“Anyway, let’s go and change, Ryker. We’ll be right back, guys.” Mila gave me a sympathetic look and they walked out of the room. “We’re going to have a great time tonight racing those fast cars around the track.”
“Yeah, it’ll be fun.” I nodded and then I looked at Parker and grinned. “You’re going to let me drive first, right?”
“Hmm, not sure.” He laughed. “Are you a good driver?”
“I’m an awesome driver.” I gave him a look.
“I don’t want it to be a bumpy ride.” He tilted his head.
“It will be a smooth ride.” I rolled my eyes at him and laughed. “I’m a good driver...” I paused as his expressionchanged. “What?” I looked at him curiously. “What is it you want to say?” I asked again as his eyes grew brighter and he grinned at me.
Chapter 2
Parker
“I can takeyou on the ride of your life. The smoothest ride ever,” I said—and then I groaned under my breath, realizing I’d just made a sex joke to my little sister’s best friend. I could see her looking at me with wide brown eyes as she waited for me to say something else. Something that would clarify my statement, like “I’m an awesome driver and I’m great with cars. Let me drive you around first and it will be the ride of your life.” Of course, I didn’t say that because that wasn’t what I’d meant. She knew it and I knew it, so what was the point of pretending? I wasn’t even sure why the comment had popped into my mind. Maybe it was because she’d been talking about smooth and bumpy rides and I had a dirty mind. As soon asridehad been mentioned, all I could think about was her riding me. Which was highly inappropriate. I knew that. But I was also a guy and always had highly inappropriate thoughts. Even about Lara. Not that I’d ever voiced them before, though.
Normally, I wouldn’t care that I’d made a sexual innuendo. Only, that was with girls I didn’t know. And that I didn’t care about. Lara was different. In a “you’re my sister’s best friend and I’ve known you forever” kind of way. I’m the kind of guy who always gets the girl. Well, at least the majority of the time. I’m also the kind of guy that most girls would call smooth. I’m not going to pretend that I’m not. I’m handsome. Some women call me adorable, some call me hot, many call me sexy. I can’t help it if I’ve been blessed. Only, there are times when I’m not so smooth, not so confident, not so self-assured. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes, like right now, I said something that was out of place and I regretted it.
“Sorry, what?” Lara asked, a half smile on her face. “The ride of my life, huh? What sort of ride could that possibly be?”
“Sleep with me and you’ll see,” I said teasingly, continuing to go down a road I wasn’t sure I should be going down. I laughed to show her that I wasn’t being serious, though to be honest, I wasn’t really joking. If she said yes, I’d have her in my bedroom in ten seconds flat. Once Ryker and Mila exited, of course.
“What did you say?” The smile on Lara’s face was shocked and slightly unsure. Her brown eyes looked into mine with a confused expression and I burst out laughing as I gazed at her.
“I’m joking,” I said with a huge grin, trying to pretend that I didn’t really want to rip her clothes off then and there. She chewed on her lower lip and continued to look at me uncertainly. I wanted to lean forward and take her lower lip in my mouth and suck on it. Only, I knew that wasn’t appropriate, though I wasn’t sure how appropriate I wanted to be. I’d been appropriate with her our whole lives, so why couldn’t I have some fun with her now? We were both adults, after all.
“Oh, okay.” She looked at me uncertainly and I worried that maybe I shouldn’t be teasing her like this. Maybe it wasn’t fair. Ryker had told me once that he thought Lara had a crush on me,but I didn’t really see it. She’d never tried to hook up with me and I was pretty sure she saw me as a brother. Granted, there had been times when I’d seen her looking at me and batting her eyes, but what did that mean, really? She knew I wasn’t the sort of guy who was looking for a girlfriend, so I was sure she would take my flirting innocently. And if she happened to be down for some no-strings-attached sex, who was I to say no? I mean, if I was completely honest with myself, I’d known it when she had a teenage crush on me, but that had seemed to die as soon as it started. And maybe sometimes I wondered if she still liked me. And maybe sometimes I wondered what she was doing and if she was dating anyone, but that didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean I wanted anything from her, aside from some hot sex. And hot sex was not worth risking the friendship or the dynamic we had. And Mila would kill me if I hurt her best friend.
“Sorry, that was inappropriate. I shouldn’t have gone there.” I gave her my most apologetic smile and bowed my head. “But you know us guys, sometimes we don’t think properly.”
“That’s okay.” She nodded and gave me a small smile, her face still looking confused.
“But yeah, you can drive first,” I said to her, trying to defuse the situation. “I’m sure you’ll be good, and if you’re not, I can show you how it’s done.”
“Uh-huh.” She laughed and shook her head. “Sure you can.”
“Sure he can what?” Mila walked back into the room and looked at us curiously.
“I was saying I don’t need his help driving a car quickly,” Lara said and laughed, throwing her head back, and I watched as her long black hair moved back and forth. She looked at Mila and then she looked at me, her brown eyes gazing into mine softly for a few seconds as she laughed, and I was struck at how innocent and youthful she looked. Something in me stirred as I watchedher face, and I smiled back at her, unable to stop myself from sharing in her happy moment.
“Oh, yeah, don’t let Parker drive.” Mila laughed, and I watched as Lara looked away from me and at her, and the moment was broken. I felt a sense of loss for a few seconds and frowned. I wasn’t sure what that was about.
“I think I need to eat,” I said and rubbed my stomach. “My head is feeling funny due to lack of food.”
“I’m hungry myself,” Mila agreed and rubbed her stomach too. “What are we eating? Chinese?”
“No Chinese tonight.” Lara shook her head. “What about Indian?”
“I had Indian last night.” I shook my head. “What about Thai?”
“We had Thai last night.” Mila laughed. “What about Italian?”
“I can do Italian,” Lara said, and I grinned.
“Can you now?” I winked at her and she blushed.
“Parker!” Mila growled at me and laughed. “That was so inappropriate.”
