Flat-Out Sexy (Fast Track #1)(70)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Her throat constricted. “No, of course not.”

“Then if you love this man, go for it, girl. Grab hold of every minute of happiness and enjoy it. Tell yourself you may only have today or you may have fifty years together, but love him for that time. Love him the way we race—for the joy, for the thrill, for the adrenaline, and for the triumph.” Johnny looked at her sideways. “Does he take your breath away?”

Tamara sighed. “Yes. He does.”

“And exactly how many times do you think that’s going to happen in your lifetime?”

Johnny stood up and reached for her hand. “Come on. Go on in there and make up with your man.”

Johnny was right. She knew it. She had let fear take over. If she had ten days, a year, a lifetime with Elec, it was better than denying herself him. She loved him.

“Thank you,” she told her father-in-law. “For everything. Now and the last eleven years.”

He nodded. “You’ll always be a Briggs.”

ELEC was gone when Johnny walked her back in, and Tamara’s heart sank. Pacing back outside by the bench, she called Elec’s parents to check on her kids. It turned out they had hooked up with Beth and the kids were back with their grandmother and intending to head to their hotel for the night. Tamara talked to them on the phone for a minute and they seemed tired, but fine. Elec’s parents told her they had dropped him off at the hotel. It didn’t sound like he had said anything about her outburst, because Elliot didn’t mention it, though he did say Elec looked like he was in a fair amount of pain.

“You heading back to the hotel?” Elliot asked. “I’m sure he could use some TLC from you.”

“Yeah. I have to run an errand real quick, then I’ll be there.”

Tamara hung up and called Suzanne, who had been desperately calling her and texting her all weekend.

“Oh, my God, talk to me,” Suz said as a greeting. “What is going on down there? There’s all this talk about the pit lizard and then you showed up at driver’s intro and then Elec wrecked today . . . it’s crazy. First, how is Elec?”

“Fine. Four cracked ribs.”

“Good. Now what the heck is up with that Crystal chick? Is she really pregnant?”

“I have no idea. But if she is, it isn’t Elec’s. She is a total liar. But I don’t want to talk about her. Elec asked me to marry him.”

Suzanne shrieked. “Holy monkey! That’s awesome! When did he propose?”

“Friday.”

“And you’re just telling me now? What the hell?”

“Well, everything descended into chaos with Crystal, then I had a fight with my father-in-law, then Elec wrecked, then I broke up with him.”

“What? Why would you do that?”

“I freaked out, plain and simple. I saw that car roll and I just lost it. I said I couldn’t handle it and broke up with him.”

“Oh, Tammy, sweetie.” Suzanne’s voice was sympathetic. “I know that fear, baby, even though I didn’t lose a husband. You can’t let that stop you from being happy with Elec.”

“I know. I had a chat with Johnny, believe it or not, and got my head back on straight. Now I need you to do me a favor.” The idea had just popped into her head and she was going to roll with it. It was the gesture she needed to show Elec she was ready to commit to him, to a life together.

“What?”

“Find me a reputable tattoo parlor in Daytona.”

“Umm . . . okay. Why?”

“I need to get a tattoo.”

“Well, I figured that out. A tattoo of what, and why can’t it wait until you get home?”

“I’m getting Elec’s car number on my inside wrist like he has.”

“Wow, that’s incredibly romantic.” Suz sounded impressed. “You’re getting inked for him.

Wow. Okay, I’ll call David Busbee’s wife. They live in Daytona and he’s all tatted up. I’ll call you right back.”

“Okay, thanks.” Tamara took a deep breath and hoped Elec would forgive her for her outburst. She was ready to become Tamara Briggs-Monroe.

TAMARA debated knocking on the hotel door or just using her key, then decided she didn’t want to wind up standing awkwardly in the doorway having this conversation if he opened the door and didn’t invite her in. So she slid her key in and opened the hotel door.

Elec was sitting propped up on the bed with his shirt off, wearing his boxer shorts and a vacant look as he stared at the TV. His head swung over to her when she stepped inside.

“Hey,” she said, tucking her hair back nervously.

“Hey. Did you come to get your stuff?” he asked, his voice stiff. “I packed everything up for you.”

Her heart squeezed. “Honey, you shouldn’t be bending over like that.” Unable to resist, she went over to the bed and pushed his hair back off his forehead. “Did they give you pain medication? You look ashen.”

“It’s not really my ribs that are bothering me,” he said, and the look he gave her was so hurt and so full of meaning that Tamara knew she needed to resolve this before she worried about his health.

“Elec, God, I’m so sorry about earlier. I just absolutely panicked when I saw your car roll.

That was one of the worst moments of my life, and Hunter was screaming, and it just scared the daylights out of me.” She took a deep breath as she stood in front of him. “But the thing is I realized walking out of that room like that was the last thing in the world I wanted. I don’t like the fear, but living with fear is so much better than living without you.”

He just stared at her. Finally he said, “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? That you do want to be together?”

Tamara nodded, tears in her eyes. Lord, if she cried any more, she was going to dehydrate.

“Yes. I absolutely would be honored to be your wife if you’ll still have me.”

Elec’s jaw worked. “Do you really mean that?”

“Yes. I love you. I love the way you love me, the way you love your family, the way you love my children. I love the way you live your life with integrity. I know you’re a driver, that’s who you are, and I love the sport, too. I’m prepared to deal with all that it brings so that we can be together.” She meant every word of that. She wanted nothing more than to share her life with Elec.

Elec listened to Tamara and felt the biggest sense of relief, coupled with joy, that he had ever known. He had been sitting in the goddamn hotel room staring at the TV and wondering how he was supposed to move on from a hit so hard it had knocked the wind out of him. He had felt like he’d come so close to having everything he’d ever wanted in his entire life and had watched it get yanked away.