Racing Outside the Line: A Love Story at 190 Mph by Kimberly Montague Read Free Book Online Page B

back together." I pulled off a bit of a rushed, but still matter-of-fact tone, even though it hurt to admit that he broke me. I fancied myself a strong woman, but I tried to tell myself, it isn’t the holding together that makes me strong, it’s the fact that I found it in me to rebuild.
    His face changed immediately and part of me regretted making the comment because I could see the sadness and the guilt in his eyes, but the rest of me did a little happy dance… score two for Alexis . He looked as if he wanted to say something, like he had been waiting to say something for a long time and had only now worked up the nerve, when we were interrupted.
    "Hey, Alexis, come jump in, the water feels great!" It was Brad yelling and, by the sounds of it, having a splashing fight against someone.
    I leaned over the edge of the boat, scooting closer to Seth, who still didn’t move. I did, however, notice him turn to a statue, not even breathing as my entire upper body touched his. "I’ll be right down!" As I leaned up, I purposefully brought my face closer to his and watched as he didn’t take his eyes off my lips. How could he deny being attracted to me? Would he keep up this brother crap forever? How long could I keep playing this game with him?
    I felt him take a deep steadying breath before kicking me in the gut with another brotherly remark, "Watch out for those two. Brad’s a decent guy, but Greg is King of the one night stand. I don’t want you to get hurt."
    Oh boy, did he know how to say the wrong thing! GREG is King of the one-night stand, what about him? I would say no one could pull off a one-night stand as well as Seth did. And what was this crap about not wanting me to get hurt, he should have thought of that BEFORE he slept with me! Breathe… just breathe. Deep calming breaths … Did he have a freaking clue what he was saying?
    It took every ounce of strength I had to walk away from him, to hold back the anger and the tears and the pain, to just walk away. I pulled off my sandals and threw them on the bench seat on the other side of the boat.
    My back was to him, so he touched my shoulder to get my attention; I turned around and let the full force of my emotion come out through my eyes. He just stood there staring at me for several moments before finally blurting out, "I… I’m sorry…." He did look truly apologetic, which unfortunately began to dissolve away my anger so that my heartache was much more noticeable. I tried to hold back the tears, but I knew they were swimming in my eyes, ready to run out onto my cheeks at any moment. "I… didn’t mean that… I didn’t mean to… I’m just… I’m just trying to look out for you."
    I could not will myself to stop the next thought, as pathetic as it was, from taking over my mind and projecting itself from my eyes. Then… LOVE… me! I had to close my eyes and take deep breaths to stop from yelling it out.
    He must have picked up on some of it because he reached up and put his palm on my cheek wiping away a stray tear from my eye and rubbing his thumb back and forth across my cheekbone. I couldn’t help but lean into his hand, couldn’t help but want to jump into his arms and tell him how much I loved him. When I opened my eyes, he bent down to look into them and my heart started beating wildly. I don’t know how long we stood there with our eyes locked together, but it felt like forever. Slowly, patiently he moved closer to me, his eyes shifted to my lips and I knew he was going to kiss me. My heart stopped beating and everything in me tensed. I could feel his breath on my skin, and I began to anticipate the warmth of his lips on mine.
    "Seth!" hollered "the other woman." "Did you want a beer, dear?" And like prom night all over again, the spell was broken. He stepped away from me and walked back to the control panel at the helm of the boat. Somehow… somewhere, I found my strength and managed to steady myself against the edge of the seat in front of