Evan felt a little kicked right now. “Your sympathy is overwhelming, as always.”
“Ease up, Eve,” Elec said, his voice mild but firm. “You had your share of heartbreak when you were a teenager. That shit hurts.”
His brother had always been the softer touch, and right now he appreciated it. “Thanks, bro.”
Eve sighed. “God, I hate it when you deflate my anger. Can’t you just let me be pissed at you?”
Grinning, Evan flicked the paper clip back at her. “No one can stay mad at me. Look at Kendall. It only took ten years, but now we’re talking again. No one can resist my immense charm.”
His sister snorted. “Seriously, stay away from the cameras. Don’t let this get turned into a big deal. Be careful not to be photographed. And most of all, do not, I repeat, do not let this turn into drama. Do not let it affect your driving, your focus. And do not engage in some kind of nasty public breakup with Kendall.”
“There’s nothing to break up. We’re just friends.” If he told himself that enough, eventually he’d start to believe it. The truth was, he wasn’t sure they were even friends, but he knew that he wanted a repeat of last night as soon as possible. Eve didn’t need to know that.
Sighing, she said, “You’re going to be the death of me. Either that or responsible for my slow slide into alcoholism.”
“Why so serious, Eve? Maybe you need to get laid, too.”
Her feet hit the ground and she pointed her finger at him. “You did sleep with her! I knew it! Damn it!”
Shit. He had just outed himself. Elec started laughing from behind him.
Nothing to do but grin and own it. “Don’t worry. It wasn’t in public and there were no cameras.”
“How do you know? There are surveillance cameras at every decent hotel.”
“Why would we be at a hotel? We were at my place. And I’m not telling you anything more than that because it’s none of your business.”
He certainly wasn’t going to tell his sister how amazing Kendall had looked coming, or how delicious her ni**les had tasted, or how he had let her walk out that morning without a fuss because he fully intended to see her naked again soon.
“Your career is my business, so don’t mess it up.”
“It’s all good.” Well, maybe not his career, exactly, but he and Kendall . . . it was all damn good.
“YOU did what?” Tuesday paused in the process of raising her press pass badge over her head. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”
Kendall looked uneasily around the garage, making sure no one was in earshot. “I slept with him. It’s not a big deal.”
“No big deal?” Tuesday let the badge drop down on the string it was attached to, tossing her hair back. “Are you kidding me? You were a wreck over this guy. You and Evan Monroe have enough baggage to fill a cargo plane and you just hopped into bed with him?”
“You made me go talk to him,” she pointed out, feeling defensive. So she’d slept with Evan? Who cared? Sex happened. Good sex was a rarity in her life these days. Actually, any sex was hard to come by. It had been a golden opportunity with someone she knew could please her so she had taken it, and she wasn’t about to apologize for that.
“Talk to him, yes. Have sex with him, no. That was not in the instructions I gave you.”
“Well, I did and it was good, so don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal.”
Tuesday threw her hands up in the air. “Oh, my God, whenever you say it’s no big deal, it so is a big deal. Look, you know I love you and I want you to be happy and as long as you’re okay with the consequences you can sleep with whoever you want and I will never judge you. But you, my dear, do not do casual sex. My fear is that this will make you feel bad when he doesn’t call you.”
It already had. When she had walked out and he had let her. Damn it. Tuesday was right and she hated it. “Who says I want him to call me? I don’t need any complications in my life. And thanks for assuming he won’t call me. That makes me feel fabulous.”
“Hey, Kendall!” Jim, her crew chief, called to her from where he was standing by the office door, his clipboard in his hand. “Got a sec?”
“Sure, just a minute.” Kendall took a deep breath and inhaled the aroma of the garage—rubber and oil and the pizza some of the guys had ordered for lunch. It had a calming effect on her, oddly enough. “Okay, you’re right,” she told Tuesday. “I don’t do casual sex, and it’s going to bother me if he doesn’t call me. And it will equally bother me if he pursues me, because the truth is, I can’t handle any sort of relationship with him. So I screwed up by sleeping with him. But there’s not a whole hell of a lot I can do about it now.”
“Would you do it again? Was it good?”
Kendall tried not to sigh in contentment, but the sound escaped her mouth anyway. “It was better than good.”
“So I was wrong. Apparently bad driver doesn’t equal bad lover.”
“Not at all. Though he’s not a bad driver, just having a rough patch.”
“Defending him already. Uh-oh. You’re going to sleep with him again, aren’t you?”
“No, of course not.” Which was bullshit and she knew it. “Okay, fine. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t ever going to go there again. I have a hard time resisting temptation. Plus I like to win.”
Tuesday laughed. “Oh, sweetheart, welcome to my world. So go forth and have sex. I admit I would do the same damn thing.”
“Oh, I’m not going to.” She wasn’t crazy.
“You just said you would,” Tuesday pointed out.
“I didn’t mean it.” Kendall threw her hand up. “Shit, okay, I did. But I can’t! It would be a huge mistake.” Super huge. Enormous. Mega mistake. “I think I just need to stay away from him. That’s a good coping strategy, isn’t it?”
“It’s as good as any, I guess.” Not that Tuesday looked remotely convinced.
“Kendall!”
“Damn, I need to go. What are you doing here, anyway?”
“Interviewing some of the guys on the restrictor plate issue since we’re coming up on Talladega, where speed can get out of hand. This is for an article, not my blog.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to you later. While I’m avoiding Evan. I can do this.” She took a step and glanced back at her friend. “I can do this, right?”