“Oh my god,” left my lips in a breathy whisper.
“So fucking good,” he said, pulling my lips back to his.
His tongue thrusted into my mouth as he began grinding against me, teasing my clit just the way I needed. Within seconds, I was digging my nails into his chest, moaning, whimpering, and shattering around him. My world was spinning out of control. I was so lost in the pleasure swimming through my veins that I wasn’t aware of anything else.
One moment, I was on top of him, and the next, I was on my knees with him thrusting into me from behind. My chest was pressed against the headboard that I was hanging onto to keep from falling over. He fisted my hair and turned my head to the side. He kissed my shoulder, my neck, my ear, and my jaw.
His hips slowed to a stop, and I looked over my shoulder at him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
The air around us warmed and filled with electricity that made every hair on my body stand on end.
Our eyes met, he wet his lips and said, “When this is over, I don’t want to go our separate ways. I want to start a new life. With you.” I could see all the insecurity filling his eyes. I could feel his nervousness, but my chest filled with happiness because I wanted that too.
My lips turned up into a weak smile. “I want that too.”
His brows lifted. “You do?”
I nodded. “We made it this far together. Why stop now?”
He smiled before leaning in and slamming his mouth against my own. He kissed me hard, but slow, and after a moment, his hips resumed their pace.
Things felt different, though.
I wasn’t in a hurry anymore. I wanted to go slow. I wanted to enjoy every second of being together. I knew that one day, far in the future, when we were married with kids and maybe evengrandkids, I’d be looking back on the way we met and the crazy weeks that followed. I wanted to make the best of every moment. I wanted to create a story with him that we’d tell our children and grandchildren. Something crazy and obviously problematic, but a story that showed love and how it helped us overcome together when the world was against us. It’s not often you realize that you’re living a moment that will stand the test of time, a moment that will be looked back on throughout your life, a moment that changes the trajectory of your entire life.
I knew that crashing into Oliver was the moment my life went flying off course, but it was a single moment in time that would live on forever.
Los Angeles.
It was easy to get lost in the glitz and glamor. It was easy to let the heat go to your head, to drink too much, to have too much fun in the clubs and bars, to get lost in the new love story you’d found yourself in.
What was hard was staying on task. We weren’t there for a vacation. We were there to do a job, and we couldn’t move on until that job was done. We needed to find a million-dollar car. We had to steal it without being caught. And we had to turn it over to the man who held Oliver’s life in his hands.
I worried that we’d do all of this only to be thrown to the sharks. I didn’t know this man, but I knew I couldn’t trust him. He was only out for himself. He didn’t care about Oliver, and he sure as hell didn’t care about me or our lives together. He wanted one thing and one thing only: money, and a whole lot of it.
We were sitting in the bar of some expensive hotel and casino. The bar faded into a five-star restaurant at the front of the building. We tipped the hostess to get a window table so we could watch all the guests coming and going. That also meant we got to watch the valet and every car that came through.
“Google says that there is a rare car show in town this weekend,” I muttered as I scrolled through the article on the burner phone we’d purchased. “I bet we’d find something there.”
Oliver scoffed. “You have any idea how much security they’ll have at a place like that?”
I shrugged one shoulder because, honestly, I hadn’t thought much about it. I wasn’t a thief, so my brain didn’t work like that. I dropped the phone onto the table and took a deep breath. “So what exactly are we looking for? What’s the plan? Just sit here and watch every car that comes through? Hope it’s worth enough?”
His green eyes moved from the window over to me as I sat across from him.
“Basically. I mean, time isn’t exactly on our side here. If we don’t find something today, we’ll go to a different hotel tonight. Maybe watch some clubs. Eventually, something worth something will come through.”
“How do you even know that?” I asked, growing bored.
“This is L.A., Crash. People come here to show off. They wear their best clothes, their most expensive jewelry. They leave thousands in tips for their cocktail waitresses. They drive flashy cars. They’re famous and loaded with money. We’ll find something. We just have to be patient.”
I knew he was right. We’d only been here a day, but I’d already seen everything he mentioned. Women were dressed in designer outfits with tiny dogs in hundred thousand dollar purses, and all of them were dripping in diamonds. The men they were with had stiff backs and noses so high in the air, I’dbe worried they’d drown if we weren’t in the middle of a desert. Just sitting in the hotel restaurant for an hour, I’d seen rich pricks throw their money around and talk down to their waiters because they deemed themselves better than those in the service industry.
I knew I couldn’t justify stealing a car. When I died, I would have to stand and wait for my sentence to be handed to me just like everyone else who sinned, but I hoped to earn some brownie points by stealing a car from one of those rich-better-than-thou bastards.
I took a deep breath and picked up the glass of water in front of me, taking a sip. My attention should have been on the street, but I found myself lost in thoughts of the future as I stared at the man in front of me. He wore a fitted black T-shirt that hugged his biceps. We didn’t have many clothes on this journey of ours, and as many times as I’d seen him in that shirt, you’d think it would’ve lost its effect on me. It hadn’t. The dark material was a perfect contrast against his bright green eyes. His dark hair needed a trim a week earlier, but I liked it slightly overgrown. It had that sexy, messy look. It no longer wanted to lie down. It stood up like I’d been fisting it—the way I often did when he had his handsome face buried between my thighs.
