But she was one very sexy, intelligent woman . . .
Suzanne Jefferson opened the door right then, which surprised Elec. He could have sworn Ryder and Suzanne were divorced, last he heard.
“Hi!” she said brightly, wearing a green sundress and sandals, her blond hair up in some kind of twist or bun thing. “Ryder and I are so glad you could make it.”
“Thanks for the invite,” he said, feeling a little confused.
“Come on in,” she said. “Ty’s already here with his date, and my best friend Tammy Briggs is here, have you met her?”
Elec stopped with one foot on the threshold. Was Suzanne serious? She didn’t know about him and Tamara? Elec thought women told their best friends everything about their sex lives. Yet Suzanne was just smiling at him calmly, and didn’t look the least bit like she was lying. Which made him wonder if Tamara was regretting their night together if she hadn’t mentioned it to Suzanne. Or worse, she thought he sucked in bed. There was a thought to bolster his already crappy confidence.
“I met her again just the other night,” he said, following Suzanne down the hall. “But we also met years ago when I was a punk teenager. There was a barbeque incident involving me and a car with the keys in the ignition.”
“Oh?” she said, glancing back over her shoulder. “That sounds like a good story.”
“Not really.” He would have elaborated, but they had arrived in Ryder’s living room and kitchen area, and Tamara was sitting on the couch, a full glass of wine in her hand, and a forced smile on her face as she chatted with the very young, very skimpily dressed woman next to her.
Ryder noticed him and stood up to greet him with a “Hey, Elec, what’s up? Glad you could make it.”
“Thanks, Ryder. Glad to be here. Hey, Ty, how you doing?” He nodded to the other Hinder Motors’ driver. “Congrats on being number two.”
“Likewise, Rookie. And cheers to Ryder, man. You owned the final three laps.”
“I didn’t think I was going to do it,” Ryder said. “My car was loose the entire race.”
As much as he enjoyed race talk, Elec felt he needed to greet the other guests, so he turned to the couch. And he was full of shit if he thought for one minute that he would have done that if Tamara hadn’t been the woman sitting there. His etiquette sucked and he was the first to admit it, but in this case, he wanted to make a decent impression. Not to mention see if she looked even remotely pleased about his presence.
Not really. The expression on her face was more akin to horror. Oh, boy. No one had told her he was going to be there. That was damned obvious. Good times ahead, clearly.
So Elec made eye contact with the other woman in order to give Tamara a second to compose herself. “Hi, I’m Elec Monroe, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Hi, I’m Nikki,” the blonde said in a high-pitched voice that immediately set his nerves further on edge. “Are you a driver, too?”
“Yes.” Elec tried not to look at the cle**age spilling from her supertight red dress, but it was aiming right at him, like a couple of torpedoes about to fire, and he found it distracting.
“Do you win as many races as Ty?”
There was a snort behind him that he was fairly certain came from Suzanne.
“Oh, now, baby, that’s not really a question you should be asking,” Ty said, looking embarrassed.
But Elec figured there was no sense in denying the truth. “No, I’m sorry to say I don’t.
Maybe in a few years, but right now I’m just a rookie.”
“Oh, so you probably don’t have as much money either, do you?” Her plump lips had turned down.
Elec almost grinned, but he kept it at bay. “Well, I can’t say as I’ve seen the bottom line on Ty’s bank account, but I’m guessing you have the right of it.”
“Nikki. Damn,” Ty said.
“What?” She blinked innocently at her date.
“Come here a second, I need to talk to you.”
“A little adult-to-child discussion?” Suzanne muttered behind Elec.
“Suz . . .” Ryder said, his voice sounding pained.
“What?” Suzanne said right back, her own voice razor sharp.
Okay. This was exactly how he wanted to spend his only day off. Not. Elec turned to Tamara to avoid getting sucked into either argument about to take place behind him. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she said, her fingernails digging into her thighs. She was wearing a fluffy yellow skirt that landed right at her knees, and a tight white T-shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she had on simple gold jewelry and gold sandals. She looked pretty and fresh and smart and sexy, and Elec wanted to own the right to sit down next to her. He wanted the ability to put his arm around her, to kiss her, to make her laugh, to make her come, to hold her all night, and to get to know every single thing about her.
Which scared the absolute shit out of him.
He had never felt this way about any woman after one night and it was damn crazy.
It was freaking nuts, he knew it, yet that didn’t stop him from dropping his ass onto the couch right next to her and saying, “It’s really good to see you, Tamara. I’m glad you came tonight.”
“Congrats again on the great finish,” she said, clearing her throat. “I didn’t realize you’d be here tonight.”
“Of course he is,” Suzanne said, suddenly appearing in front of them and shoving a beer toward Elec. “Here’s your beer, Elec.”
Had he even asked for one? He just took it since he was afraid she might hit him with it if he didn’t. There was some serious tension in Ryder’s living room all the way around.
“You didn’t mention it,” Tamara said, locking eyes with Suzanne.
“Elec was right behind Ryder and Ty in the Six Hundred last night. This is a victory party.
Of course he’s here.” Suzanne smiled brightly and the two women stared each other down, eyebrows rising, mouths pursing, heads tilted as they silently communicated.
Elec realized then that Suzanne knew exactly what had gone down between him and Tamara and she was a party to Ryder’s plan to throw them into the same room together.
And clearly Tamara hadn’t known, and wasn’t exactly thrilled with the whole situation.
Wonderful. He took a sip of his beer and wondered what the hell he was supposed to say.
Him not knowing what to say? Now there was a shocker. God, he’d never wished for his sister or brother’s big mouth so much in his entire life. They were never at a loss for words.