The Chase (Fast Track #4)(26)
Author: Erin McCarthy

And if she were so inclined as to have sex with him Sunday night after the race, even better.

But she snorted. “Are you nuts? Do you know what people would say?”

“That we’re friends?” he said, even as he knew that was naïve. The whole racing world would conclude they were sleeping together, which they sort of kind of were. Or at least they had last week.

“They’ll say we’re knocking boots.”

“We did knock boots,” he told her. “Three times in one night.”

Her face contorted. “Ugh. Which was such a bad idea. I mean, I don’t have time for sorting out relationship crap on top of everything else.”

Evan didn’t think she even realized how revealing that statement was, but he did. She hadn’t said “sex,” or anything about closure of their past . . . she had said “relationship” in the present tense. Which despite the negative tone that had accompanied it, made him feel pretty damn hopeful. “Alright,” he told her easily. “But you need to find time for a massage. Your shoulders are so tight I’m surprised you don’t squeak.”

They weren’t even relaxing under his touch as he rolled his thumbs from her neck to her arm in slow, even strokes.

“Where am I going to find a massage therapist at,” she glanced down at her watch, “eight at night?”

“I’m sure your assistant can find you one. Or you can just let me offer up my very talented hands.” Evan leaned just a little closer to Kendall as ran his hands lightly down her arms, then back up again to her shoulders, her neck, sliding up the base of her skull with rhythmic pressure. “We can grab a bottle of wine, go somewhere quiet . . . It would be my pleasure to help you relax.”

“You’re not talking about a massage,” she accused, even as her shoulders relaxed, and her eyes darkened with desire.

“Of course I am. I’ll massage every inch of your body until you’re so relaxed you’re about to fall asleep with a smile on your face.” Evan brushed his mouth over her ear and whispered, “Then with you still on your stomach, I’ll lick between your thighs until you come, a relaxed and lazy orgasm . . . you don’t even have to move. Then when you’re sighing into your pillow, I’ll push my c**k inside you and I’ll move slow and easy, and all you have to do is enjoy it.”

Her breathing had hitched while he was speaking, and for a brief exciting moment, Evan thought she would say yes. But then she shook her head. “I’m not in the mood. Plus it will just complicate things even more than they already are.”

Smart enough to know when to retreat, he just nodded. “Okay. I understand. Now why don’t you get yourself home? It’s freezing out here and your goose bumps have goose bumps.”

She smiled. “Thanks, I will.”

Then suddenly she leaned forward and kissed his cheek, a soft, intimate caress. “Thanks, Evan. You really can be a good guy.”

Which made him want to shuffle his feet sheepishly like a little kid who’s been given a compliment from his adult crush. The only difference was Evan had a boner accompanying his sheepishness.

“And you’re a cool chick,” he told her, retreating behind flippant. She wasn’t the only one who wanted to bury her feelings from time to time. “And if I don’t see you tomorrow, I’ll see you in Bristol.”

Her forehead creased. “Don’t remind me. Plus on Monday we have the Untamed commercial shoot in Los Angeles. That’s going to be awful.”

“Hey, hey. One day at a time. And remember, if you want a place to stay, my motor home is your motor home.” He winked at her. “I won’t even expect sexual favors.”

He expected an eye roll or a bristling reaction. But Kendall just lifted her eyebrows. “Monroe, if I’m going to stay in your motor home and have everyone think I’m sleeping with you, I’m damn well going to be sleeping with you.”

That erection he’d been fighting went one hundred percent solid and he nearly groaned out loud. “Is that a yes?”

“No.”

Then she walked away.

Damn, she was getting good at that.

And Evan was really starting to feel like he didn’t like it.

“HOW’S it looking, David? Do I have the room?” Kendall asked her spotter over the radio as she kept her eyes on the number 48 car in front of her. She was going to pass him on the rim, but with the sharp banking on the track at Bristol she wanted reassurance she had room if she started to lose grip on her tires and float towards the bottom.

“You got it. Go for it.”

With fifteen laps to go of five hundred, it was now or never, so Kendall waited until the driver in front of her hit the turn and started to find his line lower. She kissed the wall, took the turn then shot past him on the straightaway before he could block.

“Good job, Kendall,” Jim, her crew chief, said, his voice crisp and clear over the radio. “You’re heading into some traffic ahead.”

She could see at least three cars battling to get into sixth place, and she narrowed her eyes, concentrating. This could very well be her best finish this year, since she was set right now to make it into the top ten. Not bad for a rookie driver, and she wanted it desperately.

It was a balmy sixty-three degrees in Tennessee, and the track was running smooth, the overcast sky removing the sun as a factor in visibility on the turns, and she was feeling confident.

“A little bit of a battle going on ahead,” David said. “Monroe brothers are jockeying for fifth place now and it’s some damn aggressive driving.”

“How aggressive?” Kendall asked as she went low and maneuvered past the number 23 car, which was spitting smoke and losing speed.

“Like sibling rivalry aggressive. Elec won’t let Evan pass. He’s holding him off with everything he has and Evan’s pretty unhappy about it . . . riding up way too close on him.”

Somehow that didn’t surprise Kendall, but it didn’t thrill her. If they knocked each other, they could take her and half a dozen cars out with them. “What are they saying?”

With the crew chiefs capable of hearing all the drivers, Kendall wanted to know how serious this could potentially be, especially with only ten laps to go.

“Uhh . . . Evan told Elec to move the hell out of his way. Elec told him not a chance, and it would be a cold day in hell before he ever let him pass. Then Evan said something that is definitely going to get him a fine for his language.”