Slow ride, p.1
Slow Ride, page 1
Slow Ride : Bad Boy Autos
Drive Me Wild #3
Bronwen Evans
SLOW RIDE
DRIVE ME WILD—Bad Boy Autos
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Published By Bronwen Evans July 2021
This book, Slow Ride, is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
Copyright © 2020 by
Bronwen Evans
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This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people.
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Copy Editor: Ray Collet
Cover: Les
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Epilogue
Want More Bad Boy Autos?
About Bron
Also by Bronwen Evans
Slow Ride
From USA Today Bestselling Author, Bronwen Evans, comes her latest sexy contemporary romance! A friends-with-benefits romance with her best friend’s elder brother, set in Bad Boy Autos.
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Marcus Black, the ex-Formula One world champion, battles daily with the pain from the injuries he received in his career ending crash. The only way he copes is with a regular diet of booze, pills and women. Rich, charismatic, and hot as sin, to others his life looks perfect. But one woman knows better. His Stella. His sexy as hell, long-term friend with benefits. Only one problem… She’s put an end to their arrangement just when he needs her the most.
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Stella Perry has it all. A trust fund large enough to last several lifetimes and men who flock to her at the bat of her eyelashes. With parents who have married multiple times, marriage has never been on her radar—until now. But she’s made a huge mistake. She’s fallen for Marcus, her friend with benefits, a man who thinks LOVE is a dirty word. Her sole option is to walk away. Only now he needs her help to beat his opiate addiction. She’ll help, but then it really is over. Although his sexy smile and sinful body make keeping her vow to walk away virtually impossible…
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I hope you enjoy the ride…
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Prologue
Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai hospital 3 years ago
The first thing Marcus noticed when he came out of his medically induced, drugged haze was the smell. He’d always hated the cloying stench of hospitals. He’d spent too many months during his teens, visiting his sister, Kendra, when leukemia saw her spend days and weeks in the antiseptic smelling, bleak environment of a sterile ward.
I’m still in hospital. No surprise given three weeks ago he’d broken just about every bone in his body, including his back, in a car going over 150mph.
The second thing he noticed—couldn’t escape more like—was the pain. Yep, it fuckin’ hurt. There wasn’t one part of his body that didn’t feel like it was being run over, again and again. His heart started racing as his throbbing head took mere moments to replay the crash in exquisite detail.
Flashes of frightening images filled his mind; metal flying apart and flames bursting from the engine with searing heat, and again, pain. His stomach clenched as he fought down the nausea.
“He’s progressing better than we expected. The head injury was not as bad as we thought, and his cognitive functions are good. His ribs and broken arm will take a few weeks to heal, as will his broken femur, but it’s his back we’re concerned with.”
“The surgeon in Monaco told us he might be paralyzed?”
Stinky fear filled his nostrils at his father’s words. He licked his lips, wishing his mouth wasn’t so dry. Too scared to move his toes in case those words were true, he tried to form words, but his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. Suddenly beeps sounded like a shrill whistle in the room. Yes, I’m awake, he wanted to yell at them, stop talking about me as if I’m not here.
“We don’t believe so. If we prick his feet, he reacts. However, he’s not completely out of the woods. The disc damage to his back is significant and could create ongoing problems, if not now, perhaps later.”
All Marcus heard was not paralyzed, and as he wiggled a toe, the beeps still piercing the air slowed to a steady blip.
“He’ll need extensive physical therapy once his broken bones heal. He’s extremely lucky and the surgeon in Monaco did an excellent job.”
“My son is a fighter. He’ll bounce back and be racing in Formula One again before you know it.”
“I very much doubt that, Mr. Black. Your son’s back required fusing and he won’t have the strength required to sit in a small sports car for long periods without being in agonizing pain.”
The beeping sound picked up once more. His career. His Formula One racing career he’d worked so hard for was over? Not if he had anything to say about it. He was the current world champion, and he had every intention of winning again this year.
“Besides, he has months of recuperation to get through. This season is over for him.”
The doctor spelled out the end of his career as if he were discussing a day at the beach.
“Ah, you’re joining us once again, Mr. Black. I was just explaining to your father you’re making a splendid recovery.”
“Water,” his voice scratched out.
A glass with a straw met his lips. He followed the hairy arm up to see his best friend, and head mechanic, Thomas Lorde, was his water boy.
Tom smiled. “You’ll do anything to gain the ladies’ attention.”
With his thirst momentarily quenched, he couldn’t hold his head up any longer. “Care to swap places?”
Tom’s smile died, and he couldn’t look Marcus in the eyes.
“Any news on what caused the crash?”
“They are still reviewing the footage and cars. I’m sure we’ll know soon enough,” his father replied. Was that why Tom couldn’t look at him?
“There was nothing wrong with the car, Tom. It was bloody Colter.” Marcus closed his eyes against the pain. He hadn’t even enough strength to curse out Jason Colter, his rival, and the man who’d sent his car into the wall.
“Don’t worry about that now. Concentrate on getting better. I’m sick of keeping your women at bay.”
He really wanted to smile at Tom’s words, but the pain was building. A nurse appeared and pushed the button on the drip, and thank God for small mercies, the pain subsided, slowly. He tried to keep his eyes open but…
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The room was quiet when he next woke, and only the soft sound of his blipping heart monitor filled the room. He was thirsty again. Before he could raise his head off the pillow, a straw was before his mouth, but this time the arm holding the cup was slim, toned, tanned, and smooth.
“Boys and their toys. What was I always telling you?”
Stella. He smiled through the pain as he took in the fair-haired beauty holding the glass. “Speed kills, but, honey, I ain’t dead.” Nope, one part of him was very much alive. It twitched, even though his body ached with pain. Stella could always get his motor running.
“Kendra’s getting me a proper coffee. We’re here to ensure you do as the doctor orders.” She paused and the ‘old lady’ scowl disappeared, replaced by the sexy smile he loved. “And to keep that tribe of groupies away from your door. I’m pretty sure you’re in no condition to be entertaining.”
“You’d be surprised.” But she was right. He was in no condition.
“When you’ve recovered, you can surprise me plenty,” she purred, making his balls swell. She was the hottest thing he’d ever seen. Guys took one look at her and sex was all they saw, but there was much more to Stella. She was intelligent, sassy, and so much fun in bed and out. Her only drawback was she was best friends with Kendra, and keeping his life private from his nosey sister was always a problem when it came to Stella.
Whenever he came home from Europe, he craved his hook ups with Stella. They’d been friends with benefits since hooking up at Kendra’s twentieth birthday drinks at the Porter Club two years ago. She was the only woman he’d had any kind of consistent relationship with. A life traveling the Formula One circuit made any other type of relationship impossible.
Stella was the female version of him. Her opening line that night at the bar had been, “I do sex, really well actually, but I’m shit at relationships. I’m a scre w him, thank him, then leave him kind of gal, so don’t go falling in love with me.”
He’d never wanted a woman more.
If his body wasn’t wracked with pain, he’d take her. Hell, even with morphine flooding his body, or perhaps because of it, he wanted her.
As if sensing his thoughts, she leaned close so her breasts pressed to his chest. “Perhaps if you’re a good boy, and do what the doctor orders, I’ll wear my sexy nurse’s uniform next time I visit.”
An image flashed in his head, and blood fled south. His dick didn’t seem to get the message that the rest of him was out of action. When he healed, she would be the one flat on her back.
Just then, his little sis entered the room. Kendra handed a coffee to Stella, elbowing her out of the way to bend down and hug him, whispering in his ear, “I don’t want you ever racing again. I can’t lose you, and Connor needs his uncle.”
He looked at Stella as Kendra sobbed against his chest. She, too, had a tear in her eye.
He bit back a response. After all, it was his career that was over. If anyone should cry, it was him.
He’d make Jason Colter pay if it was the last thing he did.
Chapter One
Maui, The Four Seasons Resort
For the first time since he’d gotten off the plane in Maui, Marcus’s back pain was bearable and this time it wasn’t because he’d popped a pill. The flight from Los Angeles to Maui, with the one stop in Honolulu, was about seven hours too long and too long for his back to be sitting in a seat, even if it was in business class. It was coming up to three years on from his accident and his back still saw him live in agony.
He rolled off the portable massage table set up in his hotel room and wrapped the towel around his waist. Part of the excitement about attending Kade and Lexie’s wedding here at The Four Seasons Resort was Stella was in the bridal party too. For what he had in mind, his back needed to be, if not pain free, at least bearable.
He missed his friend with benefits. Stella had been so busy of late, apparently with some charity she had started, that they hadn’t been able to hook up for quite a while. He hoped to change that this weekend. He refused to look too closely at why Stella was on his mind so much.
He walked Marianne to the door and pressed a generous tip into her hand. His money brought out a seductive smile, but he was taken for the next few days, he hoped. “I’m here all weekend if you need me,” she added, as she thanked him and walked off.
“Making new friends already, I see.”
He peered along the corridor. Stella. He couldn’t help but smile. She looked amazing, dressed in an off the shoulder white linen top and jean shorts that showcased her amazing legs. Already he longed to have them wrapped around him. “Masseuse. Plane trips are a killer.”
He noted her hostile stare vanished, and concern flooded her lovely blue eyes instead. “How is your back?” she asked, walking toward him, her ponytail of long blonde hair swinging in time with her hips.
“The usual. I’ll cope.” He stepped forward, dressed in only a towel, and heard his hotel room door click shut behind him. He spun round on a curse. “Shit. I’m locked out.” How fortuitous. He faced Stella. “I’ll wait in your room while they send up a spare key card.”
She laughed. “Or I should give all the women in the hotel a treat and make you go down to reception in that skimpy towel.”
“Come on, give me a break. I’m covered in oil and need a hot shower to help my back.” Why not go for the pity vote?
Stella shook her head and turned back to her room a few doors down from his. “Come on, then.”
“When did you arrive?” he asked as he followed her in.
She threw her hat and suntan lotion on the table. “Yesterday, with Lexie and Kendra. Lexie’s so excited about her big day.”
“Are the guys here?”
“Yep. They arrived this morning. The pre-wedding dinner starts at 8pm tonight. Don’t be late, and I want you on your best behavior. Tomorrow, during the wedding ceremony, you’ll be standing next to Jason Colter.”
His fists clenched at the name. He’d hated Jason for so many years, and when Jason was an alcoholic, opiate addicted arsehole, that was easy. Everyone felt sorry for Marcus because they blamed Jason for his crash. But now Colter had been cleared of causing his crash, and with his drug habit behind him, the bastard was sober and an upstanding citizen. If Marcus let his hatred show, he appeared to be the arsehole.
Life was so unfair.
He did what most men do when they don’t want to answer. He changed the subject. “Can you please ring down to reception to get me a new key card while I use your shower?” Stella sighed at his lack of affirmation on the behavior front. With an encouraging wink, he added, “Feel free to join me.”
Five minutes later, he realized Stella wouldn’t be joining him. Damn. Why had he let Jason get under his skin? If he’d simply agreed to play nice, Stella could have relieved his tension.
He grabbed one of the hotel’s toweling robes in Stella’s bathroom, and with his anger burning low, joined her. She was busy mixing a drink.
He came up behind her and enveloped her in his arms, pulling her back against him, letting her soft curves cool his anger. He should have left off the robe, but even through the soft toweling he could feel her heat, and the orchid scent she always wore filled his senses. His dick hardened instantly.
His lips found her neck, and he nibbled as his hands explored her body. She had tiny breasts, but they were oh, so responsive. Her nipples formed tight peaks, and he was eager to taste them. She turned in his embrace and her arms slipped around his neck on a sexy moan. She rubbed against his erection. He found her mouth, and her tongue met his for a duel, which of course he won. This is what he needed. He always forgot the constant pain in his back when he held a beautiful woman in his arms.
When he held Stella in his arms.
He backed her towards the bed, but before he could tumble them onto it, she broke off the kiss and pushed out of his hold.
“Tempting as you are, big guy, I need a drink and a shower, and you need to go back to your room and get dressed. Find Jason and sort your shit out.”
Another thing he could blame Jason for—cock blocking. He didn’t have his watch on. “It can’t be that late?”
She’d returned to making the drink. Okay, something was off.
“A beer for me, thanks,” he said as he ignored her hint to leave and instead took a chair on her balcony over-looking the sea. Stella’s mention of Jason was a reminder that this wedding was going to be hell, and a beer was a great way to start the weekend since a romp between the sheets appeared to be off the table.
“I suggest you have a drink with Jason before the dinner. Get out whatever it is you want to say, beat him to a pulp if you have to, but don’t bring this pissed off attitude to the pre-wedding dinner or the wedding. Kendra will never forgive you. As for the bride; Lexie would kick your ass.”
“Why is it I’m the bad guy here when fuckin’ Jason was the one who—”
“They never found him guilty of causing the crash.”
If Stella said ‘let it go’ he would—what? He took a long slug of his beer. What would he do? Scream like a girl? And why was it he couldn’t let it go?
Her tone softened. “I know what the end of your career meant to you. I know how long it took you to recover. I was there, remember? But look at you now. You love Bad Boy Autos. It’s a tremendous success, and you don’t need the title of world champion race car driver to attract the women. They drop into your bed on a smile.”
