Jacked Up (Fast Track #6)(16)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“When is the derby?”

“Sunday.”

“Too bad. I’d come watch you if I wasn’t racing myself.”

“That’s okay. I don’t know if I can even do this. I don’t think I want anyone watching me just yet.”

“Cool.” Elec took a sip of his beer. “So you dating anyone?”

She was instantly suspicious. Had he heard something around the garage? He and Evan’s teams worked mere feet away from each other, and there was always gossip. Plus Tammy had been there for the margarita night when Nolan had called her. “Why?”

“Just making conversation.” He put his hands up. “Geez Louise, don’t tear my face off. My wife asks all the time why I don’t know more about your life, so I’m trying to be a good brother and inquire.”

“Oh.” Her wariness dissipated. “There’s nothing to know about my life. It’s a boring life.” With her heels, she made her own rocking chair zip back and forth vigorously, debating how much she should reveal. She did trust Elec not to mock her. “Tammy might have mentioned I had someone ask me out.”

“She might have.”

“Do you think it’s stupid to date a pit crew member?”

“It’s only stupid if he’s stupid.”

Eve brought her chair to a halt. “That’s the only reason it would be stupid?”

“Best as I can figure, yep.”

“I can think of a lot of reasons it would be stupid. Like bare minimum, a hundred. But no, he’s not stupid.”

“Does he have a name?”

“Nolan Ford.” Saying it out loud gave her a weird tingling feeling in her ni**les and her girl parts. Thank God it was dark because she had the sneaking suspicion that she was actually blushing. Something she never did outside of anger, and that red color on the cheeks wasn’t called blushing. That was called pissed off.

But right now, talking about Nolan, she was blushing. Ridiculous. That’s what that was.

“He’s a good guy, from what I’ve seen. A hard worker. You should ask Evan more about him.”

“Hell, no.” Was Elec crazy? “Do you know how much shit Evan will give me?”

“I don’t know. He’s mellowed a bit.”

“I went to Oktoberfest with his jackman. He’ll never let me hear the end of it.”

Elec’s head swung in her direction. He looked astonished. “You went to Oktoberfest? You hate those things.”

She did. Didn’t she? It hadn’t been so bad. It had actually been kind of fun. “I don’t hate them. That’s a strong word.”

“I believe your exact words when Mom and Dad invited you last year were, ‘I’d rather arm wrestle with a king cobra.’”

She didn’t remember saying that, but it was entirely possible that she had. It sounded like words that would come out of her mouth. Having it pointed out to her, though, was entirely unnecessary. “I’m trying new things, okay? Geez, you’d think that was a crime.”

“I’m all for you trying new things. In fact, I think if you could try a new attitude in general, we’d all be a whole lot happier.”

Eve bristled. It felt like her whole life she was always being criticized by her family. Nothing she did was ever good enough. She didn’t want it to hurt, yet it always did. This was a particularly painful sting, given that it came from Elec and it was when she was trying to share personal tidbits with him.

But instead of yelling at him, or bottling it up until every muscle in her neck was sore like she normally did, she took a deep breath and said, “That hurts my feelings. I’m trying to tell you that I know I need to relax and you just got a dig in on me.”

There was a long moment of silence where he gaped at her. Then he nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, that was rude of me. I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

“Okay. Thanks.” They both rocked. She wasn’t sure about him but she felt awkward. Talking about her feelings wasn’t easy. Communicating without yelling was novel. Funny enough though, being rational about it definitely left her less stressed.

But nonetheless, she was still grateful that Tamara chose that moment to step out onto the porch.

“Brr,” she said. “It’s nippy out here. Do you want some coffee?”

“No, thanks. I’m fine.” Eve hadn’t noticed the cold. She was wearing a sweatshirt and she tended to be hot-blooded. It was ironic, but true.

“Hon?” Tamara asked Elec.

“I don’t need coffee, I just need you cuddling up with me.”

Tammy gave a flirty laugh and went over to him.

Gag. If they were going to get all lovey-dovey snoogie-wookums with each other, Eve was leaving.

Her sister-in-law dropped onto her brother’s lap.

Yeah. Time to go. “Okay, on that note, I’m going home.” She stood up.

Tammy and Elec finished their hello kiss. Like they hadn’t kissed in the kitchen ten minutes earlier. Or right before dinner.

She was so jealous it was ridiculous.

“No, you don’t need to leave,” Tammy protested. “It’s early still. The kids don’t need to be in bed for another hour.”

Which meant sixty minutes until boom-boom time. It was written all over their faces. Eve would prefer not to be around for any discreet fondling or other forms of foreplay that might occur in the meantime.

“I want to work out still tonight.” Or imagine Nolan moving over top of her while she got cozy with her mechanical friend. “So from your sister who isn’t getting any, I bid you good night.”

“Sounds like that might be changing.” Tammy winked at her.

Eve gave her a stare. “Who are you—Suzanne? Since when do you encourage people to sleep with men they’ve just started dating?”

Elec coughed into his hand, a grin splitting his face.

Tammy’s face turned red, obvious even in the dim porch light. She hugged her arms around her midsection and gave a shrug. “I don’t know . . .”

Oh, God. They had had sex on the first date. Too much information. She’d always known they’d moved fast in their relationship and she seemed to recall a moment of horror when she had realized her brother was shagging a racing widow, but she’d never known details really. She didn’t want them now.

Nor did she want to share her own.

Which was why she was an idiot to have broached the subject in the first place.