Crashing into Love by Flora Ferrari

Chapter One

Conrad

“It’s midnight over there, old man. Shouldn’t you be asleep?” I chuckle as I guide my sleek BMW through the city’s traffic, glancing at the clock to make sure I’ve got plenty of time to make it to the hospital.

Five PM here, so midnight in Madrid, where dad moved almost the second I turned eighteen. I can’t blame him for wanting to get away from the States, not after what happened with mom, not after the pain he endured.

“Old man?” Dad says, laughing deeply. The quality of the speakerphone is so crisp it’s like he’s in the car with me. “I’ll have you know seventy is the new fifty, and fifty is the new thirty, and thirty is the new eighteen, so really I’m younger than you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I roll my eyes, coming to a stop at a red light. The sun is gleaming over the city, a late-day yellow that glistens across the skyscrapers than tower all around me. It’s always a pain getting to the hospital at this time of the day, but it’s not like I’m going to say no. Being a surgeon means being ready to help people, always.

But still, some of these drivers make me want to throw my door open and drag them from their goddamn cars. Somehow I resist the urge to slam my fist down on the horn. Tommy, my best pal, tells me I rage so hard on the road because I can’t let myself do it in the operating room.

“All I’m saying is,” Dad goes on. “It’d be nice to have a reason to visit. And don’t think I’m going to fly all the way across the pond for you, Conrad.”

I laugh again, shaking my head at my dad’s vicious sense of humor. The truth is I’ve visited him at least once a year for the past two decades, but he hates coming back. He says it reminds him of all that went down with mom, all the pain.

Again, I can’t blame him.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit hypocritical, eh, telling me to settle down when you spend your nights trying it on with half of Madrid?”

Another laugh, but this one’s darker, as though he thinks I’m making some sly dig about mom when I’d rather die than do that. “It’s different, Conrad. You know it is.”

I sigh. “Yeah, I get that. But I haven’t found the right girl.”

“What is the right girl? You’re a goddamn millionaire. Get yourself some billboard model and have yourself a whale of a time.”

My hands tighten on the steering wheel at his words.

It’s true. I’ve worked my ass off to become one of the most respected surgeons in the country, and I made wise real estate investments in my twenties to add to my income. I don’t want for anything…

But do I really want to buy a wife?

And there’s the fact that most women – hell, all women – do nothing for me. I look at them and feel empty inside like there’s a hole within my chest.

I don’t feel it, whatever the fuck it is.

I’ve tried explaining this to dad and Tommy before, but they just look at me like I’m crazy.

“What are you waiting for?” Dad goes on, as the lights change and I turn away from the intersection, taking a quieter street, gaining a little speed now.

“I’m not waiting for anything. I’m happy.”

Dad snorts. “You think I don’t know when you’re lying to me, Conrad?”

“What? I’ve got a successful career, a few friends. I work out and I can buy whatever I want, whenever I want. Who could ask for more?”

Dan snorts again. “Conrad, don’t talk to me like I don’t know you. I know for a fact you don’t view your money like that. You’re not some big impulse buyer. Hell, that BMW is the first new car you’ve bought in half a decade. You don’t even act like a millionaire.”

I nod along with his words because he’s right. I’ve got a high-rise apartment, modern and sleek. I’ve got a nice car. But otherwise, I don’t ever feel the need to splurge my money like other people do.

“I’ll know her when I see her. If I see her.”

“This mystery woman,” Dad says. I just know he’s rolling his eyes right now. “You know she doesn’t exist, don’t you, Conrad? She never existed. You think you’re going to – what – look at a woman one day and… And what? I don’t get it.”

“How many times are we going to talk about this?” I snap. “I don’t know, okay? I don’t have a goddamn clue. All I know for sure is I’ve never felt like I needed to settle down with anyone. I’ve never even come close. So until I feel it, I’m not going to jump into something.”

“And what if you never do?” Dad says, his voice growing softer now, probably in response to the rage in my tone.

“Then I’ll go on with my life,” I say. “I’m not the one talking about finding a woman and settling down all the time. You are.”

I turn the car onto the street that will lead to the hospital at the end of it. It’s a quiet road that cuts through a residential neighborhood, with byroads snaking off to the side.

“I know, I know.” Dad sighs. “I’m sorry, kid. I didn’t mean to agitate you before work.”

“It’s fine, Dad. Honestly. I know you only want the best for me. But I’m forty-three. I can take care of myself.”

“Nobody would ever question that, Conrad. Ever. I just wish you could feel what I felt, have what I had with your mother. Love like that…”

“I know,” I say, softening my tone. “I get it, Dad. It sucks what happened to her. That’s why I work my ass off in the—”

Suddenly a car rams into my tail from the side, pulling out of a side road and clipping me.

I roar and grab the wheel, righting it, my senses suddenly becoming cold and focused the way they do when I’m standing over the operating table.

I regain control and bring the car to a slow, controlled stop at the side of the road.

And then the anger comes, burning up inside of me, scorching my insides as I think about how fucking stupid this driver must be. I wasn’t going over the speed limit. I was just going in a straight line, down the quiet road, and this asshole decided to speed out of nowhere and slam right into me.

“Son, son,” Dad yells. “Are you okay?”

“Somebody just crashed into me,” I tell him.

“Oh, God. Are you hurt?”

“No, no. They hit the back. Stupid motherfucker. They came out of nowhere. Listen, I’ve gotta go. I need to sort out the insurance before I start work. Fuck. I don’t even want to step out there, Dad. I bet the car’s a mess.”

“You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

“Yeah, I get that. But this car costs more than some houses.”

“I guess I was wrong about you not caring about material possession, huh?”

My laugh is dry, without humor. “Yeah, I guess so. I only got it a week ago. Fucking hell. I’ve gotta go. Sleep tight, Dad.”

“Speak soon. Let me know what happens. And Conrad?”

“Yeah?”

“Try not to kill them, okay?”

I chuckle as I replay the accident in my head, the way the car just shot out of nowhere, slammed into me without warning.

What if I’d been a couple of seconds sooner? They might’ve crashed into the driver’s side door, injuring me.

“I can’t promise that,” I snarl, ending the call.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, I get ready to size this asshole up. Whoever he is, he’s going to be sorry he chose my brand new BMW to slam into.

The air rushes out of my lungs when I see her, my gaze flitting up and down her body, my heart pounding in my chest like it’s trying to break free.

The car’s a hunk of shit, a rust bucket with chipped paint.

But the woman is an angel, my heart picking up speed for a wholly different reason. She’s short and curvy, with long oak colored hair spilling down to her shoulders, her shirt, and jeans doing nothing to hide the gorgeous voluptuousness of her body.

But it’s her face that draws me in, green eyes glittering like little twin fires, the way her lips twist as she turns to me, saying something I can’t hear.

I think it’s sorry.

But she doesn’t have to be sorry. She doesn’t have to be scared.

Fuck.

Is this it, the moment I’ve been waiting for, the moment I never truly thought would come?

All I can think about is leaping from the car and tearing her clothes off, bending her over the hood and ripping her pants down, exposing her round luscious ass and massaging it, pushing her legs together so her perfect flesh dances for me.

A few cars pass us by, skirting around us, one of them honking their horn.

I crack my window, warning myself to be careful, to not let these savage feelings come across in my words.

What the hell would she say, this stranger, if I told her about the animal rioting inside of me?

What would she say if I told her I’m going to claim her, own her, possess her forever?

The thought of another man touching her sends rage shooting through me. I can’t let that happen, ever.

She belongs to me.

“Can you move your car?” I say, just about keeping my voice steady.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Okay. Get it out of the traffic and then we’ll talk.”

She bites her lip and nods. She looks so damn nervous, so sassy, a mixture that should be impossible but somehow isn’t on her gorgeous face.

“Okay, yeah. I’ll do that. And I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry.”

I nod and wind my window up because otherwise, I’ll tell her all the ways she can make it up to me, like sitting that juicy ass on my lap and bouncing until I’m so hard I take her right here, in the street, like the beast she’s turning me into.

I can’t believe it, but I can’t deny it either. It’s happening.

I’ve finally found my woman, and nothing’s going to stop me from making her mine.