As the new season approached, I found it harder and harder to accept that my career was over. And while no one would admit to the real reason they were rejecting me, I knew the truth…Dad had called in some favors and made sure none of them took me. Maybe he wanted me to come crawling back to him, beg for his help in getting a job. After I dumped Hayden, of course. “There’s still one team I haven’t heard back from, though,” I added. “Myles’s new team, Stellar Racing.”
Hayden paused, and I could feel his guilt in the silence. Finally he murmured, “I’m sure they’ll say yes. And they’re not too far away, which is good.” His lips pressed against a ticklish spot along my ribs, making me clench my stomach. He chuckled at my reaction and then continued along his southerly path. When he got to my ankles, he pulled my top leg back, then began kissing along the inside of my bottom leg.
“Yeah…” I groaned. The anticipation of where his lips might lead him had me breathing heavier. What were we talking about?
When Hayden got to my knee, he paused and asked, “Do you regret your decision?”
He’d stopped kissing me and his tone was more serious than before, so I forced my brain to reactivate. Looking down at him peering up at me, I saw unmistakable concern on his face. Reaching down, I cupped his cheek. The stubble along his jaw was heavier than before. We were making up for lost time now that he was in tip-top shape again, and we hadn’t come up for air a lot lately. “No…of course not.” Even though my life was completely different from what I’d thought it would be, and even though I missed racing more than I’d thought I would, I didn’t regret choosing Hayden. My only regret was that my father couldn’t accept and support my decision.
Not wanting to think about my hazy, uncertain future, I leaned up and sucked on Hayden’s bottom lip. He made a satisfied noise, then shifted me back to my side and started over with his slow-paced seduction. He didn’t ask me any questions this time, and I was squirming with desire long before his magical tongue slid between my legs.
“Oh God…Yes,” I murmured, holding his head in place. He made a noise so erotic, I almost came instantly. As it was, I was on the brink, torn between letting myself go or saving it until he was inside me.
Wanting us to be satisfied simultaneously, I pushed him away. He was breathless when he looked up at me; his eyes were glorious as they burned with desire. Feeling worshipped, confident, and completely needed, I urged him to lie back, then straddled him. His eyes fluttered closed as I pushed him inside me. Mine closed too; there was nothing in this world that felt better than the two of us uniting.
We slowly began to move together, and every nerve ending in my body screamed in approval. I was so worked up, I was already on the verge of releasing, but I wanted this to last, wanted us to experience it together. Opening my eyes, I stared down at the man who had somehow claimed my closed-off heart. Watching the euphoria flicker across his features was mesmerizing, and it opened something deep inside me. I felt closer to him than I ever had before. We were competitors, friends, lovers…and soul mates. He completed the part of me that I hadn’t even realized was missing.
“God, I love you,” I murmured, my voice thick with emotion.
Hayden’s eyes opened and locked on mine. “I love you too,” he panted, reaching for my face. As he pulled me toward his mouth, he added, “So much…so goddamn much.”
Our mouths moved together as seamlessly as our bodies, and as I felt the pressure building and my release starting, I grabbed his face, kissing him harder. “God, Hayden…I love you…”
I barely got the words out before bliss exploded throughout my body in a wondrous wave of pulsing pleasure. Hayden only got out “I…” before he stiffened and cried out with his own release. We rode out the sensation together, our unity amplifying it into something beyond a mere physical act. We were connected in every aspect: body, mind, and spirit.
Hours later we stumbled out of bed and headed to the track. Keith had an announcement today that he wanted everyone to be there for. I didn’t need to go, since I wasn’t a member of the team, but I wanted to see Nikki…and honestly, I had nothing better to do with my day. I was living off my street racing earnings for now, but if Stellar Racing didn’t take me—and God, I hoped they took me—I might have to look for a day job just so I didn’t die of boredom.
We drove our street bikes through the inner gate of the practice track and I looked over at the Cox side, like I always did. I supposed one day I’d stop doing that…years from now. Pulling my gaze away, I focused my attention on the Benneti side. There were a bunch of people already there, standing around the three garage bay doors. Multiple tables were set up in front of the doors, each of them piled with snacks and refreshments. Some of the crew had beers in their hands, others had heaping plates of food. Were we celebrating something, or had Keith decided to have a party for no reason? Shit. Had he finally talked Dad into selling?
We parked our bikes a ways from the crowd, then took off our helmets. As we got closer, I saw Nikki standing next to another mechanic; she had a paper plate with a piece of cake on it. Nikki was wearing her red-and-black Benneti jumpsuit, another sight I still hadn’t gotten used to. She spotted Hayden and me just as my cell phone rang. I stopped to pull it out of my jacket pocket, and Hayden stopped with me. Looking at the screen, I saw that it was Stellar Racing—my last hope for a local team. Flashing my eyes up to Hayden’s, I said, “It’s them…Myles’s team. They must have an answer for me…”
Hayden grinned, as if he already knew what they were going to say. “Answer it,” he encouraged.
Taking a deep breath, I connected the call, then brought the phone to my ear. “Mackenzie Cox.” The voice on the other end was bright and bubbly…but their message was the same as everyone else’s: Thank you, but no thank you. That was it, the last haystack, and just like all the others, this one didn’t have a needle in it. No one was going to take me. No one nearby, anyway, and I didn’t want to go too far from Hayden. Not after everything we’d gone through to be together. It just didn’t seem right. No. I would find something else, something that worked for me…for us. “Thank you for your time,” I told them, before hanging up.
As I slipped my phone back into my pocket, Hayden’s face fell. “What did they say?”
Even though I felt like a door was permanently shutting in my face, I tossed on a smile. “Same thing everyone else said…no.”
Hayden frowned. “I’m so—”
I cut him off before he could finish. “Don’t. We both knew it was a long shot. I mean, they did just hire a bunch of ex-Cox employees, after all. Now, let’s go get some cake. I’m starving.”
Hayden was still frowning, but I didn’t want to hear about how bad he felt, so I left him there and headed for Nikki. She was frowning too as she looked me over. Then she handed me her slice of cake. “Here. You look like you need this more than me.”
“Thanks,” I said, taking the plate and immediately shoveling a chunk of cake into my mouth. It wasn’t a job, but it was Bavarian cream. That made up for some of it.
Nikki looked like she was about to ask me what was wrong, so I beat her to the punch. “Keith make his big announcement yet?”
She shook her head. “No, I think he was waiting for Hayden.” She looked over at him right as he caught up to us. He had a soulful look in his eyes that pierced my heart. I didn’t have time to be sad, though…and I didn’t want to discuss my fate, the fate I’d chosen.
“You’ve got to try this,” I said, shoving a forkful of cake into his mouth.
He started to look annoyed, then the taste hit him and his eyes fluttered closed. Oh yeah, that was the power of Bavarian cream. As Hayden chewed his cake, I debated whether I should confront my father. He still wasn’t answering my calls or returning them, and I’d stopped calling him a while ago, but maybe it was time for that drop-in now. Maybe if I told him to his face that he was being childish and meddlesome, and he needed to let me live my life in the way I saw fit, then he’d ch
ange his mind and call in some different favors. Doubtful, but there was always a slim hope he would see reason. It was either that, or I completely gave up and called it quits on racing…for good. And being in this garage—smelling the oil and grease, seeing the bikes and components all around—I just wasn’t sure if I could accept defeat. Not without one final battle.
As I was mapping out the conversation in my head, Keith walked out of the garage bay door and into the crowd hovering around the food. Strangely enough, Keith was with a rider in full racing leathers, complete with a black helmet with the visor down. Odd. And dramatic. The rider was wearing Benneti colors, though, so I quickly surmised that Keith’s announcement was that he’d hired someone. Great. I couldn’t get a job to save my life, and I’d just stumbled into a congratulations party for someone else. Perfect. In my resentment, I avoided looking directly at the rider. I shouldn’t be here.
Keith held his hands up over his head once he was outside, and the noise of idle chitchat dwindled to silence. “Everybody, thank you so much for being here. And in such a timely fashion too…” His eyes narrowed as he shot a glare at Hayden. Guess we’d spent a little too much time exploring each other this morning. Oops.
I saw Hayden flip his hand up in a friendly wave, like Keith was merely acknowledging him and not chastising him. Keith shook his head at Hayden, then told the crowd. “As you know, I’ve got exciting news. Benneti Motorsports has just acquired a new rider. And boys, your new teammate will blow you out of the water…”
He looked over at the rider and they obligingly took off their helmet. My jaw dropped to my chest when I noticed something I should have observed immediately. The new rider was a girl.
She looked about my age but was smiling at the crowd with a calm assurance that made her seem older. This was a woman who wasn’t easily intimidated. I wasn’t sure who she was, but I was a little startled by how much she looked like me: same dark, wavy hair, same deep brown eyes; we even had the same basic bone structure. She looked more like my sister than my actual sisters. Seeing a doppelgänger of myself was a little…unnerving.
Hayden seemed affected as well. From beside me, I heard him let out a long exhale followed by very quiet words. “Oh…shit.”
Curious about his reaction, I turned to look at him. “What’s wrong? Do you know her?”
Before Hayden could respond, Keith announced her to the group. “Everyone! I’d like you to meet our newest superstar, and Benneti Motorsports’ first and only female rider: Felicia Tucker. And take it from me when I say that this girl here can ride. She is going to obliterate every female record there is.” Locking eyes with me, Keith added, “Move over world, there’s a new girl in town.”
Felicia. Hookup’s oft-repeated comments about how much I looked like Hayden’s ex flashed through my mind, blinding me. No, it couldn’t possibly be the same girl. She’d left, and no one knew where she’d gone. This was coincidence. Had to be. Only…Hayden wasn’t acting like she was a stranger.
Felicia’s eyes were drilling holes into Hayden as she acknowledged the crowd. “It’s an honor to be a part of the Benneti Motorsports team, and I can’t wait to get to know all of you better.” Her raptor-like gaze hadn’t left Hayden’s, and ice formed in my belly. No, this couldn’t be happening.
Feeling like I was dreaming, I slowly swiveled to look at Hayden. He was pale as he stared right back at Felicia. “Felicia?” I asked quietly, my voice sounding shaky. “Your Felicia?”
Hayden turned to me slowly, and his eyes were the last thing to move away from her. Settling his gaze on me, he roughly swallowed. “No, not mine, not anymore…but…yeah…same girl.”
I felt like the air around us had turned thick with trepidation; inhaling was a struggle. I could tell Keith had hired her to get back at me because my father wouldn’t sell the track to him. Had he hired a female rider in a deliberate attempt to undermine what I’d done this year, or had Keith known that Hayden had once had a connection with this woman? As I turned to stare at Felicia, she shared a brief conspiratorial look with Keith, and I knew in an instant that she’d told him everything about herself. Keith had known she shared history with Hayden when he hired her. And it was obvious from the multiple glances she was giving Hayden as she moved through the crowd of eager men practically salivating to meet her that she wanted that history to continue. Her sultry eyes were clearly shouting, We’re not done yet.
Over my dead body, bitch.
Damn it. This was not what I needed right now. Looking back at Hayden, I narrowed my eyes at him, handed my cake to Nikki, and then started walking toward my bike. I couldn’t be here for this; Hayden reuniting with his old flame was not something I wanted to witness.
The tears started to form before I was even three feet away. But then, I heard boots pounding on the cement, running to catch up to me. Startled, I looked over to see Hayden by my side. Grabbing my hand, he laced our fingers together. Giving me a calm, reassuring smile, he said, “Where we going, Twenty-Two?”
I stopped and stared at him, dumbfounded. “Are you serious? Your ex reappears as your new teammate, and you’re asking me where we’re going? Don’t you want to stay and talk to her? Ask her why she disappeared on you? Ask her where she’s been all these years? Ask her what the hell she plans to do now that she’s back in your life?”
My words were getting faster, and my heart was accelerating to match them. Stepping into me, Hayden grabbed my face and kissed me, hard…in full view of anyone who might be watching. And the feeling of eyes burning into my back told me someone was most definitely watching.
When we pulled apart, Hayden left his hands on my cheeks. “You’re the one I love. She’s my past, and yes, seeing her shocked me at first, but you’re my present and my future. Where she went, what she wants, why she’s here…it doesn’t matter to me. Where you want to go right now, that’s all that matters to me. You’re all that matters to me. So tell me, Kenzie…where do you want to go?”
God, wasn’t that the question of the day. Where did I want to go? I wasn’t sure, but it filled me with relief and joy that he wanted to come with me. I smiled as I answered him. “Let’s go for a drive up the coast…and just…see where we end up.”
Hayden nodded, then leaned in to give me another kiss. When we separated, he whispered in my ear, “Race me?”
Grinning brightly, I whispered back, “Race me or chase me, Hayes.”
Also by S. C. Stephens
Untamed
Thoughtful
Reckless
Effortless
Thoughtless
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright 2016 by S. C. Stephens
Cover photography by Claudio Marinesco
Cover design by Elizabeth Turner
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ISBN: 978-1-4555-8887-9
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E3
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Also by S. C. Stephens
Contents
Copyright
S. C. Stephens, Furious Rush
(Series: Furious Rush # 1)
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