Adaline.
I pinned her with my stare. “No words could describe it. I feel like I’m in a dream. Nothing is better than this.”
I did my duty and answered all the reporters’ questions. The second they cut out, Waldo Morgan, my crew chief and Adaline’s daddy, came up and gave me a bear hug. He had been my crew chief since I first started racing stock cars.
“You did it, son. I always knew you would,” he said as he slapped my back.
I shook my head. “Couldn’t have done it without you, Waldo.”
“Go celebrate,” Waldo said with a laugh as he shook my body and smiled.
With a quick smile, I made my way to Adaline, picked her up and spun her around as she laughed. Setting her down, I stared into her eyes. “We did it.”
Her hands went to my chest, causing a rush of excitement to race through my body. “You did it. I’ve always known you would.”
I cupped her face as I brushed my lips across hers. “I’ll meet you on the bus.”
With a quick kiss, I gave her a wink and turned to head back out into the crowd. Everyone was talking about how the nineteen-year-old newcomer had dominated the entire race.
Hell yeah I did. And I’m just getting started.
Nothing in the world could ever knock me down from this high.
As I stepped onto the bus, I grinned from ear to ear as my eyes fell on the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. Tonight was going to be perfect. The ring was tucked under my pillow safely, and I had practiced what I was going to say about a hundred times in the mirror over the last two weeks.
“Hey,” I whispered as I moved toward Adaline. Standing she gave me a smile back.
“Congratulations, Emmit. I’m so proud of you.”
Adaline gazed up at me through her long eyelashes as her hands went to my chest. My body was exhausted, but I knew I couldn’t wait to be with her. My body craved hers. Adaline snarled her lip and shook her head. “You smell like beer.”
With a laugh, I kissed her quickly on the lips. “Yeah, that was insane. All the pictures and interviews were fucking amazing though.”
Adaline gave me a sweet grin. “You must be tired.”
“Yeah, but I’m going to go take a quick shower. I have one more interview and some pictures. Then it’s just me and you,” I said as I placed my hand on the side of Adaline’s face. Something passed over her face before she gave me a warm smile. I knew this was hard for her. It felt as if we fought for alone time together.
I stripped out of my clothes and I jumped into the hot shower to clean up as fast as I could.
With a towel wrapped around my waist, I made my way over to Adaline. Her eyes roamed my body as she bit down hard on her lower lip.
Fuck the interview.
I dropped the towel and pulled Adaline to me and moved my hand up her dress.
Adaline dropped her head back so that I could kiss her neck. “Emmit, your interview.”
My lips moved across her soft skin. “It can wait.”
With one swift move, I pushed her panties out of the way, lifted her and slowly sank her down onto me as I let out a moan.
Adaline wrapped her arms around me as she said, “Emmit, condom.”
The knock at the door caused me to let out a frustrated sigh. “Ignore it,” I whispered against her lips.
Adaline kissed me like it was going to be our last kiss as her hands pushed through my hair and pulled. “Emmit, condom or interview,” she breathed into my mouth.
Another knock. This time louder.
I kissed her deeper.
Another knock. “Emmit! Dude, everyone is waiting to talk to you.”
I let out a frustrated sigh as I rested my forehead against hers. “I’m sorry, Addie.”
“It’s okay. Go do what you have to do and then we’ll grab something to eat and relax for a bit.”
I pulled out of her and slipped on some jeans and a T-shirt and headed out to finish up the day.
By the time I made it back to the bus, Adaline had arranged for dinner to be delivered to us. Taking her hand in mine, I led her back to the bedroom and slowly made love to her. Dinner could wait.
My hand reached under my pillow as I took the box holding the ring out and looked Adaline in the eyes and smiled.
“Adaline, you mean more to me than anything. My life is nothing without you in it. Will you marry me?”
I smiled as I opened the ring box while Adaline stared at it. A tear rolled down her cheek as she pressed her lips together.
Her eyes met mine as she swallowed hard. “I love you so much, Emmit. But I can’t marry you right now.”
My heart dropped to my stomach as I pulled away from her and stood up. “W-what?” I asked as I looked at her.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she wiped them away. “I was going to talk to you tonight, but then you won and I didn’t want to take away from that.”
My mouth dropped open as I stared at her with a stunned look on my face. “Well fuck, Addie. I’d say you turning down my marriage proposal is a pretty big downer.”
Adaline jumped up and pulled one of my T-shirts on over her head. She looked so damn adorable. All I wanted to do was pull her into my arms and kiss her to erase the last few seconds.
“Emmit, this is the last thing I want to do, but I need to be honest with you. I’m not sure this is the life I want. Being on the road like this and living out of this bus. At least not right now.”
My knees shook as I reached out for something to keep me from falling. “What are you saying, Addie?”
Adaline’s blue eyes looked into mine as she said, “Emmit, I’ve always dreamed of being a nurse, and I can’t go to school and be on this bus every week with you and go to school. As much as I want to be with you, I can’t give up my own dreams.”
“Addie, I want you to follow your dreams. If you want to go to school, I’ll stand behind you one-hundred percent. I can fly you in for the races, baby.”
A look of despair moved across Adaline’s face. “Emmit, I can’t be going to school and then fly out every weekend. It would be too much.”
My heart was pounding so loud in my chest, I was sure she heard it. “Okay. So we’ll figure something out, Addie. Just tell me you’ll marry me and, baby, you know I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
She shook her head and wiped more tears as she looked away. Glancing back at me, Adaline’s blue eyes looked empty as a small sob escaped her lips. “Emmit, I don’t know if it’s going to work with us being apart for so long. I know you. You’re going to want to fly in and see me or want me to fly out and see you. It will become too stressful.”
My chest tightened and fear raced through my body. “What are you doing, Addie?”
“I think we should maybe take a break for a bit. You need to get settled into this life and I need to get settled in Austin.”
“Austin?” I asked with a confused look on my face.
Adaline barely spoke. “I got into the nursing program at UT.”
“What the fuck, Addie? When were you going to tell me you were planning to leave me? How long have you known you were going to do this to me?”
Adaline pointed to me as anger filled her eyes. “Don’t you do that to me, Emmit Jerome Lewis. Don’t you dare make me feel guilty. You don’t think I’m confused as hell right now? I want to be with you. I love you, Emmit!”
With a curt laugh, I shook my head. “You love me? You love me, Addie? You’re fucking breaking up with me, on the biggest day of my career! I just asked you to marry me and you said no.”
Sitting down on the bed, she buried her face in her hands. “Emmit, I don’t want to leave you,” she whispered as I slipped on a pair of shorts and made my way over to her. I sat down next to her and dragged in a deep breath.
“Addie, I don’t want to do this without you. Baby, I want to give you the world.”
Adaline threw herself into my arms and held me tightly. “I need to do this for me, Emmit. I want to be with you too, but I need to find who I am and follow my own dreams. If I don’t I know I’ll end up regretting it and taking it out on you.”