Page 84 of The Bitter Heir and the Beauty

Before I move, I say, “I’m sorry I ran off. It won’t happen again.”

Understanding ripples across his features. “I know.”

“Thank you.”

He pulls me close and says, “I’ll love you forever if you let me.”

I melt into him and soon our lips meet.

I’m kindling and he just set me ablaze.

Even in the rain.

Maddock’s stubble gently scratches my cheeks, then my neck as he pauses and trails a kiss behind my ear, somehow knowing how that practically makes me purr. I breathe in his cedarwood and smoke scent, moving my hands up his back and loopingthem around his powerful shoulders to his arms that hold me steady.

Our mouths reconnect and we return to the kiss with a rhythmic give and take. Our breathing turns synchronous, our heart beats too.

Maddock’s rough palms brush along my arms before he laces his hands through mine. My skin tingles and I feel him burning for me.

Nothing can extinguish the flame between us. Not even the rain. But eventually, we part, trading a knowing smile.

Yes, I want him ... to kiss him. To do life with him. He draws me under the portico of the clock tower.

He says, “With the car’s headlights beaming along with the fog and rain, this feels like a scene out ofBack to the Future.”

I giggle because he’s spot on. “It was my favorite movie and not because they go back in time. I don’t want anything to do with that. It’s because they go fast.”

“At the speed of light. What’s the Porsche’s top speed?” he asks.

“A shade over two hundred.”

He gawks. “Have you gone that fast?”

“Only on an authorized race track.” Taking a deep breath, it’s time to tell him my last secret. “Aside from aiding and abetting Ambrette and my mother, I wasn’t entirely innocent. My tattoo is of two crossed checkered flags. I’d drag race. Then, shortly after I turned eighteen, a professional recruiter approached me one night at Farmer Daley’s. We called it The Stretch because if you couldn’t get your car up to top speed before the bend in the road, there’d be a bottleneck before it straightened out again and the other driver would crash and burn. It was a particularly tricky spot.”

“Let me guess, you’d nail it.”

I can’t help my smile. “Every time.”

“I’d expect no less.”

“He said I had real talent. Asked me to compete. It was my dream.”

“That’s amazing. You were a professional race car driver? You won that trophy,” he says, referring to the one at the Grille.

“Took regionals and was on my way to nationals, plus lots of smaller races in between.” I shake my head slowly. “Then Cory died. A few years later, my mother was arrested. I promised myself never to scheme or swindle. When the Guidry’s left me high and dry with the restaurant, it was all I had. Taking over the Grille forced my hand. I had to put my head down and focus ... give up my dream.”

“On others, not on racing.”

I nod. “How else was I going to get by? If I made my life small, I’d avoid tragedy.”

“There’s nothing small about your personality.”

I snort a laugh. “I always said I’d go back to the track when ...” My voice drops to a whisper. “When the time was right.”

“Twice a day.” Maddock points to the clock.

A smile slowly blossoms on my lips. “I guess so.”

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