Chapter 8
GAUGE
Late one afternoon at the end of Riley’s second week, I stood beside her as we finished closing one of the bays.
She’d spent the past hour replacing suspension components on a customer’s streetcar, her attention completely locked on the work in front of her.
I’d barely managed to focus on the engine bay I was supposed to be inspecting, because every time she leaned forward, my gaze drifted to the soft swell of her tits beneath the tank top she wore.
My cock had been half hard most of the day, my jeans painfully uncomfortable by the time we finally cleaned up.
I reached for a shop towel and wiped grease from my hands as casually as I could. “We’re going out tonight.”
She turned toward me, her brown eyes bright with curiosity, a faint smile playing at the corner of her mouth. “We are, huh? Care to tell me where, or am I just supposed to guess?”
I tossed the rag aside and leaned back against the workbench, crossing my arms over my chest so I wouldn’t give in to the temptation to pull her against me.
“Taking you to Brake Point Run tonight. There’s a race happening.
Figured it’s time you saw what this place is really about.
Thought you might enjoy meeting some of the racers and seeing the crews in action. ”
Her entire face lit up in a way that made my pulse hammer in my veins.
Riley’s eyes sparkled with excitement, and her cheeks flushed a soft shade of pink.
Her lips curved into a wide smile, and my gaze dropped briefly to her mouth as heat shot through my body.
I forced myself to drag my attention back up before I lost the ability to think straight entirely.
“I’d love that.” She was clearly trying and failing to keep the excitement out of her voice. “I’ve been dying to get a look at Brake Point Run.”
The eagerness she couldn’t hide made me grin, because Riley with her guard down was one of the hottest things I’d ever seen.
“Good.” I kept my voice rough to cover how much I wanted to drag her out of the garage right then and finish what our kisses had started. “We’ll leave in an hour.”
She nodded, and I watched her walk upstairs, my gaze sliding over the curve of her hips until she disappeared around the corner. It took a solid minute for me to get my body back under control enough to head into my office, shutting the door behind me and dragging in a slow, heavy breath.
I’d never wanted anyone the way I wanted Riley, and the realization left me shaken in ways I hadn’t expected. She’d walked into my life barely two weeks ago, and I already couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to let her go.
Letting her deeper into my world was the next step in making sure I never had to.
When we got to Brake Point Run, the place buzzed with chaotic energy.
It was a world of roaring engines, flashing lights, and eager crowds pressing toward the barriers, hungry for speed and excitement.
Cars and bikes lined up, idling impatiently in the staging lanes, their rumbling vibrations carrying across the asphalt to rattle the bones of everyone standing nearby.
This was where I belonged, surrounded by the raw energy of racing, but tonight my attention was locked on Riley.
She stood beside me, her eyes bright with excitement, and her cheeks flushed from the heat and adrenaline of the atmosphere around us.
I watched as she spoke to the pit crew guys, her hands moving animatedly as she gestured toward an engine bay, pointing out details and discussing adjustments.
The racers listened closely, nodding along with her explanations, openly seeking her opinion with respect that she’d earned through competence alone.
Every time she smiled or laughed at something someone said, my body responded to the sight of her genuine happiness.
The intensity of her passion for racing did something deeper to me than I’d anticipated.
Her energy drew people in, effortlessly claiming their attention, and I felt proud each time another racer or mechanic listened carefully to what she had to say.
I found myself completely transfixed by Riley’s excitement, unable to look away as she moved through the pits, discussing setups, tuning strategies, and suspension adjustments.
Watching her like this was a special kind of torture, because my mind instantly slid toward thoughts I had no business entertaining in public.
The more animated she became, the more vivid my imagination grew, providing images that sent heat straight through me.
My cock stirred to life, painfully hard behind my zipper, and I shifted position, fighting for control while images of Riley’s soft curves beneath me flooded my mind.
It took everything I had not to pull her against me right there in the crowded pits, kiss her until she couldn’t think straight, and show everyone watching exactly who she belonged to. My patience frayed down to almost nothing.
It didn’t help my self-control that Riley hadn’t stopped me from kissing her these past few days. I’d stolen them every chance I got, pulling her into quiet corners of the garage, tasting her lips and feeling her soften in my arms.
I knew better than to push too hard, because Riley was still skittish.
But sometimes I couldn’t resist making casual comments about the future, mentioning things we’d do months down the road or plans I had for her beyond The Pit.
She never called me out on it, just gave me careful sidelong glances that made me wonder if she knew exactly what I was doing.
I’d made up my mind to take the slow road with Riley, which was probably the biggest indicator that I’d completely lost my damn mind.
Patience had never been one of my defining virtues.
I was a mechanic, a racer, and an enforcer.
I liked problems I could identify, fix, and move past. Riley wasn't any of those things.
She was a puzzle I couldn't quite solve, and somehow that only made me want her more. Whenever she gave me another glimpse beneath the guarded exterior she presented to the rest of the world, I found myself wanting the parts she still kept hidden.
But each time I felt her relax against me, I told myself I could wait.
At least a little longer, anyway. She was already becoming mine in ways that mattered, even if she hadn’t fully realized it yet.
I wasn’t going to risk losing that progress by pushing too hard.
Riley Mercer was a battle worth winning, and I wasn’t going anywhere until I did.
A group of pit crew guys waved her over to one of the staging lanes, and Riley immediately headed in their direction.
I followed at a slower pace, my hands shoved into the pockets of my jeans as I watched how she moved through the crowd.
She looked completely different here than she did inside the garage.
The caution never disappeared entirely, but racing pulled something out of her that everyday life couldn’t.
The tension left her shoulders. Her smile came easier.
Her eyes lit up every time somebody mentioned gearing, suspension settings, or engine performance.
The woman practically glowed when she was surrounded by race cars on the track.
“Think we’re running too rich?” one of the crew members asked her, gesturing toward the open hood of a late-model Camaro.
Riley leaned over the engine bay, studying the setup for a few seconds before answering. “Maybe a little, but I’d check the data before touching the fuel map. If the air temperature dropped since your last run, it might just be compensating.”
The driver standing nearby nodded. “That’s exactly what we were seeing.”
“Then don’t go changing six things at once,” Riley replied. “You’ll never know which one actually fixed the problem.”
The driver laughed. “You sound like my crew chief.”
“Then your crew chief is smarter than most racers.”
That earned a round of laughter from everybody standing nearby, including the driver himself.
I found myself grinning as I watched the exchange. She could walk into a group of men she’d never met and have them listening within minutes because competence spoke louder than ego ever could. Every racer there respected skill above almost everything else, and Riley had plenty of it.
The more time she spent talking, the larger the crowd around her became.
A couple of crew chiefs joined the conversation.
Then another driver. Somebody from a bike team wandered over and started asking questions about suspension geometry.
Riley handled all of it effortlessly, her attention shifting from person to person while she broke down technical issues in a way that made sense without talking down to anyone.
Damn, she was beautiful.
I dragged a hand over my jaw and looked away for a second, trying to regain some control before I did something stupid in front of half the racing community.
“Gauge.”
I glanced over to find one of the racers smirking at me.
“What?”
The bastard nodded toward Riley. “You know you’ve been just standing there staring at her for like ten minutes, right?”
I didn’t even bother denying it. “Mind your business, jackass.”
His grin widened. “She’s good people.”
“Yeah.”
“Smart too.”
I shot him a look.
He held both hands up immediately. “Relax. Just making conversation.”
The conversation died there, but not before I noticed something that instantly soured my mood. A driver from another team had stepped a little too close. Probably not enough for anyone else to think twice, but it sure as fuck was enough for me.
He was leaning toward Riley while she talked, finding reasons to keep the conversation going long after he’d gotten the answer to whatever question he’d originally asked.
Riley didn’t seem to notice. She kept talking, focused on the discussion, while the guy’s eyes roamed and he looked increasingly interested in things that had nothing to do with racing. Things that belonged to me.
My jaw tightened, but I told myself to let it go. The guy hadn’t touched her, said anything inappropriate, or even done a damn thing wrong. The mental lecture lasted maybe thirty seconds before I got tired of listening to it.
The driver laughed at something Riley said and leaned in even closer. Jealousy tightened my chest, and my self-control snapped so abruptly that it shocked even me.
Fuck waiting. I was done.
I started walking before I consciously made the decision.
The crowd parted automatically when they saw me coming, and by the time Riley noticed me, I was already there.
She looked up at me in surprise as I stepped between her and the racer who’d crossed an invisible line.
My hand wrapped possessively around hers, my fingers closing tight enough to tell anyone watching exactly what the fuck was happening.
The driver immediately took a step back.
Guess the man has some smart in there somewhere.
“Let’s go,” I growled, not bothering to disguise the edge of possessiveness in my voice.
The guy beside her opened his mouth like he was considering saying something, but one look from me convinced him otherwise.
Riley’s eyes widened in surprise, her breath hitching softly at my abrupt tone. But she didn’t protest as I practically dragged her toward the parking lot, though she glanced up at me with a mix of confusion and curiosity that only made me want her more.
We crossed the crowded pits without saying another word, my grip firm around her hand as we passed people who stepped quickly out of our way. By the time we reached my Harley, my body ached with the desperate need to finally have her alone. Without interruptions, where she belonged.
The ride back to my house was torture. Riley’s arms wrapped around my waist as we sped down darkened roads, her body pressed flush against my back.
Her heat was a constant distraction, and every bump or lean sent another spike of need racing through me.
By the time we pulled into my driveway, my self-control was hanging by a thread so thin it barely existed.
I killed the engine, climbed off the bike, and turned toward her.
Her cheeks were flushed, her breathing was slightly elevated, and her eyes were wide as she looked up at me.
Without saying a word, I lifted her off the bike, catching her hips in my hands as she slid down my body, the contact enough to send sparks of electricity through every nerve ending I possessed.
Riley’s lips parted as she searched my face for answers to questions neither of us was willing to ask right now. Without hesitation, I slid one hand into her hair, and my mouth crashed onto hers in a claiming kiss that left no room for doubt or hesitation.
Her response was immediate, her lips parting beneath mine, and her body arched instinctively into my hold.
Heat surged through my veins, my arousal unrelenting as I crowded her against the side of my Harley, pressing my hips flush to hers until she gasped softly against my mouth, the sound going straight to my cock.
I broke the kiss just long enough to drag in a ragged breath, my voice rough as I spoke against her lips. “We need to be inside. Now.”
Her eyes flashed with desire, her mouth still swollen from my kiss, and she gave a shaky nod. Without another word, I led her toward my front door, my hand firmly gripping hers, determined to finally claim what I'd known was mine from the moment she’d walked into The Pit.