Page 29 of Risk

“Ugh,” Cal groaned as we broke apart. “This dinner is going to be torture with Udo and Eduardo there.”

“Why?” My brows furrowed with confusion. “You won, and Udo came in tenth, what could he possibly say?”

“Oh, trust me, he’ll find something to say or do. Those two live to make my life miserable.”

When I stopped at my room and slid my card inside, Cal stopped behind me. I could feel his body heat, he was so close. I wanted to lean back into him, but I held back from temptation. “What are you doing? We can’t let anyone see us.”

“You don’t have to remind me,” he growled. “I can’t wait until we’re back at my place, and I’ll have you all to myself for almost two weeks.”

Stepping inside, I turned and placed my hands on his chest. “You can’t come in. If you do, you know what will happen, and we can’t risk someone coming to either of our rooms and finding us in bed together.”

“What? You won’t let me inside?”

“You need to take a shower and get ready for dinner,” I said as nicely as possible. He was sweaty and stinky from his race but still gorgeous. It wasn’t fair that he could still look good with his hair stuck to his head. I wasn’t sure why he wouldn’t take a shower until he got back to the hotel, and normally I didn’t have a problem with it since I helped get him clean.

“We can’t do that together?”

“Not tonight.” When he stuck out his bottom lip and pouted, I wanted nothing more than to give in. He was too damn cute. “Please, Cal, wait until we get to California.”

He hung his head and shook it. “You’re staying with me, and I’m not letting you out of my sight.” He lifted his head with a big smile on his face. “To know we’re going to be at my house before and after Mexico…” His smile grew wider. “I’ve never been this excited to be home.”

I wasn’t going to let on how eager I was to see where he lived when he was at home. I was expecting a total bachelor pad with very little furniture.

Grabbing the fabric of his shirt, I pulled him to me and out of the hallway before I gave him a chaste kiss and pushed him back out. “You’ll get more once we land in California.”

“It’s going to be a long night. I can’t even flirt with you,” he pouted.

“Maybe we can have phone sex. We haven’t done that before.” I tried to entice him to not be in a sour mood all night. I knew how much he disliked Udo and Eduardo, and how they liked to taunt him when in the same room.

“If that’s all I can get I’ll take it, but I’d rather have the real thing.” He looked up at me with puppy dog eyes.

“I feel like you want me just for sex,” I said in a joking tone. In reality, though, I wasn’t kidding around when every comment he made was about him missing out on sex with me.

His face screwed up in anger before he pushed into my room and slammed the door shut. “Don’t say that about me. While the sex is nice, more than nice, I want you in my bed. I like falling asleep with you in my arms and waking up with you by my side.”

Instantly, I melted at his words and moved toward him. He knew exactly what to say. “Fuck, you deserve a blow job for saying that.”

His face went from pissed to lustful in the blink of an eye. “I’ll happily take you up on that after my shower. Or you could join me.”

“Not today.” I reached out and took his hand in mine. Running my fingers over the back of his hand. “I’m sorry for my words, but sometimes I do feel like I’m a convenience to you, and sex is all you want.”

“I never wanted to make you feel that way. If we can’t have sex, I still want to hang out with you. I hate that we have to hide our relationship, but I know we can’t be caught as well.”

Relationship? I liked hearing him call what we had a relationship.

Pulling me into a hug, he wrapped his strong arms around me and rested his forehead to mine. “For the first time in forever, I want someone by my side, and I can’t share you with the world. I hate that I’m your dirty little secret.”

“Oh, Cal,” I brushed my lips lightly across his. “You are in no way my dirty little secret. You are quickly becoming my everything, and someday we’ll be able to share it with the world.”

His blue eyes turned dark like a raging storm as his hold loosened, and he took a step back, clearing his throat. “Before I tackle you on your bed, I’m going to leave. May I escort you down to dinner?”

“Of course.” I wanted to kiss him and make him feel better. I wanted to tell him that I was falling in love with him. Instead, I stood strong and watched as he backed out of my room. I didn’t move until I heard his hotel room door slam shut. Only then did I let out a shaky breath and move to get ready for dinner.

* * *

The momentwe stepped up to the table, I knew Cal’s other teammates were going to be trouble. They leered at me as I took my seat and kept their eyes on my breasts until Cal cleared his throat. It didn’t help that they were sitting directly across from me. Neither did the fact I couldn’t wear a bra with my dress. When I bought the slinky number back in Monaco, I hadn’t thought about a bra. Silly me. And the only other dress that I had for the occasion that everyone hadn’t seen was the one I had on tonight. It was champagne-colored with a deep V neckline that stopped only a few inches above my belly button. The hem ended mid-thigh, leaving a lot of skin showing. Too much for this dinner with Cal’s bosses and teammates. Now I was regretting not buying more clothes throughout the season. Callum always had so many amazing destinations for us to visit that I never had the time or even thought about shopping.

Colton looked at Cal with a furrowed brow. I was sure he was wondering what he’d missed or what the problem was now. I didn’t think Cal, Udo, or Eduardo had ever got along, and it made me sad to think of Cal always traveling alone without anyone to talk to. The only ones he seemed to get along with were Kaspar, who always seemed to be busy, and Colton and Rylee, who were only at a few races each season.

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