Her words take a while to sink in. I hear them, but I need to process what she’s saying.

I glance at her wrists. Black-and-blue spots can be seen, as well as some blood. Fucking prick slammed them on without even paying attention. They’ve been digging into her.

I’ve managed to undo one side, but she’s still got them around one of her wrists. Anger wells up in me as I process the meaning of handcuffing a woman.

Fucking scumbag. How low does a bloke stoop to do such a thing?

There’s handcuffing and then there’s handcuffing. There was no need to do this to Jenna.

With a deep breath, I pull away from her. We need to do something. There’s a dead man, blueprints, and handcuffs around her wrist.

It won’t be long before backups on the way. Surely he’d have called for backup. One thing’s for sure, Jenna and I don’t want to be here when that happens.

“We should go back down,” I mutter, still not absolutely certain of what I should do. Whatever we do, we should do it together. This time we should discuss what we’re going to do.

“I think we should go back down,” I start a second time and look into those exquisite green eyes of hers. Fuck, I’ve missed her. “He’ll have the key to get these off you altogether and then…” My words trail off.

I play with her long dark hair. Pleasure seeps through me. I watch her silky hair as I wrap it around my finger and watch it slide off before it falls down over her shoulder again.

I could do this for hours, along with a whole lot of other things.

“You sure he’s dead?” Her voice is barely above a whisper. She’s still shaking.

Protective instincts take over. I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her out of her car.

“Come, let’s move this off the road and then go back down in my car.”

I carry her to my side of the car and lower her into the passenger seat ever so gently. She’s staring at me the entire time. I kiss her lightly on the tip of her nose.

“Wait here.”

It takes me a minute to make sure her vehicle is off the road and no danger to anyone, should anyone decided to come after us.

When I slide into the driver’s seat, I rest my hand on her thigh. Feelings of desire stir instantly.

But first thing’s first. We’ve got a job to do.

“Can you please drive slowly?” Jenna’s voice is still very soft. Her eyes plead with me. She reminds me of a frightened deer.

I wish we could both just drive off and leave this hellhole and prick of an agent to his demise. I want to take her somewhere safe, somewhere luxurious and expensive. I want to spoil her.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” I promise, and I mean it. I would give my life for this woman. The knowledge I nearly lost her forever tonight is still settling in.

This time it takes me a little longer to get down the road. Jenna shivering beside me makes me take extra care.

I know she’d be safe even if I drive faster, but I don’t want to disturb her any more than she already is. I can tell this has really rattled her.

When we get to the wreckage, I stop. At first we just sit and stare out at the wrangled metal. Eventually we both get out of the car.

She hands me some papers. I take them slowly.

I sigh. This is not going to be easy.

“Let’s do this,” I say and drag myself over to the dead man.

It’s not a pretty sight. I take a deep breath before I reach in through the smashed window of the driver’s seat. I try and avoid looking at the dead man’s eyes as they stare wide open into the distance.

It occurs to me this could’ve been me. Or Jenna. Fuck any mistake on our parts during the chase and either of us might’ve ended up wrapped around a tree or smashed at the bottom of the hill.

Life and death—a finite continuum. I’m trying to keep my breathing regular.

His body is still warm and soft to touch. Rigor mortis hasn’t set in yet.

My fingers fumble through the pockets of the dead man. The key must be there somewhere. Surely he’d keep it on his body.

At the same time, I’m scanning the area immediately around him, just in case it’s lying somewhere close to him.

With difficulty, I reach into the pockets of his pants. Bingo. I’ve found them.

First things first. I turn to Jenna and open the lock on the handcuffs, then I take them from her. She instantly rubs her left wrist.

Anger threatens to overcome me, and any feelings of remorse I have for the dead man disappear.

“Now, if we put the fake blueprints in his car, it should be enough to throw them off the trail.”

Jenna smiles weakly. Her tearstained face is a sad sight to my eyes. My heart feels as if it’s going to break.

How did I not trust her?

Why didn’t I just down and talk to her? It hits me like a tsunami.

I’m fucking sick and tired of games, lies, and deceit. I love this woman.

I’ve made my living out of deceiving others and participating in an illegal activity. It never worried me before.

I loved it. I loved the status it gave me, the fast cars, the sex and the money—but no more.

Everything has changed. A woman has managed to make me see life differently. I want things to change, and I don’t want to keep going the way I’ve been going.

“But what’ll happen?” Jenna’s question pulls me out of my thoughts.

I look at her.

“What do you mean?”

“The racing? What’ll happen? Are they going to shut us down?”

“Who gives a fuck,” I say, and I really mean it. I could have lost Jenna.

I could have lost her forever. I could have lost her before we even had a chance to make it together. And that’s infinitely worse than what could happen with the racing circuit.

“But racing’s your life.”

I shake my head.

“It might have been once. But not anymore.”

She smiles, and her facial expression softens a little and loses its tension. My heart does summersaults.

I fucking love this woman—I really love her.

“Come on,” I say to her. “Let’s do this.”

I take the handcuffs and throw them back in the car.

“Maybe we should keep these for later?” I joke.

A dark shadow passes across her face. We can always get another set.

Next I put the key back in the pocket. Then I put the blueprints Jenna prepared onto the driver’s seat. It will look as if the agent got some information and then ran off the road.

Or who knows what it will look like. As long as they’re off our backs, that’s all that matters.

Slowly we walk back to the car.

Jenna looks at me.

“Let’s go,” I say, and we again go back up the hill.

Jenna leans back in her seat and stares straight ahead. I can’t help but wonder what she’s thinking.

When we’re back at where we left Jenna’s car, I stop. I text one of my guys to come and collect Jenna’s car.

“I’ll just leave your key in it,” I tell Jenna and head over to her vehicle.

When I get back into the driver’s seat, she’s smiling at me.

It takes less than twenty minutes to get back to the racetrack. I park my car and help Jenna out of her seat.

She’s still shaking. The events of the night are catching up with her. I put my arm protectively around her waist and pull her tightly into me.

She’s a perfect fit. I smile.

In my cockpit, I breathe in the smell of petrol and watch my crew clean up.

They stop and look at me as we approach. I give them the thumbs up to let them know I’m okay. I don’t want to go into detail now and give a lengthy explanation of what happened tonight. I just want to be here with Jenna in familiar surroundings.

There’ll be time for talking later. But there is one thing I need to say.

Jenna looks at me with questions in her eyes.

I smile at her and pull her toward me. Our eyes lock. Little electric shock waves ripple through my body.

My cock’s hard already and pressing against her. I can see the intensity and lust in her eyes and know her pussy will be waiting for me.

My lips press down on hers hard. I demand entry into her mouth, and my tongue lashes around to find hers.

My fingers slide down her back to her ass. I feel her fingernails dig into my back.

I’m breathing hard and fast.

I want her. I need her. Fuck, I need her.

But first, I have to tell her.

“Jenna, I could have lost you tonight. I should have trusted you, confided in you. But I’m going to start right now with being completely truthful.”

I swallow hard as I struggle to say the words I’ve never told a woman.

“I love you.”