Joseph stomped towards us, his eyes chips of blue ice. “What the fuck, Marco? Back off.”
Marco’s blocky jaw hardened to granite, and he fixed his sharp, obsidian stare on the man I loved.
I shifted, uneasy in his iron grip. He didn’t even seem to register my small show of resistance; his full, furious attention remained riveted on Joseph.
“Are you insane?” he barked. “You know how dangerous that shit is. You shouldn’t be drag racing with Ashlyn in the car.”
Joseph halted mere feet from us, rocking back slightly as though he’d hit a brick wall. He sucked in a hissed breath between his clenched teeth, and he managed to restrain himself from physically removing me from his friend’s arms.
“I know what I’m doing,” Joseph seethed. “You know I’m an experienced driver. And I’d never risk Ashlyn.”
“He didn’t take his eyes off the road for even a second,” I chimed in, my voice oddly small and high-pitched. “I didn’t feel unsafe at all. I was having fun.”
Joseph shot me a grateful half-smile, and my swift defense of his actions seemed to melt most of his icy anger toward his friend.
His posture relaxed slightly when he turned his attention back on Marco. “I get why you’re upset. Seriously, I do. I should’ve let you know what I planned before we took a joyride.”
“It was a spontaneous thing,” I added quickly. “That wasn’t what we were…”
I trailed off, my cheeks burning. I was so intent on defusing the situation that I’d almost blabbed to Marco about what Joseph had really wanted to do with me in the garage.
Joseph’s smile took on a wicked twist, but he kept his focus on his friend’s thunderous expression. “I’d never put Ashlyn at risk. You know that, right?”
Marco’s hard features remained stony for several more heartbeats, but eventually, he drew in a shaky breath. His onyx eyes turned on me, bottomless dark pools that threatened to swallow me up.
“You really are okay, princess?” His voice took on that achingly tender tone again.
I nodded, eager to reassure him.
He blew out a heavy sigh, and his big hand brushed up and down my arm once before he finally released me.
“Lunch will be ready in fifteen minutes,” he announced before turning on his heel and stalking into the house.
I jumped when Joseph’s warm hand spanned the small of my back. “Sorry about that, angel. I should’ve realized Marco might freak out about racing if I didn’t give him advance warning.” He shot me a crooked smile that made my toes curl. “You make it difficult to think straight sometimes.”
I winced, remembering his reckless disregard for the scratches on his precious car. My eyes had barely darted to the shiny silver hood before he hooked his thumb beneath my jaw and captured my face. He forced me to meet his glittering gaze, commanding my full attention.
“We’re going to finish ruining that paint job later,” he swore. “And if I hear even one word of protest about scratching the car—if your pretty little body even tenses up with worry—I’ll make you suffer that much longer before I finally show mercy.”
His dark promise teased over my sensitized flesh, stimulating my senses like a caress. The almost painful desire he’d awakened in me when he’d pinned me to the hood of the car began to stir once again.
He brushed a quick, regretful kiss over my lips before stepping away. “Later,” he said firmly, as though speaking to himself as much as to me. “I don’t think Marco could hold his temper in check if we get anywhere near that car again today. I’d hate to ruin the experience if he came storming back out here and ripped me off you.”
My brow furrowed. I didn’t understand why Joseph was being so weirdly accepting of his friend’s overbearing aggression. “Would he really be that upset?”
The lust drained from Joseph’s eyes, and his mouth took on a sad twist. “Marco was in a serious accident when he was seventeen. He wrapped his Ferrari around a tree and was in the hospital for a week. He’s always been cool with my drag racing, but I should’ve anticipated that he’d freak about you being in the car with me. I know he seems scary when he gets intense like that, but he was actually scared. But don’t tell him that I told you that.”
“About the accident, or about the fact that he was scared?” Joseph had always kept Marco’s secrets before, rebuffing my questions about some of his strangest behavior—like his refusal to get the pool filled for me. Maybe it wasn’t okay that Joseph was sharing this more intimate admission about his friend without his knowledge.
“Both. I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to be afraid of him, but he probably wouldn’t want you to know about that stuff. And if he did, he’d want to tell you himself.”