“Oh, God.” She was suddenly dizzy. A semi flew past, sucking the last of her equilibrium from her head. She had to touch him. To lean into him. This man who…understood her. Despite everything. After the shortest of time together, he got her. “It’s perfect, Nate. It’s so damn perfect, and I didn’t get you anything.”
“You got me you, Jenny. You came back. You were running, weren’t you? You were gone.”
“I don’t know. But I’m back.”
“That’s all I can ask for. That and maybe…a night this time? Instead of an hour?”
“Yes.”
How many Valentine’s Days had she spent behind the bar? How many lonely people had she watched hook up, not wanting to be alone on this stupid holiday everyone claimed for love? She’d seen it for so many years that the day had ceased to mean anything. But this year, for the first time, there’d be someone waiting just for her. In a home she’d finally chosen as her own.
CHAPTER TWELVE
IT WAS PITCH-BLACK in her room, and cold from the window she’d cracked open to the early spring day, but beneath the blankets, Jenny was warm and toasty and half-asleep as Nate’s hand curled over her hip.
“Mmm,” she sighed, snuggling into his chest as he slipped into bed beside her. “I missed you.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered against her shoulder. “I really, really wanted to be there.”
“I’ll go again. You can come with.”
“I know, but it was your first time. How was it?”
She smiled into the dark, remembering that crazy rush of adrenaline as she’d lapped around the racetrack that first time. The instructor’s voice in her ear as the stands flew by in a blur. And then the silence when she’d gotten the hang of it, and all she could hear was her own heart beating hard. She’d driven faster than she ever had. She’d flown free and it had been… “It was beautiful,” she whispered.
“I wish I could’ve seen it.”
“Saving lives is more important than watching me drive.”
“It was more like two hours of directing the public around the people who were actually saving lives. And the accident looked far uglier than it was, thank God.”
“Good.” She snuggled tighter against him with a sigh.
“And tonight’s defensive driving class?”
She laughed at the official way he said that. “Oh, that was a whole other level of exciting. I learned how to go slow and steady. Did you know that saves a ton on gas mileage?”
His teeth pressed her neck, and she was suddenly very aware of his body behind hers. The length of his cock branded her ass. “I’d like to know more about this. Slow and steady, huh?”
His hand slid down her hip and cupped her sex.
“What do you know about slow and steady?” he breathed into her ear.
“Oh,” she sighed as his fingers slid along her seam. “Oh, I…learned that I have to be…aware.”
“Mmm.”
She tried to ease her knee open, but his leg was holding hers down as he teased her. Keeping her closed up tight as he dragged his fingers over her sensitive flesh.
“Yeah?” he said. “What else?”
“I have to concentrate on what I’m doing and not get distracted by…” She tried to tip her hips up. His fingertips dragged over her clit. “Oh, God.”
“Distracted by what?”
“By…” She didn’t even know what he was talking about by that point. All her concentration was on his hand and the way it slipped over her, sliding easier and easier the wetter she got. God, if she could just get her legs apart, his fingers would just naturally slide right inside her.
“Oh, Jenny. I don’t think you learned anything at all. Shhh. Slow down.”