He felt his engine roar to life and knew that he was going to get from zero to sixty in a nanosecond with this woman. But they were in public. At a party. A party his parents were attending.
He stepped back, keeping his hold on her waist but breaking the kiss. She looked up at him, a flush on her cheeks and neck, her breath coming in quick bursts. “What’s the matter?”
“I think we should get out of here before this kiss gets out of control,” he said.
“Is it getting out of control?” she teased, drawing her finger down the column of his throat and running it around the collar of his tuxedo.
A shiver of pure sensual delight went through him.
He was pretty close to saying the hell with it and leading her to the secluded section of the balcony behind the large potted fir tree. But this wasn’t some foreign city after a race. This was his sister-in-law’s house, where she had family and friends over, and he knew that he had to be discreet.
But then she leaned in, wrapping her free arm around his shoulders, and he forgot about everything but the feel of her in his arms and her mouth under his. Her taste was addictive, and he had the feeling that he might never get his fill of her.
He skimmed his hand down her back. The satin material of her dress was soft but not as velvety as her skin. He cupped her butt and lifted her off her feet more fully into his embrace. She moaned deep in her throat, and his engines roared to life.
Yeah, she had him firing on all cylinders. She was exactly what he needed tonight. Maybe she was the reason he’d given in to the pressure of his family and come along. He needed this kind of fun. Someone who was here for her own reasons, even if she might be trying to get with him to put another notch in her lipstick case.
Just two people with a strong attraction who wanted each other.
It had been a long time since he’d done this. A little over a year. He liked sex, but women were a distraction and he had been focused on winning. But this was one night. A New Year’s gift from the universe.
“Inigo? You out here? Mom needs her New Year’s kiss,” his sister called from the patio door.
He broke the kiss and stepped away toward his sister, determined to hustle her back inside.
“I’ll be right in, Bia. Tell Mom to kiss Dad again. He’s definitely in the mood for it,” he said.
“He’s the one who sent me to find you. Mom won’t leave until she’s kissed all of her kids.”
He heard the woman behind him chuckle and turned back toward her. She wiped his lips with her finger, and he guessed he’d been wearing her lipstick.
“Go on. I’ll meet you inside.”
He nodded and walked away, still in a sensual haze. The last thing he wanted to do was hang out with his parents, but he knew they were sticklers for holiday rituals.
Bianca linked her arm through his, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Sorry I had to pull you away from your lady. I think Dad sent me because he knew the boys would tease you endlessly.”
“Probably. Thanks for that,” he said.
“So who is she?”
He shook his head. “Uh, I didn’t ask her name.”
“Oh, just went straight for the kiss,” Bianca teased.
“Something like that,” he said as they reached his parents. He hugged them both and wished them happy new year.
“Happy New Year, Inigo,” his father said as he hugged him. “Looks like my instincts were right about you and the lady.”
“Dad,” he warned his father. His father was usually more subtle than his mom but they both wanted him to find someone and “settle down.”
“Just happy to see you smiling off the track,” his father said.
“Me too,” he admitted.
Then he bade his family good-night and went to find the blonde temptress he’d kissed earlier.
“I don’t want to push my luck, but do you want to come back to my room?”
“Yes,” she said.
The suite he’d been given at the O’Malley compound, Maison de Houblon, was in a large guesthouse off the pool. It had a great room with a kitchen and living room area and then a large bedroom that had French doors that overlooked the ocean. But tonight, he was more concerned with the view in his arms.
“I don’t even know your name,” he said.
“Marielle. You?” she asked. There was a lilt to her words, a patrician New England accent that he hadn’t really noticed before this moment.
“Inigo,” he said.
She leaned back and looked up at him. He wondered what she saw.
“Inigo.” She said his name slowly, and he liked the sound of it on her lips.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“‘Ma’am’? There’s the Texas,” she said with a wink.
“I’ll be honest, you’re not going to forget I’m Texan,” he admitted. No matter how much he traveled around the world or hung out with the Italian owners of Moretti Motors, he was still a Texas man at heart. He wore designer suits and handmade loafers at all the press events and prerace functions he went to, but in his downtime, when he was at home, he preferred jeans and boots.
“Good. I wouldn’t want you to be anything other than what you are,” she said, running her hand down his chest, her finger brushing over the studs that kept his tuxedo shirt closed. He felt the warmth of her fingers through the layers of fabric.
“I don’t have that ability. In fact, my boss is always telling me to wait five seconds before I respond.”
“Why?”
“He keeps hoping that common sense will kick in,” Inigo admitted.
“Does it ever?” she asked, running her finger over his bottom lip.
Her touch sent a tingle straight down his spine, making him harden. He pulled her closer, skimming his hands over her hips and holding her loosely. “Nope.”
She threw her head back and laughed, and everything masculine in him sprang to attention, demanding he make this woman his. He caught the sound of her laughter with his mouth, kissing her, and feeling alive for the first time in a long time.
He tucked that fact away for later but knew that he was holding someone special. Someone who was making him realize that there was life beyond the track.
He felt her hands between them, her fingers moving methodically. He heard the sound of the shirt studs as they dropped to the floor with a soft pinging noise. He lifted her off her feet and turned, moving backward until he felt the bed behind him, and then he sat down. She stood between his spread thighs, her hands on his shoulders.
“Moving a little fast, aren’t you?” she asked in a teasing tone.
“I’m sort of known for my speed,” he said, then realized how that sounded. “Not that anyone ever complained.”
She just threw her head back and laughed and said, “Did you stick around long enough to find out if they did, speedy?”
“Yes. I’m not a one-and-done kind of guy,” he said. It had been a really long time since he’d laughed this much with someone. Spontaneously he put his arms around her body and drew her close, the fabric of her satiny dress scrunching up under his arms. He hugged her to him. Just for a moment he wanted to savor this feeling of lightness. Like there was