Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 23821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
“Spain.”
I nodded. “I see.”
“Corsica Elemental.”
“Okay.”
“They named the bike the Arrow.”
“So the Arrow by Corsica Elemental.” I considered the sound of the name. “I like it.”
“Me too.” He took a step forward. “It was like the answer to everything. Who knew one good thing would so quickly lead to another? Everything’s falling into place.”
“Why do they need you to run the TT?”
“Just to make sure I’m the guy they want.”
“Fearless.”
“Yes.”
“And you’ll have the ability to what, invest?”
“Take payment in stock options, yeah.”
“If the company goes public, that could be a lot of money.”
“And money’s good and helpful and you need it to retire on, but—” He moved again, closing the distance between us. “I’m thirty-one, you’re thirty-two. We have time to figure that out too.”
“Jesus, Varro,” I said after a moment, when I realized he was staring into my eyes.
“Jesus, Varro, what?” he asked, taking the final step, reaching me, lifting his hands to my face and tilting it back so there was no looking away.
“You were running away from me.”
“I thought you were happy. I didn’t want to mess that up.”
“I am happy.”
“You’re pleased with the stability because you need that, but you’re not happy.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know you.” His smile lifted the edge of his lip. “And you need me with you for you to be all-the-way happy.”
Some would call him cocky. “You think?”
“’Course,” he groused, the scowl adorable. “You’re in love with me.”
Yes, I was. “And you’re okay being bi?”
“I’ll get to be with you, right?”
I couldn’t answer; I was barely pulling air into my lungs.
“Bri?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then. I’ll be whatever as long as I can be that.”
“Giving up women, you’re sure?”
“It’s not about giving up, it’s about getting.”
God. “You know there’s still prejudice and—”
“You know me,” he interrupted. “When have I ever cared what anyone thought of me, besides you?”
“Never.”
He shrugged. “So I’m going to start now?”
“You’re not worried or scared? What about your new boss?”
“I explained that when I saw them at the TT, I’d have my partner with me.”
The man was always so sure of things. “That’s what you said?”
“Yeah. I mean, if Del Toro was a homophobic asshole, I had to know, right?”
“And what did he say?”
“He said he was looking forward to meeting you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” He yawned suddenly, turned away from me, and walked around the bed to sit down. I watched as he pulled off his motorcycle boots. “It’s funny, ya know, you always worry what other people think, but really, why would you care what anyone else thinks but me?”
“So you’re the focus of my world, is that it?”
He turned to meet my gaze over his shoulder. “Aren’t I?”
“God, you’re so vain.”
Quick shrug of his shoulders. “Why vain?”
“You’re not everything. I have a life now.”
The quizzical arch of his eyebrow told me he wasn’t convinced.
“I do.”
“You fight so hard, Brian.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your life is fine, but it’s not great. How can it be great without me?”
I wanted to crow at him that he was so very full of himself, but it was the absolute, raw, soul-baring truth. I had missed him like crazy. My heart ached for him every single day.
“You always think there has to be some grand gesture, but really, there doesn’t even have to be words. Just knowing something should be all the truth you need.”
I felt completely exposed, as though my heart was on the outside of my chest, right there on display.
He stretched out on my bed, crossed his sock-clad feet, and grinned at me. “So are we sealing the deal or not?”
“What?”
“Am I getting laid?”
I crossed my arms. “That’s so romantic, how can I resist?”
“I dunno, how can you?” He waggled his eyebrows at me, and that combined with the rakish grin on his kiss-swollen lips and the dark wet eyes… who was I kidding? I tried to stifle the low moan, but it was out before I could.
“Yeah, you want me,” he growled, folding one of my pillows in half and shoving it under his head. “Come kiss me some more, ’cause that was hot.”
I could have played hard to get, but he looked so incredibly good on my bed, and I wanted all of him. I toed off my shoes and crawled onto the bed and over him to settle above his waist.
He chuckled as he lifted his hand to my face, and I realized every fantasy I’d ever had was not how things were going to happen between Varro and me. The whole torrid, hungry, desperate scene, the holding down and manhandling—that was not us.
Because he knew me. He really, truly, deeply knew me, and so it would be us, a joining, and it would change my life.
“I should have known just from your eyes,” he sighed.
“What do you mean?”
“They’re so gorgeous all the time,” he whispered, tracing his fingertips over my eyebrows, my cheekbones, and finally my bottom lip. “But when you look at me, they shine.”