Page 89 of All That Glitters
“Not to drive, Ashton.”
“But it could be.”
“Why won’t you just drop it? I have asked and begged you to drop it.”
“And you’re so very pretty when you beg, baby.” He reached for me, but I evaded his touch by taking a small step back, turning my head. I should’ve known he wouldn’t leave well enough alone. He took a singular step forward and held me steady with a hand behind my neck and his thumb braced under my chin. “You can’t get away from me, Helen. Not here. Not anywhere.”
“I could leave you here to walk home.”
“Imagine the paddling you’d get when I got my hands on you after that.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.”
But he would dare and we both knew it. Why didn’t that bother me? At all? It should.
He’d never raised a hand to me and he never would, but paddling me, spanking me, that was something different. And it shouldn’t affect me. It shouldn’t make me feel anything, but… It did.
My breasts grew heavy in my bra, my nipples tight and pebbled. My pussy grew damp and I was filled with an ache I couldn’t deny.
I wanted to push him.
I wanted to make him.
I wanted to see how far he’d go.
I wanted to see how far I’d go.
This was crazy and way off track. Mentally, I shook myself and forced my attention back to the matter at hand.
We were both professionals and this was a business meeting. We could behave as such because the other option would be to fuck like rabbits just to take the edge off.
God. Ashton was such a troublemaker.
“Now that I have your attention…” He tipped his forehead to mine, his eyes staring into mine, our mouths just close enough to feel breath… “If you could see in your own eyes what I see when you racing comes up, when you behind the wheel again comes up, you’d understand why I keep pushing, why I haven’t let up.”
He lifted away and eased his hold on my neck, but his body was still so damn close, so near…
“It’s been too long, Ashton.”
“That’s a fucking shit response, Helen. There are people who race all around the world who’d never been in a race car, and those who have been away and come back, who… Jake Curtis is a perfect example. He’s been out of racing for years, pretty much longer than you, and he’s getting back in a stock car, and I’m willing to bet, he’ll take Darien up on the offer to drive the 24, too.”
I hated when Ashton was right and he was too damn right about this. So, what was my hang up? Why wouldn’t I do it? Why wouldn’t I push to find a seat in a car?
Instead of looking too closely at my own stuff, I pushed back.
“Why are you so focused on me when you’re the one whose career is stalling out as you sit back not even trying? Or is that why? If you tell me all that’s wrong with what I’m doing or not doing, you don’t have to deal with yourself.”
The anger that lit in his eyes would probably have scared anyone who didn’t know him.
This was a roundabout conversation. It was pointless with no answers in sight. He wasn’t going to give an inch and I wasn’t going to give a mile.
“What if Darien said yes?”
“To what?”
“To letting you have my seat until I’m ready? To looking into creating a female team? Would you do it?”
