A Little Bit More of…
Rebel at Heart

Family Night at the Speedway

This is a bonus story for Josh and Monica, ten years later.

~

Epilogue

Ten years later

The bright lights and constant roar of the speedway should be a nightmare for a mom of three kids at eleven-thirty at night, but Monica’s children had this in their blood.

Plus, they’d all had a nice nap that afternoon, in the air-conditioned RV they’d rented for the weekend, while Josh had talked shop under the sweltering summer sun.

Monica liked to glad-hand and look at cars as much as the next race girl, but she loved a cuddly snuggle with her kids even more. Especially when it made it easy for them to stay up late and watch their daddy drive his latest car up to the starting line.

On her chest, their youngest, Holden, squirmed and fussed for a second, maybe sensing Monica’s excitement. She adjusted his ear defenders, making sure he was cocooned in relative quiet.

Beside her, their oldest, Paisley, was leaning forward over the railing, her bright gaze locked on the racetrack. And on the other side of Paisley, her brother Axel was trying to nudge his own ear protectors off his head without his mom noticing.

Monica leaned over and nudged them back into place.

“Mommy, stop it,” he growled.

She laughed. “You can still hear the cars. You can still hear me, right?”

He shook his head, proving he could. Then his attention snapped back to the track.

Her heart squeezed. It wouldn’t be long before both kids would want to start on the go-kart circuit. And she wouldn’t hold them back. Whatever they wanted to do to be a part of their parents’ world, she would support them wholeheartedly. Even if it meant they were growing up way too fast.

Paisley was nine. Axel was almost eight, because after they had Paisley, she hadn’t expected her fertility to return while she was still nursing, and then boom, they had two kids under the age of two.

“It happens,” Kerry had said with a twinkle in her eye. “But if you don’t want it to happen a third time, I highly recommend getting an IUD placed at your six week postpartum appointment.”

Monica only had two arms, so she’d done exactly that.

But when Axel was six, her heart started to whisper that maybe they weren’t done.

Holden was conceived during a trip to Western Australia, after Josh convinced her the rally car circuit there was worth looking into—for investment, and fun, and inspiration for something they could bring back to Canada.

Not that it took much convincing for her to go on an adventure with her husband. Nothing made her happier.

Down on the track, one of the track attendants sprayed the lanes down with water. Josh’s car rumbled and shook, the overpowered engine desperate to be let loose on the track.

“Go Daddy go,” Paisley yelled at the top of her lungs.

As if he could hear her, Josh stomped on the gas, and she shrieked. But it wasn’t the start of the race. He just lurched forward to burn his tires, get them hot for the real start, so she laughed when he stopped after a few metres.

“I knew he was just warming up,” she said to her brother.

Axel wasn’t listening. His little mouth was pursed in a tight, thinking expression. A shock of straight, dark hair fell over his forehead. He got that from Monica more than Josh, although in every other way he was his dad’s little mini-me.

She wondered what was going through her son's mind. He was so young, but already she could see the drive to race bubbling up inside him. He was going to be a natural, just like his father.

Suddenly, the lights overhead flickered, and the crowd let out an excited roar.

Monica's heart pounded in her chest as she watched Josh roll up to the starting line, coming level with a rebuilt Plymouth.

The announcer's voice boomed over the loudspeakers, and then the Christmas tree lights lit up, a three second countdown to the sound of engines shattering the night.

The race was a six-second blast down a straight line. A roaring charge that Josh won, and her kids went nuts beside her.

It was his third race of the night, and his last one. He’d won all of them, a gloriously perfect night at the track.

“Can we get hot dogs, Mommy?”

Monica groaned. Hot dogs at midnight were not her most favourite thing in the world.

But they were a part of the perfect night at the track for an almost eight-year-old and a growing nine-and-a-half-year-old.

“Maybe we’ll split one,” she suggested.

Axel pushed his ear defenders down to hang around his neck and turned around to march off the bleachers, leading the way.

“If we keep our ears covered,” Monica called after him.

The ear defenders went right back on.

***

Josh was thanking his pit crew, who had just rolled his car up onto the trailer when his family found him.

Once upon a time, he’d kitted out his road car with drag racing capabilities, because he couldn’t afford a racing-specific vehicle. Now he could have as many cars as he wanted—thanks to his wife, of course, but also because of the business decisions she’d encouraged him to make along the way.

Which was good, because he needed to put three kids in the backseat of whatever he drove to and from the track.

“Daddy!” Axel sprinted across the dirt.

“Look who’s still wide awake,” Josh said, laughing as his son barrelled into him, giving him a bear hug.

“Mommy said we could share a hot dog,” Paisley reported.

Josh met Monica’s sparkling gaze. “True story,” his wife murmured as she pushed up on her toes to kiss him over their baby’s head. “Hard to say no to a treat on such a magical night.”

He swept his arm around her, wanting her nestled into his side. “I thought you might want to get them to bed right away.”

She paused, her body tensing gently with a nice little jolt of awareness.

He liked that he could still get that kind of reaction after all these years.

After three kids and all the ups and downs of life, their bond as spouses was still rock solid. They’d been tested once, badly, but the lessons they learned in that time apart were bone deep.

And finding time to be intimate, to reconnect on the most primal level, now required some direct communication.

What he was saying to her was, I was hoping the kids might go to bed right away, so I can celebrate a night of racing inside your body.

And she liked it.

She liked it a lot. Her cheeks got pink, her eyelashes swept low against her cheek, and when she lifted her gaze to meet his again, her eyes were sparkling. “Yeah, very soon,” she murmured. “Right after a snack.”

“Good, because I’m hungry, too.”

Her breath caught, and the pink in her cheeks turned brilliantly red.

His pretty wife knew without a doubt just how much he wanted her. Excellent.

***

It was almost two in the morning before the kids were tucked into their bunks in the RV. Holden was in a travel cradle in their room, which only gave them one option for private space—the passenger seat of Josh’s pickup truck, parked right beside the RV.

“Shhh,” Monica whispered, her pulse racing, as Josh hauled her into his lap and groaned, filling his hands with her breasts.

She squeezed her thighs against the outside of his legs and yanked the door shut, closing them into the cab.

“I’m not going to be the noisy one, baby.” He gripped her throat in his hand and held her still so he could lick a slow, teasing path up her neck to her ear, where he growled, “Because my mouth is about to be full.”

His hands all over her body, his warm breath and dirty words against her skin…it wasn’t hard to shift gears from mom to wife. Sinking into simply being his lover.

She’d changed into a sundress that was perfect for this moment. Elastic gathered the scoop neckline, but also allowed Josh to tug it down and gain access to her tits. Fuller and heavier now than when they met. And he still thought they were perfect. No bra required.

In the quiet of his truck cab, she wrapped her arms around his head and pressed her face into his hair as he sucked and pulled at her nipples. Oh God. It was going to be so, so hard to stay silent.

Under her dress, his hands skated up to her ass and squeezed. Hard. He spread her wide open on top of him, then took his time stroking her flesh. Teasing her. Working her up.

Sucking and licking and biting, just a little with the biting, so good, while his fingers made her squirm.

And only when she was rocking against him did he free his cock and give it to her. Yes. He still took her breath away when he filled her up. Thick and solid, he felt good inside her.

She leaned back, shifting herself around him.

He brought his fingers to his mouth and licked them slowly. Her gaze caught on his lips, his tongue, and stayed there as he gave her a slow, filthy smile. “God damn it, my wife tastes good.”

She let out a shaky laugh. “I love you, Josh Kincaid. Always will.”

“Come here. Tell me that again as you ride me.”

She braced herself and fell forward again. So close to kissing him, and now her clit was pressed against his warm skin. “I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you, too.” He groaned as she pushed down, taking him all the way to the root.

Somewhere nearby, but not close enough to make her actually worried about getting caught, someone closed a car door.

Josh caught her mouth with his, kissing her deeply. Swallowing all of her I love yous.

The tension in her body coiled tight as she dragged herself up and down his length. His hands sank into her ass, moving her faster and faster, and then stuttering a bit. Holding her deep before pulsing her on him. Holding her longer, long enough for her to feel his cock throb inside her.

Holding her down and biting her bottom lip, and—

Fuck.

She moaned, and it wasn’t quiet at all. It was long and lusty, and it didn’t matter because it made her husband come, and she was coming too. Fast and furious. Together. Messy and perfect and forever.

***

Josh still had a grin on his face late the next morning when they packed the last of their gear into the rear of his pickup truck. The kids were in the backseat, Paisley on one side, Axel on the other, and Holden in his bucket seat in between them.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Monica whispered as he hopped into the driver’s side and glanced over at her.

“Never,” he murmured back. Then he cleared his throat. “All right kids, ready to hit the road? Two hours and then we’ll be home.”

Home was a sprawling, multi-level house with a big garage and an even bigger playroom. It was their third home in Pine Harbour. Their first was the apartment above the garage, which was now Josh’s office—and sometimes ground zero for last-minute date nights. Also, date afternoons, and the occasional rendezvous immediately after morning drop off at school.

Their second home was the house they bought when Monica officially made the move north. It was nice, and big, but not theirs.

So they built something unique, designed for and around their family.

Returning to it after an adventure made them all happy.

As he drove, Monica caught up on work messages in the passenger seat. Occasionally, she read him an email and brainstormed her reply out loud. Other times, her thumbs flew fast, silently mouthing her thoughts.

And when they turned off Old Whiskey Harbour Road and into their laneway, she put her phone away. Business Monica was done for the day.

He tapped the garage door opener on his visor as they rounded the bend and caught sight of their home. The middle door opened, and he pulled in. On his left was Monica’s car, and on his right was his pride and joy—his Gran Torino, the car he first took her racing in. She tracked it down and surprised him with it their first Christmas together—four years after they met.

He had other cars now. Had a whole warehouse full of them. Some he kept for a long time, some he sold as quickly as he restored them.

This one, though, was going to be a keeper for life.

Just like his wife.

“Daddy?” Axel unbuckled and threw himself forward against the driver’s seat. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Oh no,” Monica murmured with a smile.

Josh twisted around. “What’s on your mind?”

“How old do you have to be to drive a race car?”

Paisley popped her head forward as well. “I want to know, too.”

Josh grinned. “I’ll let your mother field that question. But how about right now we race each other to the front door?”

As the kids zoomed ahead, jockeying for who might get to punch in the security code, Josh unclipped Holden’s bucket seat. “You’re not going to want to drive a car for a while yet, huh?”

Holden blew a spit bubble and smiled.

Inside, there was laundry to unpack and toss into the machine. Snacks to be made, and lunches to be prepped for school the next day. A few more weeks, and it would be summer holidays.

“Baby or laundry?” Josh asked Monica.

She claimed laundry. He unclipped Holden from the car seat and took him into the kitchen.

While they were gone, their fridge had been restocked.

There were a few advantages to being married to a very wealthy woman. The grocery service was one of them. The private plane to Europe in a few weeks would be another.

Three years ago, for their ten-year anniversary, they’d renewed their vows in the south of France. All their friends and family joined them at a sprawling villa that Monica liked so much, she bought to ensure they could return to it over and over again.

Sometimes it was hard to believe this was his life. But it wasn’t by accident.

Neither of them actually remembered their Vegas vows. They were probably something generic, repeated after the officiant.

But the vows they exchanged on their ten-year anniversary were specific.

Warm, slim arms wrapped around Josh’s waist from behind. “Laundry’s on,” Monica mumbled into his back.

“I got a little lost in thought,” he admitted.

“Anything fun?”

He pulled her around his body so he could look at her and keep an eye on their baby at the same time. “I was thinking about our renewal vows.”

Sure enough, her face went all soft and dreamy. “Once upon a time, we stayed up all night and fell in love.”

“And then we lost our way,” he murmured. It used to hurt, to think about those three years. Now it was just a part of their past. Part of the journey that brought them to this happiness. “But the universe gave us another two nights to make it right.”

“And we made it forever,” she finished.

Nothing by accident.

They chose this life together. They chose for it to never end. And they worked hard to put their marriage first, no matter what.

He dipped her back and kissed her until she was breathless. Then he cupped his hand around the back of her neck. “You and me forever, wife.”

“Forever,” she repeated happily.

Click here for more Pine Harbour stories. And for the Pine Harbour cross-over to hockey romance, check out The Playing Game, written as Ainsley Booth.