Yes, she definitely would, if Will had anything to say about it.
As they’d eaten, he’d dominated the questions while managing to brush aside Harper’s for him. And he’d learned that everything she did was for or about her brother. Her job choice, where she lived, how often she got out on her own—all of it was about what best suited Jeremy’s needs. Again and again, she’d waved away Will’s admiration, saying it was all because of the trust fund some rich guy had used to appease his conscience. But he could see how much of herself she’d devoted to her brother. He’d hinted about whether there were any other men in her life, but it wasn’t hard to guess that there, too, Jeremy took precedence.
Except that in their case, Jeremy had given Will his stamp of approval to take her to dinner—as well as saying that Harper could stay out as long as she wanted, because she was an adult. Remembering the solemn statement made Will smile.
Hell, yes, Harper was an adult, a gorgeous woman who gave him the kind of rush he’d only ever had from fast cars before. And it was a very good thing that she could stay out late tonight... because Will was far from done with their evening.
“Let’s go for a drive.” It was pitch black outside as they got into the car. “I’ll put the top down and crank up the heater.”
“I should get home.”
Harper, he’d noticed, used an awful lot of shoulds and shouldn’ts. And the more she piled on, the more he wanted to blast through all of them, wanted to see her eyes light up and her skin flush, to watch her let go just as she had on their short ride around the runways.
“I promise not to drive too fast.”
“It’s not that,” she said, even though he knew it had to be, after what she’d been through with those crashes in her family. “And you don’t have to keep promising.”
But he did, because she didn’t trust him yet. Smart woman. “We’ll just take a short drive to a place you’ll like, then.”
She glared at him, but only managed to look adorable as she said, “You always get your way, don’t you?”
“I try,” he said with a grin.
Most people were willing to give him his way. But then, most of them wanted something from him. Whereas from everything he’d seen so far, Harper didn’t. In fact, if he let her have her way, she’d be keeping her distance from him rather than letting him come closer.
But he couldn’t stand the thought of giving her up. Not when she sparked something inside him that he’d never felt with another woman.
“Come on, Harper,” he said in the same voice both he and Jeremy had used on her when they’d wanted her to change her mind. “Say yes.”She sighed, but her lips had curved up at the corners. “All right. A short drive.”
* * *
Harper should have made Will take her home, but she’d told Trish she’d be out until ten or ten-thirty, so she figured she had a little time left for a drive.
They hurtled along a two-lane road, the top down, her hair blowing. “I thought you promised not to go too fast.” A mesh bar between the head rests kept the rush of air from overpowering their voices.
He slid a lock of her hair back behind her ear, then pointed past her. “I’m going slower than the cars on the freeway.”
He was always touching her—a hand at her back as she climbed the stairs, fingers at her elbow as he helped her into the car—his touch making her crazy inside.
Looking out the passenger window gave her an excuse to draw away, far enough to breathe without his scent filling her head. The road paralleled the highway, with lush greenery flashing by on the other side. He was right; the cars up there were traveling considerably faster.
“It’s the convertible. It makes everything feel like it’s rushing past.” He downshifted around a turn, and trees rose up between them and the freeway. “I’m not going to promise never to drive you faster than you want to go, Harper, but I can promise that I’ll never let you get hurt.”
Her fingers dug into the door’s armrest. But it wasn’t fear. Far from it.
The wind in her hair, the shush of tires on the road, the feel of speed—it was all so exhilarating. She found herself wanting Will to take her faster than she’d ever dared. And she wanted to believe he’d never allow her to be hurt.
He made her feel things, made her want things she shouldn’t. Like the moment he’d taken the toasted bread and caviar from her fingers, when she’d wanted to feel the warmth of his mouth and know the taste of his skin. When she’d wanted to bask forever beneath the sensual heat in his eyes.
He was as dangerous as her desire for speed and just as addictive. He had her saying yes when she should say no.
Heck, he even had her asking herself why she needed to say no!
As the headlights slashed through the darkness, she couldn’t tell how fast they were going. And, at least for the moment, as the moon and the stars shone above and the crisp air moved over her heated skin, she couldn’t bring herself to care.
She caught his gaze, and in the moonlight, she swore she could see in him the same wildness that was brimming in her.
He was so far beyond any man she’d dated. Her most serious relationship had been with a middle manager for a company she’d done business with. Kevin owned his own home and was amassing his 401(k), and she’d thought he was a prize until he’d suggested that Harper should send Jeremy to a care facility to live with strangers. But Kevin was like a fly on the wall compared to Will, who wore his power and magnetism as though he’d been born to them. Even though, from what she’d read about him, there was no indication he’d come from any money at all, especially since he was always referred to as a self-made man. She hadn’t been sure about much of his past before meeting him and was no clearer after their dinner.