“Love you, too, Suz.” Tamara hung up the phone and sighed. Somehow that hadn’t gone quite the way she’d expected. She’d thought Suzanne would press her for juicy details, not lecture her to guard her heart.
She was going back in the suite for that pastry. She needed it.
ELEC knew he was grinning like a fool, but he couldn’t stop himself. He was feeling good.
Better than good. Damn satisfied. He had met a woman he was seriously attracted to, had spent the night and morning doing all manner of delicious things with her, and now he was about to do his second-favorite thing in the whole world—drive his race car.
When he wound up standing next to Ryder Jefferson in driver’s introductions, which surprised him since Ryder was usually way ahead of him in the lineup, he felt his smirk slip a little. He owed the man an apology for taking such liberties with his coach and his condoms.
“Hey, Ryder, uh, about this morning.”
For a normally jovial guy, Ryder just glanced at him, his expression serious. “Later. When there are no cameras on us.”
“Alright, man, sure. But I just wanted to apologize.” Elec was talking out of the corner of his mouth so no one in front of them could read his lips. He respected and admired Ryder and the guy had been good to him, introducing him to key players in their organization and making it clear he supported Elec. He didn’t want to screw that up, nor did he want Ryder thinking he was taking advantage of Tamara.
“It’s cool. No worries. Now shut up and smile. Camera to the left is zooming in on us.”
Elec turned. Damn if Ryder wasn’t right. An aggressive photographer was focused right in on them. He smiled and waved to the camera, wondering if he would ever get comfortable or be savvy with this aspect of his career. Especially when he went to leave the stage with the other drivers and saw his PR rep waiting for him, her foot tapping anxiously, arms across her chest.
“You were supposed to be here early,” Eve said, her fists curled like she was fighting the urge to smack him. “You said you would autograph that merchandise I have to donate to the children’s hospital.”
“Oh, crap, I’m sorry. I totally forgot.” No lie there. His mind had been seriously elsewhere.
Like on the feel of Tamara Briggs’s mouth on his . . . Elec cleared his throat. “I’ll do it tonight. I swear.”
“You better. Or I’ll track you down and beat the everlovin’ tar out of you.” Tossing her caramel-colored hair over her shoulders, Eve gave him a stern and hateful look.
Elec fought the urge to roll his eyes at his sister and full-time PR rep. But he did say, “Is that any way to speak to your employer? I should fire you.”
“Dad would never let you fire me.” Eve’s point made, she had eased up on the frown and the crossed arms, and fell into step beside him. “And I’m the only thing keeping you afloat on the business side of driving, admit it.”
“That was never in question, darlin’. I wouldn’t last a day without you, but you could be a little less hostile, you know. It was an accident, one that’s easily fixed after the race.” Elec knew his refusal to engage in a confrontation infuriated both his sister Eve and his brother Evan. But he had never seen any point in yelling about something that could just as easily be fixed by talking about it.
Eve sighed. “Damn it, you make it hard to be ticked off at you. Just be warned now—I don’t care how tired you are after the race, you’re signing these T-shirts tonight. They’re for sick kids and you need to—”
“I’ll be there,” he told her easily.
“Argh,” she said. “It is so not fun to boss you around because you just go with it. Where’s Evan when I need him? He’ll fight back with me.”
“Why do you want to fight?” It was a question Elec had been asking for twenty-some years.
He’d never understood the pleasure Eve and Evan took from sparing.
“Because it’s fun,” she told him with a grin. “Now get in your car, moron.”
“Just let that love for me flow, Eve.” But Elec wasn’t actually the least bit offended. That was just Eve, and this was their relationship. Always had been, always would be, but at the same time he knew she’d throw herself in front of a bus to save him. And navigate his sorry carcass through the media frenzy of race car driving.
“And what happened to your hair this morning? It looks like you took a bushwhack to it.”
Elec automatically put his hand on his head to smooth his hair down. It was sticking up. He couldn’t help but grin thinking that it was Tamara’s fingers gripping his hair like her life depended on it that had him looking a little rough around the edges. “Had a late start this morning.”
Eve glanced over at him sharply. “Why do I think that means your morning involved a blonde?”
“Nope. Not a blonde.” Tamara’s hair was a soft, rich brown, like the color of syrup with the sun shining through the bottle, and he was clearly way far gone if he was giving it that much thought.
“A brunette then?”
They had arrived at Elec’s spot in pit row and his crew was waiting for him, busy making last-minute checks. “Got to go, big sister. See you at the finish line.”
“Drive safely,” Eve said, squeezing his arm.
“Duh,” he told her with another grin. Then Elec went to talk to his crew chief.
He was feeling fine, and he was ready to win himself a race.
TAMARA didn’t think she was going to have any fingernails left by the end of the race.
She had bitten the entire right hand down to the quick, ruining a costly French manicure.
Beth glanced at her curiously from her seat next to Tamara and said, “You have nail polish flakes on your lip, Tammy. Are you alright? I’ve never seen you bite your nails.”
Swiping at her lip, Tamara tried to remember what it felt like to behave normally so she could emulate it. Her kids were sitting on the other side of Johnny, and Hunter was glued to the edge of her seat watching the race. Petey was working his way through a bag of cotton candy. “I didn’t sleep much last night. Dating is really difficult and I felt guilty about bringing Geoffrey down here only to break up with him.”
Beth glanced out at the track, then over at her again. “But you said he was unpleasant about the whole thing, which shows his true colors. You should feel good that you didn’t invest any more time into someone who clearly isn’t worth it.”