Love in Victory Lane (A Chase Elliott FanFic)

Chapter Twelve

*Emily's POV*

I fell into step beside Ryan, and he intertwined our fingers together when we started walking to Chase's RV. I listened to the rhythm of our feet falling onto the pavement, and I moved a little closer into Ryan. We were walking a little ways behind the others, and I could see Chase and Hunter holding hands. We were walking at a steady pace, when all of a sudden Ryan stopped. I did not realize he stopped, until his arm jerked me to him, stopping me from walking onward.

Without warning, he pulled me extremely close to him. My first reaction was to grab onto his grey Penske t-shirt right above his hip. My heart completely stopped, and it took my breath away when he placed his left hand on my cheek while still holding my hand. All of this happened in one swift motion, but when it happened, we just sat there like that for a minute.

With his hand on my cheek, he lifted my face up so I could look him in the eyes. I stared into his beautiful blue eyes, and he stared into mine. Then, I noticed he started biting his lower lip. What was he about to do?

Our faces were so close together, I could feel his breath hitting my lips. I wanted him to kiss me so bad. I wanted to kiss him, but I did not want to kiss him. The guy was supposed to make the first move. Ryan continued staring into my eyes, then he took me by surprise when he bent forward and kissed my forehead.

His warm lips on my skin caused me to feel like I was going to pass out, but in a good way. I closed my eyes, and exhaled deeply as he let his lips linger on my forehead for what felt like a long time. He backed away, stared into my eyes, and smiled the most gorgeous smile I had ever seen.

He started walking again, and I turned around to start walking too. That's when I saw Chase, Hunter, and Kyle clapping for me and Ryan. What was even more embarrassing was the fact that there were more racers that had appeared, and they were just standing there, watching, judging, clapping.

I was so embarrassed when I realized that Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jr., Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, AND Brad Keselowski were standing there clapping for Ryan and me. I could feel myself turn so red, and Ryan and I just looked around shyly and laughed. Ryan made me feel better, though, when he whispered, "It's okay; they're just happy I finally found an amazing girl," in my ear.

I could not even begin to say how happy I was in that moment. Ryan had just kissed me and told me I was an amazing girl. I smiled way too much as we continued to Chase's RV. I could not wait to see where this thing with Ryan was going.