Fast Lane

by Margot Radcliffe

  He shook his head, leaning down to give her a gentle wake-up kiss. “Nope, just an hour. You want something to eat? It’s slim pickings around here so I ordered Chinese.”

  “Whatever is fine,” she told him, just as her stomach growled. Blair watched as Cole set his book aside and disappeared downstairs, her heart clenching in her chest. No one had ever bothered to dote on her the way Cole did, and when he appeared back at the bed with a plate of food and some wine, tears sprang to her eyes. And she almost hated her brother for it. For ever bringing Cole Taggart into the tasting room that day and showing her the kind of man she could never have.

  “I like watching you eat,” Cole said idly, climbing back into bed with her, his bare chest golden in the dim light of the bedside lamp. “Makes me horny and hungry, two of my favorite things.”

  Blair just shook her head. “One day you’re going to say these things to the wrong woman and it’s not going to be good for you.”

  A corner of Cole’s mouth lifted in a wry smile. “I don’t see myself saying that to another woman, in fact, Blair. You’re a very unique case.”

  “I hope you’re right, I’d hate to read about your loss of a certain appendage on the internet in the future.”

  Cole burst out laughing then, the sound warm and lovely and what she’d flown to Louisiana to hear. “You missed the point entirely, as usual, Ms. Sandoval, but I sure do appreciate the concern.” Then he proceeded to steal an eggroll from her plate.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “NOW ARE YOU gonna tell me how I did?” Cole asked Blair, the soles of their shoes crunching over the gravel as they headed to his car. Two days into Blair’s visit they’d decided to actually leave his house. He’d thought it’d be nice to show Blair around his hometown, take her to the winery he wanted to buy and try to gauge her interest in her helping him with it. From the moment she’d shown up at his doorstep, he knew he wanted to keep her there.

  “It was really lovely, Cole.” Blair peered up at him, a cute smile on her face. “But you didn’t have to tell them who I was.” She moved away from him to the passenger’s side of the car, peering over the hood of his silver Mercedes.

  Cole shook his head. “They were excited to meet you, Blair. You’re a superstar. I think that’s pretty darn cool.”

  “Okay, it was nice,” she admitted, giving him a quelling look before opening the door and ducking into the car.

  “We’ll go back to the house and change for dinner?” he asked when he’d settled in beside her. “All the times we plan to go out during my visits seem to be waylaid by your aggressive sexual appetite.”

  He didn’t need to see her to know she was glaring at him.

  “And then tomorrow you’ll meet my family?” he asked again, making sure she was on board for what came next. Knowing it was a big step in their relationship.

  Blair buckled her seat belt and smiled the soft, almost shy smile she’d been giving him lately that he hoped meant that she was beginning to feel the way about him that he felt about her, which was to say a hell of a lot. When he’d opened his front door and seen her there the happiness had been so intense, the rush of pleasure so overwhelming it had nearly broken him. And for the first time since Scott’s death he hadn’t been completely wrecked being at home. This, more than anything, felt like maybe he could finally move on with his life and find some measure of closure.

  The trip back to his house was spent talking about anything under the sun, but mostly the wine tasting and tour they’d just finished, what Blair had been doing on the vineyard since he’d last left and how he’d been faring on the road (bad because every time he left California, he seemed to miss her more). He didn’t say the last part but he wanted to, had been crushed when she’d declined visiting him here when he’d asked. But he knew theirs was an impossible situation. He still had three months of traveling abroad left and she lived half a country away from where he’d made his home.

  Back at his place, they showered again and got ready for dinner, maybe other stuff too that he couldn’t help doing, but he’d been hungry and needed an appetizer, namely her. When they were back in the car, he was instantly surrounded by her vanilla scent, which somehow transported him back to that California vineyard tasting room with all its glamour and chic and cachet, but Blair in the middle of it being solid and strong and Blair.

  They were dining at a cozy place in downtown Baton Rouge. As for himself, he was excited to be with her in public, almost giddy to have her on his arm and have people see that they were together and refer to them as a couple. He’d never been in an adult relationship before so it surprised him just how much he liked being so obviously tied to someone, to belong to someone, in fact. The wait staff, some of whom he’d known forever were pleased to see him, but also surprised to see him take a woman to dinner. All of his usual dates took place either overseas or after hours, and as a rule, he usually never fooled around with anyone in his hometown. That was certain to get too messy and he liked his life simple.

  Seated at a small table in the corner, they ordered—though in truth, he’d paid very little attention to the menu. Blair was sitting across from him wrapped in the tightest little navy blue dress that covered nearly all of her, stopping right above the knees, but the way the fabric accented her curves had his mouth watering for more than his dinner.

  “You have to stop staring at me like that,” Blair hissed, placing the white cloth napkin over her lap. “You look depraved.”

  Cole leaned over and met her eyes. “I am depraved, Blair,” he told her. “And to be honest, I kind of feel like that’s on you at this point. I’ve shown you exactly who I am.”

  “Yes, I know you’re a deviant in private but we’re in public right now,” she reminded him.

  “If you’d like me to behave, just say so,” he said, teasing her.

  “I just—” she began, but then just shook her head. “Never mind, you’re the worst.”

  He chuckled and took her hand, running his thumb over the top. “I’m sorry, I still kind of can’t believe you’re here.”

  Blair looked at him, her eyes uncertain, which gripped him in the gut. “I didn’t think I would be, but my ex tracked me down.”

  “Oh, shit, sweetheart,” Cole said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. “What did that asshole do now?”

  Blair shook her head. “Nothing, it was good actually,” she said, pulling in a deep breath. “He tried to give me all these excuses about how they were unhappy and he’d been planning on a divorce, just lies really, and I finally understood that it was his fault.”

  “Fuck yeah, it’s all his fault, Blair.” He swore to god if he ever met the guy he’d punch him right in his face. That he’d gotten to be with Blair alone meant he had it coming, but then to treat her so shabbily, Cole wasn’t having it. “You’ve been beating yourself up when someone should be beating him up.”

  A corner of her mouth lifted. “I know that now, I think,” she said.

  “Good,” he said, feeling better for her, thinking that she was less guarded now, wondering what that meant for them. Wondering if it meant she’d accept what he was already feeling for her now.

  “It took seeing him to really understand that my guilt was misplaced. I mean, I do still feel guilty for the wife because it was terrible what happened to her, but after talking to him I can forgive myself. I really let him have it and afterward, I realized that’s who my anger should have been directed at the whole time, only I’d been arrowing it inward.”

  “Because you’re a good person who cares about people. That’s admirable.”

  “Well, I finally forgave myself.”

  “Good for you, Blair,” he said emphatically, giving her hand a kiss before finally releasing it.

  The rest of the meal was good. They chatted, but even though Cole enjoyed himself he was mostly counting down the minutes until they could go back to h
is house, and more specifically, to bed. Her finally being free of her ex had also broken open something inside of him and he felt charged up and excited. As if a whole world of possibilities had just opened up to him and he had only to reach out and choose one.

  “Dinner was delicious,” Blair told him as they entered his house. “Thank you again for taking me.”

  Cole held the door open for her, tingling as her shoulder brushed his chest as she passed through. “Anytime,” he promised. “One day maybe we won’t have to travel to do it either.”

  Cole tugged at his tie, dropping it on the floor. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on her.

  “That would be nice,” Blair told him, watching him with interest as he shrugged out of his shirt.

  He strode to her, laying his hands on her shoulders, knowing he was about to possibly change the course of their future. He only hoped it wasn’t a leap of faith that ended with his face smashed at the bottom of a ravine. “Truth is, Blair, if you’d have me, I’d end this tour right now and come live with you on the vineyard.”

  Her eyes widened and he panicked a little. “Or,” he continued before she could list all the ways that would be preposterous, “I could get my own place in the area and we could be in a regular relationship and see how that goes. No pressure.”

  Blair’s dark brows furrowed, but she wasn’t immediately dismissing the idea so that gave him hope that he wasn’t going completely insane. “What about your job? And opening the winery here to spend more time rebuilding your family?”

  Cole shrugged. “I’ve talked to the station and they’re willing to put me on a couple of American racing slots for announcing, but it’s not like I can’t do other jobs, Blair. For instance, maybe I’ll invest in a competing vineyard or something, keep things between us spicy. As for my family, I can still do the winery for part of the year.”

  “You’re nuts,” Blair told him, her eyes still strangely wide.

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “I am. But you love it and I love you, Blair. So why don’t we do this for real?”

  All the air went out of the room as Blair’s entire body became as stiff as a board.

  She tilted her head as if she didn’t hear the words. “Um, what did you say?”

  He smiled and ran his hands down her arms to take her hands into his. “I love you, Blair,” he said. “I know it’s sudden and totally unexpected, but I’m pretty sure I do. I’m not an expert or anything, so there is, admittedly, some margin for error, but I mean, I know I’ve never felt this way about anyone before and being apart from you is pretty fucking awful and the thought of you ever being with some other guy feels like someone’s repeatedly driving a car over my face, so yeah, I guess maybe that’s love?”

  Blair’s eyes were wide and rimmed with tears as she struggled to not laugh. “I didn’t know that’s what we were doing,” she finally managed. “You said we were just sleeping together.”

  He squeezed her hands, willing her to feel the same way he did. “Maybe that’s what it was at first, but it hasn’t been just that for me for a while.”

  “I—” She stopped, still mystified, and he felt suspended in time, elated and jittery that his own feelings were out there and at the same time terrified of what hers might be. Wanting anything to believe that he’d made her as happy knowing how he felt as she made him simply by existing.

  Her head fell onto his chest and he experienced a very real moment of sheer terror, his heart beating inside his chest like a jackhammer. So he tried to steel himself against what was coming, that she didn’t have any interest in dating a foul-mouthed television announcer from the Louisiana swamps and that he was good enough to fuck but she was looking for a sophisticated gentleman to marry and raise wine-drinking children who discussed viscosity and taste structure at the dinner table together.

  But then her head rose, her eyes bright as she met his. “I love you too, Cole,” she said, slowly and deliberately, so he was sure to hear the words. As if he would miss them.

  “You do?” he asked, his voice cracking embarrassingly.

  She nodded, giving him a gentle swat on the chest. “Of course I do,” she admonished with a little smile. “It’s against my better judgment, obviously, but I’m here, aren’t I? Basically in the middle of the busiest part of the year for me because I couldn’t stay away. My family is probably forming a spreadsheet of possible therapists to send me to when I get back they were so concerned I was flying off to meet another heartbreak.”

  Cole laughed and picked her up into his arms. “Well, we all could probably use a little therapy but not because of this, not because of us,” he promised. He kissed her then, already missing the connection even though they’d just been apart for the length of dinner.

  “I can’t believe this has happened,” Blair murmured against his lips, her breath sweet from the bowl of lemon sorbet they’d shared. “It doesn’t feel real.”

  “It’s definitely real,” he told her, already unzipping her dress, dying to touch her bare skin again. Dying to simply have her. “The realest thing I’ve ever been in.” Her dress came undone and he helped it slide to the floor as she stepped out of it and her heels. She was shorter now, her head barely glancing the bottom of his chin.

  “So we’ll work out the details,” he prodded before hoisting her up into his arms and carrying her to the bed. “I’ll probably have to finish out the tour until the my contract ends, in three months. We were still in negotiations for a new one, but that can change.”

  “Are you sure they’ll let you switch to America?”

  He laid her down on the bed, his eyes sweeping her from head to toe, taking in the curve of her peach-tipped breasts, the bold slope of her hips, the smooth flesh of her thigh. He loved it all. Starting from her foot, he kissed her ankle, her kneecap before answering her question. “Yeah, my agent says it looks good. I know it doesn’t register much with you, but I’m pretty popular in the racing world. Like, probably the most popular because of my stunning wit and general sparkling personality.”

  Blair rolled her eyes, but he ignored her and continued his journey up her leg, licking and sucking wherever he felt like it. He wasn’t going to leave one millimeter of her unexplored and unloved. He intended to drug her with adoration until she basically was the physical pile of mush that was currently his insides.

  “Well, there’s no accounting for taste,” Blair managed, but he could tell that her heart wasn’t in the insult because her voice was breathy and strained.

  He laughed softly, licking his way up the jut of her hipbone. “With all due, sweetheart, I think you just insulted yourself since you’ve just effectively tied yourself to the classless heathen currently about to eat your pussy so good you’ll forget your name.”

  Blair’s intake of breath was sharp and had him grinning. He loved putting her off balance. He lifted his head to look at her. “Unless, of course, you’d rather I not.”

  She glared at him and he laughed. “Right, I get it, I’m just the lowly race car driver allowed to service you.”

  Blair growled and pushed up onto her elbows, then shoved him onto his back. “I don’t have time for this,” she muttered, unbuttoning his gray pants and hopping off the bed to pull them down his legs. “You’re the most maddening person on the planet. Revving me up for the past two hours, then telling me you love me, and then that dirty talk,” she muttered, climbing back onto the bed and straddling his hips. “I’m just one woman, Cole, how much am I expected to take?”

  She leaned over and grabbed a condom from the nightstand. Her fist clasped over his cock and his hips jerked up. She hadn’t been the only one he’d been taunting at dinner; he’d imagined fucking her on the restaurant table a least a thousand times in their short time there. She was savvy, stroked him with just enough pressure to drive him mad.

  “Fuck me,” Cole gritted. “Just do it, Blair.”

  A sly s
mile appeared on her face and he knew payback was going to be a bitch. “Don’t worry,” she told him, brushing a soft kiss on his lips, “I’ll take care of you.”

  Then she had him in her mouth, her wet, soft, insanely skilled mouth. Sucking and licking and squeezing. She palmed his balls, fisted him in her hand, pulling him into her mouth until he thought he’d die. “I’m going to come, Blair,” he choked, his hands buried helplessly in her hair. “Have some mercy.”

  She laughed and then rose back up onto her knees, ripping the condom wrapper open and slowly sliding the latex down his shaft, his body jumping at the contact on the ultrasensitive skin. “You said you wanted to talk about the details?” she said, referring to the earlier conversation.

  She rose, poised right on top of his waiting dick, but made no move to take him into her as she waited for him to return to the conversation thread he’d derailed. “I’ll downsize the house in Baton Rouge,” he gasped, because this was a power play on her part, but he didn’t fucking care. He’d do anything to get her to lower herself on his throbbing cock. Literally any fucking thing. He was about to fuck the woman he was in love with and he was mad to do it, to finally experience it. “I’d like to keep a small residence here because family is important to me, but I know you can’t leave Sandoval Wines, so I’ll tell my assistant to start looking for houses in Sonoma first thing tomorrow morning.”

  Looking at her expectantly, he thought he might expire from lust, simply die right there in the bed with her above him. “I love you, Blair, ever since the moment you hid your cheese and the second you opened that sweet, dirty, snarky mouth. I’ll live with you anywhere, just let me live, please, because you’re killing me!”

  She relented, lowering down onto him, the head of his dick breaching inside her a mere inch before she stopped again. “So you’re for sure being honest when you say you’re not married.”

  He groaned so loudly the neighbors probably heard him. “Blair!” he shouted and she giggled.