Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
JESSICA
Imelt in no time because no one kisses like Kane.
He is everywhere, consuming me with firm strokes of his tongue before breaking away to catch his breath. I open my eyes to find him gazing at my tingling lips as if he can still taste me.
“Be my girlfriend.”
I blink, and a surprised smile breaks free. “Did you just ask me to be your girlfriend?”
He curls a strand of hair around his finger, intent on the motion, then looks me in the eye with such sincerity that my heart stutters. “Yeah, I did.”
A strangled laugh escapes me. “We’re not in middle school, Kane. You can’t just ask me to be your girlfriend.”
He holds my gaze a beat longer. My smile slowly fades as he unwinds the lock of hair, brushes his fingers over my cheek, and drags his thumb across my mouth. “Humor me, baby.”
Humor him? This is madness, but what else is new when it comes to Kane Ravencourt?
“You want me to be your girlfriend?”
“You already are. I just want to hear you say it.”
I duck my head, trying to hide the blush creeping into my cheeks. “I’m not your girlfriend.”
He cups my chin, possessive and sure. “You’re my girl.”
“Why do you want it so badly?” I ask, genuinely curious. Since the moment he caught me in his father’s office, he’s pursued me relentlessly, and I still don’t understand why.
“Why?” He leans back, one arm draped over the steering wheel, his shoulders resting against the door.
“Because I’m into you, little thief. And before you push me away again, I don’t care where you’re from.
You’re beautiful, smart, and fearless. The crazy part is that you don’t even realize how magnetic you are. ”
My eyes blur with tears as the last of the sun sinks on the horizon.
Why does praise sometimes hurt more than criticism?
Why is it so hard to believe that a man like Kane Ravencourt—who has the world at his feet—might actually want me?
And why does that wary voice inside me keep whispering that there’s more to this than he’s saying?
He’ll fuck me and throw me away? Wouldn’t he have done it already?
And if he does… I’ll survive.
I always do.
“You scare me,” I admit.
He smirks, as though it pleases him. “Why do I scare you?”
Because every time we’re alone, I like who I am, and I haven’t liked myself in a long time. I don’t say that, though. I doubt I’ll ever admit my feelings to Kane.
“I already told you you’re intense,” I answer instead.
He studies me intently while my heart threatens to beat out of my chest, the leather creaking as he leans forward with a wolfish smile. “Now I’m your intense boyfriend.”
I meet him halfway, grinning so wide my cheeks ache. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“You’re so fucking taken, you don’t even know it.”
“I’m taken, huh?”
He traps his bottom lip between his teeth and looks between my eyes and mouth as I quickly unbuckle his belt.
“What do you think you’re doing, little rabbit?”
“I’m gonna suck your cock.”
“Is that so?” he asks as I unzip his pants.
I slip my hand into his boxers and wrap my fingers around his silky length. “Have a problem with that?”
We’re close enough for our breaths to mingle. Kane feasts on my mouth like he’s imagining my lips on him. “My girlfriend would object.”
“You have a girlfriend?”
“I do now.” His gruff voice rumbles between us.
“Tell me about her.”
The vein in his neck pulses as he grows hard in my hand. “She’s a stubborn tease, for starters.”
“She sounds fun.”
“She is. And when she smiles, the world falls away.”
I freeze with my hand on his cock as he braids his long fingers through my hair. For a second, I think he’s about to push me down. Instead, he wrenches my head back, exposing my neck, kissing and nibbling the sensitive skin until I’m wet and panting.
Kill me now. There’s no recovering from this man. I’ve been shot, and I’ll always carry the scar.
With a final tug on my hair and a quick, dirty suck on my earlobe, he pulls away and gets out of the car. Confused, I sit there, tingling between my legs, while he buckles his belt.
The door opens again. He grabs a flashlight from the dashboard and flashes me a devastating grin. “Are you coming, baby?”
Coming? Coming where?
I blink as he leans in close once more, his spicy cologne tangling my senses. “What’s the matter?” he murmurs. “You look flustered.”
“Oh, fuck off,” I grumble, making him laugh. “Who’s the tease now?”
“As I said, my girlfriend doesn’t share, and I won’t do her dirty.” It’s too dark to see his face when he leans in to murmur against my ear, “Want my cock, beautiful? Admit you’re my girl.”
“Kane…” I start, but he’s already gone, shutting the car door.
Dammit. Why does he scramble my brain like this? I join him at the front of the hood, where he waits, bathed in headlights.
“What are we doing?” I glance back at his black car, which blends into the night like an extension of it.
He presses the flashlight into my hand. “First things first. We walk the track, get you familiar with it.” His smile turns sharp. “Then I teach you how to race.”
My mouth falls open, and he walks off before I can say a word. Race? Is he gonna teach me to race?
Tearing after him, I almost crash into his back when he suddenly stops and turns around to point out an imperfection in the asphalt. I barely hear a word of it, still trying to process that he wants to teach me to race.
“Are you listening?”
“No? You said—”
He quiets me with a finger on my lips. “When you drive this road every weekend, it becomes second nature. Experienced racers know the road like the back of their hand. Don’t be a rookie and lose a race because you’re unfamiliar with potential hazards.
You have seconds to gain an advantage and seconds to beat the competition.
Even the slightest mistake could cost you the win. ”
He crouches. “Shine the light here.”
When I do as he says, Kane points out a small pothole.
“It might not look like much, but trust me, you want to avoid things like this.” He stands up and walks off, stopping every now and then to scuff the blacktop with his shoe while discussing things I need to take into account.
I listen as best I can, but one question burns at the front of my mind.
“What car am I gonna race?”
Surely, he doesn’t mean his car?
Kane slips his hand into his pocket, takes out his keys, and tosses them to me. Of course, I’m not prepared. I scramble to catch them, and they fall at my feet with a soft clink of metal.
“You’ll race your boyfriend’s car.” He winks and meanders off, back the way we came.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” I shout after him.
He spins around, walking backward with a mouthwatering grin that could melt ice. “You do now.”
“Do not.”
What am I? Five?
“Merry and Pippin say otherwise.”
“I thought everyone shipped Frodo and Sam?”
Kane shakes his head with a genuine smile. “Stop being so fucking stubborn and get behind the wheel so I can teach you how to make grown men weep on the track.”
“Stop bossing me around.”
“But it makes you wet.”
S’pose I can’t argue with him there.
He knows he’s right, a smug glint in his eyes before he turns and heads to his car, expecting me to follow.
Excitement bubbles up inside me, and I jog after him.
The thought of driving his Bugatti is almost as exciting as learning to race.
My brother was always adamant that I should stay away from Dark Lanes, and I never pushed the subject because I knew he wouldn’t bend, but now that I’m here, sliding in behind Kane’s wheel, a new kind of thrill fizzes beneath my skin.
Once I’ve adjusted the seat and mirrors, I smooth my fingers over the pristine leather wheel, and my heart kicks harder.
“Start her up,” Kane says. “Let’s see what you’ve got, little rabbit.”