Page 31 of Too Close To Call

All the other guys in garage bay number two leave their current jobs and quietly exit. I wait until Paul closes the garage door before I look back up at Case. His gaze is still plastered to my face and his stripped-raw look catches my breath. I reach up and palm his cheek, trying to ease his pain. He closes his eyes and nuzzles into my hand.

For the first time, I have to doubt if me being here is what he needs from me. Instead of reminding him of the love and happiness we once shared, I seem to be doing the opposite. If I really want the best for him, is it time for me to accept it might not be me?

Maybe, but I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet. I need to change gears and find a pocket to sit back in and ride to the finish line.

CHAPTER 11

CASE

“What the fuck do you do to me?” I ask, desperately needing the answer to help me learn how to stop wanting her.

The moment I walked into the garage bay and found her bent over the RAM, ass in the air, while Paul and Axel took advantage of the view, I lost it. Jealousy sparked through me and I saw red.

Now, her touch is like a balm to my aching heart. I open my eyes and she smiles. Her eyes twinkle and fill with glimmers of love. But I don’t want to see that. My arm reaches out and wraps around her, pulling her against me, and then I’m kissing her.

What’s even more incredible is that Tori is kissing me back just as hard and intense as I feel. Her hands inch up my chest and snake around my neck, and with a jump and my hands cupping her ass cheeks, her legs wrap around my waist. In two steps, I have her sitting on the hood of a late model Honda.

I pull her roughly against my hardened cock, rubbing her just right as my lips and mouth devour hers. Again and again, I take her with my tongue, nipping with my teeth and fucking her mouth just as I want to fuck her body.

Frantically, Tori runs her fingers through my hair, scratching my scalp and I hiss, losing what little control I have left. Our breaths are ragged and short as we tear at each other’s clothes. I rip the buttons of her shorts off, push the zipper down, and then peel them, along with her pink panties, down her legs. Pink.

Oh, fuck, I love her in pink.

She has my zipper undone and pushes my jeans and boxers down. I don’t even bother to take my pants all the way off or my shoes. I can’t. I need in her too badly. Tori lies back on the car and pulls me right along with her. I pause and make eye contact to ensure we’re both on the same page.

She nods and her lips curve into a sexy grin. “Yes, Case. I want it too. Always. Forever.”

I want to pull back and walk away, but I want her so much all reason and resolve fade away. “I don’t have forever to offer you, Tori. All I can promise is right now. In this moment.”

“It’s okay.” The light in her eyes dims and she whispers, “This can be just what you want. It doesn’t have to mean anything more than what it is.”

I don’t even like hearing her say that. It’s so wrong. By the look on her face, I don’t think she believes it any more than I do. “You shouldn’t settle for anything less than a whole heart and I don’t have that to give.”

“I don’t believe that, Case.” She reaches up and rests her palm over the middle of my chest. “I know the man I fell in love with is inside this beating heart. I hope you’ll let me mend what I broke. Your heart is precious to me, Case. I never should have handled it carelessly.”

She’s saying all the words I need to hear. I’m just not sure I trust her to mean what she’s saying. The timing is off, if she’d said them years ago I would have believed her. But not, they don’t mean as much. “We can never go back.”

“No, we can’t. But we could go forward, one step at a time. I never want to cause you any more pain, Case. If you tell me we’re over and that me and Daisy being here is too hard for you… then we’ll leave. It will rip my heart out, but we’ll go and you’ll never have to see us again.”

A wounded-sounding moan rips from my throat. I can’t bear it if she leaves. Dale didn’t want us to be together and that plays tricks with my mind. “I don’t want you to leave, but I don’t know if I can be what you need me to be. I may not be what’s best for you and for Daisy.”

With my face in her palms, she looks into my eyes. “Don’t take this chance away from us. Let me decide what’s best for us. It’s you, Case. You are the very best thing for both of us. All I’m asking for is a chance. Stop fighting me on this. Get to know me again and my daughter.”

Just then, the front door opens and a very loud Paul announces they’re back. Tori scrambles off the hood and searches the floor for her clothes while I pull my pants up and tuck things away. One very angry thing that didn’t get inside Tori.

“Come over tonight. You and Daisy,” I ask before we are descended upon.

Tori grins and twists her messy hair back up into a ponytail. “Okay. Want me to cook?”

I chuckle and shake my head firmly “No. Absolutely not.” I remember her cooking.

The guys find us laughing together, which causes them to scratch their heads. We’d just done a complete aboutface in a very short amount of time.

Daisy runs to her mother with two cups of ice cream in her hands. “Mommy, we brought you back some ice cream. Axel said you two would need something to cool you off.”

I glare when Paul and Axel snigger at sweet Daisy’s misinterpretation.

She hands Tori one cup. “I got your favorite, salted caramel.”

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