“Not if you want to stay alive,” he adds, and I grit my teeth, because this guy is not going to come in here and tell me how to live my life.
“Addie,” Dad says quietly. “He’s going to keep you safe. Let him do his job.”
I want to hold onto my anger and frustration that this man is going to parachute into my world and lay waste to all my carefully laid plans when I need everything to go as smoothly as it can right now, but there’s something about the way my dad is asking me to give in that I can’t say no to.
“Dad, everything is hanging on next week’s race,” I beg. “I can’t be thrown off my game now.”
“And you won’t be,” he says quickly—tooquickly. I feel like I’m only getting bits and pieces of the truth right now, but also, on the other hand, I have so much on my plate I can’t take anything else.
I have to take what they’re willing to give me at face value. This is serious. I let out a heavy sigh. “Okay.”
“Thank you, darlin’.”
“Can I get back to the track now?” I ask.
“Yes,” Dad agrees at the same time King denies.
“No.”
I look at him and feel like he’s telling me no just to be argumentative. However long this lasts, it’s going to be a test of wills between us. He’s probably used to women saying “Yes, sir” and rolling over like good little puppies to do his bidding. Well, he’s got another think coming if he thinks I’m just another lap dog.
“What now?”
“I’ll escort you down while Manny and your dad iron out the contract,” he states.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” I reply hesitantly.
“I do,” he says firmly, and I feel my lips press together to keep from fighting. There’s something about his body language, the way he’s holding himself back, just barely, that tells me he has been pushed enough for one day, so I concede and let him walk me back to the track. But I won’t be his doormat for the duration of this situation either.
“All right,” I reply softly. It’s always been my inclination to rise to the challenge, to pick up a gauntlet that’s been thrown, to fight. I want to yell back, but I’ve also learned that sometimes the better strategy is to be quiet and step back. Not retreat but regroup.
He doesn’t respond verbally. Instead, he nods, taking his point, and then he turns to follow me. Only he follows very closely. The heat from his hand is a specter that haunts me on the small of my back, just above my ass.
I like it. I like the heat he radiates, and I want to feel it all over. I want him, and I don’t want to do that at all.
The need to put a little distance between me and my moody bodyguard has me double-timing it down the steps toward the track. I hightail it through the pit and to one of the garage bays we use here. I think I hear a little growl coming from King, but I can’t be sure, because alarm bells are busy sounding in my ears.
“Addie?” Luna calls out, and I can hear a snicker behind her voice.
“It wasn’t lunch,” I call out as I practically run by. I snatch up my package of watermelon candy ribbons and stuff one in my mouth. “I’ll explain later!”
This beautiful man and I are going to come to blows. In a perfect world, it would be naked and in bed… or against a wall. I bet he could give good wall sex. But alas, it’s not meant to be. The disgust in his eyes when he looks at me says this is going to get ugly.
I just wouldn’t realize how ugly it would be until it was much too late.
Chapter 4
Test track
Iwould be lying if I said I had it all together. Although, at this point, no one would believe me.
After my dad dropped the wholeyour-life-is-possibly-in-dangerbomb on me yesterday, I was a little stressed out. When King declared he was the boss and did it with his sex-on-a-stick body really freaking close to mine, I was unhappy. And turned on. My panties were wet, and it wasn’t due to sweat in my FR suit. I knew then that this would not do. But it was when he informed me that we were now domestic life partners that I lost my shit.
“Excuse me?” I shouted when he tried to nudge me over to the passenger side of my car. No one drives my baby, my Hellcat, but me.
“I drive,” King said by way of explanation. “Always.”
“I’m a professional driver.”
