He reached for his jeans and pulled them up. “Will you come watch me race tomorrow night? I’ll need a good luck kiss like the one you gave Dane.”

I sat up and tucked the sheet under my arms. “Oh, no. I’ll give you a better one than that. You’ll feel it all the way down to your...toes.”

“Maybe you should practice now so you’ll have it perfected by tomorrow night.” He leaned over and kissed me. “Since your parents are coming home today, does that mean I won’t see you until tomorrow night?”

“I’m sure they’ll have dinner plans for us, so I guess so.”

“Will you be able to make it that long without me doing everything except the deed itself to you?”

I didn’t know. I could see how it could become addictive real quick. “I’ll do my best.”

“There’s something I need to ask you. Since you’re my girlfriend now, could I ask you to be my companion for a banquet on Saturday night?”

“I would love to be your companion. What kind of banquet is it?”

“It’s a ceremony honoring my dad and some of the police officers in this region. It’s sort of a big deal because my dad is being recognized with a special award.”

“Is it black tie?”

“No, it’s semiformal so you won’t get to see me in a tux, but this could be your one and only chance to see me in a suit and tie.”

I’d have to find a way to get away without my parents seeing me in a semiformal dress. That would definitely send up a red flag. “Can I meet you at your house?” I knew how that sounded. In other words, I was telling him to not pick me up at my house because I wasn’t introducing him to my parents.

“Sure.” I heard the hurt in his voice, but it was better to hurt him a little now rather than have my parents forbid me from seeing him. I knew from experience that they weren’t afraid to do that.

He grabbed his T-shirt off my dresser and pulled it over his head. He came back to my bed to sit by me and he ran his fingers down my arm. “God, I don’t want to leave. I wish I could stay here with you in this bed all day, but I have a lot of stuff to do to get my car ready. This next guy isn’t going to be as easy to beat.”

“You sound a little worried.”

He kissed the tip of my nose. “Nah, I’m gonna smoke that clown.”

He got up from the bed and I followed him, wrapping the sheet under my arms. “You don’t have to get up. I can let myself out.” He kissed my forehead. “Go back to bed and sleep a little longer. It was a long night.”

That was the understatement of the year. “Okay, but call me later.”

“I wouldn’t dream of not calling you, Love.”

I watched him walk out the door and when I was sure he was gone, I fell back onto my bed. Love? Was it possible for him to love me so soon? I might not think so except I had the same feelings. I loved him. I knew it deep down in my bones. I loved Nick Hawke, even if the world thought I was crazy.

≈ ≈ ≈

37 hours and 20 minutes. That was approximately how long it had been since I saw Nick and it was too long. I didn’t like being apart from him and talking on the phone wasn’t enough. I needed to see him and touch him and I wouldn’t be happy until that happened.

I wondered if he was as restless as me. He didn’t sound like he was when we talked on the phone and that worried me. Had he grown tired of me already?

Any worries or questions I allowed to creep into my head vanished the moment I saw him coming out of the door to his house. He was as anxious to see me as I was to see him.

He caught me around the waist and lifted me up for a tight hug. “Mmm. I have missed you.”

I squeezed him as tightly as he did me. “Oh, I’ve missed you, too.”

“I didn’t think tonight would ever get here.” He stepped away from me and looked me up and down. I was wearing one of my favorite casual dresses with a denim jacket and a pair of boots. “You look beautiful. I may lose this race because I can’t take my eyes off of you.”

“You better not. How much do you have on it?”

He lifted his brows at me. “I’ve got a ‘G’ on it, my biggest bet yet.”

$1,000? That had to be a lot of money for him. “Should you really be betting that much? What if you lost?”

He grabbed his chest. “Oh, you’ve wounded me and my pride. Don’t worry, Love. I never lose.”

There it was again. That word, Love. “I hope not because my money is on the Camaro.”

“So, you’re bettin’ on the car without consideration for the driver? Tsk. Tsk. Haven’t I taught you anything?”

I felt like being a little saucy so I slipped my arms around his waist and pulled him close. “You’ve taught me plenty.”

He put his face into my neck and rubbed his scruffy face against me. “I hope to teach you more real soon.”

I had given this thought and I was clueless. Where would we go for our alone time? “You know we’re spoiled, right? We had my house all to ourselves and now we have to find another place to be alone.”

“Never fear. I’ll come up with something.”

“I don’t doubt you for a minute.”

“Come on, let’s go.”

I looked down at my watch. “It’s almost an hour before the race starts. Do you normally go this early?”

“No, but I can’t help it. I want to go early so I can show off my girlfriend. My buddies are gonna jizz in their pants when they see how hot you are.”

Maybe I should have been offended by that, but I wasn’t. I was flattered. “Well, by all means, let’s get down there so the jizzing may begin.”

He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close as we walked to his car. “You have to be the coolest girlfriend ever. Most chicks would be all like, ‘Ewe, that’s gross. Don’t say stuff like that.’”

“Your first impression of me wasn’t all that accurate and you’re gonna have to figure out at some point that I’m not this delicate little flower you pegged me for. There’s nothing delicate about me.”

We got to ‘The Strip’ almost an hour before the race and people were already lining up and hangin’ out on the side of the road. Nick parked his Camaro on the starting lineup and told me to stay in so he could open my door for me. He wanted everyone there to know I was his.

I got out and could almost tangibly feel the staring eyes on me. It was awkward and I wondered how many of the girls looking me over were one of the unidentifiable numbers. I had to get over that. I couldn’t look at every girl around and constantly have that on my mind because it would drive me crazy. Nick and I were together. He brought me here because he wanted everyone to know we were a couple. It was that simple.

He held my hand possessively as he introduced me to so many people I couldn’t remember any of their names. Some of the guys didn’t say a word when he introduced me and I laughed to myself as I wondered if that was a jizz moment I was witnessing.

It was getting closer to race time and Nick’s opponent pulled up and parked next to his Camaro at the starting line. He stepped out of a corvette very similar to my Dad’s and I cringed a little because I knew how fast that car would go.

Nick must have seen the worry on my face. “Doll Face. It’s gonna be all right. I’m gonna beat him. Remember, it’s not just the car. It’s the driver, too.”

I tried to look confident, but I wasn’t sure I pulled it off very well. “I know.”

Man, I just wanted this to be over. It made me too nervous.

Jake called out the three minute warning and I knew it was time for Nick’s good luck kiss. He pulled me into his arms. “I’ve been thinking about this for a day and a half.”

I put my arms up around his shoulders. “A good luck kiss is a lot of pressure to put on a girl.”

“I have complete faith in you. And your lips.”

He hooked one arm around the back of my neck and supported my lower back with the other. He started kissing me and dipped me backwards like the famous photograph of the soldier kissing the nurse on Times Square.

I heard a lot of whistling, clapping and hollering as he kissed me, but I didn’t care. It was one of the most romantic things I’d ever experienced.

He helped me to stand upright again and steadied me on my feet. “All the way to my toes, just like you promised.”

My heart was pounding and I felt lightheaded. “I still feel a tingle.”

“Hold on to that tingle and we’ll pick up where we left off when I’m done smokin’ this clown.

“Deal.”

He was in his car and I blew him a kiss as I walked to the finish line where the others were. I found a spot right on the line up front and wrung my hands as I waited impatiently to see him cross the red spray painted line first.

“He’s using you. You know that, right?”

I turned around and saw the whore that tried to hump him the night we met. “Excuse me?”

“Nick’s using you for sex.”

I had to laugh out loud about that one. I could argue that I’d have to be having sex with him in order to be used for it, but I wasn’t going there with her because it was none of her business. “Now would be the perfect time for you to become a missing person so run along and get lost.”

“Does Nick know what a bitch you are?”

She said I was a bitch like it was a bad thing. This chick didn’t want to pick a fight with me because it was a battle she wouldn’t win. I was a sarcastic genius. “He sure does and he loves the things my smart ass mouth can do to him.”

“Well, let me leave you with this thought. When he gets you in his backseat to screw you, just remember he had me there first.”

“Thanks for the tip. I’ll be sure to wipe the backseat down with bleach before I get naked.” I wanted to puke, but I wouldn’t let her see the way she had shaken me so I put on my poker face and prepared for my next best comeback. “Look, this bitch doesn’t want to be one of your 99 problems, so can you please cage the rage before I have to activate the Bat Shit Signal?”