Pure Pleasure by Ava McKnight Page A

could wreck. Our plane to Seattle could crash. That wasn’t a pessimistic viewpoint, it was a reality check. Ky could race for the next forty years and never injure himself. I could get cancer tomorrow, similar to my dad.
    “Do what you love,” I told him as I reached for his hand and squeezed it. “I can accept that about you.” Lord knew he had no qualms over my life. However, I did add, “But find some way to bridge the distance with your mom. You won’t forgive yourself if something happens to her before the two of you have a chance to reconnect. And vice versa.”
    He nodded as he set aside our glasses. Then he gathered me close to him and said, “Do you know that you continue to amaze me?”
    I didn’t know what to say to that. I gazed up at him, thinking I was—hands down—the luckiest girl in the world. Not because I’d landed a rich guy. Because I’d fallen in love with the right guy. A man who had boyish fun on the racetrack, while taking the safety of himself and his competitors seriously. A man who ran a successful business. A man who didn’t want anyone, especially me, to think of him as a hotshot daredevil or playboy.
    He was a million wonderful things all wrapped up in one gorgeous, sensuous package I very much wanted to undress.
    So when the Hummer arrived in front of my modest apartment complex, I said, “Why don’t you send the driver away for a while? I think we’re going to need extra time to… pack …before we leave for the airport.”
    Ky grinned as his head dipped. He kissed me again and I instantly went into sensory overload. I was still feeling emotionally charged from our reunion, and his very slow, sexy kiss charged me sexually. I was eternally grateful he’d not found anything unsavory about my past, and that he’d felt as strongly connected to me as I was to him. Enough so that he’d come to Scottsdale to prove how much he wanted me. Not just in his bed, but in his life.
    When he pulled away, I was breathless.
    “You really should learn how to kiss a girl,” I teased as I fanned myself with my hand.
    “I’m not kissing a girl, darlin’.” He winked at me.
    Then he helped me out of the limo when the driver opened the door. We walked hand in hand to the foot of the steps that led to my second-floor unit.
    There, he stopped and asked, “Did you want me to consider moving here when we were together on my boat?”
    I remembered asking him if he enjoyed Texas and prematurely wondering if he’d relocate for me. But that was the furthest thing from my mind now.
    “No, I don’t want you to relocate. However, if you asked me to…” I shrugged a shoulder and bit back a grin.
    “I do want you to,” he was quick to say. “Not just for me. Well, okay, yes for me. But for you as well. I think you’d like Austin.”
    “I’m willing to give it a try. Scottsdale never grew on me.”
    “In that case, I have to tell you that Dan Peters from Off-Road Rally thinks you’d be a great addition to his magazine, if you decide to follow me around to all my races.”
    “A job offer?” I asked, shocked.
    Ky nodded. “He’s the publisher. He checked out your articles online and thinks you’re pretty talented.”
    “Wow, that’s…so cool. I could totally go for that.” I was now a fan of the sport after all. And it’d be just one more thing that strengthened my connection to Ky.
    He kissed me again, and I knew as long as I stopped obsessing over my past, I’d have a very bright future ahead of me.

Epilogue
     
    As it turned out, I ended up with the best of both worlds when it came to my career. Melodie asked me to stay on at the magazine as a correspondent who wrote a monthly column on the places I visited with Ky. There were plenty of interesting hot spots around the racing locations, and it was fun to explore them while Ky was working on the truck or attending contingency.
    Then I’d catch up on the happenings at the race and be there to see him win—and cover the entire