I tugged her hand, forcing her to look at me. “You can pretend all you want, Vi. But we both know you’ll end up right back here.”
Her lips parted, some retort on the tip of her tongue, but she caught herself.
Got you.
My thumb traced over her pulse. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“I need to get dressed.”
“Not until you admit it.” I eased closer, my voice low. “You want this. You always have.”
Her chin lifted. Stubborn. Always fucking stubborn. “Wanting something doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.”
I grinned. “You ever known me to be interested in good ideas?”
She gritted her teeth. “Just because you’re an adrenaline junkie, doesn’t mean I should let you drag me under too. This,” she gestured between us, speaking with exaggerated slowness, “is a bad idea for a thousand reasons.”
I smirked. “Convince me.”
“What?” She blinked.
“Convince me this is wrong and I’ll back off.”
She stared at me, her eyes narrowing as she searched for a sign that I was joking. “You’ll really stop?”
I nodded. “Sure, but you won’t be able to do it.”
Damn woman had no idea how much she had infected me.
“First of all, you’re you. You don’t do serious.”
“Funny, I was feeling pretty fucking serious five minutes ago.” My hand found its way to her throat, thumb tracing her collarbone, fingers curling gently around her nape. I couldn’t stop touching her, not when her pulse still hammered under my palm.
Her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t waver. “You’re impulsive.”
I shrugged. “So are the best overtakes.”
She exhaled sharply. “My father?—”
“Isn’t here,” I said, tilting her chin up with my thumb. “And he’s not the one I just had spread out on my kitchen table.”
Her lips parted, but she snapped them shut, nostrils flaring.
I smiled. “Next?”
“You can’t just shrug that off. He threatened your career.”
My hand slid from her throat, down her shoulder and along her arm, trying and maybe failing to soothe her.
“I know exactly what he threatened.”
She stiffened under my touch, but her hands didn’t leave my chest. “Then why are you acting like it doesn’t matter?”
I leaned in, so close she had to tip her head back to hold my gaze. “Because it doesn’t.”
Her eyes narrowed, disbelieving.
“You think I don’t know the risk? That I haven’t had to fight for my seat since the day I got it? Your father stopped wanting me on the team when I failed to win a third year in a row. The second he finds a reason to push me out, he will. But that’s got fuck-all to do with this.”
