He pulled out three twenties and handed them to her before stepping out into the circular drive in front of the hotel. She didn’t even have time to protest that was more money than she needed when he pointed. “Oh, hey, look, there’s a buddy of mine. Bet he’s going back to the compound. You can rideshare with him and then I’ll know for sure you’re safe.”
Tamara only saw legs getting into the cab to the right of them and she hesitated. Great.
Nothing like getting fobbed off on some poor unsuspecting guy who was probably done up and looking to just go home. “I don’t want to impose on anyone.”
“Nah, it’s cool. We go way back and he joined my team this season.” Ryder took her hand and pulled her over to the cab. He stuck his head inside and chatted for a minute, then turned back to her and smiled. “You’re all set. Elec will get you to my coach.”
Oh, no. He did not just say . . .
“Elec?” Tamara blurted as she took a step back and almost fell over the curb. There couldn’t possibly be two Elecs at the party, which meant that . . .
Elec, just as gorgeous as she remembered, leaned out of the cab. “Hop on in, Tamara. I’ll make sure you get home safely.”
Said the spider to the fly.
But she climbed in beside him anyways, watching him watching her, because she had no other choice, and because if she were totally honest, she wanted to. Not Tamara, the sociology professor, or Tamara, the mother. But Tamara, the woman, felt a little hitch of excitement at the thought of sitting in the backseat with Elec, her leg brushing against his, those dark brown eyes focused on her.
There was nothing wrong with a little flirting, after all, and she could sorely use some.
“Thanks,” she told Elec a little breathlessly as she settled in next to him on the vinyl seat and adjusted her dress so it wasn’t riding up her thighs. “I appreciate it.”
He smiled at her, not a grin, not a smirk, but a serious, he meant business kind of smile, and said in a low, sexy drawl, “Best thing to happen to me all day.”
Tamara suddenly knew there was nothing harmless about this flirtation at all.
She was in all kinds of trouble, and she seriously liked it.
CHAPTER TWO
ELEC Monroe watched Tamara’s eyes widen as she looked at him from under those luscious eyelashes. She was a drop-dead-gorgeous woman, with pin-straight rich brown hair, long bangs that she swept to the side, and full, pouty lips. Elec hadn’t recognized her as the late Pete Briggs’s wife until Ryder had mentioned it when he’d quickly explained her predicament and asked Elec to see her back to the compound. Elec hadn’t yet been driving in the cup series when Pete had, and so his path hadn’t crossed Tamara’s much. But what he remembered from seeing her in Victory Lane with Pete on TV, and from early days hanging out by the haulers when Elec had been a teenager and she’d been a young bride, was that she had been a shy, fresh-faced little thing, her hair always scraped back in a ponytail, her favorite outfit jeans and a polo shirt.
There were shades of that young girl in the Tamara Briggs sitting next to him, but she had obviously grown into a sophisticated, confident woman. One that made him hard as concrete and wonder if he had any chance of getting anywhere with her. He doubted it, and that was probably for the best. She was not the type he usually dated, because a woman like Tamara wanted commitment and he couldn’t offer much in that way, but there was nothing wrong with a little flirting. Nothing wrong with seeing how far it could go, because he was seriously attracted to her, the edgy desire he felt when looking at her surprising him. He wasn’t usually one to tumble for a woman, but there was something about her that had him leaning closer and hoping it was his lucky night.
“You’re just trying to make me feel better,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear in a gesture Elec found sexy as hell.
It wasn’t meant to be—he didn’t think anyway—but it was. She wasn’t an obvious or aggressive flirt. She was just looking at him sideways, moist lips slightly open, her long legs crossed in that elegant little black dress, yet it was doing a serious number on him.
There was something so intelligent and classy, yet open and vulnerable, about her, and he found that incredibly appealing.
“I’m not just saying that,” he told her. “Like I said, I hate those parties. I’m not much for small talk with strangers, and I’m lousy at it, frankly. I’m much better one-on-one.” He hoped she’d pick up on the innuendo. Not subtle, and edging into corny territory, but the cab ride wasn’t that long. Elec needed to get his intentions across loud and clear so that when he asked her out, she wasn’t caught off guard.
He shouldn’t go out with her, but damn, did he want to go out with her. He just wanted her, flat out. Since the second she had turned and collided with him, he had been intrigued and had spent the last half hour watching her wandering around the party, talking to some guy in a sweater and then to Ryder. Seeing Ryder with his hand on the small of her back was what had sent Elec out the door. He knew Ryder was a ladies’ man, and it had looked like Tamara was with him, Ryder’s latest conquest. Elec had felt a burst of annoyance that had surprised him so he’d decided it was time to pack up and go home.
Which had somehow landed him with Tamara figuratively in his lap.
Couldn’t get much better than that.
“Me, too,” she said. “You’d think since I’m a teacher that I would be used to hordes of people, but mingling is different. It’s hard work trying to remember names and who is married to who, and I’m always a little bit terrified I’ll totally screw up and offend someone.”
“I feel the same way,” he said. Exactly the same way. He was no schmoozer, and he dreaded media interviews like some folks did the dentist. Put him behind the wheel, and he was aggressive and confident. Stick a mic in his face, and his tongue mysteriously stuck to the roof of his mouth and his brain moved like molasses uphill in winter. “I can’t ever remember anyone’s name.” He smiled at her so she’d know he was joking as he said, “I’ve probably already forgotten yours.”
She laughed. “Really? That’s okay, I answer to just about anything, even ‘hey, you.’ ”
“A woman with a classy name like Tamara shouldn’t answer to ‘hey, you.’ You should hold out, in my opinion.”
“So you do remember my name.”
Her tongue slid across her plump bottom lip in a way that had Elec mentally groaning and questioning how he could be so damn turned on. His body was acting like he hadn’t had sex in a good five years, yet he didn’t even think it had been a month since he’d last done a little sheet diving with a willing woman.