Page 16 of Dirt Driven

I glared at Casten, squinting my eyes so hard they were nearly slits. “You were supposed to stop him.”

Appearing offended, he arched an eyebrow at me. “I did. I said,he’s gonna hit the table. What more am I supposed to say?”

“What was that?” Rager yelled out the window.

“Nothing,” we both answered.

Casten scratched the side of his head, adjusting his JAR Racing hat. “Why would they put a table right there? It’s in the middle of fucking nowhere.”

“No idea.” Motioning for him to help me, we moved it out of the way.

It took another twenty minutes before we had all four of the merchandise trailers hooked up and heading out of the pits. I put the kids down for bed as we drove down the highway, made Rager a plate of pizza rolls and then sat next to him in the puffy white captain chair.

Silence hummed through the motor home, the only sounds, the road noise and the even breathing of the one beside me. I hadn’t told him about the picnic table and the scratch now in the side of our motorhome, but he’d know eventually. I would blame in on Casten.

Finally, an hour into our drive, Rager asked, “Do you still think of him?”

“What?” I glanced over at him, surprised by the question. Shifting in my seat, I looked over my shoulder at the darkness behind us in the motor home. Our kids, fast asleep in their beds.

“You heard me.” His eyes shifted from the road to mine, the passing of a semi-truck lighting up the space between us.

Fear knotted inside my chest. Not that I was scared of him or the question asked. But fearing why he asked it, tonight of all nights. “I know I heard you. I’m surprised you asked it.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “You loved him.”

“Loved. As in, not anymore.”

I heard him swallow, his breathing heavier than before. “Still.”

“I don’t think of him. At least not in a good way.”

Rager lifted his eyes from the road. “Okay.”

Okay? “Does it bother you?”

“He will always bother me in a sense. He had you first.”

I snorted and reached for the package of Skittles I’d picked up at the last gas stop. “Technically Ricky Hagen did, but whatever.”

A growl trembled from his lips. “Enough.”

“You brought it up.”

His hands gripped the steering wheel tighter. “And I’m finishing it. You’re mine now. Always.” One hand slipped off the wheel and to mine. Bringing it to his lips, he pressed a kiss to my knuckles. “Always.”

For a moment, I put myself in Rager’s position. How would I have felt if he had been married to someone else? The mere thought of it sent a wave of anxiety through me. Threading my fingers in his thick dark hair, unwilling to imagine him with someone else, I sighed. “I love you.”

With a smirk, he nodded south. “You could show me how much you love me.”

“Cute.” The last time I tried that, the kids woke up and Pace wanted to know why I had my head in Daddy’s lap. Never again. “But not happening.”

He shrugged one shoulder, a playful smile tugging at his beautiful full lips. “A guy could dream.”

I stared at him, his sharp scruffy jawline, the mess of hair he kept on top of his head and the set frown on his lips. “Easton cheated on me more than once.”

Rager’s jaw tightened and his eyes drifted to mine. No words followed.

A moment ticked by and I realized Rager had known that all along. I licked my lips and blinked slowly, deciding on what I was going to say. I shifted in the chair. “You knew, didn’t you?”

---