I had almost won the race by accident, getting too lost in Piper’s excitement, before I remembered the plan.
“See?” I threw a shoulder up. “Don’t knock it before you try it. Why do you think I’ve been doing this for so long?”
Piper sunk back into the seat, her bare leg playing peek-a-boo with the cut in her dress. I tore my eyes away at the last second. “You can’t fool me, Oliver Powell. I know very well you’ve been racing for a reason much deeper than the fact that it’s fun.” She sighed happily, resting her head against the seat before turning to look at me. “It really is fun, though. Will you teach me how to drive like this?”
I barked out a laugh as I rounded the bend in the road, heading toward the beginning. “Fuck no.”
She pouted, and it was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. “Why?”
“Because it’s dangerous.” The roll of her eyes caused me to smirk. “I’m sorry, but someone has to look out for you.”
“I’m a big girl, Ollie.”
I laughed again. “Says the girl who gets stuck in shitty trailers and needs me to come rescue her. Oh yes, you’ve got it all handled.”
She rolled her lips together to keep herself from smiling. Instead, she cleared her throat. “So, um, now what? Do we just leave?”
I found Tank standing by Brandon with a sneaky smile on his face because he’d won the bet. Everyone around him had slumped shoulders, and some people were even throwing their hands up. Maybe I should get out of here. People were going to be pissed that they bet on me and I lost. A lot of them were probably suspecting something since Tank was collecting a lot of money right now.
Piper pushed forward and squinted. “Why does my brother disappear after every race? He did that last time we were here, too.”
I wasn’t sure, but I was glad. Jason and I had an agreement, but I couldn’t be certain that we wouldn’t tip off Tank with a shared look. We had to act as we always did when he was around, which was us not acknowledging each other at all.
A text on my phone came through, and Piper and I both read it.
Tank: Head out, people are curious why you lost.
“Yeah, no shit,” I muttered.
Piper scoffed. “He’s not the smartest guy, is he?”
I snickered as I began turning my car around. “Nope, and that’ll work in our favor, babe.”
Her head snapped to mine, and I froze. Did I just call her babe? And not in a way that was teasing?
I did.
And it felt good
“So, um…” She twiddled her dainty hands in her lap. “Do you want to drop
me off at Eric’s Range Rover? And I’ll follow you to your house for the party?”
Okay, so we’re just gonna slide right over that. Noted.
“Yeah, that’s cool.”
My chest felt tight again, and the words I wanted to say weren’t coming out of my mouth. I was stuck in a sort of hell that I wasn’t used to. I was nervous. My heart drummed in my chest, and I was pretty sure I was sweating. I glanced at Piper’s bare leg again, and my dick instantly got hard.
I wanted to pull her body over to mine and kiss her senseless. I wanted to lose myself in her. I wanted to rip apart her dress and savor every part of that creamy skin she kept teasing me with, and if it were anyone else, I’d have done just that. I’d lay the charm on thick, and within seconds, I’d be pulling that dress down, but this was a different territory. This was Piper.
Feelings were involved.
I cared about her. This wasn’t a fling, and I didn’t know how to handle that. I didn’t even know if she felt the same way. Piper was like looking at a road map but having no sense of direction. I couldn’t read her like most girls.
Maybe this was one-sided?
“Ollie?”