I wiggled my eyebrows and stepped into the elevator. “Yes!” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could. “I’ll finally get my date with Deuce. I think we’ll make popcorn and watch HGTV while you drive around the track.”
For as long as I live, I will never forget the look on Malcolm Wallace’s face as I declared I would watch HGTV on his bus . . . with his dog.
“It’s called racing, Paislie. It’s full of strategy and talent.”
I nodded as I said, “Uh-huh. Oh, I’m sure it is.” I shrugged and said, “I think Deuce and I would prefer something more entertaining and exciting like Flip or Flop.”
As I headed down the bleachers with a huge grin on my face, little did I know Malcolm Wallace and this track would change my life forever.
OPENING THE DOOR TO THE bus, I couldn’t help but feel my heart do another fucking skip. The last few days I’d called myself pansy-ass I don’t know how many times and it was because of the girl standing in front of me. The sound of her voice, her name across my phone; each and every time my heart jumped or my stomach dropped. What in the fuck was happening to me? And I didn’t have the urge to fuck her. Well, that’s not true . . . I did want to fuck her, but I wanted to get to know her first. Kiss her while I held her firmly in my arms. Slowly make love to her while I whispered her name against her soft skin.
I closed my eyes and pushed my wayward thoughts away.
“I believe Deuce and I have a date with Fixer Upper.”
With a dry laugh, I motioned for her to come in. “You found the bus okay I see.”
Paislie rolled her eyes. “After I got hit on by at least ten guys all promising to rock my world in some way or another. A couple of them were kind of tempting.”
Pulling her to me, I quickly kissed her lips. I wanted to move slow with Paislie. It meant a lot to me that she knew I wanted to get to know her before we jumped into bed. Although seeing her again had me fighting the urge.
“I’m glad you weren’t too tempted.”
She grinned and replied, “Me too.”
“I missed your smile,” I whispered.
She took in a breath as her eyes lit up. “This from the man who claims he doesn’t do romance.”
“I don’t.”
Her arms wrapped around my neck while her eyes landed on my lips. “What a shame. I’d be tempted by a romantic, handsome guy who doesn’t get his kicks from driving around a track at a gazillion miles an hour.”
“Shit! I forgot I need to make the reservations for the jump.”
Paislie dropped her hands and tilted her head. “The jump?”
“Yeah, I won Daytona so Dalton has to jump with me.”
“Jump what?”
Damn, I love how clueless she is. “Dalton, my crew chief, said he would jump out of a plane with me if I won. I won. So we’re going sky diving.”
Jerking her head back, she gave me a dazed look. Stammering over her words, she asked, “Wait . . . what? You’re jumping . . . out of . . . a plane? W-why?”
I quickly kissed her lips as I hit Tom’s number. He owned a sky diving operation back in Charlotte.
“It’s amazing. Bigger adrenaline rush than driving a gazillion miles an hour around a track.”
Something passed over Paislie’s face quickly before I could fully read it. Turning, she dropped to the floor and Deuce was all over her. “You’re the only sane one of the bunch, buddy.”
Deuce barked and licked Paislie across the face as she let out the cutest giggle I’d ever heard.
I shook my head and turned away from her. I needed to keep my head in the game, and being around Paislie only made me want to devote all my attention to her.
The knock on the bus door had me walking over and pushing it open. Tom wasn’t answering, so I sent him a quick text asking to call me back.
Dalton walked in and came to an abrupt stop when he saw Paislie. He looked between us and narrowed his eyes at me.
Paislie stood up and flashed that beautiful smile. “Hey, I’m Paislie.”
Dalton eyed her up and down like she was a bug that needed to be stomped on. “What are you doing here?” he asked as I punched him on the arm.
“What the fuck, Dalton.”
He turned and looked at me. “I need to talk to you now. Outside.”
Paislie made a face like I was in deep trouble as she took a few steps away and sat on the sofa. Deuce jumped up and sat next to her as she reached for the remote.
“Let’s find HGTV, shall we, buddy?”
I rolled my eyes as I followed Dalton out of the bus. He spun around and held up his index finger. “One rule. We had one fucking rule about the women. No fucking them on race day before a race. I walk in and see some knock out sitting on your damn floor. Are you kidding me?”
Right on cue, Autumn and Ashley walked up. Both of them looked between us as I pushed my hand through my hair.
“She’s not some girl I’m fucking. She’s a . . . a um . . . well she’s . . . ah.”
All three of them leaned in closer to me. “She’s what?” Dalton asked.
“More than that.”
Autumn and Ashley screamed as they raced past me and onto the bus.
“Great,” I whispered as I turned back to Dalton. “At least she was before those two showed up. Now she’ll be running away from them for her dear life.”
Dalton held up his hands and motioned for me to stop talking. “Wait. She’s more than that? Are you dating this girl?”
“No.”
He gave me a hard stare. “No?”
“No,” I repeated.
“Sleeping with her?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “No.”
His eyes widened. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing,” I said with a chuckle.
“So, let me get this straight. You’re not dating nor are you fucking her and all because she is . . . more. You’re doing exactly what with her then?”
I shrugged. “I have no fucking clue. I’ve only seen her four times since I’ve met her, and all I know is I want to see her more.”
Putting his hand to his chest, Dalton acted as if he was dragging in air. “Oh. My. Fucking. Hell. You finally fell for someone?”
“No, I didn’t say I was falling for her. I said I wanted to get to know her. She’s not like all the other girls I’ve met. She’s . . .”
“Different,” Dalton said with a smile. Pushing out a fast breath, he waved his hands around. “Fine, whatever. I just need your head in the game. Is your head in the game?”
I nodded. “It is.”
“All the way? Dude, I can’t have you day dreaming about Presley.”
“Paislie.”
“Whatever. I think I liked it better when you fucked them and didn’t know their names.” I glared at him as he turned and headed back to the garages. “Head in the game and get your ass down to the garage. Now! And leave Preston with your sister and Ashley.”
Laughing, I called out, “Paislie!”
“What the fuck ever!”
THE DOOR TO THE BUS flew open and two women came rushing in. Standing, I watched as Deuce jumped up and made a beeline straight to them. They each pushed one another out of the way as they walked up to me.
“I’m Autumn, Malcolm’s sister.”
Feeling slightly at ease, I reached my hand out for hers. “Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Paislie . . . a friend of Malcolm’s.”
His sister looked me over quickly. “Uh-huh,” she said with a wink.
Okay. That’s awkward. Did she assume every female around Malcolm was someone he is sleeping with?
I turned my attention to the other girl. “Hey, I’m Ashley. Malcolm’s recent fuck buddy.”
My smiled dropped and Autumn jerked her head to look at her. “Ashley!”
She shrugged and said, “Well I am, I mean we’ve know each other for a while, but then we . . .” She looked back at me and smiled. “I mean we’re not anymore! I met someone and we started
dating.” She frowned as if regretting her loose lips. “Anyway, my brother is also Emmit Lewis.”
“The driver who retired,” I absentmindedly said while I tried to process everything that just came out of her mouth.
She pointed to me and said, “Yep! You know your NASCAR.”
A part of me instantly didn’t like Ashley. I wasn’t sure if it was because she made it very clear from the get-go she’d slept with Malcolm, or if it was because she was so amazingly beautiful. Why wouldn’t Malcolm be attracted to her? From the sounds of it she was more than a one-night stand. How much did this Ashley mean to Malcolm? Did he have feelings for her?
I shook my head. “No, I know nothing about NASCAR. Malcolm told me about him.”
“Oh.” She waved her hand as if to dismiss my lack of racing knowledge. “Don’t worry if you don’t know anything. Malcolm won’t care about that. I mean, even though it’s a huge part of his life, you can pick it up easily.”
My lack of NASCAR knowledge hadn’t even fazed me until she pointed it out. Autumn cleared her throat as my attention fell back on her. “So, this is kind of exciting. Malcolm hasn’t really had a friend since Cas . . . well I mean since high school he hasn’t really been with the same girl. Oh gosh.”
The air quotes around friend made me smile. It was obvious Autumn was younger than Malcolm. I wanted to ask her how old she was. She must have had her daughter young and most likely missed out on a lot of things girls her age did. My heart hurt for her knowing her husband up and left her and her daughter.
Ashley turned to Autumn and said, “Well besides me, but we weren’t dating.”
My eyes snapped back over to Ashley. This time I think it clicked to her what she had said because her face turned red. “Right. Because you were just fuck buddies,” I sneered.
“Um, I wasn’t meaning anything when I said that. I’m not used to someone being in his life seriously or at all really, and oh my God. I’m making this so much worse.”
I plastered on a fake smile. “No worries at all. Like I said, we’re just friends.” I reached down for my purse and placed it over my shoulder. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to take off.”
Autumn reached out and gently touched my arm. “You’re not staying for the race? We usually hang out in here and watch it.”
I looked between both girls. As much as I wanted to pretend like I didn’t want anything serious with Malcolm, the idea of sitting next to the girl he had been recently fucking didn’t seem like a good time to me.
“Thanks, but I don’t think so.”
Both girls stepped out of my way as I made my way to the door; opening it, I ran into Malcolm. “Hey. Where are you going?”
I felt like an idiot for how I was acting, but I couldn’t help it. For once in my life I felt something stronger than just a sexual attraction for a man, and I wasn’t sure I could do this. At least not right now. “I’m going to take off.”
Malcolm’s eyes immediately went to his sister and Ashley. “What happened?”
I placed my hands on his chest and quickly pulled them back when I felt the jolt of energy. He turned back to me and gave me a confused look. “Good luck on the race, Malcolm.”
Pushing my way past him, I quickly walked to where I had parked my car.
Ugh! I can’t believe I’m letting this bother me! What, am I sixteen again?
I picked up my pace, angry that I was letting something like this get to me. I didn’t even know Malcolm when he and Ashley were together. And what did it matter?
I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
“Paislie!”
The sound of Malcolm’s voice caused me to stop on a dime.
I plastered on my famously-practiced smile and turned to face him. He was jogging up and stopped right in front of me. “I’m sorry about Ashley. I have no idea what in the hell she said to you, but I can see it made you feel uneasy.”
“It’s okay. Honestly. Deuce and I will just have to hang out another time. I’ll talk to you later?”
His eyes filled with hurt as I tried to take a step away, but was frozen in place by his words. “Please don’t go. I won’t be able to stop thinking about you if you leave.”
My mind was racing as I tried to come up with a single reason why I didn’t want to stay. Only for the fact that I was letting petty jealousy in the way, I really was interested in what Malcolm was doing.
It was then I noticed all the people around us and I became completely aware that almost all of them were drivers. And they were all staring at us.
I took a step closer to him, trying to make light of the situation. “I’m not upset, I promise.”
“Then stay and watch the race. You’ll have a front row seat to the whole show.”
I was touched Malcolm asked me to watch the race. I’d never had a man treat me the way Malcolm did and it was refreshing. Lifting my eyebrows I asked, “Will it be loud?”
“Very.”
“Will I have to wear those ear things that go over my hair?”
“Headphones? Yes.”
I contemplated for a few seconds and looked around. “I’m not sure. I don’t like loud places.”
Malcolm reached for my hands. “I’d love to know you were sitting there watching me. It would mean a lot.”
I pressed my lips together as I took in his beautiful blue eyes. “I’m still not sure I’m looking for anything serious, Malcolm.”
His hand came up to the side of my face as I found myself leaning into it. “I’m not asking you to date me. I’m asking you stay and watch me race.”
Oh lord. There went my heart.
Before my brain could catch up with my heart, I replied, “Okay.”
The smile that spread over his face caused me to giggle like a little girl.
“You’re going to love it!” he said enthusiastically as he practically pulled my arm out while leading me back toward the track.
I rolled my eyes and let out a sarcastic groan. “Don’t get your hopes up.”
“Hope you’re not afraid of heights,” Malcolm said as he pointed up to scaffolding holding a few chairs and a bunch of equipment.
With a stunned and somewhat frightened expression, I asked, “That’s where you want me to sit?”
The evil sexy grin on his face had me searching for my next breath. “Yep,” he replied.
He was now dressed in his racing gear and I had to admit he looked hot as hell.
The amount of activity going on had my head spinning. The cars were all lined up with Malcolm’s being in the second row. He qualified third, which I thought was good, but according to him he could have done better.
Malcolm’s arm was wrapped around my waist while he talked to two of the guys on his pit crew. People walked by snapping pictures, but pretty much left him and the other drivers alone. Every now and then someone would ask for a picture or for something signed, and Malcolm would comply with that southern charm he had.
Of course, I’d seen the cocky side of him earlier when he was talking shit with another driver.
Men.
This was nothing like when I had been with Trey. If cameras were around, I was not anywhere near him. Looking back, I wanted to smack myself for being so stupid.
Malcolm’s warm breath hit my neck as he softly spoke in my ear.
“Is this too much? If you want to go sit with Dalton you can.”
With a grin, I shook my head. “No, I’m good. It’s all very exciting.”
His smile spoke volumes. I enjoyed being in his company as much as he enjoyed mine.
After driver introductions and the singing of the “Star Spangled Banner,” Malcolm crawled into his car. Panic filled my entire body as I watched them help him get strapped in. It took everything in me not to beg him not to do this, but I knew how unfair that would be. This was his life. I imagined it was his everything.
Malcolm said something to the guys and they stepped aside while he motioned for me to walk up. With a nervous smile, I leaned over
and said the only stupid thing that came to mind.
“Hey.”
He grinned so big I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ve never had a girl down here with me before.”
I raised my eyebrows and asked, “Really? Does this mean I get to kiss you before you take off a gazillion miles an hour in a circle?”
His hand came up to my neck as he pulled me closer. “Yes,” he spoke against my lips as my body caught on fire when he kissed me.
I pulled back and licked my lips as I gazed into his eyes. “Be careful, Malcolm.”
With a wink, he said, “I’m always careful, baby.”
I stepped back and watched as he put his helmet on.
Oh. My.
Why did that look hot as hell on him? Shit. Everything looked hot as hell on him. But when he turned and looked at me and all I saw were those blue eyes, I had to force my legs not to go out on me.
Malcolm lifted his hand and I lifted mine. I was well aware of the cameras and I’m sure everyone was dying to know who the girl with Malcolm Wallace was.
“Come on, Paislie, I’ll help you up there with Dalton,” Justin, one of the pit crew guys, said.
It didn’t take long for me to chew half my thumbnail off as I watched Malcolm do what he did as he raced at almost two hundred miles an hour around the stupid track. I could hear everything he was saying as well as his spotter and Dalton. I quickly found out Malcolm Wallace doesn’t like to be pushed around and he had a temper.
Russ came on the headphones and said, “Go the high line in turn four, looks like the number seven might be loose.”
“Fuck, she’s slipping all over the goddamn place. Dalton, we need to adjust the pressure. I can’t drive her.”
Dalton nudged my shoulder, causing me to turn my head. He winked and said, “Paislie, you’re going to bite your lip off. Stop being so worried.”
I nodded my head and let out the breath I hadn’t even noticed I was holding.
“Trouble in turn three. Here it comes! We’re in it.”
“I’m going in blind,” Malcolm said as I dug my fingers into my jeans. I had a terrible feeling something bad was about to happen.