Page 97 of Handle Me

When we reached the start of the track, I released the breath I had been holding and glanced over at him. His eyes twinkled in the sunlight, and the corners of his mouth curved upward. I grinned back.

“I did it!”

“Yeah, you did,” he said, his voice thick with pride.

“I see why you love driving. I felt free,” I whispered. I offered him a small smile. “Thanks for believing in me.”

Anders reached out and brushed a strand of hair from my face, his thumb lingering on my cheek. The gesture was so tender and heartfelt that I almost forgot why we were here.

“You’re a natural,” he said softly.

His intense gaze flickered to my lips, and my heart skipped a beat as the air between us thickened. At that moment, I wanted him with a ferocity that left me breathless. The memory of our previous encounters came flooding back. The way he dominated me, pushed me to my limits, made me crave more.

Anders leaned in, his breath hot against my skin. “Do you feel that, boss?” he murmured, his lips hovering too close to mine. “That’s the rush of adrenaline. That’s living.”

“This is why you race,” I murmured, finally understanding.

“Nothing can touch it.” He paused, his gaze raking over my face. “At least, that’s how I used to feel.”

I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I should pull away. I should put a stop to this, but I not only could not, I didn’t want to.

“What changed?” I breathed.

“Everything.” His eyes dipped to my lips again. “I found someone who showed me what it really meant to feel alive.” Suddenly, he drew back. “I’m sorry. We can’t.”

“Why not?” The question burst out of me.

“You have a boyfriend,” he reminded me, “and you made it pretty clear we’re nothing more than friends. Just friends, right?”

His question hung in the air between us.

My tongue darted over my dry lips as I gathered the courage to come clean. “Anders, I—”

A sharp rapping at the window startled us apart to find Wilkes standing there, looking white as a ghost.

Anders rolled down the window quickly.

“Thank God. I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he said, his words rushed and worried.

“What’s wrong?” Anders asked.

“We’re about to lose McKinnons.”

I’d been around the track long enough to know McKinnons whiskey was one of his major sponsors.

“We can’t lose them,” Anders said, shaking his head, and maybe he loved me, but it was clear he loved racing, too. Without thinking, I grabbed his hand and held it.

“We’ll figure something out,” I promised him.

Wilkes glanced between us before letting out a heavy sigh. “Well, you better figure it out quickly because they’re coming to the track tomorrow to make their final decision.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

ANDERS

I hated the bottle staring back at me. We’d been locked in a silent battle of wills since I’d gotten home from dropping Lola and her car off at the hotel. Brex had driven me back to my place, not bothering to talk me out of a stop at the liquor store. He really wasn’t such a bad guy.

I wasn’t sure why I needed a bottle of McKinnons. The last thing I wanted to do was get drunk with tomorrow’s meeting on the horizon. It wasn’t like it would hurt, though. I hadn’t had a decent lap time in months.