Page 105 of Drive
Rainey felt her cheeks heat.Oh, yeah.That.
“And you got bent out of shape once when we were on the phone, and Kate was ridingme…”
She pressed her lips together, remembering thattoo.
“You let me sleep for an hour in a Starbucks’ parking lot when I was supposed to be drivingyou…”
“But, that’snot—”
He interrupted her. “You let me sleep because you thought I needed it. Not even Pal, who’s given me everything, gives me that.” He eyed her sagely, almost daring her to argue. “And let’s not forget when you swiped my credit card and stuffed it down your bra to keep me from paying for a hotelroom.”
The heat in her cheeks burned hotter. He had a pointthere.
Above her, his eyes softened. “You look out for me, and even though I’ll never let you pay for my hotel room, it feels good. I haven’t had a lot of that in my life either.” His gaze searched hers for a moment before he bent down and gave her a single kiss. When he pulled back, he raised his brows in question. “Now, are those enough reasons for you to understand why I like you? Because if not, I’ve gotmore.”
Her eyes rounded. “There’smore?”
Jacques nodded. “A lot more. There’s how adorable you look when you think about pancakes andwaffles—”
“Pancakes and waffles are amazing,” shedefended.
He fought his smile. “There’s how mad you get when we play dumbgames—”
“How am I supposed to compete in a music competition against amusician?”
“There’s how much you love your family, and how you’ll go to the ends of the earth for them…” His expression sobered. “…even for the ones you don’t know… even for the ones who don’t deserveit.”
Rainey had no comeback forthis.
“You’re mad as hell at your dad, but it’s clear you still love him,” Jacques said gently. “I know all aboutthat.”
Rainey blinked. “You said he doesn’t deserve it. Does that mean you think I shouldn’t love him?” she asked, fearing the answer even as shedid.
Jacques shook his head. “No. That’s not my call. But I do think it means you have a heart as big as the sky, and the people who get to stand underneath it are damnlucky.”
She couldn’t help her smile. “That sounds like asong.”
He shrugged innocently. “It might be. Oneday.”
Rainey wriggled her wrists, still trapped in his hands. “Can I have these backnow?”
Jacques pursed his lips and assessed her arms. “I don’t know. I kind of like keeping you prisoner likethis.”
She wasn’t ready to admit it aloud, but she liked it too. It kept him close, but Rainey wanted to touchhim.
She shifted beneath him and hooked her left leg behind his right, drawing her bare heel along the inside of his knee. As soon as she did, Jacques stilled and his teasing gaze sharpened. He entwined his fingers with those of her left hand before releasing her right. And free to explore, it traveled back down to the hem of his T-shirt, finding again the smooth plane of skin over the firm muscles of hisback.
“Do you know why you like me?” hepurred.
The ridiculous question made her giggle, but it didn’t stop the journey of her hand up his spine. “I’d be a fool not to likeyou.”
He pressed his lips to the space just below her left ear. “That’s not why you like me,” he said, full ofconfidence.
She spread her fingers, spanning the valley of muscles between his shoulder blades. The terrain was fluid beneath her fingers as he moved his free hand down the length of her arm until his touch landed on herwaist.
“Oh?” she managed, though her mind wasn’t completely tuned in to the conversation. “It’snot?”
Against her curls, Jacques shook his head. “You like me because I’m really good at finding B&B’s.” He punctuated his sentence by capturing her earlobe with histeeth.
