Hot Finish (Fast Track #3)(42)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Normally she wouldn’t stroll down memory lane with him for anything. But today it felt right. Nice to be able to talk about the memories they shared. “Yeah, and you did a burnout to impress me and the crew got pissed that you jacked up the grass for no reason.”

He laughed. “I was a little too full of myself in those days. I didn’t understand the game.”

“I guess neither of us really did.” Suzanne hadn’t really understood what it would mean to be the wife of a stock car driver, though she had to say she’d adjusted to that as well as could be expected given her upbringing. Talking to people was a skill she was good at and she’d excelled at the social events Ryder’s career had required. It was her own insecurities that she had chosen to ignore and those had come back to haunt her.

But he was right. Early on, they’d had good times.

“So we’re older and wiser now, huh?”

“Definitely older. The wiser remains to be seen.” Suzanne thought about her younger self and how she’d just dived into everything in front of her. Maybe in some cases that hadn’t been wise, like say, in the case of marriage, but she’d sure had fun. When was the last time she’d really cut loose? Other than in the front seat of her car with Ryder? Or playing touch football with Ryder and the kids?

Suzanne sat up and swung her legs over the chaise. “Let’s go hit the town.” There would plenty of time to lie still when she was dead, and he was most definitely a man who knew how to show her a good time.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

RYDER had thought he’d fall asleep during the magic show or be wincing from the corniness of it, but he was actually fascinated by the illusions, and he spent most of his time trying to figure out how they were done, what the science behind them was. Suzanne didn’t care about the science. She just oohed and awed and enjoyed the thrill of surprise. It was one of the things he loved about her—she just dove into everything she tried, and even watching a pimped-out Vegas show was no different.

It was cold outside so she had worn a coat to the MGM Grand, and it was bunched in her lap. Ryder slipped his hand under the bulk and took hers into his, enjoying the way her smooth smaller hand fit into his. She gave him a quizzical look but she let him.

He just didn’t think she understood how much he had loved her, how much he still loved her. How much just being next to her made him happy, content, exhilarated. He even loved their sparring. It had been an electric and amusing part of their relationship until the snarkiness had become real.

But how was he supposed to tell her? How could he convince her that their marriage deserved a second chance?

The only thing he could think to do was show her a hell of a time in Vegas and take it from there.

After the show, he followed her out of the theater, his hand on the small of her back. “I made arrangements for us to have a private showing of the white tigers at the Mirage. I know you always wanted to see them.”

“Wow, that’s cool, but now? It’s eleven at night. They’ll let us do that?” She put her coat on as they headed for the front door.

“It’s Vegas, baby. Eleven is like happy hour before the real night begins. And it doesn’t hurt that I’m a driver in town for Champions Week.” He’d also paid a hefty fee, but she didn’t need to know that.

“Ah, that’s true.” She smiled at him, a pure straightforward smile. It wasn’t seductive or coy or sly, it was just happy. “Thanks. Let’s go. I’ve always wanted to see them.”

He was busting his balls to impress her, and so far, it looked like it was working.

Thirty minutes later, Ryder stood back and listened to the habitat worker explain the environment of the famous white tigers to them. “There are only a few dozen left in the world who have this combination of white fur with black stripes, pink paws, and ice-blue eyes. The rarest of all tigers are those who are pure white, missing the black stripes.”

The tigers looked bored beyond belief to Ryder, which was a little ironic given they were in America’s party city, but Suzanne leaned over the railing and stared at them in fascination. “They’re beautiful. So majestic.”

That she was.

Ryder ambled behind Suzanne as the trainer led her over to the dolphins who were also housed in the habitat facility. He wasn’t sure what tigers and dolphins had in common but they were both living the life free of predators with food handed to them umpteen times a day.

“Here is our changing room,” the trainer said, a middle-aged guy in track pants and a golf shirt, his head shaved to level the playing field between bald spot and hair growth. “Go ahead and put on your bathing suits and I’ll meet you out here in five.”

“Suits?” Suzanne looked blankly at him. “Why?”

“Surprise,” Ryder told her, hoping she’d think it was a good one. “You’re swimming with the dolphins, babe.”

Her face lit up. “Really? But I don’t have my bathing suit.”

“I had it sent over from our hotel. It should be in the changing room.” Again, it had cost him more than he cared to think about to pull this off, but that look on her face was worth every dime. She had told him for years that she’d always wanted to swim with the dolphins. Growing up, she had never even made it to Sea World or an aquarium. There just hadn’t been money for those kinds of things, and she hadn’t seen her first in-person marine animal until she was in college.

Suzanne jumped up and down in her boots and sweater dress. “Thank you.”

And she leaned over and kissed him. Right on the lips, in front of the trainer and half a dozen dolphins. Oh, yeah. Totally worth four grand.

Ryder followed her into the changing room. The trainer looked like he was going to protest them using the same room, but in the end he just clamped his mouth shut.

“Aren’t there male and female changing rooms?” she asked with a grin as she ransacked the bag sitting on the bench in the center of the room.

“Probably. In fact, I’m sure of it.”

“Then you should use the little boy’s room.” Suzanne pulled out her teeny weeny yellow bikini.

Ryder had seen that scrap of nothing in her suitcase and had known that was what he wanted to see her in. “I want to be with you in the little girl’s room.”

She tossed his trunks at him. “Only if you close your eyes.”

“Okay.” He could play the game. But he could also peek, which he did right when Suzanne was bending over, giving him a view more intriguing than the Vegas Strip. He definitely had a thing for her ass, he was man enough to admit it.