Daring Her Love (4 page)

“I think I made that clear,” she said sternly.

“Verbally. Yet you’re still here, holding my hand, and that flush on your cheeks isn’t caused by the altitude. I know it’s caused by me, because a girl who was interested in hooking up with any willing and able man wouldn’t have flinched at what I said.” His piercing gaze made her pulse ratchet up another notch—or ten.

“You have a strange way of getting to the heart of matters,” she said, taking her hand back from his, and—confusingly—she missed his touch.

“I think I’m pretty direct. Besides, there’s nothing more beautiful than the spark of confidence in your eyes right now.” He lowered his voice again. “And knowing that while your eyes are holding my gaze, you’re asking yourself, what do I want? Should I walk away? Do I want to hold his hand again? Does he want to hold mine?”

Her mouth went dry at his uncanny ability to rattle
and
excite her at once.

“You’re intrigued, turned on, and maybe a little scared. But not by me, because I’m hardly someone who’s dangerous in that way, but rather, you’re scared by the feelings I evoke in you. Should you walk away? Only if you want to truly forget what you felt back there. I know I don’t want to forget one second of it. I was more alive when I was touching you, tasting you, fucking you, than I’ve ever been.”

She’d never been spoken to in such vulgar terms, and she might go straight to hell for this, but she loved every single word he said.

When she finally responded, her voice was shaky but audible. “I wondered what other talents your mouth was capable of.”

His head tipped back with a nearly silent laugh, and then he pinned her with a piercing stare. “I’m good at a lot of things, like being honest. I’ve never met a less forgettable woman than you, Kat. I want to know everything about you. What you feel like when you’re dancing close to me, what makes your eyes light up in the mornings, and what you sound like as you fall asleep. What you’re into—in and out of the bedroom. But mostly, right this second, I want to know how your hand feels in mine again.” He turned his hand palm up and held it out to her.

His smile warmed, became less sexual, and somehow, he was already becoming familiar. She gazed at his hand, and as she lowered her palm to his, that felt familiar, too.

AIRPORT HOOKUPS WEREN’T new for Eric, just as hookups anywhere else on the planet weren’t, but the sense of loss he’d felt when Kat had walked out of the bathroom had struck him numb. It didn’t make any sense. She hadn’t done any one thing, said any one thing that was remarkably significant, but she’d made his entire being hum. From his thoughts to his heartbeat to the fire racing through his veins, Kat electrified him. And then there was the sense that he somehow already knew her, and it lingered like a web in a tree, almost invisible, yet undeniably present.

The minute he’d seen her walk on the plane, his heart had tumbled in his chest, and that, too, was new. He wasn’t about to take the chance of never seeing her again, not when she’d already turned his mind, and his body, inside out. As a professional race car driver, Eric James was used to making snap decisions that his life depended on. When he set his sights on something, he didn’t back down. Hell, backing down wasn’t even in his vocabulary. But usually those decisions happened on the racetrack. Never before had he felt possessive of a woman—and certainly not after just meeting her. But the possessive, and some might say, obsessive, traits that made him a world-champion racer were riding the surface of his skin and gnawing at the pit in his gut—the gut that produced instincts he trusted with his life.

He knew he was testing Kat’s boundaries, but in addition to knowing what he wanted, he knew himself too well to play games with either of their emotions. She needed to know the real him, not the guy the rest of the world saw in magazines and on television. He rarely let anyone inside the walls he’d constructed around himself, but he was so drawn to her, he instinctively knew he had to go in no holds barred or not at all.

The churning in his gut calmed when she set her hand in his.

Kat blinked up at him, and the confusion in her eyes pulled all his strings. Even the ones he never knew he had.

“I don’t know why I’m holding your hand. You’re a dirty-talking guy I barely know. You paid someone off so you could sit beside me, and for all I know, you’re a crazy-ass stalker.”

He laughed. “All of that is true. For all you know I am a crazy-ass stalker, and yet…” He held up their hands.

“I’m
so
not this person,” she whispered harshly.

“I have on good authority that you
are
Kat Martin.”

“Yes, but not the woman”—she leaned in closer—“who has sex in a bathroom and then does this.” She lifted their hands.

“Then tell me who you are.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes, looking so fucking adorable he had to fight the urge to kiss her again. He had no idea what compelled him to hold her hand, except that he had wanted desperately to be closer to her, to keep their connection, and he was thrilled that she allowed him to.

“I’m a waitress slash bartender slash”—she paused, as if debating whether to continue, and then added, “going to see her best friend, and I’m totally uninterested in talking about myself.” She turned a scrutinizing gaze on him. “Who are
you
?”

“This is where I run into trouble.” He was always wary of revealing what he did for a living, because no matter what, it always changed the way people treated him. They were either in awe of his celebrity, or immediately wrote him off as a pompous ass.

“Let me guess: You’re married, on a business trip, wife and kids are at home.” She tried to pull her hand away, and he tightened his hold.

“First of all, you couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve never been married, am not in a committed relationship, and I have no children that I know of.”

“That’s reassuring,” she said with another eye roll.

“Hey, all I can give you is the truth.”

“Okay, then tell me who you are. No games, no lines, just lay it out there.”

The truth came easier than he’d imagined. “Eric James. Capital Series Grand Prix racer.” The airplane rumbled and bumped, knocking them both forward. Eric put an arm out in front of Kat to keep her from jolting forward. Her eyes were wide and fearful. “It’s okay. Just a little turbulence.” He took both her hands in his and reassured her. “Just a few bumps from the storm. You’re okay.”

She nodded, but he could tell she was still frightened.

“You don’t fly much, do you?”

She shook her head.

He gathered her as close as he could while strapped into their seats. “It’s okay. Focus on our conversation. Ask me anything you want to know, Kat. Look at me. Focus on me.”

The fear in her eyes nearly did him in. He wanted to press his lips to hers and kiss away the fright. Instead, he kissed her forehead. “I’ve got you. You’re safe. Talk to me, Kat.”

“Are you really a race car driver?” Her voice was thin, shaky.

“Yes. I really am.”

“As in the Grand Prix racing series that Hugh Braden has won a bunch of times?”

“You follow racing?” He loved driving—the speed, the freedom, the risk—and would be thrilled if she followed the series, but she didn’t look like a racing groupie.

“No, but I follow Hugh. His wife is my best friend.”

“You know Brianna?” The plane jostled again, and she sucked in a sharp breath. He lifted the arm of the chair to bring her in closer, then stroked his hands down her back. “It’s okay. Tell me how you know Brianna.”

“We worked together at the tavern where she met Hugh.”

“Oh, shit. You’re
that
Kat?” Hugh had told him a little about Brianna’s best friend over the years. He knew how close she and Brianna were and that she was godmother to Brianna’s daughter, Layla. Hugh had said Kat was spunky, and that as a single mother, Brianna had relied heavily on her.

“Is that bad?” She raised her brows, and he couldn’t resist tucking her hair behind her ear so he could see her eyes more clearly.

“No, darlin’. Hugh speaks very highly of you. I had no idea you were
that
Kat.”

“I love Brianna. She’s the strongest woman I know, and such a good mother.” Her eyes warmed and her voice turned thoughtful. “Hugh is so good to her.”

“Hugh’s a good man, and he loves her and the kids to the ends of the earth. He’s a lucky man.”

“Because she loves him?”

“Because they love each other, and he has a family.”
Something I never really had until I met Hugh.
He thought about his friend and the way Hugh’s father, Hal Braden, had always treated Eric like a son, and Hugh’s five siblings treated him like family, too. His heart ached at the thought of his biological family. He’d left home at sixteen to escape the nightmare of two heroin-addicted parents, and despite the fact that they’d since gotten clean, they still didn’t have a warm relationship. He pushed past the familiar thickening in his throat and turned his attention back to the incredibly sweet and beautiful woman beside him.

“Tell me about your family, Kat. Are you close?”

“I’m close to my parents and my younger brother, and Bree’s mom is like a second mother to me. We’re really close, too.” She smiled and added, “And Hugh’s father, well, he treats everyone like they’re his children.”

“Hal Braden is an amazing man, that’s for sure. His love has pulled me through more times than I’d like to admit.” He realized what he was about to reveal and changed the subject. “So you and I are both headed to the Braden ranch?”

“You’re staying there?” Her eyes were wide, but it was the excitement in her eyes he couldn’t miss, and damn did he like it.

“Yes, I am.”
I’m a lucky bastard.

“Oh, no. We can’t. You and I…”

“Relax. It’s not like I’m going to take you on their kitchen floor.”

“Oh, God,” she said in a whisper. She separated their hands, lowered the arm of the seat between them, and held up her palm, staving him off. “Stay there. Just…stay there.”

He was amused by her sudden nervousness. “Whatever you say.”

“God, Eric. I had no idea you knew them, much less were staying with them. What we did was supposed to be a one-time thing. A last fling; then I’d go back to looking for Mr. Right, and—”

“Whoa. What?” He cocked a brow.

She covered her mouth and closed her eyes for a beat. When she opened them, the worry was replaced with humor. “Looking for Mr. Right.”

“You’re looking for a
husband
?” A trickle of worry skittered through him.

“No. Yes. I don’t know. Not exactly
looking
, just…trying not to attract the wrong type of guys.”

He scoffed. He was totally the wrong type of guy, and yet he couldn’t imagine walking away from her.

“What? Is it wrong to want to be adored? To want romance? With flowers and wine and sweet words that make my stomach flutter?” She sighed dreamily. “I used to live like tomorrow may never come, you know, less discriminatory with the guys I dated, staying out until all hours. And do you know where that got me? Not far, that’s for sure. I had tons of great sex, but great sex doesn’t equate to true love, and in my case, it equated to a lot of lonely nights
after
the great sex.” She shrugged, smiling like she was amused by her life. “Ten years of working the same job, several years of night classes for a business degree that I’ve never used, and wondering why my life wasn’t going where I wanted it to, and then Brianna met Hugh and everything changed.”

She could have been reciting the soundtrack to his life.

“I took stock in my life and what I wanted out of it, and a year ago I told my boss, Mack, whom I adore, that I wanted
more
, and he totally got it. I mean, where was I going as a bartender and a waitress? I confessed my dreams, poured my heart out to him, because really, he is so much more than a boss. He’s always been like an older brother I could tell anything to. I admitted that I wanted to do something to help others, something exciting, breathing life into the dreams of others. And trust me, I know how stupid that sounds, but Mack connected me with his friend Shea Steele, a public relations rep to the rich and famous, and she’s been mentoring me in PR day in and day out. I’ve probably got more diverse experience than half the PR reps out there. It’s been a wild and crazy ride, but I’ve always tried to face my fears, and this was just one of a few that I hadn’t conquered. My dream of owning my own business.”

“So, this trip?”

“This trip is about breaking free. Starting over. I quit my job, and I’m going for it.” She leaned in close and whispered, “Like our hookup. My last bite of cake before my big diet.”

He smiled, but inside he felt the burn of longing. He didn’t want to be a last bite of cake. He wanted to be the whole celebration.

“So, you’re going into PR for the rich and famous?” he asked.

“No. No offense to you, but I feel like celebrities don’t really need the type of PR help I want to give. I mean, so much exposure comes from just
being
rich and famous. I want to help the little guys, and I don’t care if that means earning peanuts, or not gaining exposure for my business as quickly as I might if I helped bigger names. I want to focus on nonprofits, companies and people who are doing good in the world in bigger ways. This trip is about getting ready to dive in feetfirst. Brianna is taking pictures for my website and brochures, which is fitting, considering it was Brianna and Hugh who gave me the inspiration to do all of this. I was there the day they met, and looking back? It was nothing short of magical that the two of them would meet so randomly. And even though they met at the tavern, I couldn’t imagine it happening twice, and I worried that it was also putting me in a bad place to meet the kind of person I would like to be with in the future. Someone stable and loving, and interested in the world around them, not just the next good lay.”

She held his gaze for a long time, and he wondered if she was thinking that he belonged in that group of people, too. He wanted to tell her that it was Hugh’s relationship with Bree, and the way it had sated Hugh so completely, that had Eric carousing less with random women and focusing on fleshing out the things that were important to him, like creating a scholarship for his foundation, the Foundation for Whole Families, that helped families affected by drug use. The foundation gave him fulfillment vastly different from what racing or women ever could.