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Her mouth went dry at his uncanny ability to rattleandexcite her at once.

“You’re intrigued, turned on, and maybe a little scared. But not by me, because I’m hardly someone who’s dangerous in that way, but rather, you’re scared by the feelings I evoke in you. Should you walk away? Only if you want to truly forget what you felt back there. I know I don’t want to forget one second of it. I was more alive when I was touching you, tasting you, fucking you, than I’ve ever been.”

She’d never been spoken to in such vulgar terms, and she might go straight to hell for this, but she loved every single word he said.

When she finally responded, her voice was shaky but audible. “I wondered what other talents your mouth was capable of.”

His head tipped back with a nearly silent laugh, and then he pinned her with a piercing stare. “I’m good at a lot of things, like being honest. I’ve never met a less forgettable woman than you, Kat. I want to know everything about you. What you feel like when you’re dancing close to me, what makes your eyes light up in the mornings, and what you sound like as you fall asleep. What you’re into—in and out of the bedroom. But mostly, right this second, I want to know how your hand feels in mine again.” His turned his hand palm up and held it out to her.

His smile warmed, became less sexual, and somehow, he was already becoming familiar. She gazed at his hand, and as she lowered her palm to his, that felt familiar, too.

AIRPORT HOOKUPS WEREN’Tnew for Eric, just as hookups anywhere else on the planet weren’t, but the sense of loss he’d felt when Kat had walked out of the bathroom had struck him numb. It didn’t make any sense. She hadn’t done any one thing, said any one thing that was remarkably significant, but she’d made his entire being hum. From his thoughts to his heartbeat to the fire racing through his veins, Kat electrified him. And then there was the sense that he somehow already knew her, and it lingered like a web in a tree, almost invisible, yet undeniably present.

The minute he’d seen her walk on the plane, his heart had tumbled in his chest, and that, too, was new. He wasn’t about to take the chance of never seeing her again, not when she’d already turned his mind, and his body, inside out. As a professional race car driver, Eric James was used to making snap decisions that his life depended on. When he set his sights on something, he didn’t back down. Hell, backing down wasn’t even in his vocabulary. But usually those decisions happened on the racetrack. Never before had he felt possessive of a woman—and certainly not after just meeting her. But the possessive, and some might say, obsessive, traits that made him a world-champion racer were riding the surface of his skin and gnawing at the pit in his gut—the gut that produced instincts he trusted with his life.

He knew he was testing Kat’s boundaries, but in addition to knowing what he wanted, he knew himself too well to play games with either of their emotions. She needed to know the real him, not the guy the rest of the world saw in magazines and ontelevision. He rarely let anyone inside the walls he’d constructed around himself, but he was so drawn to her, he instinctively knew he had to go in no holds barred or not at all.

The churning in his gut calmed when she set her hand in his.

Kat blinked up at him, and the confusion in her eyes pulled all his strings. Even the ones he never knew he had.

“I don’t know why I’m holding your hand. You’re a dirty-talking guy I barely know. You paid someone off so you could sit beside me, and for all I know, you’re a crazy-ass stalker.”

He laughed. “All of that is true. For all you know I am a crazy-ass stalker, and yet…” He held up their hands.

“I’msonot this person,” she whispered harshly.

“I have on good authority that youareKat Martin.”

“Yes, but not the woman”—she leaned in closer—“who has sex in a bathroom and then does this.” She lifted their hands.

“Then tell me who you are.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes, looking so fucking adorable he had to fight the urge to kiss her again. He had no idea what compelled him to hold her hand, except that he had wanted desperately to be closer to her, to keep their connection, and he was thrilled that she allowed him to.

“I’m a waitress slash bartender slash”—she paused, as if debating whether to continue, and then added, “going to see her best friend, and I’m totally uninterested in talking about myself.” She turned a scrutinizing gaze on him. “Who areyou?”

“This is where I run into trouble.” He was always wary of revealing what he did for a living, because no matter what, it always changed the way people treated him. They were either in awe of his celebrity, or immediately wrote him off as a pompous ass.

“Let me guess: You’re married, on a business trip, wife and kids are at home.” She tried to pull her hand away, and he tightened his hold.

“First of all, you couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve never been married, am not in a committed relationship, and I have no children that I know of.”

“That’s reassuring,” she said with another eye roll.

“Hey, all I can give you is the truth.”

“Okay, then tell me who you are. No games, no lines, just lay it out there.”

The truth came easier than he’d imagined. “Eric James. Capital Series Grand Prix racer.” The airplane rumbled and bumped, knocking them both forward. Eric put an arm out in front of Kat to keep her from jolting forward. Her eyes were wide and fearful. “It’s okay. Just a little turbulence.” He took both her hands in his and reassured her. “Just a few bumps from the storm. You’re okay.”

She nodded, but he could tell she was still frightened.

“You don’t fly much, do you?”

She shook her head.

He gathered her as close as he could while strapped into their seats. “It’s okay. Focus on our conversation. Ask me anything you want to know, Kat. Look at me. Focus on me.”