Free Racing to Love: Eli's Honor by Amy Gregory Page A

piece of him that had been missing for far too long.
    With the main parts of the meal ready, Eli watched as Honor started washing up lettuce for a salad. “Here, let me help you.”
    “You don’t have to. You’re our guest. Sit, relax.”
    Eli listened, hearing the water still running for the shower, and he leaned his back against the counter, crossed his arms over his chest, and smiled. He knew he was in her personal space, their bodies practically touching. She was stuck between him and the corner of the countertop with her hands in the sink.
    He bumped her shoulder with his. “I insist. I’ll just stand here in your way until you give me something to do.”
    “It’s not polite.” Honor glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, barely containing a smirk.
    She was different from anyone he’d ever met. She was timid but strong, quiet but he could feel a fierceness about her. Throughout most of their discussion earlier, even though she had wrung her hands constantly, her back remained ramrod straight. Everything about her was a contradiction of sorts, a puzzle. He tilted his chin, looking at her more deeply and grinned. A beautiful puzzle.
    He smiled, although just being so close to her had his heart pounding. The magnetic reaction he was having to this woman was completely foreign to him. Eli was almost thirty, no angel, but he’d never felt like this before. He’d never been afraid to fumble his next move or had to search for the right words because he mouth refused to work properly.
    Blinking, he swallowed hard as he tentatively raised his hand. “You’re wearing some flour.” Eli leaned in, and as slow as he possibly could, wiped the smudge of flour off her cheek with his thumb, his hand lingering against her skin.
    With his hand still touching her, she froze.
    He took in every nuance. Her body language, the instant widening of her eyes, the way she swallowed hard, the sudden increase of her pulse evident in the hollow of her neck. Eli could hear the shallow breathing. His mind raced as he allowed himself to believe that he wasn’t imagining their connection, or that her reactions were real and for him .
    Eli heard the click of the bathroom door, the squeak of the hinges as it opened, and he dropped his hand immediately and spinning to scoop up the tomato off the counter behind him. Running it in the water Honor already had her hands under, the next thing he knew, he’d caught himself running a finger against the back of her hand. Again, he felt the spark arc between them with the most innocent of touches.
    Her whole body stiffened and the breath she sucked in at the physical contact was audible. She wouldn’t look up at him, and he didn’t dare chuckle out loud. His nerves were ramping up quickly, and worse than they ever had before any race he’d ever run. To calm himself, and her too, he turned to idle chitchat. Honor quickly fell back in step, making easy conversation about the daily ins and outs of life.
    What he couldn’t get over was how natural it felt to be standing beside her chopping up vegetables for a meal they would eat together. He was nervous and excited, and all the feelings of fumbling around, trying to make sure he didn’t make a fool of himself in front of her were there. But on the flip-side, standing close to her also brought a weird sense of calm, the same one he’d felt over the phone. It was back. One he’d never felt in the presence of any other woman. Eli didn’t feel like he needed to go out of his way to impress her. There was a simple sense of acceptance he sensed from her—as if he could just be himself, and for the first time, that was going to be enough.
    Dallas’s voice broke his focus, and he turned to give the boy his full attention, but his movement was too quick.
    He knew better.
    The vice squeezed in around his spine, the sharp threads spreading out through his left hip and down his left leg. The grunt was automatic. He blinked to keep the edges from going black,