“Here, lemme help,” Leander offered. A thin pretense so he could get close to me again? I couldn’t help letting out another sharp little breath as he leaned across me to straighten out the straps I’d gotten tangled.
And every time I did—let out a little breathy noise from his closeness—his eyes would shoot to me. As if he knew exactly what he did to me and was glorying in it, taking his time so he could revel in the moments of tension between us.
Yet he was careful not to touch my body as he clicked the harness straps together. Torturously careful, if the way his dark, needy eyes stared into mine while his strong hands firmly strapped me in, tugging on them once he’d gotten them buckled.
Finally, finally when I thought I might combust from his nearness, he pulled back to buckle himself in. He grinned at me and reached to turn the digital key to the on position, then pushed the start button. Did he have any idea what he did to me? Or did he just take it for granted that this was his effect on all women? Good Lord!
Whether or not he did, Janus and Milo sped off in front of us, and Leander wasn’t about to be left in the dirt. He shifted into gear.
“You ready?”
I nodded quickly, not wanting to slow him down. He took off the next moment, and I was glad I was already clutching the cage bars beside me, knuckles white.
Leander laughed out loud as he hit the pedal harder. And his delight at the wind hitting his face as he accelerated was clear. The man who was always so silent and taciturn was actually laughing. From what sounded like actual joy.
Or maybe he was laughing at me because what I was feeling could not be quite categorized as joy. More like unbridled terror with lots of shrieking, as he sped up to catch up to the others on the uneven dirt path.
Milo was in the lead but Janus was giving him a run for his money. The trees were dense overtop of us but there was a field up ahead. Milo and Janus saw it too. I looked at Leander, who was still grinning like a madman. I’d read up and knew he’d done a bunch of off-roading during his downtime during a shoot in Death Valley. It was why Milo and I had picked this particular activity. I hadn’t realized that would make him such a daredevil, though.
Because while the other guys were taking the path to the field, Leander got a glint in his eye and pulled a sharp left, cutting through the woods to get there.
“Hold on,” he yelled as he switched into top gear. He headed straight for the trees. The ride immediately turned far bumpier, but the ROV handled it like a champ, churning up the dirt and brambles beneath. Cutting the angle to the field did the trick too.
I yelped, but then, after a few seconds of fighting the brambles smacking us through the cage, I started whooping once we got to smoother undergrowth and burst out into the field.
I turned to the other guys and gave another whoop. “Suck it, boys!” I hollered.
My energy only added to Leander’s, apparently, and now it was on.
He kept the pedal to the metal as we raced across the field. The other guys were out in the open now and flooring it too.
“Are they close?” Leander yelled my way. I still had a hand on the bars but I was finally feeling the adrenaline of it all, laughing along as Leander lengthened his lead. Oh my God, this was thrilling! My hair had pulled out of its tie and was flying wildly around me. I felt it too—wild. Untamed. Ready for anything.
“Milo’s gaining,” I shouted, “but you’ve still got a good lead.”
Leander grinned with all his teeth, the air tearing at his face, both our blood rushing. And I saw what I’d truly given him today—a gift that money couldn’t buy.
Finally, we hit the other end of the field and geared down as we hit the part of the trail that put the mud in mudding.
“Oh!” I couldn’t help shrieking as we hit the first of the mud puddles, the ROV sliding sideways.
Leander rode the drift and swung the wheel into the turn at the last moment, swinging us around the next corner. I screeched the whole time, but as mud spewed all around us, it finally turned into a gut-level laugh, and then I was whooping again.
We’d lost a lot of our speed, and we had to slow down more as we rode through a small stream, but then we were off again.
“Go, go, they’re almost here!” I smacked Leander on the shoulder.
He laughed, and I decided there and then it was my new favorite sound. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, shifting gear and pressing the gas.