Winning Moves (Stepping Up 3)

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JASON NEEDED TO ride, needed the wind and feel of the motorcycle humming beneath him, the escape it gave him. He pulled out into the storm, refusing to stay at the casino for the night. He had a helmet and he had proper riding gear to survive fairly damage free, at least from the rain. He’d seen Kat with her hand pressed to Marcus’s chest and it had done a good job of shredding him to the core.

That Kat had walked to her car alone and departed only seconds before him should have eased some of his ache, but somehow it only made it worse. No, what made it worse was how much he wanted to ignore what Denver told him, what her actions said loud and clear. That she didn’t want what he did or it would have happened long before now. He and Marcus were two of a kind, fools for the same woman.

He pulled onto the highway, the rain blinding him, but he didn’t stop. He pressed onward, following Kat’s taillights, his mind following the path of their relationship over the past few weeks. He wanted to see Kat not dancing with Marcus as a sign of her love, but he knew Kat. She wouldn’t do anything to intentionally hurt anyone. She’d skip the dance to keep from hurting him. And it would have hurt.

Thunder roared and lightning blasted through the darkness, followed by a loud pop. Holy crap, Kat’s tire had just blown. His heart stopped beating as he watched her struggle for control and skid toward the ditch. Jason came to a halt, ripping off his helmet and leaving his bike at the side of the road. He could barely breathe with the fear of Kat being injured as he took off running.

16

THE CAR SLID down a slope and stopped halfway into a ditch. Kat sat there, frozen in place, afraid it wasn’t really over. She didn’t breathe, didn’t blink. Suddenly, she was years in the past, back in the day that she and Jason had decided to divorce.

“Of course you have to take the job,” Kat said, her chest tight with emotion, her voice strained as she tried to hide her disappointment that he wasn’t joining her on her movie set at the end of the week as planned. “It’s a huge opportunity. You’ll be directing one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.”

“It’s filming in Paris, KandyKat,” he said. “We’ve wanted to go there. I’ll arrange to have you flown out. Just tell me the exact day and I’ll arrange everything.”

“No,” she said. “No. I can’t. I have the Ms. America Pageant to choreograph in a week. You know that. I took it because you were going to be free by then and we could be together. By the time I’d get there I’d have to leave.”

“Kat—”

“It’s just how it is, Jason. It’s how it always is. I think… I think it’s time we face reality.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We just can’t make marriage and our careers work.”

“That’s crazy,” he said. “Yes, we can. I won’t take the job. I’m coming there.”

“I’m leaving early,” she said. “The movie I’ve been working on wrapped.”

“Kat—”

“It’s time, Jason,” she said. “We’ve battled this for years and spent more time apart than together. I just can’t stand the idea that I hold you back.”

“You don’t hold me back. Stop this. Please. I love you. None of this matters without you. We planned this out. We’ll take the hits now and retire early. We’ll travel, then have kids.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered. “Too much to hold on to you like this no matter how much I want to.”

“I’m holding on,” he said. “I’ll hold on tight enough for us both if I have to.”

The car door jerked open.

“Kat!” Jason shouted, bending down beside her. “Kat, are you okay?”

“Yes.” Kat could barely pry her vise-like grip from the steering wheel. “Yes, I’m okay. Just shaken up.”

She turned toward him, letting her legs slide over the seat. Jason pulled her to her feet and into the rain before wrapping his powerful arms around her.

He brushed her hair from her face, inspecting her carefully. “You’re sure? You don’t hurt anywhere?”

She stared up at him, not caring about the storm, the car, or the deserted highway. “Yes,” she said. “My heart,” she said. “My heart hurts because you—”

The next thing she knew, Jason’s mouth came down on hers. She moaned and clung to him, the taste of him pouring through her, the rain pouring over her. There was a desperateness to the kiss she recognized as hers, as his, a hunger for each other that washed over Kat, filled her and gave her hope. No two people who felt this passionately for each other belonged apart. They had to make it work, they could make it work.