In the Fast Lane (15 page)

She frowned at that. She knew he cared about people, and he did mean well. She’d seen it in the way he’d treated the team. But this revelation bothered her. If she were being honest, it sounded a lot less like he was after money and more like he was after revenge.

“And you think that if you got involved with me—for real, I mean—and then left at the end of the season, you’d be somehow doing to me what he did to your mom?”

He nodded.

“That’s … incredibly fucked up.”

“Hey!”

She laughed. “I mean, chivalrous, in a way, but did it even occur to you to ask me how I felt? That I might want to just have hot, meaningless sex with you and not have a problem with saying good-bye when you go?”

He gaped at her.

“Do you really mean you would be okay with me using you like that?

She eased out of his grip and put both her hands on his thighs, smoothing them up to his hips and curling her fingers around his belt. He inhaled deeply, and she could feel the fabric of his jeans drawing tight.

“I mean that
I
would be okay with using
you
, Ranger.”

That’s all it could be, anyway. He might have decent enough intentions, but she wasn’t going to fall for a guy who was hell-bent on revenge on his own father, no matter how justified it may be.

It didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy him physically, though. She slid her hands together, cupping them over the thick bulge in his jeans.

He groaned and thrust up gently, pressing against her hands.

“In that case, don’t take this the wrong way, but …
use me
, sugar.”

*   *   *

He’d never been undressed so fast in his life. Her hands were a blur, tugging and unbuttoning and pushing at his clothes. She’d practically jumped on top of him as soon as the words
Use me
were out of his mouth, sliding her tongue over his and making little sounds of arousal in the back of her throat.

His cock was so immediately, incredibly hard that when she unzipped his jeans and pushed everything off, boxers and pants all in one go, he nearly hissed with relief. She’d pulled her own shirt over her head, unclasped her bra, and pulled off the leggings she wore, tossing everything to the floor before lying back on the bed, this time pulling him on top of her.

She was surprisingly strong for such a small woman. He had to put some muscle into his efforts to pull away a bit, groaning when his erection brushed the soft skin of her inner thigh. God, he wanted to fuck her so badly. But this was moving too fast. He hadn’t had any time to stop and appreciate those beautiful firm breasts, now laid out beneath him, or to nibble a trail from her neck to her navel, or massage her sweet firm ass. She still wore her panties, and the see-through lace made him want to press his mouth against that glimpse of dark curls at the juncture of her thighs.

“Kerri, sugar. Baby. Slow down. We have time. It’s okay.”

She arched, hard nipples seeking the friction of his chest. “Yeah yeah, Ranger. We have time to do all the stuff you want later. But right now, I am
using you
.”

He had to laugh at that. “Touché.” He lowered his chest, just enough to give her a taste of what she was seeking, and she moaned. She brought her hips against his, rubbing herself against his cock, making his eyes roll back in his head.

“Ah, fuck, that feels so good.” He rolled off of her long enough to grab the elastic of her panties in his fist and yank them down her legs before she pulled him back to her again, sliding her hands down to his ass and grinding his cock against her.

“It does. God, it does.” She stared right at him as she moaned her need, desire blazing in her eyes. He could feel the wet heat gathering between them, so good and so hot, but he needed more. Every part of him was crying to be inside of her.

“Fuck, Kerri. I’ve got to get a condom.”

“I’m on birth control. I’m clean.” She was panting, barely able to get the words out past those shallow breaths.

He hesitated for a moment. He knew she was healthy. Her medical records and physical results had been in the portfolio he’d read. Had even seen her prescription for birth control.

But the trust she was placing in
him
 … it felt overwhelming. And maybe a little stupid.

Hell. They were both fools when it came to whatever was between them. He just needed a minute to think …

In the next second, though, she pushed her hips again, and his erection slid down her body, slipping through wet, slick—

“Ohhhh,” she moaned and arched as the head of his stiff cock found her entrance and she bucked against it.

“Hell.” He practically bit out the word as the heat engulfed him, the broad head pushing just inside of her body. She was wet and tight, and he wanted to slam all the way home, but with the last shred of his control, he forced himself to ease in on a slow thrust. By the time he bottomed out inside of her, she was squeezing him so tightly that he had to stop and rest his head in the crook of her neck to try to gain back some control.

“Shit, Ranger, your cock is really big.” The whispered words nearly shut him down, and he half laughed, half groaned through his teeth.

“God, sugar. No offense, but I’m gonna need you to be quiet for a little bit if you need this to last more than ten seconds. Give or take five.”

She laughed, and her inner muscles clenched around him, making him groan. He flexed and began to withdraw, trying to keep the pace slow and easy as she writhed beneath him.

“That feels so good. So good.”

He pulled out to the tip before sliding back into her sweet heat, gaining confidence in his control as he found a rhythm. Slow in, slow out. He fucked her for a while, just like that, watching with primal satisfaction as her body grew flushed and damp, and her moans got louder, deeper.

“Ranger!” It came out on a moan so loud it was nearly a wail, a desperate, keening sound.

“What is it, sugar? You can tell me. Tell me what you want, baby. You can tell me now. I
want
you to tell me.”

“I’m almost there. I’m almost there. I need you. Harder. Faster.
Please oh my God oh God—”

Her words died out as he picked up his pace, nearly slamming into her now as his hips pumped wildly, her hands on his body setting a fast rhythm. He could feel her inner muscles tightening around him, feel her getting close to the edge just before she pulled him to her for a hot, wet, open-mouthed kiss and screamed her release into his mouth.

“Aw, fuck!” Ranger shouted, thrusting once, twice, then going rigid as his cock spasmed inside of Kerri, filling her with his come. He could feel her channel squeezing him still, the last flutters of her orgasm finishing him off before he collapsed on top of her.

They lay like that for a moment, recovering, until Kerri sighed and sifted her fingers through his hair, then stroked a hand over his shoulder.

“Well. I’m glad we had that little talk.”

Ranger laughed and pulled her into another kiss.

Chapter Thirteen

Kerri and Ranger sat in the skybox at the Kansas Speedway, waiting for Lee’s race to begin. It had been two days since they’d had “The Talk,” as she teasingly referred to it, and they’d moved from obligatory public kissing to working extra had to keep everything PG-rated in front of the fans. But they’d also agreed to keep it casual. Temporary. They both knew that he was leaving at the end of the season, and that engaging emotions would only end up in heartbreak.

They were sitting side by side, looking down at the track. She played with his short hair and he stroked one hand over her thigh, watching as the trucks line up behind the pole.

He nudged her gently. “So, why aren’t you up on the box? Don’t you spot for Lee like he spots for you?”

She sighed. “I tried to, especially since this is Lee’s first season in racing. Good to have someone who knows what she’s doing. But in the first race, around lap seventy, his biggest rival was coming up fast on the outside and I told Lee to let the guy—Matt Hardwick—pass. Matt simply had a faster truck. There was no way Lee would have been able to hold his lead. It was just a question of whether he was going to do it like a gentleman or make Matt work for it, which is no way to being a season with a driver who has two more years of pro racing experience on you.”

She shook her head at the memory. “Of course, Lee refused because he thought I was just being a concerned sister, and he tried to move to block Matt, but he pulled it so hard that the back of his truck fishtailed and he ended up clipping the other truck. Matt kept going, but Lee had to pit because he tore a huge section off the side of his truck. Blamed me, of course. After that, we fought too much to have me on the channel at any point.”

“So you’ve been banished to the box?”

She snorted. “Something like that. Lee is so stubborn.”

“You realize that’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said, right?”

She grinned. “Maybe. But like Dad used to say,
I prefer stubborn winners to pushover sack-of-shit losers
.”

“That’s very, um, poetic.”

“I didn’t say it should be embroidered on a pillow or anything. But he was right. You can’t let yourself be pushed around if you want to survive in this sport. I respected Lee’s decision, even though he crossed that fine line between stubborn and stupid.”

She didn’t add what she desperately wanted to—
You’re a lot like us, Ranger.
She’d learned even more about him these past couple of days, and it was clear that even though he was a smart guy who really did care about people, in one respect he was a blind fool. Now that she knew the story of what had happened between him and his dad, she compared how he thought about that part of himself with the rest of who he was, she couldn’t help but think that he was veering dangerously close to the “stupid” side of that fine line.

The problem was that, even though she knew he was an idiot when it came to everything that she held dear—namely, Hart Racing—she couldn’t help but like him more every day.

Which was becoming a bit of a problem.

There were moments when he would see a reporter and immediately pull her to him to kiss him. Not because he really seemed to want to at that moment—even though it always ended up hotter and heavier than it should have—but because somehow the notion had gotten into his head that their relationship had not only made the Earl problem disappear, but that it was somehow a box to check off on his list of items that would make Hart Racing a success. Find sponsor, check. Improve team image, check. Get in between Kerri’s legs, check.

Oh, she knew he wasn’t thinking of it in those crude terms. She was pretty sure he didn’t even realize that something was wrong with his business-like approach to everything. But in the end,
business
was what it boiled down to for Ranger.

That wasn’t really the problem, though. What was troubling Kerri was that she hadn’t thought
she
would care this much. She’d meant it the other day when she told him she wanted him. She’d agreed to keep things casual. She’d intended to have fun with him and to make the most out of their pretense at a relationship.

But things … things were changing.

“You okay, sugar?”

She came out of her thoughts to realize that he was staring at her, concerned.

“I’m fine.” The lie came out a bit stilted, but she already knew this wasn’t something she could talk about with him. If it had just been money, she could handle that. She might be willing to take the risk then. But the feelings he had about his dad ran too deep. He’d do what he set out to do and then he’d leave, and no argument would sway him otherwise, because the desire for revenge couldn’t be argued against. It wasn’t
rational
.

He frowned but didn’t push the issue, and they watched as the trucks started up and did a lap before the green flag went up. After that, time flew by, she was so absorbed in what was going on, analyzing Lee’s racing, noting things he needed to work on as well as potential modifications they should make to the truck. By the time there were only two laps left, Lee was neck and neck with Norman Holloway, an eighteen-year-old from Kentucky whom fans adored as much for his good looks as for his driving.

Kerri couldn’t take the anticipation, rising up to press herself against the glass, watching with growing excitement as Lee started to overtake Norm. “Oh, my God. He’s coming up the side. He’s coming up the side … yes!” She clenched her fist as he moved ahead.

Ranger was up at her side in a moment. “Holy hell, is he leading now?”

She nodded. “They’ve got just over one lap left. If he can hold it…” She trailed off, too distracted by the action on the track, and Ranger didn’t ask anything else, just put his hand on her back as if to say,
I gotcha. It’s gonna be great.

God, if only it were that simple. She was afraid she was really starting to fall for him.

The white flag went up, signaling the final lap, with Lee in the lead, and she pushed those thoughts away, bouncing on her toes. He had this. Leaders going into the last lap almost always won. It was practically a given. And yet, she couldn’t keep herself from holding her breath, tensing her entire body as she watched his truck whip around that last corner, zooming into the straight, going, going—

“He won! He won! He won!” She was hopping around and screaming like a banshee, and while she knew she must look ridiculous, the pride she was feeling was making her crazy. She grabbed Ranger and nearly suffocated him with kisses before turning to accept congratulations from other owners and relatives in the box, the elation growing with every hug and handshake.

“Come on, let’s get down there.” She grabbed Ranger’s hand, pulling him toward the exit. “I still can’t believe this. He’s the youngest driver to ever win a pro stock race. This is big. This is so big. Oh man, he’s gonna be insufferable.”

Ranger laughed, running after her as she careened down the stairs, pushing her way through the celebrating crowds.

“Really? The youngest ever?”

She paused to catch her breath and couldn’t resist grabbing him again in a strong hug. She nodded. “Yup. And that means he’s going to want to celebrate.”