Flat-Out Sexy (Fast Track #1)(18)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Unfortunately was good. Unfortunately probably meant that Elec was in no way attracted to the woman and that she was not a pretty sight naked. Tamara should just leave it at that.

But she found herself asking, “Can I see?” Which was rude and tacky, but she couldn’t stop herself. She tried to cover her over-the-top interest. “I just can’t believe someone would send a picture of themselves like that to a total stranger. How did she get your number, by the way?”

“Are you sure you want to look? It’s crude.” When she nodded, in spite of herself, Elec turned the phone toward her.

Tamara saw an amazingly perfect nude body with perky br**sts and a waxed bikini area at the same time Elec said, “Well, she’s not a total stranger. We went out a couple of times.

I’m just not interested in her and she’s not getting the hint.”

Feeling like all the air had been crushed out of her lungs, Tamara gaped at the text picture.

Not interested? He hadn’t been interested? On top of the long legs and the firm abs and the toned arms was a beautiful face surrounded by the quintessential halo of blond hair. Pouty lips smiled out at them. She could have been a model. A Playboy bunny.

And Elec had gone out with this woman. Dated her.

Tamara felt like a big old schlumpy soccer mom. Old and schlumpy being the operative words.

“She’s very attractive,” Tamara managed to force out.

Elec just shrugged. “She’s alright, physically. But I can’t think much of a woman who would do this . . . I mean, if we’re dating and we’re a couple, sending naked pictures of yourself is sexy as hell. But when you’re not dating, doing what Crystal is doing is just sort of like trying to sell yourself. I don’t know. I just don’t like it.”

While she could appreciate that, and the fact that it said wonderful things about Elec’s character, all she could think about was that smoking hot body and how it compared to her ten-years-older cottage cheese ass. And the naked beauty’s name was Crystal. Of course.

“Erasing this,” Elec said, pushing the button to get rid of the pic on his phone. “Good thing I have free texts. I’d hate to think I’d paid to get that.” He shoved his phone in his pocket.

“Guess we should go.”

“Definitely.” Tamara shook her head when he tried to hang back and let her go first, like a gentleman would. Screw manners, she needed to be covert. “No, you go first,” she insisted, shoving Elec toward the door. “I’ll follow you.”

He turned and shot her a look of amusement over his shoulder. “No one is going to care if we walk out of this coach together. For all they know, we’re just friends. It’s almost one in the afternoon.”

What was he not understanding about this? “I am meeting my children and Pete’s parents in thirty minutes. I came down here yesterday with a different man. I don’t think they’re going to be thrilled to see me tumbling out of your bed.”

“Technically, it was Ryder’s bed. And only Ryder saw you in it.”

Tamara smacked him on the arm, feeling like she just might have an anxiety attack if anyone saw her with Elec. She just wasn’t mentally prepared to deal with the questions and curiosity, especially now that she had naked Crystal to fret about as well. “Whatever. Just go. I’ll wait a few minutes, then I’ll leave. I’ll lock the door, I swear.”

Elec looked like he was going to make some kind of smart-ass remark, but he just grinned and leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss. “Make sure you cheer on number fifty-six.

I’ll call you later, gorgeous.”

Then he was gone with a wave and Tamara was left standing there in jeans that didn’t fit, a golf shirt that swallowed her whole, and her black heels. She was going to sacrifice the cocktail dress and just leave it at Elec’s because she couldn’t imagine strolling up to her in-laws with it tucked under her arm. If he was as determined to see her again as he said, he’d get it back to her next week.

With no cell phone, she figured her only recourse was to head to the track and find Pete’s parents. They always sat in the pit boxes or hung out in one of the suites, so she would just go and look for them. If worse came to worse, she could borrow someone’s cell and give her mother-in-law a quick call to locate her, except without her own phone, she suspected she’d never remember Beth’s number. Though it wouldn’t be a bad thing if she spent hours wandering around and didn’t spot them. She was sure she had “Guilty Slut” stamped across her forehead.

Unfortunately, she found them right away. The minute she walked into the media suite, Pete’s mother was waving to her.

“Tammy, sweetie, over here.”

The endearment made her wince. Her in-laws were good people and Beth would curl up in a botoxed, bleached ball and die if she knew how Tamara had spent the preceding night.

“Hi,” Tamara said, giving Beth a cheek kiss and praying to the Lord her own cheeks weren’t flaming red.

“I tried to call your cell phone and you didn’t pick up.”

“I lost my purse last night,” Tamara said, glancing around the room. “It was awful.” Well, not all of it. Definitely not the naked with Elec part. She felt a telltale jump of desire that mortified her. Floundering for a life raft, she asked, “Where are the kids?”

“Johnny took them for a hot dog. All this catered food in here and they won’t touch it. Just like Pete was. Grease over greens. And Petey’s turning into a bottomless pit. We feed that boy morning to night. When was the last time you measured him? I bet he’s grown an inch since Christmas.”

Tamara pressed her fingers to her temples. She was having a hard time following Beth’s chatter. All she could think was that she still had the scent of another man on her. She had stubble burn on her br**sts, sore arm muscles, which she couldn’t even quite explain, a lingering dampness between her thighs, and kiss-swollen lips. She felt like she was standing there screaming, “I had sex!” and yet Beth was just smiling at her like absolutely nothing had changed when it absolutely freakin’ had.

“Right. Great. I actually think I’m going to grab something off the table myself. I didn’t get any breakfast.”

“Oh, go right ahead. There’s a huge spread. And there’s coffee, too. You look like you could use it. Did you call about canceling your credit cards?”