“He assumed a lot of things about me. Most of them were wrong.”
“Yeah, I’m picking up on that now,” she said as she walked into my kitchen—her kitchen—and ran her hand along the island counter. “These were Formica. And the apartment ended at that wall.” She pointed to the wall my flat screen hung on.
“I bought the building. It’s what I used that extra money for. Then I knocked a couple of the other units out.”
Her eyes were wide, but she simply nodded. “I like the granite.”
“You said you always wanted dark granite and white cabinets. But I remembered how much you loved the layout, so I didn’t change it.”
She leaned back against the island and looked up at me as I assumed the same position against the opposite counter. “I didn’t stand you up.”
“Didn’t you?”
“I didn’t mean to,” she clarified. “We had this thing last night, and Mom turned off my alarm. I made the mistake of launching into them before I clarified my plans for the morning.”
“That happens when you’re confronting your parents about the secrets they keep.”
“Familiar with that, are you?” she teased.
“I watch a lot of Dr. Phil,” I admitted.
She outright laughed, and then her smile faded. “You missed the Big Air qualifications.”
I shook my head and pointed to the TV. “I didn’t miss them. I’m watching them right now.” Hell, I’d miss the actual round I was slated for if it meant I got to keep her.
She swallowed, her eyes softening. God, that look…it gave me all kinds of hope, and that felt more dangerous than any trick I’d ever pulled. “That’s not what I meant,” she said.
“I know.”
“Wilder’s pissed.”
“Wilder’s pissed when anything doesn’t go his way.” But my anger was diminishing with every breath I took, just knowing she was here.
She bit into her lower lip, and I crossed the distance between us. I gently pressed my thumb to her chin, urging her teeth to let go of the tender flesh.
“You stayed,” she whispered.
“I did.”
“You chose me.”
“I always will.”
She smiled, and my heart pounded, demanding things I was slightly scared to go for. I wanted her in my arms, her mouth on mine, her love and heart mine to claim. But more than that—I wanted her to want the same thing.
“Because you love me,” she said.
“Because I love you,” I promised.
“Good,” she said. “Because I’m so in love with you that it hurts.”
She leaned up for a kiss, and I moved away, even though it almost killed me to do it. “But do you trust me?” That was what it would always come down to between us, and as much as I wanted Rachel—needed her—I needed her trust more.
She met my gaze head-on, her eyes clear and steady. “With my life.” She swallowed. “Enough that I had Dad extend a sponsorship offer to the Renegades.”
Goddamn, I loved this girl. “You’re not scared that I’m just using you for it? That I’ll leave the minute he offers me more money?”
She shook her head. “I’m not. And I had him make the offer before I knew you hadn’t left.” She looked up at the light I knew she’d broken her arm trying to change. “Before I realized that you’d always loved me.”
“I have,” I promised her. “There was never a moment that I didn’t love you. There will never be a moment that I don’t love you. You can love me or not, but that will never change the way I belong to you.”
This time when she launched at me, I caught her, filling my hands with her curves as her mouth met mine.
Hell yes.
Her tongue swept inside my mouth, and I gave her control for all of thirty seconds before I took it back, kissing her until she rocked against me, her legs wrapped around my waist.
“We don’t have time,” she gasped.
“We have all the time we want,” I told her as I kissed a path down her neck. Two seconds with her ass in my hands and I was already hard—my body demanding hers.
“No, really,” she said on a breathless sigh as I bit that place where her shoulder met her neck.
“What I have planned can’t wait.”
“But I can get us to Aspen.”
“But I can get us to our bedroom,” I told her as I carried her up the steps to the lofted area of the apartment. Fuck the qualifications. At that moment I needed her under me more than I needed another X Games medal.
“We don’t have—”
I kissed her quiet and walked into the space I’d designed with her in mind. A few steps later I put her in the middle of our bed, then worked her out of her shoes, jeans, and shirt until she lay there in only her underwear.
“Did you know I’ve never had a woman here?” I asked.
“What?” she responded, leaning up on her elbows as I stripped.
“Never. Not once. Only on circuit or at parties, or at their place. I never brought anyone here, because it was ours. And maybe you wouldn’t come back, but if there was even the slightest chance, I wanted to be able to say that I kept this for us. Only us.”
I palmed my dick, stroking up and down the hard length while she watched, her eyes hazing with desire. If she licked her lips like that one more time, it was going to be over before I touched her.
She flipped around and crawled toward me on the bed, the very fantasy I’d always imagined while sleeping here. “And what did you want to do in here?” she asked, like she’d read my mind.
“This,” I said, my only word of warning before I lifted her from the bed and kissed her, filling my hands with her ass, filling her mouth with my tongue.
My fingers found her wet and wanting, already slippery, and I groaned with the feeling of her. “God, Rachel, I don’t know if I can wait.”
“Then don’t,” she said, kissing my ear.
“Fuck, I don’t have condoms,” I growled.
“Didn’t we already have this discussion?” she asked.
“I wasn’t exactly expecting you to show up,” I said, cursing my stupidity.
“Well, I did,” she said. “Check my jeans.”
I balanced her on the bed and picked up her jeans, finding a foil packet in her back pocket. “That might be the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever heard,” I said, ripping it open and rolling the condom on.
“I’m glad you approve.”
I swept my fingers through her wetness and then pressed and swirled on her clit. Her knees buckled, and I caught her. “I approve of everything you do.”
“More,” she begged, and I willingly gave, beating back every instinct to bury myself inside her.
Instead I used my fingers to pump in and out of her as I stood her back up, teasing and tonguing the rigid peaks of her nipples. I wanted to do this for the rest of my life, and for the first time in forever, I felt like I might have a shot at that dream.
“Landon,” she moaned, rocking against me, the sound of her cry revving me even higher.
Her breaths came faster, her muscles tightened, and I knew she was close. God, I wanted to be there with her—needed to be inside her when she flew.
“I need you now,” I warned her.
“Yes,” she said.