Page 41 of My Forbidden Boss
Finally, her eyes met mine, but still, she said nothing.
I half-shouted, hardly hearing my own words over the noise of the powerful engine behind our shoulders. “I said, ‘Do you want me to stop?!’”
Neither Tisha’s eyes nor the rest of her expression made any sign that she had understood.
Instinctively my foot lifted, releasing the pedal being pressed to the floor. The needle on the dash, formerly climbing well into triple digits, came steadily back to earth as the dragon snarling behind us instantly dropped its commotion, whining back into the whistle of piping hot turbos and revving cams.
Concern filled my eyes, and my throat began to clench, readying without wanting the need to ask her once again.
Thrice asked, and thrice ignored…My mind was already setting into the expectation of Tisha’s rejection, renewed.
“Do you…”
I glanced once more and never finished.
Her cheeks, rosy, clashed beautifully with the rest of her expression, otherwise appearing completely drained of blood. The fear was all but absent from her eyes. She stared steadily back at me, unwavering in her gaze, even as we continued hurtling down the open airstrip at well over a hundred miles an hour.
Slow and deliberate, she shook her head once from one side to the other as she turned, fixing her eyes back on the windshield with calm intent.
Mesmerized, I realized my answer.
Again, my foot pushed parallel to the asphalt beneath us, angling the pedal down farther and farther as we once more picked up speed. I glanced sideways, marveling at the brilliance in Tisha’s smile. She caught my gaze, and both of us joined together in a loud yell of adrenaline and laughter. Faster and faster, we accelerated across the airport back lanes.
The turnoff for the highway appeared in the distance as we left the rows of little airplane hangars behind. I angled an eyebrow her way and maintained our speed, listening as the engine’s growl planed out into a single, steady snarl.
Out of my peripheral gaze, I watched and waited.
As she caught sight of the opening, Tisha’s gaze darted my way. She saw my eyes and took in my smirking smile, then grinned.
My sight slid sideways, attending to her more clearly. With sparkling eyes, she wrinkled her nose with defiant distaste. She shook her head excitedly from side to side in protest.
I obliged with a wink, slinging the car to the left before angling us sharply back to the right. Feeling the balance between our bodies and that of the drivetrain beneath us, I smiled as Tisha gasped with glee. I wrenched the steering wheel back my way and downshifted, holding the angle and leaning sideways as we swerved sideways, drifting back to face the way we came with the engine roaring, enraged behind us.
Tisha squealed, and I looked over, letting out a loud, hearty laugh as I witnessed her holding on for dear life, sandwiched against her door by the sheer force of the turn running through her body.
“Too much? No? How about this side?”
I answered before she could respond and snaked us instantly out of the turn, smoking the tires outside of our windows as I threw us headlong in the opposite direction.
My shoulder hit my own door as we shifted and Tisha slammed into my side, screaming with delight. I felt her hand fly to my thigh and grasp hard, completely absent any ounce of inhibition or restraint. She dug her nails like claws into the muscle of my quad. My heart jumped and, between her and the speed, I had never felt so alive.
With her head pressed against my chest, I reached my arm over her crouched shoulders and took hold of her waist, supporting her body with mine. I kept us sliding and turning faster and sharper all the while. When the weight of the movement threatened to pull Tisha back her way, I let my arm take the change of gravity at full force, easily helping her to stay glued to my side.
Tisha
Again, Hollis rolled the steering wheel tightly toward the other side, and instinctively I released his leg, ready to fall back and catch myself against my door.
But it never came.
My eyes slowly opened from squinting shut in fear. Hollis had his arm around me, holding the whole weight of my body comfortably tight up against him. I looked up, seeing the happiness in his eyes. His eyes darted down and saw me staring. He smiled and gently squeezed where his hand wrapped around my waist. It was so reassuring – as if the added g-forces trying to pull me away were absolutely nothing for him to take control of.
I gasped and giggled as he flicked the wheels back again over the asphalt, dragging me closer and closer up against his chest. With both hands, I grabbed down to steady myself with his leg, feeling him solid and steady, no matter how hard I clenched the muscles with my fingers.
He seemed to instantly warm to the touch. Whatever breath remaining in my chest was quickly banished as Hollis’s grip over my hip tightened greedily, drawing me dangerously close to practically lying in his lap.
As my breathlessness and distraction overcame my squeals of surprise and trills of laughter, I didn’t have to say a word. Hollis almost immediately noticed and evened out the ride, looking down to see me tired from the sheer excitement of the ride.
He smiled warmly and took the hint as I looked up in quiet desperation. We cruised back around, slowing gradually as, once again, my eyes turned to the windshield to see the exit toward a highway come into view.