She turned in her seat. “Why what?”
“Why I asked him to try and buy the shop.”
She wanted to, but she was afraid of what the answer might be. “Why?”
His hands tightened on the wheel until his knuckles went white. “So I could make an offer at the same time. I knew Dallas would be torn. Knew he would want me to have the place, even though Sebastian was offering more money.”
“You did it to mess with my father?” That didn’t sound right.
Asa sighed. “I did it to get you here, Delilah. To bring you home. Back to my world, because I’m an ass and I didn’t have the guts to walk into yours…because I couldn’t go another year without telling you how I feel.”
“You could have called.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I couldn’t. I wanted to see you, face to face. To see if it was still there. If you still felt something for me.”
“So you set this Rube Goldberg plan in motion, bringing in Sebastian, all so you could say hello?”
“So I could tell you I love you. I’ve always loved you. At least, I thought I had until you got here and you were in my arms. Then I knew what I felt was nothing compared to what’s inside me now.”
She covered her mouth with her hand to hold in her sob. He loved her. “Damn it, Asa.”
He pulled over on the side of Sebastian’s road, blocks from his house, and studied her. “Does ‘damn it’ mean what I think it does?”
She nodded, and then they were reaching for each other, kissing with all the wild passion and love inside them as they struggled with her seatbelt.
Always. She’d always loved him. Her heart had been his since she knew it could be given away. She’d just never known he felt the same.
Delilah pulled back, struggling for breath as he pushed down her black tank top, to reveal the red lace bra beneath. “Asa, we can’t.”
“Like hell,” he muttered, tugging down the cups and lowering his head. “I have to…”
“Oh God,” she moaned, her hands on his head, fingers knotting in his hair as he sucked her breast hard against the roof of his mouth. Her jeans were rubbing against her sensitive sex as she squirmed in the seat, his mouth driving her crazy.
She wanted him. Now. Here.
“Yes.”
He groaned and tongued her nipple. “I love it when you say that, baby. Love you. Need you.”
“I love you, Asa.”
Long, frustrating moments of groping later, Asa pressed his forehead against her neck and swore. “This isn’t going to work, Del.”
“Already?” she joked breathlessly. “Five minutes does not a relationship make, buddy.”
He looked into her eyes and smiled. Damn, he was sexy. “Fifty years won’t be enough with you. But I was talking about sex in the Mustang.”
“Oh. Well, I haven’t seen your place yet. Or I have a hotel…”
He shook his head, spending more time smoothing her bra over her breasts than he needed to. “I told Sebastian to expect us.”
“Why?” She didn’t want to sound whiny, but declarations of love didn’t happen very often. “Can’t you tell him the secrets of his engine tomorrow?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “But I had something else in mind for tonight. Remember that fantasy?”
She leaned back, feeling her heart race in disbelief. “Did you or did you not just say you love me?”
“I did.”