The Chase (Fast Track #4)(46)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“Brownies, bless your heart.” Suzanne took the plate from Kendall and eyed the dessert squares with naked longing. “God, I love being pregnant. I can eat whatever I want and blame it on cravings.”

“Every girl needs her chocolate.”

“Well, not every girl.” Suzanne made a face at Kendall before looking behind her and calling a greeting. “Hi, Nikki, Jonas, glad y’all could come.”

Kendall turned and saw Jonas Strickland and his wife. They’d only been married a few months if she remembered correctly. Tuesday knew the gossip better than she did. But what Kendall did know for certain was that Nikki was, by far, one of the skinniest women she’d ever seen in her entire life.

“Hey, Suzanne! I brought a salad.” She thrust a bowl at Suzanne, who juggled it with the brownies.

“Well, thanks, Nikki. But sweetie, this is just a bowl of lettuce.” Suzanne peered closer. “With birdseed scattered on top.”

“Flaxseed. Protein and fiber, all you need!” Nikki went sailing past her into the house.

“Some of us need a little more than that.” To prove her point, Suzanne reached under the cellophane and took out a brownie.

Jonas nodded. “I hear ya.” He made sure his wife was really gone before he reached under his sweatshirt and pulled out a bag of Doritos.

Kendall and Suzanne laughed. “Here,” Kendall said, taking the bag from him. “I’ll carry it to the kitchen so you don’t get busted.” She opened the bag and offered it to him. “But grab a handful for the road.”

“Thanks.” He held his hand out, she shook a few chips into it, and he popped them all in his mouth. “God, that tastes good. I’m starving. Nikki has me on a diet.”

Jonas wandered off, and Kendall followed Suzanne to the large kitchen with its granite-covered center island. “The house is beautiful, Suzanne.”

It was very clean and decorated simply, with strong lines and warm, neutral colors. There was a lot of black-and-white photography on the walls, and fuzzy blankets in dark baskets next to chairs and the sofa. The kitchen had a few guests in it, including Evan, but most people were in the backyard.

Kendall couldn’t help the jump her heart gave at the sight of Evan, a beer bottle in his hand, leaning against the counter by the refrigerator. He was talking to Jonas and hadn’t seen her yet.

“Thanks. We figured with the rugrat on the way, we needed a fenced-in yard and a kid-friendly house and neighborhood. We’re five minutes from Tammy and Elec and thirty minutes from Ryder’s folks, so it’s nice.”

It was nice.

And something Kendall wondered if she would ever have.

She had been raised to feel like she had to choose between racing and a family life like this, in a house in the suburbs.

Her priority had always been racing, her choice a career. But now she wondered if that was the right one, because with Suzanne and her adorable pregnant belly in front of her, in her gorgeous new home, with Evan five feet away from Kendall, she had a longing she’d never had before, for a home and family of her own.

Which wasn’t good to dwell on.

This wasn’t an option for her. Not right now, anyway. She and Evan couldn’t even acknowledge their relationship in public, let alone set up house and start having kids. It was going to be five years before she could even consider kids, once she was established and could take a season off.

Suddenly feeling very depressed, she grabbed a brownie off the plate Suzanne had set on the island and bit into it. “Congratulations, by the way. When are you due?”

Suzanne opened her mouth to answer, but then clearly spotted something behind Kendall, her eyes going wide. “What the hell are you guys doing?”

Kendall swiveled around and saw that Ryder’s crew chief and two guys who drove for Carl in the truck series were sitting in the front of the computer. Which had an image of a very large, very naked penis on it.

The crew chief turned. “Hey, sorry, Suz. It was an accident. I was trying to show the guys the new fishing rod I got and I typed in dicks dot com, which apparently does not take you to the sporting goods store.”

“Oh, for crying out loud. Just close it then. I don’t want some  p**n  site virus on my computer,” Suzanne said.

“Holy shit . . .” One of the drivers, Jake Wesson, who was in his early twenties and didn’t look like he needed a razor yet, stared in raw fascination. “That’s unnatural. That’s the biggest dick I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“How many dicks have you seen, exactly?” Suzanne asked him, which was a legitimate question. “Now turn that shit off, this is a grown-up house now. We’re not going to talk about big dicks.”

Kendall found herself liking Suzanne more and more, as she didn’t seem to realize the irony of swearing while saying it was a grown-up house.

“Wait, just let me print one of these out.” The other driver, Marlin Jasper, turned and grinned. “Figured I’d give it to Kendall. She needs a dick if she wants to win a race.”

Kendall wasn’t so amused anymore. He meant it to be funny, sure, but he also meant to get in a legitimate dig. Marlin had been none too happy when Kendall had hit the cup series. “So that’s what it takes? Interesting. Since I’ve won more races than you, I’m a little curious as to what that means you have in your pants.”

And with that, she turned and headed for the backyard, swiping another brownie on her way by the island.

EVAN had been aware of Kendall from the very minute she crossed the threshold of Ryder and Suzanne’s new house. He had been standing in the kitchen, getting a beer out of the fridge and talking to Ty McCordle when he had heard Kendall’s voice, exchanging words with Suzanne in the foyer. He had watched out of the corner of his eye as she came into the kitchen with an opened bag of Doritos and set it on the counter.

He had desperately wanted to speak to her, but she wasn’t looking his way, and Jonas had joined him and Ty, his lips slightly orange.

“Dude, you should be able to eat whatever you want,” Ty was telling Jonas. “Seriously, man up and tell her no.”

“I can’t!” Jonas said. “Nikki gets really upset. She says that I think her ideas are stupid if I say I don’t want to do it, and Nikki really hates being called stupid.”

Evan found that rather entertaining since Nikki had the IQ of a chickpea. And weighed about as much.

“I’m just saying that she’ll beat you down if you let her. It should be an equal partnership between a man and a woman.”