Danger (The Driven World)

“Dear, I don’t think Warren means anything by it,” my father says, trying desperately to keep peace at the table.

“I just want to remind Warren just how and why he’s on this team. I want to remind Warren that it was me who found him from his local SCCA chapter and brought him to this level of racing. I also want to remind Warren that I can easily cut him from his contract and bring up Filippe to replace him.”

“Filippe? You can’t be serious,” Warren scoffs.

“Oh, I am.” I spear my steak with precision and accuracy, all while staring at Warren. I’m so serious that I want to do it. I want to call Filippe who can barely pass a driving test, and tell him he’s on the team.

“Let’s just enjoy dinner. Did anyone see the dessert tray?” My father smiles. And his word is final.

I don’t stop staring at Warren until he finally looks away.

“God, you’re so damn sexy,” Danger says, leaning into me.

I want this whole night to be over with. I want to get Danger back to our room and finally have sex with him. Can we skip to that part of the night?

Because that’s the only thing playing on repeat in my mind.

After dinner, Danger and I decide to walk around the hotel’s lush landscaped garden.

“Look up and make a wish.” Danger points up to the sea of stars above us. “Make a wish on that one, right there at the tip of your nose and it’ll come true.”

I laugh a little. “Really?”

“My mother used to tell me that all the time.”

I close my eyes and make a wish. A wish I can’t even think about for too long for fear it might not possibly come true. A wish that I would give up anything for.

But yet, I wish for it still.

I wish my feelings for Danger wouldn’t progress into love.

However, I fear I may already be falling in that direction.

Chapter 29

Danger

Can I say that Monterey looks like an angel tonight? She does. She’s wearing this white dress that hugs each and every curve of her body deliciously. I mean, damn. I’m proud to have her on my arm.

Seriously, walking through the hotel with her as every man’s eyes turn in her direction, is very satisfying.

And I know what they’re all thinking.

They’re all wondering how she would feel to slip deep inside. And hell, I’m right there thinking it along with them.

I can’t say I haven’t jerked off to the thought in the shower every morning. But, I need to take it slow with her. I need to show her what a real man can do for her.

She deserves it. And when I make my own wish on the blanket of stars above us, I wish for just that. One day Monterey will have the type of man she deserves. One who will treat her right.

Not a fuck up like me.

Not a man who was raised on the wrong side of the tracks. Hell, the wrong side of life. I don’t deserve anything. I really don’t. I have to fight for everything I want. And I can’t let Monterey distract me from what I really want in this life. Hell, no, what I need to do in this life.

I swore a long time ago I’d do everything in my power to right a wrong.

And by fuck, I will right that wrong if it’s the last thing I ever do on this god forsaken piece of shit world.

“I’ve made my wish.” Monterey gazes up at me with those soul-burning green eyes of hers. The kind a man like me could get lost in for years. Stumbling around. Trying to find my way out of them. Like a sea of green grass, never finding the exit.

But, honestly, if I were allowed to deserve one thing on this earth… I’d beg for it to be her.

But, that’s not how the cards of my life were dealt.

“What did you wish for?” I ask her, knowing full well she won’t tell me.

She smiles wide. “You know I can’t tell you that.”

I wrap my arms around her, tugging her closer to me. “Tell me, Monterey,” I whisper against her skin.

She tries to push me away. “No, it won’t come true if I do.”

My chest feels like it’s going to explode. So, instead of giving into the burst, I kiss her. I fucking kiss her with all that feeling of the eruption behind it. I deepen the kiss, wanting nothing more than to rid this woman of her clothes and sink deep inside her.

It’s crazy how Monterey brings out the primal beast inside me. But she does. She brings it out in the worst way.

In a way that frightens me. In a way I can’t control.

And I control everything.

I keep kissing her, running my tongue along hers. “Monterey, I need to be inside you.”