She glanced around, a sullen look spreading across her face. “Just trust me. There are only two things in this world I am sure of, how to design a building and that this place is bad news.”
She didn’t give him the chance to respond. She sped off, gravel kicking up behind her.
Who did she think she was giving him orders? Telling him what he should and shouldn’t do? All right, she only told him what he shouldn’t do, but it was no less annoying.
And like hell if he was going to obey the orders of a high-strung, over-opinionated employee.
Over the hum of their engines, the rider to his left laughed. “She told you, boy.”
Neil didn’t even look to his right.
He slapped down the visor on his helmet and concentrated. It was a quarter mile race straight to the finish line. A cake-walk. The races with hazards and hills didn’t interest him. He wanted speed not skill, and this was the perfect race for him.
The woman twenty feet ahead whipped up her hands, the green scarf swaying in the slight wind that had picked up as the sun went down. He focused, waiting for it to drop to her side as he revved the bike.
The green scarf dropped and Neil shot forward. The roar of engines surrounded him. He tapped gears, first, second, third in rapid succession. The guy to his left shot ahead, the one to his right lagged behind. Neil kicked it up to fourth, his speedometer wavering with every increase of his speed.
When he reached one sixty he was head to head with the bike on his left. Despite the heavy tint of their visors they locked eyes for a second, long enough for Neil to get the jump. He pushed it even further, reaching one seventy and clearing the finish line half a second before his competition.
He slowed the bike and breathed deep, letting the momentum from his speed take him further down the track.
When he returned to where Diaz and his goons lingered at the starting line, the rider who had been to his left threw his helmet on the ground. A woman was already humping the leg of the other rider as he leaned back against his bike. Seemed like a pretty good conciliation prize.
Neil ripped off his helmet, unable to suppress the cocky grin that curled at his lip. Victory. His first time in the game.
He looked in the crowd and noted the money exchanging hands. He had no doubt big bucks had been lost for those who had bet against him. Which was probably most of the crowd.
And then he found Carson. Deep in conversation with Diaz.
Overwhelming satisfaction spread through him. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Maybe it was the atmosphere. No matter, he was going to do something he’d wanted to do for a very long time.
Neil cut the engine and dismounted, not taking the time to analyze letting his bike rest on its stand. She was his employee.
He stalked over to Carson, grabbed her arm and twirled her around.
“Are you in—?”
And he kissed her. Hard. Rough. Just as he’d always imagined.
She punched and shoved at his chest but she was no match. And when he deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue into her mouth, he felt her soften as she melted into his body.
Diaz cleared his throat and Neil pulled back.
Fuck she was hot. Her brown eyes were hazy with desire and she looked even hotter with her lips wet and swollen from his kiss.
She just stared at him, her jaw practically on the ground.
“I won. I’m supposed to get a kiss, right?”
She nodded, but just as quickly as she had spaced out, she snapped to, her eyes narrowing. H
e cut her off before she had the chance to spit out her disdain.
“I’ll see you on site.”
Neil walked to his bike. The goon followed and handed over two white envelopes. He’d just doubled his money. Not that he really cared. He got what he came for. He just hoped that short rush would last him until the next race.
“You lost a lot of people a lot of money tonight, rich boy,” Diaz’s goon said.