I let his hand drop as we walked into the house, laughing as the crowd surrounded me. He'd find me later, I was sure, end up pulling me upstairs as soon as everybody started clearing out, or maybe even before. I could count on getting laid just about every night, but race nights – they were still something special.

The girls found me pretty quickly, Mia offering me a beer as she chattered away. "I started thinking you got picked up or something," she said, and I could only shrug in apology. I knew she still worried about one of us getting sent away.

"It was fine," I answered, wincing a little when Amber elbowed me in the gut. "We took the long way, that's all," I added, hoping that would be enough to satisfy them.

Mia nodded, and I let out a sigh of relief before cracking open my beer and taking a few gulps of it.

"Who's here?" I asked, looking around. I spotted Vince right away, sitting in the den with his guitar, trying to act like he was some kind of rock star. I couldn't help nudging Jamie, laughing as I gestured towards him.

"All the usual," Amber answered, rolling her eyes at the group of girls dancing in the middle of the living room. Somehow the sluts always followed us home, even though I was pretty sure they weren't even getting anything off of Vince any more. "You'd think they'd stay away, since it's your victory party."

"You almost have to admire them," Mia said thoughtfully, shrugging when Amber gave her a look. "I mean, they're really persistent."

"Or just really stupid," Jamie said, looking around at each of us like she expected to get shot down, pushed out of the conversation.

"I'm not going to argue with that," Amber laughed before tipping back her beer.

We got kind of quiet after that – not awkward, just comfortable, laughing now and then when one of us would point out a chick wearing some truly ridiculous outfit. Most of the chicks at the races acted like they had no self respect. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to be them. I mean, sure, I wanted Dom for a long time before he felt the same about me, and I probably made a fool of myself a million times, following him around. But I never dropped to the level of racer chaser, willing to do whatever to catch the attention of the guy of the moment. I always knew I wanted more than that.

"There you are," I heard Dom say, but I still jumped a little when I felt his arm sliding around my waist, pulling me back against him. Shit, he always liked catching me off guard like that when he could. Usually it drove me crazy, but for some reason all I could do that night was laugh as he moved us to a clear spot in the middle of the living room and started dancing, his hips bumping against my ass, his arm still wrapped around me, holding me close to him.

"Are you drunk already?" I teased, playfully grinding against him. He wasn't usually too much of a dancer at these parties, not even after that one time when he took me out for my birthday, but he definitely had the moves. And shit, I wasn't ever gonna complain about dancing with him.

"You ready to go upstairs?" he asked in return, his breath warm against my ear.

"What about all our guests, everyone who came to congratulate me?" I asked, laughing, pushing back against him again.

He just groaned, the low sound making my legs get a little wobbly. Shit. Dom was the only one who could do that to me; sometimes I loved it and hated it at the same time. Loved it, because who wouldn't love feeling that way, but hated it because I didn't like knowing that anybody had that much control over me, even Dom.

"Yeah, let's go," I finally said, my voice just as low as his. Shit, it wasn't like I really wanted to see anybody at this party anyway. The only ones who mattered were the team, and I saw them every day.

He laughed and leaned in to kiss my neck, his lips quickly brushing against my skin. It was just enough to make me get over wanting to sock him for laughing at me.