Hard and Fast (Fast Track #2)(19)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“We didn’t because we started thinking too much. Worrying.” He squeezed her knee. “And you’re right. I’m sorry, it was stupid to think that you had somehow planned to target me based on that book. That sounded insulting and I didn’t mean it to. It’s just that I got to thinking that maybe you weren’t really interested in me.”

She could be honest, so could he. Even if admitting his momentary insecurity made his skin crawl and a sweat break out down his back.

“Of course I didn’t target you. Especially considering the way your profile reads.” Imogen flashed him the first smile he’d seen from her all night.

He would have enjoyed it except he got stuck on her words. “My profile? What profile?”

“Didn’t you read Chapter Two? There are profiles of all the single drivers. Yours says you were voted least likely to commit by other drivers’ wives.”

“Excuse me?” Ty was both shocked and offended. “That’s in a book?”

“It is. It also mentioned your astrological sign is Taurus, giving you a propensity for stubbornness.”

Imogen looked amused.

Ty was not.

“What the hell? I can’t believe they’re using that ‘what’s your sign?’ crap to put character flaws on me. In print. God, that just makes me look like an ass**le. And I can so commit.” He yanked the keys out of the ignition more aggressively than was necessary. “I was engaged once. I would have married her. She was the one who dumped me.”

Imogen’s grin disappeared. “Oh, I’m sorry. What happened?”

Ty rubbed his chin, instantly sorry he’d brought the subject up. “I was only twenty years old and scraping along doing local races and I was in love with her. She cared about me, I guess, initially, but then she went off to college and reassessed her options. She decided she wanted someone with a little more earning potential. Someone smarter than me.”

“Intelligence isn’t equal to the credentials you can hang on a wall. There are all kinds of intelligence, and clearly she was lacking in some if she missed your good qualities.”

“Like that I’m stubborn?” Ty said stubbornly, not wanting to accept Imogen’s sympathy.

“No, like your honesty, your tenacity, your quick wit. Your loyalty, your focus.”

Ty found himself stupidly touched by Imogen’s assessment of his character. But hearing he was profiled as a commitment-phobe and bringing up his ex-fiancée had him feeling tight in the chest and edgy. He didn’t want to get emotional, lose control of the situation. So he tamped that all down and hid his feelings, giving her a slow grin.

“You see all those things in me yet you still didn’t target me? Damn, I’m offended.”

“I can’t target you, because I am trying to objectively follow the rules of the dating manual to see what level of success I achieve with them. Therefore, I need to stay uninvolved and unbiased in regard to the men I flirt with, and I cannot achieve that with you.”

Ty didn’t think he could be more shocked by anything Imogen said, but she always managed to find a way to do just that. “Wait a goddamn minute. So you are planning to use the dating rules to hook a man? Just not me?”

“No, of course not. I don’t actually want to catch a man. I just want to see if the initial chapters regarding preparation, meeting, and flirtation have any level of success as part of my research for my thesis. I only intend to flirt a little with some of the drivers and see what reaction I get.”

Ty was feeling his blood pressure rise with each ridiculous word she spoke. “I can tell you exactly what’s going to happen! You’re going to have drivers crawling all over you, hoping to get a piece of your classy ass.”

She frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Me? I’m being ridiculous? You’re the one flirting for your thesis. What the hell kind of degree is that anyway? A doctorate of dick tease?”

It was a petty thing to say and he knew it, but what exactly was her objection to flirting with him?

Imogen gasped. “I beg your pardon?”

“It doesn’t sound like science to me, babe. But what do I know? I’m just a stubborn driver who has commitment issues.”

“I’m a sociologist. I study and observe the patterns of behavior of humans. And your behavior right now is irrational.”

Ty felt a tic start in his eye. He wasn’t sure how they had gotten there, but he was going to finish the conversation because he couldn’t contain his frustration much longer. She hadn’t even gotten a tiny peek at irrational yet. “Just one more reason why you can flirt with everything that walks but I’m leprosy.”

This would be the point where every female he had every dated either (a) threw something at him or (b) started screaming expletives.

Imogen did neither. She turned in her seat, looked him straight in the eye, and said, tightly but calmly, “You are missing the point. The reason I cannot flirt with you is because I am attracted to you. I am invested in the outcome of my actions towards you. I want you to be attracted to me in return. In short, I like you. Therefore, I cannot remain detached if I try to follow any sort of rules with you. In fact, I think it is safe to say, I wouldn’t be able to follow any rules where you are concerned.”

Ty felt a grin threatening. “You like me?”

And Imogen surprised him yet again by making a face and saying, “Well, duh.”

Alright, then. He laughed. “I like you, too, Emma Jean.”

“I suspected, but I appreciate your confirmation.”

There was his prim-and-proper Imogen again. “So what are we going to do about it?”

“We’re not going to do anything about it at the moment. We’re going to be friends and get to know each other. You’re going to help me learn about stock car racing, and steer me in the direction of who I might interview for my research. I’m going to focus on my thesis, and then when all that is done, we can reassess our relationship.”

He wasn’t liking the sound of any of that. “You’re telling me I’m just supposed to sit back and pretend I don’t want you naked all while I’m watching you hit on my coworkers?”

“I had to watch you with Nikki on several occasions,” she pointed out. “Hardly my idea of a good time.”

Ouch. “Fair enough. But I didn’t really know you then and I really didn’t know you were interested in me. This is going to mess with my head.”