Author's Note: I know I usually put these little notes or whatever at the end of the chapter, but I wanted to put this one first since I need to say how sorry I am for the delay and the shortness of this chapter. I have had by far one of the worst weeks ever. First, my half-sister's grandfather passed away so I went with her into West Virginia so I could take care of her toddler while she went to the funeral. Her toddler got sick with that crap that has been sweeping East Coast and gave me a touch of it. Where I was at in West Virginia, there was no cell phone reception or internet, so it wasn't until after arrived back home, that I got news of a friend of mine overdosing on heroin and dying. It hit home when I found out that it was her eight-year-ol that found her.

I know by no means is this an excuse of any kind, but it's all I got. Anyhow, I hope you like the chapter because I had so much more planned for it because it does have the Race Wars event inside and I had so much more planned for it, but I just wasn't feeling it and I wanted to get a chapter up for my readers. Please don't forget to review, I love you all!

It was the sound of Val's cell phone going off that woke her up the next morning. She groaned wishing it would stop, but it wouldn't until she answered it. That much she knew. She tried to move, but she couldn't. There was a weight on her and a little part of her panicked, but that was until she remembered where she was. Her back was to his chest and he had his arms wrapped around her. He had rolled forward a little practically laying on top of her. His leg was wrapped around hers and his nose was nuzzled in her neck.

"Luke, I need to answer my phone," she said wiggling around hoping that would be enough to wake him up. Apparently, even her phone going off wasn't enough to wake him up. She felt his arms tighten around her as he quietly shushed her as he tried to bury himself farther into her neck. She giggled as she wiggled again. She managed to get her arm free and she poked him in his ribs. She felt him jerk and heard him grunt behind her. Val turned her head back to look to him as much she could, which wasn't much.

"You're ticklish?" She was able to move her head when he lifted his to stare down at her. She had a challenging grin spread across her lips and Luke didn't like it.

"Don't you even think about it," he warned. He knew she wasn't going to listen. Who was he kidding?

"What, this?" she asked as she poked him in the side again. Luke's body involuntarily jerked away from her touch and practically growled at her as he maneuvered them around to where Val was laying on her back with him on top of her. He pinned her hands above her head. She was giggling the entire time as he done this. He grinned down at her.

"I warned you not to do that," he said. Val wiggled under him trying to free her wrists, but his grip was strong and true. She absentmindedly bit her lip and the motion didn't go unnoticed by Luke. He found himself swallowing down a lump that appeared in his throat.

"No, you told me not to think about it. There's a difference." He grinned as he stared down at her.

"You're so damned beautiful," he whispered. He watched a light pink color touched her cheeks. He kissed her lips gently, keeping her hands pinned above her head. He felt her wiggle under him gently as a small moan escaped her throat. Luke released one of her hands and wrapped it around her waist to bring her closer to him. Her hand, once it was free, wrapped around his neck to deepen the kiss. He released her other hand, but left his arm above her head. She ran her hand down his arm slowly. Luke felt his entire arm tingle under her touch. It rested on his shoulder tickling the skin under his shirt.

Luke broke the kiss and made his way to her neck. He heard her breath shudder as her nails dug slightly into his shoulder. He could feel her heart thudding against his chest as she arched her back into him. He pulled up her shirt enough to expose skin so he could run his fingers over it. Her skin was so soft under his touch even if it seemed to tremble when he touched it.

He knew he needed to stop, but he didn't want to. She tasted so sweet and felt too good under him. He bit her neck gently and when Val whimpered under him and lightly raked her nails across his shoulder, he knew he was at the point of no return. He kissed her lips roughly and she kissed him back just as hard.

They both came back to reality when Val's phone went off again. They pulled away from each other, both of them out of breath. The looks in their eyes mirrored the lust both of them were feeling. Val bit her lip looking over to the table where her phone was. She looked back to Luke. All she wanted to do was smash her phone and get back to him, but she knew she couldn't. It was too soon. No matter how good it felt.

"It's probably Dom or Mia. I didn't let them know I wasn't coming home last night." Luke let his head fall on her shoulder.

"I'm going to go take a cold shower," he said as he pushed himself up off her. By the time he had left the living room to shower, her phone had stopped ringing. She reached over and grabbed it then brought it to her face to check her messages. There was two calls missed from Dom and a text message from Mia.

Is he proportionate? Val rolled her eyes then hit the box to reply.

Fuck off, Mia. She called Dom back so she could check in with him.

"You didn't come home last night," she heard Letty's voice on the phone. "Are you currently with a big hulking man?" Val rolled her eyes.

"He's in the shower. Is Dom around?" She heard Letty hand the phone to Dom.

"Good to know you're still alive."

"Yeah, I would have called, but we fell asleep on the couch." They talked for a little bit longer before getting off the phone.

Luke drove her over to Dom's so she could shower and change. He hung out downstairs with the others while Val went upstairs to shower. Val regretted not locking the door because as soon as she slid the curtain closed, she heard the door open. She poked her head out to see who it was to find Mia making herself comfortable on the toilet.

"Get out, Mia. I'm trying to take a shower."

"Nope, you're going to give me every juicy detail."

"There's nothing to tell. We didn't do anything." She heard Mia huff outside of the shower.

"I call bull crap, Val." It was Val's turn to huff. She poked her head back out of the shower.

"Nothing happened, Mia." Mia crossed her arms over her chest.

"Not even a make out session?" Val rolled her eyes the closed the shower curtain back. "Oh! So there was! Dish, dish, dish!"

"Mia, seriously, you have a perfectly fine husband you can go and do this with."

"But this is more fun!" Val really just wanted to shower in peace. That was all she wanted. She wanted to be alone with her thoughts maybe even work off some of the tension that had been built between her and Luke that morning. But her annoying little sister was annoying the ever living piss out of her. That was when Val grinned when an idea hit.

"His cooking is better than yours!" She heard Mia gasp and she grinned. That would get rid of her. Then she heard Mia flush the toilet and immediately cold water hit her back. Val screeched jumping out of the way then she screamed Mia's name. She heard the bathroom door close.

XXXXXXX

It was nearly a week later and the day of Race Wars. Luke had always heard of the event, but had never personally been since he wasn't much of a racer. The races were somewhere out in the desert and if it wasn't for Val riding with him, he would have never been able to find it without using his GPS.

Luke and Val had spent everyday together for the entire week. Her whole house had been furnished and she had officially moved into it. She was an excellent designer. Luke had helped her choose everything and he couldn't believe how much fun he had shopping with her. Even if he had to be the one doing the heavy lifting with Dom in the end.

They hadn't spent the night together since that one night, knowing that they wouldn't have been able to keep their hands to themselves even if that didn't change the fact that the tension between them kept building with each passing moment. Every touch shared by them sent shockwaves throughout their bodies that they had to resist.

After dropping her off one day, Luke had found himself shopping for groceries. As he passed by the pharmacy section, his gaze had found the small section of condoms, lubricants, and other products for sex. He knew it would happen between them. There was no denying on both of their parts that it was there. He wanted her. He would even take it as far as needing her.

He had bought a few packs just to be safe. He knew he wasn't as young as he once was and that his libido wasn't going to be as large as it was years before, but he knew that since he was going to be making love to Val, it was going to be like he was a teenager again full of raging hormones.

He found his bed getting colder and colder and his imagination getting crazier and crazier with each passing day. When he wasn't with her, he was constantly thinking about her and it was driving him simply mad.

When she had walked out of her house to get in his truck, Luke huffed then swallowed. She was wearing low riding, boot cut jeans with boots that went halfway up her calves. But that wasn't what had his palms clammy and his chest tight. She wore a form fitted shirt that went down to her ribs. It veed down showing an amazing amount of cleavage. The shirt accented the curve of her waist and Luke found his mouth watering. It took everything in his power not to pull her out of his truck, throw her over his shoulder, take her to bed, and take her in a manly fashion.

Luke was surprised as to what he was seeing at Race Wars. He had known it was a popular event, but not that popular. There was a line of cars side by side waiting to race over a mile long. There were two men walking along marking them so they could keep track of winners and losers. He could hear the cars as they took off down the strip as race after race commenced. There were bleachers set up that was overflowing with people watching the races, but the crowds moving about as people conversed and moved about was immense. It was easily over a thousand people. No question about it.

Val took his hand and led him through the crowds. Luke watched her as she would stop and talk to a few people. She would shake hands, kiss cheeks, and wrap people up in hugs. People would scream her name and rush to her. Val was famous amongst this crowd. It seemed everyone knew who she was. She seemed to be in her element. She was completely comfortable. These were her people.

They managed to find Dom and the others eventually. Hector stood with them chatting away casually. Val pulled away from Luke long enough to give Hector a hug and for Luke to shake his hand before Val was touching Luke again. It was a simple brush of her shoulder against his arm, but it was enough to send slight chills down Luke's spine.

That was when Luke noticed a slight change in Val's demeanor. He had felt her jerk slightly and she stayed stiff. She seemed to stare off through the crowd, and before Luke could follow her gaze through the crowd to see what she was looking at, she began to look as if whatever it was had disappeared.

She stood closer to Luke and Luke could feel that she was worried. Uncomfortable even. Her eyes seemed to search the crowds. She was distant. Luke wrapped an arm around her shoulder to get her attention. She glanced up at him and Luke didn't like what he seen. She was worried. She was scared. She seemed to be questioning herself.

"Are you okay?" he whispered to her. She looked away and searched the crowd one more time. She looked up to him one more time.

"Can we go? I want to go." He could hear the worry in her voice. He wasn't going to question her. He was going to get her out of there. They quickly said their goodbyes though Dom kept asking what was wrong.

Luke led her back to his truck as quickly as possible and got her out. Luke watched her from the corner of his eye. She was distant. She was fidgeting. She wasn't herself. Luke reached over and grabbed her hand gently. She didn't even move at his touch. There was a storm in her eyes.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked gently. It was then that she gripped his hand back. Luke was glad for the reaction.

"I don't care as long as I am with you," she whispered to him. Luke wanted nothing more than to ask her what was wrong with her. Why she was acting the way she was, but he wanted her to come forward and tell him on her own terms.

The entire ride back to Luke's home was quiet. He never released her hand. He wasn't sure what he could do to comfort her, but he would do anything in his power to do it. He took her back to her house hoping the familiarity of it would comfort her. She went into her room to change her shirt. She came out wearing a blue cami. Luke waited for her on the couch.

She sat next to him on the couch and wrapped her arms around his waist. He immediately wrapped her up in his arms. They lay there for what seemed like hours in total silence. Luke felt Val finally relax.

"His name was Leon," she started quietly. Luke stared down at her. "He's the only man I've ever been with in every aspect. He was apart of Dom's crew since before Brian came to the family. When Dom had to leave, Dom made him promise to look after me, Mia, and Letty. When we thought Letty had died, Mia and I wanted to go to Dom so we could be with him. Leon begged me to leave with him, but I just couldn't do it." She paused for a moment. "When you cleared our names and we came back, I found my room destroyed. All the pictures I had on the walls of me and him and friends, all the pictures with me in them had my face scratched out. It was a little creepy, but I really didn't think anything of it." She paused again as Luke felt her nails tickling his skin under his shirt. "I saw him at Race Wars. The way he was looking at me… it was just… I didn't like it. Then when he disappeared, I could still feel him watching me and it just made me uncomfortable."

"I wouldn't have let him near you," Luke promised. Val chuckled and attempted to scoot even closer to him. Luke kissed the top of her head lightly and began to run his fingers through her hair. They stayed tangled up with each other for the rest of the day.