Page 57 of Full Throttle

She glared up at him. They were standing close enough that he could see the violet tinge to her eyes, like cornflower petals held up to sunlight. Her gaze flicked to his mouth, and he could see something shifting. Her pride warring with desire. For a moment Dominic let himself imagine it. Fisting his hand in her hair. Crushing his mouth to her own. Would she taste the same? Still make that little breathless sound just before he kissed her, the one that had lodged under his skin for years like a splinter? Would she—?

“Juliette!” Anthony called. “Over here.”

He waved her toward the bar. Dominic stiffened. He drew back, just far enough to meet her gaze.

“Don’t. Don’t leave with him.”

Her eyes were a challenge. “Why not?”

Because I can’t watch you do it, Dominic thought desperately. Because I can’t forgive you for what happened, but I can’t seem to let you go either. “Just trust me.”

It must have been the wrong thing to say, because her expression shuttered. “I did, once. And look where that got me.”

She might as well have slapped him. “Marchmont—”

“I’ve heard enough,” Juliette said. “Have a good evening, Hastings.”

She slipped toward the bar. Dominic let out a string of curses, flexing his hand. The fire in his chest was burning hotter, making his skin feel tight and itchy. Should he follow? Try to reason with her? But no; that would only make things worse. Maybe—

“Tough night?” a female voice asked.

Dominic closed his eyes. God, he wasn’t in the mood for a selfie. But it was only the woman from the cards table, applying a pink hand sanitizer outside the toilets. She really was very pretty; she had the tanned look of a California surfer. Exactly what he might have gone for previously, before a certain stubborn race car driver ate up all his brain space.

Dominic cleared his throat. “I’ve had better.”

“Shame.” The woman shoved the hand sanitizer in her purse. “I hate to see a handsome man having a bad night.”

“Oh?”

She lifted a delicate shoulder. “Just feels like a waste. That’s all.”

The casino lights caught at her eyes. Blue, Dominic observed, just a few shades lighter than washed-out denim. They felt like the wrong sort of blue, although he hadn’t realized he’d been expecting something different.

She moved closer. “I can think of a few ways to make it better. If that’s something you’d be interested in.”

“Depends,” he murmured. “Are you going to let me buy you a drink?”

He glanced sideways. Juliette and Sinclair were at the bar together, knocking back tequila shots. He couldn’t deny that he was half hoping that she’d look over, but she seemed entirely uninterested, as if the last ten minutes had been wiped from her mind entirely. Anthony leaned forward, wiping a bit of salt from her cheek, and Dominic’s chest tightened.

The young woman rolled a smile around the way someone might roll a hard candy. “You know what? No. You don’t get to buy me a drink.”

Dominic raised an eyebrow. “No?”

“No.” The woman touched his chest. “Because we’re leaving. How far is your hotel?”

Chapter 19

Then…

Dominic was coming back from the gym when he heard the noise. He paused, adjusting the gym bag slung over his shoulder. Heavy music spilled from the castle sitting room, accompanied by laughter and the clink of glasses. He glanced at his watch. Almost midnight. During his two weeks at the academy, he’d learned that the older students were largely left to govern themselves, but it was a Tuesday.

Still.

Not his business.

Dominic turned. He was about to make his way back to his studio flat to whip up a late-night omelet when a loud voice caught his attention. High. Lilting. Even if Dominic hadn’t known her voice immediately, it would have been easy to identify her: She was the only female driver at the academy.

“—fuck off, I said no.”