Rebel (5 page)

They’d lowered the convertible roof, and the wind grazed their skin and tangled Rubi’s hair into a dark, whipping halo. The midday sun burned down while the lightning-fast sports car gripped every curve in the road, the speed pumping thrill after thrill through Wes’s veins.

But the best part was having Rubi beside him, her laughter filling his head with every new surge. Her squeals piercing his ears with each fresh skid.

He’d known she was trouble from the moment he’d seen her at the airport, all scarlet mini skirt, crimson Ferrari, and fiery flirtation. Nothing he’d believed he’d wanted until recently. While she was everything he’d first thought—feisty, funny, and flirty—she’d also turned out to be far more than he’d ever expected—wickedly intelligent, loyal to the core, and selflessly generous.

And he couldn’t even begin to calculate her heat quotient. She was off the fucking charts.

But Wes wanted more than friendship with Rubi, and he was ready to take a hammer to those walls she kept erecting between them.

Another tight curve appeared in the road. Wes slowed into the turn, then accelerated out, jetting the small car onto the straightaway at the crest of the Hollywood Hills and leaving the thick scent of burnt rubber in their wake to the sound of Rubi’s thrilled scream.

He’d driven this desolate road hundreds of times in as many different vehicles, but this was—hands down—the best ride ever. At the steepest grade, he pulled into a turnout where they overlooked all of Los Angeles and cut the engine.

A flush softened her light cocoa skin and her hair wound around her gorgeous face in a chaotic burst of darkness. Any other woman he knew would be cowering against the door. Or ranting over his insanity. But Rubi reveled in the speed, the adrenaline, the risk. The same way Wes did.

“You crazy bastard.” She laughed the words and pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head. “Now I know how Lexi feels when I drive.”

Every time he looked at her, his brain slid sideways. He’d seen photos from her previous years as a top model, but Wes thought she was the most gorgeous in her everyday casual state. Rubi’s “casual” might be another woman’s “dressed to the nines,” but she had a way of appearing so absolutely comfortable in her own skin, she never gave the impression that much fazed her.

He’d lain awake nights trying to figure out who she resembled. She called herself a poster child for the United Nations, a mix of Caucasian, Japanese, and African-American. Wes thought she looked like an exotic version of Halle Berry with higher cheekbones and a deeper slant to her eyes when she laughed. And she had the sweetest little nose. The way it squared off at the very tip made him want to kiss her there.

Hell, he wanted to kiss her everywhere.

She spread her hand over her chest, which rose with quick breaths, and the silver bangles around her wrist clinked. “I may have to give you a speed limit, Lawson. You’ve made my heart jump out of my chest twice already today.”

The excitement glimmering in her eyes snapped his restraint. Want welled inside him, so thick, so fierce he couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Let’s try for a third.”

With octane filling his veins, he twisted toward her, stretched across the console, and wrapped his hand behind her head, pulling her in.

She sucked in a sharp breath a split second before his lips pressed hers. They were sun warmed, air dried, petal soft. She made the sweetest sound, a mix of surprise and pleasure, and the slow burn at the center of Wes’s body burst into flame. Heat whooshed over him, the same heat that engulfed him during a stunt when one of his fellow Renegades lit him on fire.

Only this fire condensed in his chest before melting lower.

He eased the pressure of his mouth just enough to tilt his head, and kissed her again. This time she responded. Gently. Tentatively. Not at all what he’d expected from this blazing-hot, ultraconfident party girl. But her tender response did confirm his theories about the real woman behind her smokescreen.

“Wes…” Her voice was barely a whisper between kisses, and her lashes fluttered just enough to expose a sparkling green hint of her eyes.

Her hand slid along his forearm and up his bicep, prickling heat across his skin. Then snuck under his sleeve and curled around the back of his arm, pulling him closer. The fist of want deep in his gut tightened.

Her lips came back to his, parted and firm. A hum of desire sounded in her throat, igniting a flurry of fireworks beneath his ribs.

Yes, yes, yes.

His focus homed in on every single detail of the moment—the warmth of the sun, the growl in his throat, the luscious need building throughout his body.

He slid his tongue along the inside of her lower lip, urging her to open. He caught the hint of mint, but he needed more. He needed the taste of pure, potent Rubi.

Instead of letting him in, she pulled out of the kiss. With her gaze tilted down toward the console separating them, she licked her lips. “Listen…Wes…”

The I’m-sorry lilt in her tone flushed his brain with panic. This couldn’t end. Not yet. He’d been fighting her resistance for a goddamn month. Had been waiting to feel her since the first moment he’d seen her. And he still hadn’t tasted her.

“No, baby.” He kept his voice soft, but it still sounded rough, needy. Sliding his hand beneath her hair, he cupped her neck and pressed his cheek to hers. His eyes slid closed, and he took a deep breath. She smelled exotic, like spice and sex. He wanted to sink into her. Deep into her. “Don’t worry…don’t think… Just kiss me.”

He turned his head and covered her mouth with his. He wanted to devour her. Feel every inch of her. Hear more of those throaty purrs.

As if fulfilling his silent wish, she groaned. The soft sound was filled with so much desire, Wes’s lust jerked against his control. Restraint snaked a fine tremor through his body.

“Kiss me back, baby,” he whispered against her lips. “Let me taste you.”

He’d let this infatuation go on too long, and he was way the hell too far out on a limb here. He had to pull back.

Then her head tilted. Her mouth opened. And she stroked her tongue against his.
Sensation filled his mouth—wet, smooth, slick.
The thrill slid down his body and filled his groin. He couldn’t keep the growl of pleasure and relief from rolling out of his chest.

Finally.

Fucking finally.

He dove in, took greedily. Too much. Too fast. But he couldn’t stop. She was sweet. And sultry. And succulent. She was everything he’d ever dreamed.

Rubi pressed one hand against his cheek. The other curled into the shoulder of his T-shirt. And all the tension drifted from her body. She relaxed against him, bringing her deeper into the kiss. Into his mouth. The purely unique taste of Rubi flooded his senses.

Delirium
.

He fisted her hair, soft, silky, thick. Pushing against the brake pedal, he lifted his upper body farther over the center console. Her lips slid across his, her tongue spiraling and teasing his in crazy sexual ways that made Wes think about how he wanted to move inside her body. He was rock-hard, his cock throbbing to the quick beat of his heart. He couldn’t think. He only knew he needed her closer.

He slid his hand down her back and leaned in, wrapping her small waist with his forearm. Her body was tight, her curves perfectly placed to fit him. He lifted her until the full swells of her breasts pressed against his chest. Her fingers slid into his hair. Tingles spread over his scalp and shot down his spine, adding pressure across his hips.

Ah God.

Wes let his hand roam down her back and over her ass cheek. Her ass felt as good as it looked, supple and taut. He squeezed the flesh then lowered his hand to the back of her thigh. When the skin of his hand met the warm skin of her thigh, Wes groaned into her mouth and pulled her closer.

This was not delirium. This was fucking
euphoria
.

He was about to pull her over the damn console and into his lap when she sighed into his mouth and reined in the kiss, lazily pressing her closed lips to his.

She finally broke off with a murmured, “Good God…” She pressed a hand to her temple. “I should have known you’d be a master with that mouth.”

His heart thundered. His breathing labored. She tried to ease back into her seat, but he tightened the hand at her thigh. He kissed her jaw, her neck, scraped his teeth along her throat. Pleasure vibrated beneath his lips, and the sound pounded Wes with iron fists.

“All right Golden Boy.” Her voice was light, breathless. “You’ve kissed me thoroughly stupid.” She tugged gently at his hair. “But nothing else is happening here. Let’s not get crazy.”

He pulled his mouth from her skin and pressed his forehead to her shoulder, trying to clear his mind. She eased her thigh from his grasp.

Let’s not get crazy.

Fuuuuuck.

He laughed at his own stupidity. Did he really think Rubi would do him right here in the convertible? On a public road? In the middle of the day?

A man could dream.

“See me tonight.” He dropped another slow kiss to her shoulder. “After work. We can do dinner, drinks, a club… Anything you want. Just us.”

She didn’t respond. But didn’t pull away. Just kept her hand deep in his hair, her fingers restlessly worrying the strands. When she finally eased back, she shook her head. “No, Wes.” Her voice was deliberate but soft. A tone he’d only heard her take with Lexi. “I thought we understood each other.”

He tried to focus on the affection in her voice, not the rejection in her words, and reached for her hand, threading their fingers. “Oh, we
definitely
understand each other.”

“I’ve obviously pushed my teasing too far. I thought…you know…you understood it was just harmless flirting.”

He tightened his grip on her hand. “You
know
it’s more, Rubi.”

She smiled, but the expression was sad. “It can’t be. I’m sorry.”

He wanted to shake her and tell her to knock it off. “You did
not
just kiss me like a friend. Or a flirt. You kissed me like you
want
me.”

Guilt darkened her eyes. “I shouldn’t have.”

“Rubi.” He didn’t know why this was so important to him, but he needed to hear the words. “You
want
me.”

Her fingers flexed beneath his. “You say that like it’s a secret. Yes, I want you, just like the other two-dozen women on the set today. You’re so damn hot, you singe my brain cells. As much time as we’ve been spending together, it’s a miracle I can think at all.”

His frustration cooled. He released her thigh, skimmed his hand up her back, and cupped her jaw, lifting her face until her eyes met his again. Sexual intensity raged through his body like a fucking lightning strike. “I want to burn out every last cell in your body, not just your brain. But I’ll start there. See me tonight.”

“Wes—”

“If you don’t want to go out, we’ll just stay in, and I’ll get a head start on shutting down every circuit you own.”

Something shifted in her eyes. Or maybe it was her expression. He didn’t know what or why, only knew it signaled trouble.

“Is that what you’re looking for? A casual fuck?”

His head jerked back, the harshness of her words, said in such a soft, sultry voice, taking him off guard. “No.” He suddenly understood. “I mean, of course I want sex, but I want this too. Us. Together. I want…all of you.”

Her expression closed up. “That’s what I thought. Which is why the answer is no. We’ve talked about this, Wes. One kiss isn’t going to change the way I operate.”

“It wasn’t one,” was the first idiotic thing to come out of his mouth. “And it
does
change
us
.” His brain clicked back on and darted to her earlier words. “Wait. Would you see me tonight if I’d said that’s all I wanted? Sex?”

“Probably not.” She looked out the windshield and combed both hands through her hair, taming the wild strands. “But I would have had to think about it longer.”

Wes stared at her like an idiot. What the hell did he say to that?

“We should get to the restaurant.” She pulled her purse back into her lap.

“We’re not getting anywhere.” Judging by the way Rubi’s shoulders crawled toward her ears, he needed to soften his voice. “What. The. Fuck?”

She turned toward him, her gaze direct. “There’s a lot of good between us. A lot. And your friendship means everything to me. More than you can understand. I don’t want to screw that up.”

Friendship.

The deathblow.

“I hear you, Rubi. But I’m not listening.” He kept his voice level and low. He wanted his determination to reach her. “Because I know it’s not true.”

She opened her mouth to argue. Wes pressed his index finger against the supple swell of her lips and kept his eyes there. “And I know you want more than friendship with me. I see it every time you look at me. And I sure as hell felt it in that kiss.”

She pulled her head back with an expression that Wes knew usually preceded a battle. Before she started an argument, he sat back and turned the engine over. “But, I’m giving you a break since”—he cast her a sidelong grin—“I
did
just kiss you stupid.”

“Wes Lawson, you piece of—”

He gave her a talk-to-the-hand gesture and glanced in his side mirror before pulling back out onto the road. “Don’t say anything you’ll regret, precious.”

Four

The way Wes pushed her Aston to its limits on the second half of their drive helped her bank her frustration, but guilt and confusion continued to gnaw at her belly. By the time they’d reached the restaurant, a familiar dark hollowness had settled in. The emptiness was intensified by the fun, the high, the connection they’d shared on the first half of the trip…and then lost.

Which symbolized her greatest fear—acting on their attraction and losing what they had.

She should have just kept her mouth shut and played the whole thing off as nothing. But that toe-curling kiss had really screwed with her mind. She’d kissed more than her share of men, but Wes’s kiss… Wes’s kiss had been real. Filled with real emotion. Real passion. Wes’s kiss had touched Rubi deep in her body—in a place that had nothing to do with sex.