“Done,” I proclaimed just as the attendant came over and started my go-kart. As soon as I heard the peppering of the engine, I smiled at Ream. “And I’m not above cheating.” I pressed down on the gas and took off before the attendant had the chance to start Ream’s.
I couldn’t hear him swearing, but I knew he was, and most likely scowling, and I laughed as I went full speed down the straightaway. Matt and I raced a number of times as kids, and he taught me how to take the corners without spinning out.
I glanced back over my shoulder after the fifth curve, braking before the turn then speeding out of it. “Shit.” Ream was on my ass.
I swerved to the outside of the corner as he tried to take me and our karts collided. We looked at one another and I played dirty because … well, I liked to win … so yeah, I took my hand off the wheel, licked my finger, then ran it around my nipple.
His mouth dropped open, eyes glazed over, and then he crashed straight into a pile of tires. I laughed my ass off the entire next lap as I cruised around the course, Ream far behind me. By the final lap though, he was behind me again, and this time when he came up beside me on the straightaway, he didn’t even look at me.
A sharp corner was coming up and I slowed.
So did he.
My kart bounced off the tires on the inside of the track as I tried to keep my lead and I skidded as I came out of the corner.
That gave Ream enough of a chance to come up on my right as we sped down the straightaway. The engines were at full speed, and I was sure neither of us would let up into the final corner. It was give it or lose it, and I wasn’t one to lose.
Suddenly, Ream fell back behind me and I looked over my shoulder.
Mistake.
He came up on the inside and pushed me wide into the corner, taking a huge lead as we sped down the straightaway.
He was waiting for me when I stopped my kart, and despite losing, I still smiled. Ream eased out of his kart and tossed his helmet to the attendant then strode to me and unclipped the strap under my chin. He pulled it off, tossed it in the kart, then looped his arm around my waist and I stumbled into his arms.
“Nice race, Kitkat. But no chance was I giving this up.” He tilted his head and claimed my mouth. And it was claiming. There was no other way to explain what it was like. When Ream kissed me, he took and I crumbled. Maybe that was part of the issue. With Ream I felt like I lost my strength. I became his.
My belly swirled with pretty little butterflies, and my knees weakened as his lips melded with mine, tongue tasting like velvet sweetness.
“Hey, buddy,” the attendant said.
Ream nipped my bottom lip and a jolt went through my body. He squeezed my butt then pulled away but didn’t let me go as he snagged my hand. Ream reached into his jean pocket, pulled out some bills, and shook the attendant’s hand.
I looked at the young guy and he winked at me, shoved the money into his jean pocket, and strode off. Ream guided me toward his car as my head reeled with memories of go-karting with Matt and my dad. I was really young and may have missed it, but I never recalled my dad giving the attendant a tip. Nor did Matt when we’d gone a few times.
Ream pulled out of the parking lot, the tires skidding on the gravel. He looked pleased with himself—too pleased.
“You gave the guy a tip?”
Ream’s hand stopped tapping on the steering wheel. “Yeah. Good guy.”
Silence. He turned up the tunes and Avicii played. I turned it back down.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did that guy get a tip and none of the other guys?”
“’Cause he got us the karts, baby.”
I saw the twitch in his cheek and the tightening of his mouth. There was no anger either; he was trying to hold back a smile. “Asshole!” I punched his shoulder. “You cheated. You paid him for a faster kart,” I yelled. “You sneaky bastard.” Shit, he totally played me. I should’ve known that normally he wouldn’t have ever been able to catch me with the head start I had and then again after he crashed his kart. They had speed limits—except for a souped-up attendant’s kart. “Shit.”
Ream grinned and rubbed his arm where I’d hit him. “Not above cheating, Kitkat. Not for a chance at those lips.”
“Mmm,” I mumbled, and yet inside I was a little giddy because Ream had unlimited access to my lips and I liked that.
I turned the music back up and started singing the chorus. Okay, I had fun. I couldn’t remember laughing as hard as I did when I saw Ream slam his kart into the tires. The look on his face just before he crashed … priceless.
“What are you smirking about?”
“I’m not smirking. Only men smirk.”
“Bullshit. You smirk. Seen it a number of times, although not often enough.”
“Oh, like when?”
“The first time I saw you from on stage. The night Emily was taken.”
“What?” I’d seen him for like twenty seconds when he came on stage and I had been gaping not smirking.
“Babe, I saw you. You were standing with your beer and looking right at me all bitchy and full of yourself. You were wearing that way too short ass black dress that showed every fuckin’ curve of your body. You knew it too. You knew I saw you and you smirked.”
Shit. “Fine. I may have mildly smiled at you.”
“You wanted me. And if that shit hadn’t gone down with Emily and Logan, you would’ve been all over me.”
“Bah.” I scoffed. “I may flirt and I don’t have any shyness about showing off my body, but I’ll tell you right now, the most you would’ve got from me was the chance to buy me drink.”