers, smiling fathers . . .
They were here for him. And having those fans reminded him that people in the world still believed he was a role model. They looked up to him and thought of him as someone worth emulating. Once upon a time, that meant something. It still meant something. Just because he couldn’t take that to the next level right now didn’t mean that he could abandon the world he’d already built.
Unfortunately, Cori would have to wait.
He made sure his trademark smile was tightly in place and just hoped that she would be proud.
Chapter 8
“What are you doing in California?”
Cori sat back in her rental car, staring at the café in Riverside where she had agreed to meet Ty. He wasn’t due for another ten minutes, so when Mom had called, she’d answered, figuring it would be a nice way to pass the time.
“I’m covering a race weekend. Did you read my piece last Monday?” She’d sent Mom an e-mail, but neither of her parents had called and she’d been too busy to follow up before now.
“I did. It was really nice.”
Ugh. Maybe Cori was overreacting, but she felt so much condescension in her mother’s tone.
Mom continued. “At least you’ve finally gotten some assignments after working there six months. I can’t believe it took so long. I thought we agreed to send you to journalism school so you could hit the ground running, like you’d said. I knew that was a mistake.”
Nope. Not overreacting. It was the same thing every time. Cori had thought that it would be different now, though, with such a successful piece out, but apparently not. It made Mom’s criticism even worse.
Her parents were never going to agree with her choice of career, no matter how successful she ended up. Didn’t they realize how much she wanted this?
She should accept it for what it was: a lost cause. But they were her parents. She wanted them to approve. When she and Ty had talked about how he was afraid of upsetting his dad, she’d understood completely. But while Ty was concerned about his dad’s health, Cori didn’t like how her parents had been hurt by her decision, then chosen to turn their hurt into anger with her. At her.
Right now she needed to talk to someone who understood what she was going through, and the choices she didn’t want to have to make. If Ty weren’t so directly involved in her dilemma, she knew without a doubt that she could have discussed it with him.
But as it was, she had no one.
“I know I didn’t hit the ground running, but I’m catching up now, Mom,” was all she could say in response.
“Well, at least that’s something positive that has come out of this.” Mom sighed, then her voice softened. “I’m just worried about you, Cor.”
I’m worried about me, too.
But there was something else positive that had come out of it, though she couldn’t tell Mom about him. Ty was in Cori’s life, and she was happier for it, even if it was a tenuous happiness.
Speaking of . . . she looked at her watch. Ty was due any minute.
“I know, Mom. I have to go now, okay? I’ll talk to you soon.”
She hung up with her mother and got out of the car, finding a place on the sidewalk in front of the café to wait for Ty. She thought about him, using the happiness that usually brought her to push away the unpleasant conversation with her mother.
Ty walking in the door of her house . . . leaning her against the counter to kiss her . . . holding her hand . . .
She flipped through images of him and, after a while, was feeling good again, if not more than a little bit turned on. She’d been feeling this way all week, in fact, excited to see him. The way they’d left things last week had felt like the beginning of something, well, really wonderful. Even Alex’s derogatory remarks toward her while she’d been in the office this week hadn’t bothered her. It was like she was cushioned from any harm by a Ty-shaped cloud.
She looked at her watch again, realizing she’d been standing there a while. He was coming up on fifteen minutes late. Was it just a fluke? Stuck in traffic, or maybe his watch was slow. Or had something happened? God, she hoped not an accident.
Or maybe . . . he was standing her up.
Which would serve her right. Karma and all that.
The idea was too depressing, though.
How would she be able to stop thinking about him? About the way his lips had felt when they kissed, the way his body had fit so perfectly with hers. She’d flown in to California late last night and had spent too much time wondering whether she should text him and try to go to his hotel to see him, before she’d finally fallen asleep. Good thing she hadn’t, though, because it probably would have ended with the two of them in bed.
She couldn’t go there. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
So instead, she’d dreamt about him undressing her, kissing her, rocking into her body and—
“Cori.”
A voice behind her had her whirling around to see Ty striding up the sidewalk from around the back of the café. He was dressed in jeans again, along with a fitted T-shirt—short-sleeved, this time, to accommodate the more temperate West Coast weather—that outlined every last one of his hard muscles. His eyes were burning into her as he came forward.
So he felt it, too. She wasn’t the only one.
He came closer, closer, very close . . . he wasn’t stopping. Why wasn’t he—
“Oh!” The word was more like a small sound on a puff of air as he reached out and wrapped an arm around her back, pulled her flush against him, and put his mouth on hers.
For all the time she’d spent reliving their kisses from last week, she’d forgotten just how intense it was. He was kissing her before she’d even been able to say hello, and she welcomed it. He was kissing her, his lips and his body exerting just the right amount of pressure that she was immediately, extremely aroused.
She’d been fantasizing about this for a week. No. Longer than that. Ever since he’d seen her across the room at the press conference. It didn’t matter that they’d already kissed. This was . . . this was different. Explosive.
She’d just been thinking about him, too, and reliving the dreams she’d had about him inside of her. She was already so turned on that it didn’t take much to heat things up quickly. She sighed, the sound vibrating through both their bodies, and his tongue came out, parting her lips and stroking into her mouth. Her hands came up to rest on his shoulders, reveling in the feel of hard muscle beneath her palms, and she pushed her hips against him, so lost in the kiss that she completely forgot that they were standing outside a café, in full view of the public.
> But it was impossible to think when the fantasies she’d been having about him had built up this way and were now pushing on every nerve ending in her body. It was as though she’d already created the memory of how it would feel to take things further with Ty, and now she was simply remembering that response, barreling toward it at an impossible pace. Night after night, thinking about this man on top of her, inside of her. She’d touched herself on more than one occasion as she’d imagined every which way he could have her.
And now she was having a hard time staying in control.
This kiss. Sensation flooded her. Images she’d created came alive in her mind at his touch. His mouth on her breasts. Her mouth sucking at the head of his cock. Their bodies, moving together. His hard, relentless driving—
She jammed her hips against his, rubbing, writhing . . .
But in the next second, she tore her mouth away on a gasp.
“Ty. Too much.”
More than too much, in fact. If they didn’t stop, she wouldn’t be surprised if she came. In public.
She tried to wriggle away, but he was still holding her tightly, his hand supporting the small of back. She could feel the ridge of his erection through his jeans, huge and hard against her thigh. But despite that evidence of his arousal, he was looking at her with wide eyes, his expression full of amusement.
“That was too much for—holy shit, were you about to come?” He whispered it. Like, as long as no one heard, it wouldn’t be obvious that she’d been grinding against him not even thirty seconds ago.
She groaned as embarrassment finally hit her. The people sitting in the café had just gotten a show, that’s for sure. They could probably see her blushing as they sipped their espressos and ate their pastries and wondered whether they’d actually just witnessed a woman in a cotton shirtdress coming shockingly close to climax.
“I don’t think I can go in there now.” She whispered back.
She knew she wasn’t quite answering his question, but now that she was able to think somewhat rationally, all she wanted to do was escape the way she’d just nearly come completely undone in front of all these people.
He nodded. “I agree. We’d probably get a lot more attention than we bargained for.”
Of course. Ty had wanted to meet far enough away from the track, in the first place, that no one would be likely to recognize them and intrude on their privacy. Once again, she was grateful that he’d been the one to keep things calm and not draw attention, while she’d done nothing to help her own cause.
She hoped no one had recognized him.
They stared at each other for a moment. He must have seen the confusion in her eyes, the uncertainty about how to handle this, because he stepped closer and smiled, then took her hand. “Hey, it’s okay. It’ll be fine. But let’s get out of here.”
She nodded, feeling relieved, but then remembered—“I drove here, too. I can’t leave my car. It’s a rental.” She pointed to a white compact two-door at the far end of the lot. “But if you lead the way, I’ll follow you wherever you want to go.”
And as she pulled away from him, she couldn’t help but think that she’d meant so much more than what it had sounded like.
* * *
He drove up through San Bernardino, trying not to think about the way Cori had jerked her hips against his and moaned into his mouth when he’d been kissing her. Christ. He’d nearly pulled her off the pavement and into the backseat of his rental as soon as she’d told him she’d enjoyed it, but thankfully she’d had the sense to stop before things got that far.
He never thought he’d be thankful for something like that, but there it was.
He was trying to take it slow. Slower than his body wanted to, anyway. They had a connection—something special—and he wanted to ride that as deep as he could before he took it any further.
Ride it deep.
Jesus. Even his thoughts about their emotional relationship sounded dirty.
But damn—he was so turned on by that display back there. She was so responsive. So passionate. What would it be like if he touched her bare skin? Licked a path from her neck to her navel? Thrust deep inside of her and ground against her body?
He was so distracted that he almost missed the exit.
Quickly, he jammed his signal on and cut across to the right lane, then checked his rearview mirror, a little surprised to find her still right behind him.
That’s my girl.
He headed a little further north and stopped in a small lot at the entrance to one of the state parks. He’d found this place a couple of years back, when he was still racing in the Diamond series, and he’d fallen in love with it. He came here every time they were in Fontana, and it seemed like the right place to bring Cori. The place was usually pretty quiet, especially at this time of year, and they were unlikely to be interrupted.
She pulled into the space next to him and got out, coming around to the back of his car to meet him.
“Hey.” Considering what had happened between them back in front of the café, she looked surprisingly shy all of a sudden. Maybe she’d had too much time to think about it and get self-conscious during the drive.
He pulled her to him, dropping a light kiss on her lips. “Hey.”
She relaxed right away, sighing as she melted against him, and it took all of his will power to step away and ask, “Feel like walking?”
She looked down at her feet. Damn, he’d forgotten about the heels she was wearing. But she surprised him. “Sure, but I just need to change my shoes. I’ve got them in the car.”
He followed her as she unlocked her trunk. “You keep a change of shoes in your car?”
She pulled out a pair of hot pink sneakers and dropped them on the ground, quickly exchanging her pumps for the more serviceable footwear. “Yeah, well, a girl never knows when she’s going to end up at a state park in the mountains with a hot race car driver who happens to be a great kisser.”
He grinned. She’d called him a great kisser. “Happens that often, huh?”
She dropped the heels in her trunk and shut it, then stepped close to him. “One can hope, anyway. At least when it comes to the kissing part.”
This time, the kiss was slow and gentle, an easy exploration of each other. Different from any of the ones they’d shared already.
Her hands stroked over his back, sliding down to give his ass a firm squeeze, urging him closer. But he broke away, reminding himself that he was trying to take things slowly. Although he was so aroused right now, he didn’t think it would be unjustified to walk into the trees along the edge of the parking lot, take himself in hand, and relieve a little of the pressure.
“Why don’t we walk?” He backed away and took her hand. “I’ve got to be back early tonight for a team dinner and I’d like to actually talk to you. But I’m afraid that if we keep this up, I won’t even be able to form a coherent thought.”
She laughed, letting him lead her to the trailhead. The hike was easy here, and the path was wide enough that they would be able to walk side by side.
They walked in silence for a minute, still holding hands, before she asked in a casual tone, “So, any developments with the investigation? Do you think they’re going to go through with it?”
He shrugged. “I want to say no, but I don’t know for sure. Things seem to be dying down, though. We might just come out of this without any further gossip, but I’m not taking anything for granted. Right now, I’m trying to be heads down and do my best on the track.” He grinned slyly. “And my best when it comes to kissing you.”
He caught her by the wrist to stop her, then pulled her to him for a long, exploring kiss. He could feel her responding immediately, opening beneath him, her body going soft and lax . . . God, she was so hot for him.
Hell. He was even hotter for her.
The kiss quickly became more. It was how it was with her, he knew now. Ty was hard in seconds, sliding her even closer to him as they stood together on the trail up the mountain
, and she arched her hips against his, rubbing and starting to make the same sounds she had when they’d been kissing on the sidewalk earlier.
Oh God, he was going to lay her down right here and fuck her on the trail, wasn’t he?
Thank God she broke away from the kiss before all sanity left him.
They both stood in silence for a second, foreheads touching, breath coming fast and shallow.
After a second, though, she licked her lips and said, “Hey, Ty?”
He chuckled, laughing at how she’d said it, even though he was right here in front of her, forehead to forehead. “Yeah?”
“I saw you and your dad hugging at the end of the quals today, just before I left. So are things okay with him now? I mean, better than they were last week? You guys have always seemed really close. I’ve watched you for so long . . .” She trailed off, pink creeping up her cheeks.
He stepped away and grabbed her hand. “Yeah, you mentioned that you’d been following my career for years. Any particular reason?” He waggled his brows at her, and she laughed.
“You already know I find you impossibly attractive.”
But instead of laughing back, he regarded her seriously. “I find you attractive, too.”
She blushed. “Thanks.”
He smiled at her and almost kissed her again, but then he remembered her question and nodded. “Dad and I are okay. We have been this whole time, even though I’ve gotten upset with him more than once. But he’s stressed.”
“I can see how he would be. I don’t think I’d be able to handle it as well if my son was being accused of something he didn’t do.”
“Yeah.”
Except that it’s something he was involved in, not me.
Ty wasn’t sure whether that made it better or worse.
Just as awful, he supposed.
They walked a little while longer, thoughts of Dad and cowards and Cori and everything he was going through churning around in his mind. These few weeks of keeping secrets, of swinging from anger with Dad to intense focus on the track to desire and fun and ease with Cori . . . they’d built up in him so much that he couldn’t keep it in anymore. And she believed in him. He knew she did. She’d supported him and encouraged him to fight, to go after what he wanted.