Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
ROME
There’s a dead cactus on the porch in a blue pot, and it very well could be a sign for me to turn back.
My foot hovers over the faded welcome mat as I rethink my choices, but before I have a chance to back out, the door opens. Tessa aggressively grips my hoodie with her fingers and pulls me into her house.
“Someone is eager,” I mumble.
She slams the door and turns to face me. She’s adorably frazzled, with her hair in some crazy bun on the top of her head, fallen tendrils of brown framing her face. The high points of her cheeks ripen with heat, but instead of saying anything, she tugs on my arm until we’re in her living room.
Her palms are on my chest, and I’m forced backward. I land on her couch with my legs spread wide and peer at her from below as she stands with her hands on her hips. If I were to reach forward even in the slightest, I could pull her onto my lap. My fingers twitch at the thought.
“You sure this isn’t a booty call–”
I lean backward with her phone outstretched into my face, ending the words on the tip of my tongue. I scan the screen quickly.
Ah.
I see.
An inside source reveals that Rome Pierce joined Vanstone Racing for a reason no one saw coming–Vanstone’s Princess, Tessa Halston. The two were caught cuddling up during their weekend race in Bahrain.
“Well?” she huffs.
Tessa’s brown eyes are wide with worry, and she’s looking at me expectedly, like I can do something about it.
For her, I might.
I clench my jaw. Scratch that. No, I will not.
“Well, what?” I shrug. “It’s just a rumor site.”
Tessa clicks her phone off and throws it to the cushion beside me. “But it’s not a rumor!” she screeches, clearly panicked.
“Technically, it is.” I trail her as she paces over the large, colorful woven rug. “We weren't cuddling.”
“You’re right!” she shouts. “What we did was far worse!”
“Wait.”
Tessa stops her nervous pacing and looks at me with hope in her eyes.
“We did something in Bahrain?”
If I were in reach, I think she’d slap me.
My lip twitches at the utter shock on her face, and it sends her in a spiral.
“This isn’t good,” she mutters, continuously pacing the living room. “People are going to think the only reason I became head engineer for the almighty Rome Pierce is because he’s fucking me!”
Can she not put that thought in my head?
I’ve already had a hard time pretending this weekend didn’t happen, when the truth is, I can’t stop thinking about it.
Kissing her put a pause on reality. The world faded; my thoughts seized. I think maybe my heart might have stopped beating for a moment too, and if I let myself have that again, I’ll probably become addicted.
I can’t do this with her.
She’s my head engineer, the team owner’s daughter, and my former rival.
Things could get messy…fast.
I exhale and clear my head. Tess’s pacing is unrelenting, and at some point, she shed her sweater and now stands in tight leggings and a tank top that hugs her in all the right places.
“Dad won’t see it,” she mumbles. “He’s never on those sites. But what about everyone else?” She pauses with a deer-in-the-headlights look on her face. “What if one of his old friends calls and tells him?”
She needs to take a breather.
I watch her for a few more seconds and can’t take it any longer.
I stand from the couch, and stride to her.
She’s so in her head that she doesn’t even notice, or maybe she doesn’t feel my presence as much as I feel hers.
My hands snap outward, and I grab onto her hips.
The rushed gasp from her lungs pulls my attention right to her mouth.
“Take a breath, Tess.”
Her long lashes flutter, but her breaths remain short and sharp.
I back her up to the wall and slowly grab a hold of her wrists, guiding her hands to my chest. “Breathe with me.”
I inhale, ignoring the hints of her perfume, and then exhale slowly.
Eventually, she does the same. Our breaths begin to match, our chests rising at the same time. Those perfect, round breasts of hers call my name with each inhale.
“There.” I make myself stare into her eyes instead of elsewhere. “For a second, I thought I was going to have to give you mouth to mouth.”
Tessa glares, but I know her glares well enough now that I can recognize the crumb of humor behind the annoyance.
“What a shame that would be, huh?” I ask.
I smirk, and she slaps my hands away from her waist.
“I can’t stand you,” she snips.
“Funny, you seemed to stand me just fine the other night.” I wink because I just can’t help but get a rise out of her.
I crave it.
“Rome!” She crosses her arms in a huff. “Stop it. This is serious.”
I sigh and force myself back to the couch. “It isn’t that serious. Everyone around us knows we bicker like an old married couple. No one will believe the rumor.”
“But there are people that will.” Tessa’s tone drops, and I’m not sure I like the way my chest squeezes from the hint of melancholy within it.
“No one saw us. Right?” she asks.
“Can you sit? You’re making me nervous.”
And I can’t stop staring at you.
Surprisingly, Tessa abides by my demand, which really doesn’t help my thoughts. She chooses to sit right beside me, the cushion dipping just enough to where our arms brush.
“It was Vinny,” I say. “One of his guys walked onto the elevator after…”—I swallow and look away—“we kissed. He must have sensed something, told Vinny, and then Vinny’s way of getting back at us for beating him was to do something like this.”
“That fucking asshole,” Tessa growls. “He’s just jealous I didn’t want to kiss him!”
My lip twists into a cocky grin. “Does that mean you wanted to kiss me?”
She doesn’t have to answer or admit it.
I know she did.
“Of course not!” she exclaims.
I chuckle, and my smirk deepens.
She crosses her arms with her plump bottom lip plopped forward into a pout. “What are we going to do to fix this? I’d like a plan before Gia finds out.”
“We’re going to do nothing,” I say. “I’ll fix it.”
Her scoff fans across my face. “And you expect me to trust you?”
I smile again, with another insinuation of our kiss on the edge of my lips.
Her perfectly arched eyebrows cave inward. “Don’t!”
I turn away to hide my amusement and give myself space to take in her house.
It’s small and cozy. Much homier than anywhere I’ve ever lived. But given the inviting feel of her parents’ house, and the warmth you instantly feel when walking inside, it’s not really a surprise.
The walls are a creamy tan with random pops of color sprinkled throughout the room.
Three thousand comfy pillows rest against the couch, and there are flowy drapes covering the windows that face out onto the street.
I’m surprised she hasn’t closed them in fear that someone is peeking at us from the outside.
My mind wanders the longer we sit in silence.
What does Tessa Halston do on her nights off?
Does she cuddle up on this couch, swallowed by pillows, and watch some show on TV? Or does she open up a book and read until her eyes get heavy? Knowing her, she probably rewatches past races so she can learn every little thing about aerodynamics.
Or, what if she goes out with her friends and ends up bringing some random guy home?
My shoulders tense, and I quickly launch into a plan to ignore my last thought. “I’ll bring a plus-one to the next media-packed event. Problem solved.”
A sarcastic laugh bellows from her mouth. “And have everyone think that you tossed me to the side after one cuddly weekend in Bahrain? Absolutely not.”
I slowly tilt my head toward her. “Do you have a better plan, Princess?”
She nibbles on her thumbnail, the thin, gold ring catching my eye. “I’ll bring a plus-one instead.”
My ears burn.
“No,” I blurt.
The word is abrupt, and I don’t really care how my refusal looks.
Tessa angles herself toward me on the couch and raises a brow. “No?”
Fuck. Think fast.
“How are you going to get your brothers to let you bring some random guy? If you haven’t heard, they’re awfully protective over you.”
She scoffs, and those warm brown eyes roll in the back of her head. “I’ll just tell them the truth.”
My shoulders tense. “The truth?”
Her lips flatten. “Not that truth. I mean that I’ll tell them someone started a rumor, and I’m squashing it.”
“You mean, we’re squashing it,” I add. “If you’re bringing a plus-one, so am I.”
She rolls her eyes again. “Fine.”
“Glad we got this figured out,” I say.
I stay planted on the couch after she stands abruptly. I watch the way her hips sway toward the door. She opens it and sends me a pointed look. “You can leave now.”
“I could, yes.”
But damn, I really don’t want to.
“So…” She wafts her hand out into the open, as if to usher me through the door.
“I kind of like seeing where you live,” I admit. “And this couch…it’s awfully comfy.”
“It is, and I have plans to spend my evening on it. Alone.”
There’s a comeback ready to go in the back of my throat, but the vibrating of my phone catches me off guard. I pull it out of my hoodie pocket, and my flirty mood instantly disappears.
Beau
You left a winning team for some Pit Porn? Can’t say I blame you, but what happens when you get tired of her like you usually do? Toss her aside and still be on a losing team?
My shoulders tense, my phone creaking underneath my tight grip.
I’m not sure what I’m angrier about: the fact that he’s completely disregarding the truth of how corrupted his team is or that he’s referring to Tessa in this way.
I click my screen off, shoot up from the couch, and walk over to the door, completely lost in my thoughts. The pressure of Tessa’s hand on my arm stops me in my tracks. She looks to my phone, then to my face, a clear window of worry in the different hues of brown.
I look at her mouth, craving to shut the world out, if even for a second, but instead, I walk past her and get into my car.
Beau’s text came at the perfect time–even if I fucking hate him.