I CURSED AS I pushed my bike harder, faster, trying to regain the ground I’d lost when Panther had taken to the sidewalk to pass the traffic. He was in a mood to play—and win—but I wouldn’t be giving in so easily.
I hadn’t done anything illegal in the hop, but not following the rules to the letter obviously riled him up enough that it’d been either kick each other’s ass on base in front of everyone, or find another way of dealing with pent-up aggression.
I could’ve thought of a better way, personally, but it would’ve involved no clothes and something other than our bikes between our thighs.
Up ahead, Panther looped through the cars with amazing ease for how fast he was going, and if he hadn’t been kicking my ass, I would’ve almost smiled. For someone who cared so much about rules, he sure wasn’t so keen on following them right now.
The beach traffic was a pain in my ass, and as Panther blew through a yellow and it turned red before I got there, I swerved onto the sidewalk as he had.
There. Getting closer now, but I needed to pull out some serious maneuvers if I was going to win this thing. And I didn’t like to lose.
I managed to catch his tail, and I knew the moment he saw me in his mirrors, because he shot a finger my way.
So pissed,I thought, my lips curving. Pissed meant passionate, and that was something I could work with.
He continued blocking me at every turn, ratcheting up my frustration. We weren’t far from the end, and I didn’t have long to win this thing. If I were an asshole with a death wish, I would’ve bumped his back tire to send him spiraling out. The only problem with that plan is I’d probably end up in that wreckage too—and my idea of taking Panther down didn’t include casts, just a bed. Or a counter. Or a wall. I wasn’t picky.
I faked to the right so I could move around him on the left, but Panther didn’t take the bait. Unwavering, he kept his lead through the final stretch, and then he veered down onto the beach.
Sand sprayed everywhere in his wake, forcing me to move to the side, narrowly avoiding the massive rock foundations at this end of the beach. No one usually came down to the cliffs, not with the strong undertow in the water or the rocks casting shadows when they tried to tan. It was the perfect spot to end this thing, and as I curved around one of the formations, I pulled even with Panther. Only a little bit further, a little bit more power, and—
Like he’d been saving a jolt of adrenaline to his engine for this very moment, Panther burst forward, flying to the finish line.
Fuck. Fuck that, fuck me, and fuck his bike on steroids.
As I slowed to a stop, Panther jumped off his bike, tearing off his helmet, and it took less than two seconds for me to do the same. I stalked across the sand, the water crashing against the rocks not far from us, and jammed my finger into his chest.
“Are you fucking kidding with riding on the sidewalk? I doubt that was in your rulebook.”
Fire blazed in Panther’s eyes, hot and triumphant. “I told you to throw out the rulebook.”
“I didn’t realize you even knew how.”
Panther stepped forward, pushing me back. “So now you know how it feels, right? When someone doesn’t follow the rules?” His voice was low and husky, and I could feel my cock stirring. “Makes you want to kick my ass, doesn’t it?”
“I wasn’t thinking kicking. I was thinking fucking.”
Panther strode forward the two steps he needed until his chest was up against mine. “Is that all you ever think about?”
Not about to back down, I angled my chin up. “When it comes to you, yeah, pretty much. Also, I was just watching your ass for the last twenty miles, and I gotta say, you bent over—”
Panther grasped my chin, halting my words. His eyes were boring into mine now, even as his fingers dug into my skin, and his aggression was ramping up my need to push him that little bit further.
“Aw, come on, don’t stop there,” I said. “Things were just getting interesting.”
Panther took a step forward, making me take one back, and when my foot sank into the sand, causing me to stumble a little, he smirked and kept coming until the two of us were between two massive rock formations the waves had carved out over the years.
Out of the public. Out of sight. We were one hundred percent hidden from view, and when my back came up against the jagged surface behind me, Panther stopped, dropped his hand, and said, “Unzip your fucking jeans.”
26Panther
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE time I kicked Solo’s ass and when he’d torn his helmet off to give me a good tongue lashing, all of my pent-up anger and frustration had finally reached its boiling point. That was the only excuse I had for myself, as I watched the sexy daredevil reach for the button of his jeans.
Hell, who was I kidding? They weren’t the only reasons I was out here. They weren’t theonlyreasons I’d picked such a secluded place as the end point to this death race alongside the Black Rock Cliffs. The real reason I’d ordered him here, therealreason I’d suggested it, was that somewhere in the back of my mind, I’d known it would come to this.
I’d known from the first moment I’d locked eyes with Solo in that damn bar that I was going to have him, that he was going to be mine, and it was going to start right fucking now.
“Unzip my jeans, huh?” Solo’s tongue came out to tease his lower lip as he popped the button free.
