Stealing His Thunder (Masters of Adrenaline) (19 page)

Her poor bottom felt abused. She just wanted to run a bath and curl up in it and go to sleep.

“No,” she whined. “I don’t want to.”

He groaned. “I love it when you say no and don’t safeword.”

Busted.

“I-I might safeword.” And maybe she wouldn’t if she wasn’t so sore . . . When she tried to get her legs to support her and pull away so he’d fall out, the bed held her in place.

His cock was rock hard again. Or maybe still? She knew he’d come, not just because she’d felt it happen—the memory still branded in her mind—but because she could feel it running down the back of her thighs. Ugh. It made her feel so dirty and used.

“I don’t think you will,” he murmured, his voice full of his cocky bravado. “Not after you just came for me like that.”

Lust rekindled, but the whole thing still embarrassed her. She ached, but his cock was making her toes curl.

“I don’t like it,” she whispered stubbornly.

“Uh-huh.” He thrust harder, making her teeth click together. “Your safeword is ‘zombie’.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. There were only moans of discomfort and pleasure.

“Somehow that’s what I thought you’d say.”

***

Morning came too soon. Addison couldn’t believe she was
still
sore after a whole night’s sleep. Granted, they’d had sex twice more, but they’d gotten at least four or five hours of actual sleep too. Hadn’t they?

The whole night was a blur. She felt hungover but she knew she wasn’t. And even after sleeping so deeply, her body was still weak and exhausted.

With a groan, she rolled over looking for Fox. He was there, blinking wearily at her. The sheet had been pulled down and revealed his sculpted chest, and she paused to admire it.

“Hi, sexy.” She smiled at him.

He brought his hand up and gently pushed the hair from her eyes. “Hey, gorgeous.”

Warmth grew in her belly then trickled down to her toes. She couldn’t believe a guy like him wanted her. She felt cozy and safe and protected in his bed, and in his arms. It was hard to stop grinning. And it wasn’t just the sex. That was . . . fucking amazing. But the way they could talk about anything and it felt she’d known him her whole life. And that every time he touched her, she felt invincible. Like nothing in the world could hurt her because she was his.

The submission he’d won from her—especially last night—ran so deep, it shocked her. She’d never guessed anyone could inspire that in her. No one had ever been able unlock that, to see every bit of herself that she hid from the world, and better, to like her anyway.

It was overwhelming. She’d given him the most vulnerable parts of her psyche and trusted him not to hurt her. How could something be so uncomfortable and so freeing at the same time? It was its own kind of adrenaline rush.

“What time did we say we’d help your grandma?” he asked, stretching his arms over his head. The sheet slipped further down and her mind blanked.

“Um.” She cleared her hoarse throat and forced her gaze up. “Ten? What time is it now?”

“Nine.”

“I should get up and shower.”

Before she could move, he gathered her into his arms. “Mmm. No. You look adorable and you smell like me.”

“I smell like sex!” She laughed and he kissed her nose.

“Exactly.”

Warmth covered her and she had the overwhelming sensation that she was precisely where she was supposed to be. In Fox’s bed, naked in more ways than one. Stripped raw with her heart in his hands.

***

“Are you nervous?” Addison glanced at Fox in the passenger seat.

Fox unclenched his hands in his lap. “No. Of course not.”

She chuckled. For all his badassery, the quiet anxiety on the way to her grandmother’s house was unexpected but cute.

Scowling, he continued to stare out the window. “I don’t like being a passenger.”

“Well, whose idea was that, Mr. Control Freak?”

He was still freaking out about Marcel. That morning, he’d insisted they take a minivan they never used and that she drive so he could keep watch. Fitting that she’d be driving a Soccer Mom Mobile toward the senior citizen condos. Was she twenty-three or thirty-nine? She wasn’t sure which was more conspicuous for Fox to be driving—a minivan, looking like he did, or a sports car worth a hundred thousand dollars. Their computer repair business cover story kind of sucked.

Addison had given her parents the money for Gran’s expenses with the explanation that people had donated anonymously via one of those fundraising websites online. She wondered what they’d say if she told them it was from Fox. It would probably be an automatic “in” with the family but Fox didn’t want the spotlight. Not that her parents would have accepted it knowing it was from her boyfriend who wasn’t much older than she was.

Her parents had taken their house off the market a few days ago and arranged for her grandmother to move right away. Fox had insisted on going with Addison to help Gran move. She wasn’t sure if it was to be helpful, to slyly meet her parents, or if it was still about protecting her from invisible threats.

She pulled in behind her dad’s car at the condo then turned to look Fox over. The tattoos would be a shock but with the collared polo shirt he’d put on to “look decent”, he passed as a handsome, if not slightly edgy, upstanding gentleman.

“You look hot,” she told him, folding his collar down where part of it stood up.

He grimaced. “I feel like a dork.”

“A hot dork.” She laughed.

Brow arched, he grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her in close, then kissed her. She kissed him back briefly then pulled away.

“Behave!” she scolded.

His eyes lit with mischief. “Behaving is no fun.” When he nipped her bottom lip, she pushed his chest and laughed.

“I thought you wanted to impress my parents!”

“We’re just making out in the car.” He shrugged. “And I’m sure they don’t think you’re a virgin.”

She snorted. “Just don’t bring it up with my Gran.” As she reached for the door, she added, “She’ll tell you all her crazy stories about ‘going parking.’”

Fox followed her to the door. Her parents were in the living room, taping boxes. Her grandma scuttled around as she directed what to put where.

“Addy!” she shouted once she noticed Addison then gave her a big hug. When Gran let her go, she narrowed her eyes at Fox. “Don’t tell me this is your new boyfriend.”

“Yes, this is Fox.”

Her grandma’s eyes went wide. “Wowee! I never thought you’d catch a man, let alone one so handsome!”

Addison opened her mouth then closed it, not sure which part of that, if any, was a compliment. “This is Rosalinda,” she told Fox.

He nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

Rosalinda pulled Fox into a hug then cut off abruptly to yell at Addison’s dad. “I told you to wrap them in tissue paper, Roger! Don’t just throw them in the box like some cheap plastic knickknacks. These are hand-painted, one-of-a-kind figurines!” Then she murmured, “If you weren’t my daughter’s husband . . .” The rest of the threat was too soft to hear.

Fox chuckled and Addison leaned in and whispered, “I told you she was feisty.”

Then she took Fox’s hand and towed him toward her parents. “Mom, Dad . . . This is my boyfriend, Fox.” She smiled then gestured to her parents. “This is Roger and Marilyn.”

Fox extended his hand and smiled winningly. “Nice to meet you.”

Her mom blinked a few times as she stared at his heavily tattooed arms but her dad jumped in with a friendly greeting and shook Fox’s hand. He didn’t seem surprised or bothered by his ink. She wondered what they’d think of hers when she finally got the nerve to show them. It wasn’t as if she was worried they’d ground her or something—she was an adult. It was more about disappointing them.

“It was nice of you to offer to come help Addison’s grandma move,” Roger said.

“It’s my pleasure. Addison has told me some of her favorite stories about her grandparents. I like them already.”

Her dad nodded. “She’s their only grandchild. I used to think it made her spoiled but now that I’m older I realize, what’s so wrong with being spoiled once in a while?”

Fox smiled. “I agree.”

Addison breathed in relief. So far so good. The last boyfriend she’d brought by, her dad had given the third degree. No one took Roger seriously, though, because with his little beer gut and short legs, he just didn’t have that scary overprotective Dad factor. Jeremy had provided expert answers but her parents weren’t surprised when, before a year of dating, she’d broken up with him. On paper, they might have been a match, but there’d been no chemistry.

“Oh, this came for you at the house, Addison. It’s from school.” Her dad pulled an envelope out of his back pocket and handed it to her. “You should probably give them your apartment address.”

She took the envelope, looked at it curiously then stuffed it in her purse. Strange. They were in the middle of a semester so the school shouldn’t be sending out grades.

“So what kind of work are you in, Fox?” her dad asked.

She pushed the letter from her mind, deciding to worry about it later, and focused on the conversation. She could tell her dad was trying to sound friendly but his eyes narrowed as if waiting to pounce on an inadequate answer.

“I run a family business buying, selling, and fixing computers,” Fox answered easily.

“Family business?” her dad questioned. “So you’re close to your family then?”

“Definitely. My cousin and brother run the company with me. We inherited it from my uncle. My dad and uncle live in Chicago now but they visit frequently.”

“Ah. Well it’s nice to meet a young man who keeps family a priority.”

“Family is everything.”

And just like that, he was in with her dad. Maybe Addison should have brought him armed with scrapbooking lingo too. He could have won over her whole family in one fell swoop.

Fox carried all the heavy boxes out to the moving truck her dad had rented. They packed the minivan full as well. At least the nursing community wasn’t a far drive. Fox had the patience of a saint as her gran directed where to place each box in the shared cottage.

Her grandpa was in a rare block of clarity when they arrived. Addison introduced him to Fox after they unloaded all the boxes.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Fox said, holding out his hand.

Her grandpa grabbed it and pulled him in close, then whispered in his ear, “Take care of my little girl.”

Addison’s eyes welled up as she grinned at them. She hadn’t seen a true glimpse of her grandfather in months.

“He likes you,” she told Fox as they left her grandma to get settled in. She’d never be able to thank Fox enough after seeing her gran’s face light up when she could finally live in peace with her husband.

He smiled. “Your grandma reminds me of mine. Tells it like it is, but has a heart of gold.” At the lobby, he stopped. “I’ll grab the van from around back and pull up. You look exhausted.”

“Okay.” She collapsed on a chair while she waited, then remembered the letter from school in her purse.

Her belly fluttered as she took it out of her purse and opened it. She scanned the page quickly. Key words jumped out at her. Failing. Scholarship. Academic probation.

“Fuuuuck,” she murmured.

This was bad. Really bad.

What the hell was wrong with her? She’d been so wrapped up in the world of stealing cars that she’d lost sight of everything else. The STEM foundation had awarded her the scholarship, out of thousands of applicants, and this was how she repaid them? Wasting their money, wasting her potential, blowing her future . . .

And her family—they’d been so proud of her accomplishment. She was ruining everything she’d worked so hard for just because something more exciting had come up. The situation with her grandparents had shaken her, and living life had suddenly seemed more important than preparing for the future, but she hadn’t realized how far she’d let things slide.

She wanted to smack herself. She wanted to cry.

But Fox had been kind enough to loan her the money to help her family, and she’d promised to pay it back. This was the first time she’d felt hopeful about her grandparents’ situation in . . . forever. Not only did she feel obligated to start paying him back right away, despite him insisting she didn’t have to, but she enjoyed working with him. Now she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. How could she find the time to do everything—concentrate on school, and on Fox, and his business? It was impossible.

She had to choose.

Her parents would tell her to choose school over them, but that didn’t seem right. But she couldn’t ignore the scholarship and the opportunity she’d been given either. Even her grandma would be disappointed if she gave that up.

The pressure was overwhelming and making her sick to her stomach.

Fox pulled up to the roundabout and met her gaze through the window. Her legs felt like lead. What should she do? Guilt ate at her, tightening her chest and making her feel like she might be crushed under the weight of this decision. She needed space. Time to think without being tempted by Fox.

She walked to the van in a haze then buckled into the passenger seat.

“Are you hungry? I was thinking we could try the new Thai place near the house.”

“Um.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to think of an escape plan. “I’m not feeling well. Could you just bring me home?”

She stared straight ahead, avoiding his gaze. If she looked at him, she’d fall apart. And she desperately needed to hold it together. Just a little longer. Until she could figure out what to do, and where her priorities should be.

“Sure,” he said. “Are you okay?”

Biting her lip, she nodded. “I just feel a headache coming on,” she lied. “I’ll be okay if I lie down for a while.”

He was looking at her, but she didn’t have the heart to start explaining. If she did, she was pretty sure he’d tell her the same thing her parents would—the same thing he’d been telling her all along. That he was bad news, and that she had a bright future ahead of her that didn’t involve stealing cars. Hell, he’d tell her to forget her debt to him too.