Page 21 of Danger

Is that why Danger touched me?

I head back into the ballroom, scanning the room for Thad. Yep, there he is, sitting inmyseat, talking to Danger. I rush over there, before things escalate.

“You need to leave,” I hear Danger say before I’m there.

Thad stands and I swoop in, grabbing Danger by the arm. “Ready, sweetheart? I really wanted to get on the road so we could get to Indy sooner.”

Danger stands, hooking one arm around my waist. “Sure thing.” And then he leans in and kisses my neck. “I just can’t get enough of this woman.”

I smile, and then we walk away. I give a quick wave to Lilah on my way out, putting my hand up to my ear telling her to call me.

“I want to apologize to Cole before we leave,” Danger says to me once we’re out of the ballroom.

“Oh, I saw them leave the ballroom earlier.”

Danger’s face appears dejected. “I heard they’re doing the race circuit too, so they might be somewhere else along the way.”

“So his wife owns Carter Loves?” he asks.

“I don’t know if she owns it, but I know she works there. Why?”

Danger smiles. “No reason. Let’s get out of here.”

Danger and I spend the next thirty minutes checking out and loading our car, before we’re once again on the road.

Neither of us has mentioned what happened at breakfast earlier. I don’t dare bring it up because I really don’t ever want it to happen again. Maybe I should let him know that.

“You can’t touch me like that again in public. We’re supposed to be a respectable couple. In love.”

Danger just focuses on the road, silently thinking about who knows what. Maybe he’s not even thinking. And then finally, after a few moments he says, “Did you not like it?”

I did. “I didn’t,” I lie. “It isn’t something I would ever do in public. I have a reputation to uphold.”

Danger laughs. “Well, I have a rep, too.”

“Yes.” I fold my hands in my lap. “And it’s the thing we’re trying to change for your sake. You want to win, right?”

He rubs his thumb and forefinger over his eyebrow, tugging the hair absentmindedly . “Yeah, I do. Sometimes I just can’t help it.”

“Why?” I’m no therapist, but maybe just talking it through can help Danger with the reasoning behind his rambunctious ways.

He shrugs, eyes on the road. “Let’s just say I have a lot of madness in my head, and sometimes the crazy acts help calm it.”

I wasn’t expecting that answer. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“It means that when I’m being reckless it makes me feel alive.”

I laugh a little. “And all the other times you feel dead?”

He stares at me for a second before his eyes hit the road again. “Maybe not dead, but I don’t really feel alive either. Like just a void of everything.”

“That’s not a good way to live.”

He laughs. “Tell me about it.”

“So right now, right now you feel a void?”

He doesn’t say anything, just keeps driving for a few minutes. I guess he’s not going to answer, and I guess that’s fine. I’m sure I pried too far.

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