Prince Albert(161)

When he's back behind the driver's seat, he looks at me and grins. "Don't think that just because I bent you over on the side of the road, I'm not going to need to get you in bed just as soon as we walk through the door," he says.





CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

DELANEY



"Well, Akira-san isn't pleased, and there's unfortunately no way for his company to save face," Beau says, his brow wrinkled as he looks at me over the table at dinner.

I don't think he's entirely comfortable with the idea of Delaney and I being together, but he's not opposed to it either, and at least he's been publicly supportive. It hasn't affected the team either; I guess it's good that the scandal happened when it did during the trip, before I'd started back officially racing. My manager says I should lie low for another couple weeks and give the whole thing time to blow over. Holing up with Delaney for a few weeks sounds just fine to me.

"I'm sorry, Beau," I say. I'm not sorry about Delaney and I, but I'm sorry for how things turned out. If Beau were any other man, I'm sure he'd have fired my ass and slapped me with a lawsuit, but Beau just waves dismissively, his steak knife in hand.

"Naw," Beau says, his drawl becoming somehow thicker. "You'll be sorry if you do anything that hurts my daughter."

"Dad," Delaney warns. "He's already heard this."

"There's no harm in repeating things," Beau says. "That's how they stick in your memory."

"I promise I won't hurt Delaney," I say. "On my honor."

Beside me, Delaney snorts. "I didn't know you had honor," she says.

Beau glowers at both of us while he points at me with his knife. "For his sake, I hope he does."

Delaney giggles. "It was a joke," she says.

Beau shakes his head. "Give it a month before we start joking about any of this," he says.

Later that night, Delaney lies on her stomach, in bed naked, her arms on my chest as she looks at me. "So your manager recommended lying low for a few weeks?" she asks. "No racing?"

"I don't know about that, darlin'," I say. "You know I need to ride. But nothing official."

"No stunts," she warns. "Nothing stupid."

"Cross my heart," I say.

"I don't believe you," she says. "If you swore on your dick, I'd take it much more seriously."

"Is nothing sacred to you?" I laugh as I run my hands through her hair.

"Oh, is this supposed to be sacred?" she asks, her hands running down my abdomen to my cock.

"Didn't you say you made a shrine to it?"

"Mhmm," she says, and my dick hardens to her touch. "But that was a shrine to the mold you made of it. Speaking of that….was it really your cock?"

I flip her over onto her back, kissing her gently on the lips. "I'm hurt that you couldn't tell."

She tilts her head up to look at me. "So you keep cock-making molds around your house in case of emergencies, or what?" she asks. "How did you have it done by the next morning?"

"It required effort," I admit. Specifically, I had to drive around to adult stores at two in the morning to find a dildo-making kit.

"That's a lot of work for a prank," she says.

"I had to impress you." I run my hand over her breast and watch as her nipple hardens

"Is that what you wanted?" she asks. "To impress me?"

"I've always wanted to impress you," I tell her. "Even when I was giving you grief."

"But why?" she asks. She moves against me, arching her back, and I can feel her wetness against me.

"Because I've liked you since I met you," I tell her, kissing the tip of her nose.

"But you were always going out with other girls, and –"

"And I was a stupid kid back then," I say. "And the summer we hooked up, there was no one but you, Delaney. Even before you kissed me. Once we started talking, I just…lost interest in anyone else."

She arches up to kiss me, her touch tender, and when she finally pulls away, her hand is still on my neck. "I thought – I just didn't think I meant anything to you."

"You meant everything to me," I tell her. I can't believe she didn't understand the whole time. "It was always you. And when you didn't meet me that night, when you left…"

"I saw you in the news later," she says, her voice soft. "There were always photos of you with other girls."

"Why do you think there were so many?" I ask. "I was fucking gutted when you left. And then when you came back…well, I didn't know what the hell to do with you here. But I do love you. That much, I'm sure of. I think I've always loved you, Delaney."