“Where’s your aspirin? I have a slight headache and I think if I take a couple, I can get rid of it.”
“They’re in the cabinet in my bathroom.” Ryder started to get up. “I’ll get them for you.”
“No, no, I can get them. You stay.” She was actually looking forward to a moment of privacy away from the snarky barbs going back and forth, and the uncomfortable awareness of Elec sitting just inches to her right.
Tamara tried to walk, not run, down the hallway and into Ryder’s bedroom. It was very classy and masculine, with lots of chocolate brown and very artistic black-and-white photos of various racetracks around the country, plus one of him winning the championship two years earlier. She wondered if Suzanne had decorated it, or if he had hired someone. She couldn’t picture Ryder picking out duvet covers on his day off, but the end result was soothing and quiet, and she was grateful just to be alone for two minutes.
Ryder’s bathroom was a mess like his coach had been, with dirty clothes lying on the floor and his shaving accoutrements scattered all over the counter. She stepped over a dirty towel and a pair of boxer shorts and opened the medicine cabinet. Ryder had four half-used tubes of toothpaste, a giant bottle of aspirin, dental floss, mouthwash, and three boxes of condoms. It appeared his goals in life were fresh breath and ensuring he never had the headache of children.
Tamara grabbed the aspirin and untwisted the cap.
“Tamara.”
She jumped and let out a shriek. Good Lord, Elec was standing in the doorway, watching her. “Geez, you scared me.” And what the hell was he doing? There was a powder room in Ryder’s front hallway, so if the beer was catching up with him, he could have used that bathroom.
“Sorry.”
He didn’t look sorry. He looked sexy, damn him. How any man could do nothing more than prop up a door frame with his shoulders and look that intense and hot was beyond her. And it was annoying.
“Did you need the bathroom? I’m leaving.” She rolled two aspirin between her fingers and wondered how she could exit past him without touching any part of his body with hers.
“I don’t need the bathroom. I came to talk to you privately.”
The pain behind her eyes gave a throb of protest. She did not want to talk to him. Not now.
Not tomorrow. Not ever until she could learn to be rational in his company and not want what she couldn’t have, which was sex with him on a daily basis, twice on race days.
“What did you want to talk about?” Damn her mother for teaching her manners. She should have just told him they had nothing to talk about.
“You didn’t know I was going to be here tonight, did you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“I knew you were going to be here. That’s why I came. But I’m sorry if it’s making you uncomfortable.”
Well, that was nice enough. “It’s not.” Liar. “Why would I be uncomfortable?”
“Why would you cancel our date?”
Tamara had known that was coming. She cleared her throat and stared for a second at Ryder’s dirty towel on the floor as she gathered an ounce of courage. “Because it’s not a good idea. My kids, my in-laws—”
“Are not invited on our date.”
That almost made her laugh. “I know that. But it’s complicated, Elec. I am not free to just do whatever I want with no regard to other people’s feelings.”
“It’s not a big deal, it’s only dinner. I would just like to get to know you a little better.” His eyes rolled over her body, all the way down and all the way up again. “Better than I already do.”
Wincing as her head throbbed harder, Tamara rubbed her temples. She needed to explain—without sounding like a total bitch—that she didn’t regret their night together but that she couldn’t actually have a relationship with him. Even going into the whole thing with inhibitions thrown out the window, she had known enough to assume one night was all it was going to be, and she had still gone with it. It was flattering and nice to know that Elec was actually interested in her as more than a random hookup, but she just didn’t see how in their reality of his crazy traveling schedule and her many responsibilities, they could manage anything resembling normalcy, and it was stressing her out, frankly.
“Your head really hurts, doesn’t it?” he asked softly, moving into the bathroom.
She wasn’t popping aspirin for the fun of it. “Yes,” she said, knowing her face had to be sour and pouty.
“Turn around.”
That sounded like a trick.
“I’ll rub your head,” he said when she didn’t move.
Touched by the thoughtfulness of that, Tamara turned around as he came up behind her.
His fingers touched her hair and gently undid the tie that was keeping her ponytail in place.
“This thing can’t be helping. It’s pulling all your hair back really tightly.”
It did feel better the minute her hair fell loose. “You’re probably right. Thanks.”
His fingers were gliding into her hair, working the strands free of the shape the ponytail had left it in, and Tamara shivered at the tactile sensation. She had always loved having someone touch her hair and it had been so long since she had felt that. Too long, just way too long. Her eyes drifted closed as he stroked, digging his fingertips into her scalp and rubbing away the tightness and tension.
“Does that feel good?” he murmured. “Or am I doing it too hard?”
“No, it feels great. Thank you.”
Elec massaged up and down her scalp and down her neck with all of his fingers, his breath audible next to her ear, the scent of his aftershave drifting up into her nostrils. She felt her shoulders relaxing, and when he rubbed her temples with the pads of his thumbs in a deep circular motion, she sighed.
Shifting her hair to the side, Elec focused on her neck again, then kneading the tension out of her shoulders. He went up the sleeves of her T-shirt and pulled her bra straps down a little so they wouldn’t impede his movements as he systematically worked her muscles. It occurred to her maybe she shouldn’t let him take that kind of liberty with her clothing, but it felt too good to put a halt to it, and really, it wasn’t like he hadn’t already touched every inch of her.
She shouldn’t have been surprised when his lips brushed against her ear, but she was.
Sucking in a breath, she tried to shift forward, her eyes opening, but Elec pressed his hands into her forearms.