Page 17 of Speed

"My… package? Oh! The magazines?"

He nodded.

"I sent those a few days before I got your letter. You looked really good in the magazine, by the way." I reached up to touch his chest. He was standing so close, but I felt like he was growing distant.

"I thought the magazines and the note were your reply to my letter." He was looking into my eyes but he made no move to touch me. "I'd given up on you."

"I'm sorry," I said, moving my hand up to his shoulder. "I wanted to reply in person."

One side of his mouth curled up into a half smile and he cocked his head. "What did you want to say?" he asked.

I closed the distance between us and pulled him down toward me until our lips met. His jaw was rough against my hand, but his kiss was soft. He was tentative, so I ran my fingers through his short hair, pulled him closer still, and tried to express everything I was feeling: hope and fear and desire, and the love that had always been there.

I felt a shift in Axel, felt him take the lead, and then voices and a car door slamming nearby brought us back into an awareness of our surroundings.

"We should go," he said, his voice husky, and sounding reluctant. "You're probably starving."

He opened my door for me, closed it when I was settled, then went around to the driver's side.

"Are you sure you're okay to drive?" I asked as he got in. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," he said. "Though would you mind if we have dinner at my hotel? The area is full of racing fans, and I don't want to have to talk to anyone else about the accident today."

"Does that mean you don't want to do an interview with me this evening?" I waved the press pass, which was still around my neck, in Axel's direction.

He laughed. "You can ask me anything you'd like, as long as it's not about the accident." He put the car in gear and started toward the exit.

"Okay." I mimed holding a microphone in front of him, as I'd seen so many reporters do today. "Axel Beckers, there's a lot of talk going around about you being a changed man. What can you tell me about that?"

"Well, Miss… Brewster? Is it Brewster?" Axel spoke in a deeper voice and flashed a winning grin at me.

I nodded.

"Well, Miss Brewster, the rumors are true. A very special woman recently came into my life—came back into my life, actually—and thanks to her, I've got a new outlook." Axel pulled out onto the street, and though traffic was thick, he managed to accelerate enough to push me back in my seat. I felt the sports car purring beneath me and was hit with a rush of desire.

"You said 'thanks to her,' Mr. Beckers. Does that mean you're grateful to her?" I put my hand on his thigh. "Maybe you'd like to show her… your… gratitude." I squeezed his leg as I drew out my words.

Axel shifted in his seat and laughed with disbelief. "I would definitely like to show her—" He cleared his throat. "A lot of gratitude."

I ran my hand down to his knee, then drew it slowly upwards, trailing my fingers along the inside of his thigh, until Axel put his hand on mine, stopping me.

"But she had better wait, because I don't want to get into another accident today."

Axel held my hand in his and the tension—very good tension, for a change—was thick between us. We didn't speak again on the short drive to my hotel until he pulled in, and he asked when he should come back to pick me up.

"I won't take long getting ready. Maybe you'd like to come in and wait for me?"

He grinned and parked near a side entrance, so that we could slip in without passing through the lobby.

When we were out of the car, he took my hand again and squeezed it. "I can't believe you came today. Even when they told me you were outside, I couldn't believe it until I saw you."

I squeezed his hand in response.

"I'm really, really glad you came," he continued.

"Me too," I said. We got an elevator to ourselves, and as soon as the doors shut, I wrapped my arms around him and went in for another kiss.

I wanted him, and I wasn't thinking of much else. I'm normally one to analyze and over-analyze, and I always want to know where things are headed before getting physical with someone, but today, for once, I just didn't care. For long, dark moments today, I'd thought it was quite possible that I'd lost Axel before I'd ever had him, and now I had a strong urge to live and reaffirm life, to be connected to him in every way that I could.