Page 26 of Speed Trap

Dammit, he’s too seductive. That’s not fair.

“I can’t.”

“Of course you can. I know there's a stigma with people in a relationship?—”

“We’re in a relationship?” When had that happened? Itcouldn’thappen.

“—In the workplace, but my team loves you. Hell, you’re probably our team mascot by now.”

“That doesn’t sound cringey at all.”

Hawk laughed and opened the passenger door. It flicked up like a wing as he pushed me gently down onto the black leather bucket seat until my knees buckled. “Trust me, I’m worse on Sundays.”

My purse and laptop case landed on my lap with a soft thud. “It’s Tuesday.” But I spoke to a closed door.

The leather interior of his car stole my breath. There was a hint of something else layered in the air beside the butter soft leather, like whiskey and woodsmoke. Something undefinable, but all Hawk.

He slid into the driver’s seat, closing us into the small pod.

“I feel like I’m lying down.” I pressed my hands to my thighs and tried not to clench them.

“Home, Princess? I’m going to need that address.” Hawk paused, sliding his fingers beneath my hands to interlace them. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, you know. I’ll take you home and leave you there, if that’s what you want. I’ll sit on your doorstep all night, or sleep in my car to make sure you’re safe.”

I frowned as he started the engine with a button. “Stalker much? Why do you care all of a sudden? You know I can’t— we can’t be—” Something hard lodged in my throat and I looked away from the darkened gaze that saw straight through me.

He saw far too much, and I should have hated it more.

But I didn’t.

CHAPTER NINE

HAWK

“We can’t be.”

Sunny never finished that thought, leaving me hanging. I didn’t push her though I kept our fingers laced together. Something akin to fear glimmered in Sunny’s eyes, and that heart wrenching sentiment was the last thing she said, though I kept talking.

I doubted she had heard anything after that at all.

The drive to Sunny’s house was a silent one. I’d tried to answer her question, but she cut me off to stare forward, her hands clenched in mine where I had pried them from her legs.

I mulled over her words when I realized she wasn’t listening anymore, turning them over until I was as frazzled as her, though for a seemingly different reason. But unlike Sunny, I refused to let my fear show. That didn’t mean she was lesser—far from it. I admired her for not hiding who she was, loved how her mind and body reacted to what she experienced, while I hid behind the walls I built for self-protection.

A prison I so often cowered behind in the early days until I forgot the walls were there and desensitized myself from the world. Sunny was different. Raw. She experiencedeverythingasit happened. No filter saved her or diluted the world she met head on.

Sunny Cooper would break those walls down I erected so long ago if she stayed around long enough to give us a chance. And that was where my confidence fell away. She reacted to my touch, craved the contact as much as I did. The thought of peeling her clothes away to spend the night worshiping the beautiful woman beneath almost crippled me.

She felt the same way. I could have sworn it on the engine of a Ferrari SF90 that she did. Maybe I was pushing too hard, too fast but…that was me. And whatever stopped her…well. That’s where that glimmer of fear came in, both intriguing and terrifying.

I’d started the prelude to the season wanting Sunny on my team, and soon after in my bed.

Now, I wanted to wake up with her every morning. I wanted to find out what she ate for breakfast and how she took her coffee. I wanted to see what she looked like wearing one of my shirts and nothing else.

It struck me that it was supposed to be the girl pushing for the relationship, not the guy. That was the stereotype, right? And for me, until now, that run had held true. She hadn’t flinched from me, and she hadn't pushed me away—not yet. Yet. One tiny, little word that scared the absolute fuck out of me.

Because something about this girl made me want to haul her into my arms, go all caveman on her and never let her go. To know she was mine, even if I never said it.

And if she was, I’d shout it to the world because I loved her.

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