Better When He's Bold

My dad glared at me the entire time I was pulling out of the driveway and his phone was back at his ear. I was mad, I was frustrated, and more than anything, I was sick and tired of all of it. I didn’t want to feel like this anymore, helpless and undervalued. I took a minute when I pulled into the parking lot at the restaurant to look around and make sure no one was watching me or following me. I also took an impulsive minute to call Race.

The call rang and rang without an answer and I hated how disappointed that made me. I didn’t know what he was thinking after last night, if it had been as mind-blowing and as life altering to him as it was to me. However, with the unease that was clawing at me after dealing with my dad, I really felt like only he could make me feel better.

Ramon gave me a knowing look and a leer when he caught sight of me. Luckily, I was immediately saddled with a huge party and managed to avoid having to gossip or answer questions for most of my shift. I was grumpy, still annoyed at my dad, and admittedly stung that Race hadn’t answered my call, when one of the other girls came to find me while I was on break to tell me I had a new table. I didn’t understand why someone else couldn’t pick it up, but she told me they had specifically requested me. Considering I had someone following me, I was nervous to go back in the dining room, not sure who was going to be waiting for me. As soon as I caught sight of that golden hair and winking dimple, something released inside my chest and I felt like I could breathe again for the first time since he had left me in bed this morning.

I sauntered up to the table and put my hip on the edge of the booth. He looked up at me with those pine-colored eyes and my mouth went dry.

“Hey.”

He smiled at me and I had to fight back a dreamy sigh. Race Hartman smiling should be illegal; it was totally a concealed weapon.

“I saw you called. Figured I would stop by and make sure everything was all right.”

I blinked in surprise and fiddled with the edge of my apron. No one had ever cared enough to check up on me like that. It made my heart want to be really, really stupid.

“I’m fine. I was just wondering what you were up to tonight. My sister isn’t at home, and honestly, I want to be anywhere but there. I know it’s the weekend and you probably have a million things going on, but I thought it was worth a shot.”

One of his eyebrows danced up and he turned so he could put a hand on my thigh. Considering I was wearing a skirt, that meant he got a handful of skin right above where my torn skin was still healing from the fall in the parking lot. It took me a minute to get my breathing regulated as my blood went warm and thick with just the brush of his palm. I wasn’t typically this brazen or this forward. But just like last night, something about him made me want to push boundaries, made me want to just take what I wanted—him.

“I am busy. I was working when you called. I’ve been working all day. What time do you get off?”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him as soon as he got me off but I bit it back on a little laugh. What was wrong with me?

“Around one.”

He stood up abruptly and we were so close. He put a hand on the side of my neck and bent down and pressed a kiss to my surprised mouth.

“Meet me at the garage. I’ll text you the code to get inside the gates. I might not make it exactly at one, but if you go right there from here, you should be okay in that part of town—even that late.”

I wanted to spend the night with him, wanted to feel that return to my old self like I had last night. I nodded silently and his chin bumped my forehead. He brushed a thumb along the curve of my bottom lip.

“I don’t have a ‘minion’ to spare to follow you around tonight, Bry. So you need to keep yourself safe, all right?”

I nodded again and he took a step away from me.

“Race . . .” Those green eyes flared at me quickly and an easy grin played across his mouth. “You keep yourself safe too.” I felt like someone should be telling him that while he went off to do God only knew what.

Something crossed his face, something that made a shiver work across the surface of my skin.

“Suddenly making sure everyone is safe seems like more of a priority than it was the other day.”

He gave me another kiss and left me staring after him with a breathless anticipation that felt so nice, but also left me with a fair amount of worry about what exactly it was I was getting into.

I ended up with a late table of rowdy guys, so I wasn’t able to have Ramon walk me out of the restaurant until almost one thirty. I was tired but made sure I was very aware of all my surroundings as I went to the car. No one jumped out of any shadows. No car tried to run me down, and when Ramon sent me on my way with a little kiss on the cheek and a wink, I actually felt pretty good about things.