Page 21 of Bending Under Pressure

As soon as I shift into park, I glance at Haley. My eyes widen as she leans over, grabs my face, and kisses me. She’s kissing me. My surprise wears off quickly when her tongue traces my lips, begging for entrance. Our mouths part and this is the best kiss of my entire life. I knew kissing Haley would be mind blowing, but she’s shattered the world. She pulls away, resting her forehead on mine, and we stare at each other, breathing heavily.

“Oh,” she breathes like she’s realizing what she did.

Before she can pull away, I slip a hand underneath the hair at her neck and kiss her again. The sigh that falls from her lips nearly undoes me. A pounding on my window pulls us apart.

“Come on,” I tell her, my voice low with need. I try to get rid of the urge to rip all her clothes off with a shake of my head. Two kisses. Two kisses from this girl and I’m already losing my mind.

Cameron slaps me on the shoulder. “Congratulations, man!” I grin, especially when he hands me a small wad of cash. We don’t always take wagers, but when we do, Cam is in charge of it. It’s not a lot, I mean, we are kids in high school, but when a bunch of us get together, it’s a nice little chunk of change. I shove the cash into my pocket before Haley comes around to stand next to me.

A crowd has gathered and they begin to congratulate me. My mind is still on the kiss though, so I wrap my arm around Haley’s shoulders, tucking her into my side. Once things start to slow down a bit, I glance down at Haley, who smiles back at me.

“Amazing,” she says simply. “I was completely mesmerized, especially with how little space was between y’all,” and this is when I realize she isn’t talking about the kiss. “That was the best thing I’ve ever experienced.” She falters for a moment, her cheeks reddening with a blush. “I couldn’t help what happened afterward.”

“Want to do it?” Her brows wrinkle and I add, “Racing, I mean.”

“I can’t drive a stick.”

Alan has finally made his way to him. “Good race, Keelan. I almost had you.”

I laugh. “Sure you did.” Really, I have no clue. “Let’s go again. This time, Haley is driving. We can circle around.”

Alan’s eyebrows disappear underneath his hair hanging over his forehead. “Seriously?”

“What are you talking about?” Haley adds. “I just said—”

“I was listening. Trust me for a second.” I turn to Alan. “You up for it?”

“Hell, yeah. We’re going again, folks!” he shouts, going over to his car.

I open the door and slide into the driver’s seat. I lift the steering wheel and move my seat back a bit. I hold my hand out to her. “Come sit in my lap, Hales.” She hesitates for a moment before getting in. I want to groan at having her in my lap, but I manage to refrain.

“What are we doing?” she asks.

Ignoring her for the moment, I tell her where to put her legs so they aren’t in my way. I pull the seatbelt around us and buckle us in. With my lips brushing her ear, I explain, “You’re going to steer and I’m going to do everything else. It’ll do until I can teach you how to drive stick.”

“Seriously? You’re crazy. This is insane,” she objects.

“Better steer because we’re about to move.”

Her hands leap to the steering wheel. If we can make it back to the starting place, then we can easily do the race.

“I don’t even know how to get back!”

I laugh and give her directions. Every few seconds, she mutters under her breath about how crazy this is. When we stop next to Alan’s car, I ask, “Still want to do this?”

She glances at me from over her shoulder. There’s a spark in her eye. “Absolutely.”

And so, we’re counted down and we take off. It’s odd to drive like this, but it gives me an opportunity to keep a better eye on Alan. “A little to the left, Hales. Getting too close to him,” I tell her calmly. The last thing we need is for her to panic and overcorrect.

“Sorry,” she mutters.

Alan ends up winning, but Haley doesn’t care. The moment we’re fully stopped, she unbuckles us and turns in my lap to kiss me like she needs to breathe and kissing me is the only way she can get air. Could she be any more perfect? She’s an amazing kisser and on top of that, she likes fast cars and I’m pretty sure they turn her on. This kiss doesn’t last long unfortunately.

My door opens and we hear, “You were driving, Haley?”

We turn to see Jess. She tugs on Haley’s hand, pulling her out of the car, and I follow. Jess leads Haley away from me, causing me to frown. Where do they think they’re going?

“You let her drive?”

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