Page 48 of Drive To Survive

She twisted her head in my direction and shielded her eyes from the sun. “We can’t stay here forever. I’m feeling a hundred percent better than I was, and besides, I need to get back to work. My clients will find someone else if I don’t deliver a good service, and I can’t afford to lose them. Work is scarce.”

“You’re a website designer, yeah?”

She wrinkled her nose, her eyes narrowing. “How do you know that?”

I tapped my temple and smiled. “Can’t give away all my secrets.”

Rolling her eyes, she nodded. “Yep, I freelance designing websites for small businesses.”

“I have internet access. Why can’t you work here?”

I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth, and by the surprise inching across her face, neither could Everly. My entire adult life, I’d lived on the edge when it came to racing but controlled everything else in my life, including how close I allowed the women I dated to get. Yet here I was, two months after meeting Everly, and only a few days of seeing each other, if what we were doing could even be described as that, and I’d almost asked her to move in with me, or at the very least to hang around for a good while longer.

She dropped her hand and bowed her head, then leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. Her eyes tracked Rhett splashing about at the edge of my pool.

“I think it’s for the best,” she said. “I don’t want Rhett to become too attached to you or to all this.” She swept her hand around, gesturing to my backyard. “Our lives are a long way from this, Nico, and while I understand the temporary nature of our relationship, Rhett doesn’t. He’s already lost one key male figure in his life. If I allow him to get too comfortable here, and with you, he’ll be devastated when he loses another.”

“Temporary?” I pinched the bridge of my nose and pushed down a bite of irritation. “Who said anything about temporary? For God’s sake, Everly, you’re talking like our relationship is ending, when for me, it’s just beginning. This is supposed to be the fun part, yet the way you’re talking, anyone would think we’re breaking up.”

She ran her tongue over her lips, and all I wanted to do was kneel in front of her and kiss her, to feel that tongue stroking my own.

She plucked at her skirt and avoided my eyes. “But it will end at some time, won’t it? All I’m trying to do is protect my son from getting hurt.”

“Will it? Says who?” When she still wouldn’t look at me, I gently clasped her chin and turned her head. “Is that what you want? To call things off?”

“No!” she exclaimed.

“Then why are you pushing me away?” I bit out, disbelief giving my tone a clipped edge.

She sighed heavily. “I’ve told you. To protect Rhett.”

I rubbed the space between my eyebrows. “Do you think I’d simply walk out on Rhett, regardless of what happens between us?”

“You’d have to. It’d be awkward otherwise.”

I shook my head and huffed. “Rhett has a real future in racing, Everly. I want to nurture that, to sponsor him through the years ahead. As long as he has a passion for it and he’s willing to put in the hard yards, then I want to make his dreams come true.” I reached for her hand, folding her much smaller one inside my roughened palm. “You are a crazy lady, you know that? We’re just getting to know one another, and I, for one, am damn keen to learn a lot more. I’m not letting you go.”

“You want to sponsor Rhett’s racing career?” she asked, her eyes softening.

I might have known Everly would focus on what I said about Rhett rather than referencing the commitment I’d made about us and our relationship. She always put that kid ahead of everything else, and since being with her, for the first time in my life, I’d begun to understand the selflessness of a mother’s love. And damn if that didn’t make me hard for this woman.

“Yes.”

She burst into tears.

“Fuck,” I expelled, rising to my feet, then dropping to a crouch in front of her. “Don’t cry. Rhett will think I’ve upset you, and he’ll probably kick my arse. He’s tough for a little guy.”

She laughed through her tears, which brought on hiccups. I clutched her shoulders and eased her to a standing position, then wrapped my arms around her and held her close until she got her emotions under control.

“I suppose we could stay for another few days,” she said. “If you’re willing to have us, that is. But this doesn’t mean we’re moving in, and I need your help to make that very clear to Rhett. It’s too soon.”

Intense relief raced through my veins, relief so powerful that soon I’d have to take some time alone to figure out why I felt like I’d just been gifted everything I’d ever wished for. She said only a few days, but I could persuade her otherwise, given time.

I dropped a peck on the end of her nose. “We’ll tell him together. Later on. In the meantime, what do you think we should do today? I wondered if maybe you wanted to take a trip to Griffith Park.”

Everly stared at me as if I’d grown two heads, her lips parting. “That’s Rhett’s favorite place ever. Like, ever. He prefers it over Disneyland, not that we can go there very often on our budget. But seriously, he’ll go crazy. How did you know?”

I shrugged. “Lucky guess. Hey, Rhett,” I shouted over at him.

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