Flat-Out Sexy(20)

Tamara hadn't looked that good ten years ago, pre-babies and gravity. It  was scary to compare herself naked to that waxed and perky body.

"Are you serious? How do you know?"

"He showed it to me."

"Why? To get you excited or something?"

Yuck. "Why would seeing some hot chick naked get me excited?" Nothing  like comparing yourself and coming up short to really get the juices  flowing. Please.

"Well, I don't know! Maybe it was some kind of ménage fantasy or  something. So who the hell was she and why was he showing it to you?"  Suzanne dumped yet another sugar packet in her coffee after tasting it  and making a face.

"He was annoyed by it. He said he went out with her a few times and now  she won't stop texting him. He didn't seem overly impressed with her  method of pursuit. I'd almost say he was disgusted with her."

"That says good things about him. But he should know that's the kind of  women he's been dating and that he can't expect much better than that.  Did he say what her name was?"

"Crystal." Tamara made a face. "Blond. Built."

Suzanne grimaced. "Oh, I know who that is. A total pit lizard. She's  always tramping around the garage looking to hit on drivers. I swear, if  that girl had as many sticking out of her as she has sticking in her,  she'd be a porcupine."

Tamara grinned at the metaphor. "That's a beautiful way to put it."

"Why, thank you." Suzanne flagged the waitress, who indicated she'd be there in a minute.

"God, I could eat my arm. What is taking so long? We haven't even  ordered yet." She refocused on Tamara. "So what did Elec say when you  canceled your date?"



"He didn't answer. At all. What do you think that means?" Feet still  sore when wearing heels for an entire day at the track, Tamara halfway  kicked off her sandals and hoped no one would notice.                       
       
           



       

"I think it means that he's choosing to ignore what you said. He's lying in wait, planning his next move."

"Really? I just find that hard to believe. More likely, he just didn't care enough to respond."

Which kind of really bummed her out. Not that she could go out with him, but it would be nice if he did actually want to.

Suzanne rolled her eyes. "Oh, Lord, we're going to have to dust off your  boy radar, girl. Of course he cares. He would not have asked you out in  the first place if he wasn't interested.

And the number one rule of men is that if something happens or something  is said that they don't like, they just ignore it, hoping it will go  away."

Somehow she could believe that. "So what should I do?"

"Wait a minute. You canceled. He let it drop. You don't have to do anything now."

Shoot, Suz had a good point. "Right."

"Unless you want to see him again . . ." Suzanne raised her eyebrows and looked at her expectantly.

"No, no, of course not." Not really. She was pretty sure. Maybe. "I  don't know. I have no clue what I'm doing and I just feel like crap."

"Wear a great dress tonight," Suz said. "That will make everything feel better, I promise."

That might work when you were five, but at thirty-two, it wasn't likely.





ELEC stood outside Ryder's condo sweating bullets. He had no idea if  Tamara was there or not, and he was as nervous as a cat in a roomful of  rocking chairs. Normally he slept late on Mondays, but after getting a  call from Ryder the night before about a half hour after he'd talked to  him saying the party was a go, and for the next night, Elec hadn't slept  much. In fact, it was fair to say he hadn't slept at all.

He'd done a lot of tossing and turning trying to figure out what to say  to Tamara and how exactly he could convince her that there was no sense  in pulling the plug without at least a date or two. That seemed fair to  him. Maybe after a few dates they would discover there wasn't anything  between them except sexual attraction, and he wouldn't be stuck with a  case of wondering "What if?" Though somehow he doubted he was going to  lose interest in Tamara after a few dinners. But he might never get the  chance to find out because there was nothing slick about him, and he was  well known for keeping his mouth shut instead of using it to cajole  anyone into anything.

There was no hope for it. If she didn't want to see him, she didn't want  to see him. Wasn't a hell of a lot he could do about it.

It was that thought that had him sucking in a breath and ringing the  doorbell. Maybe just showing up at Ryder's would speak volumes to her.  And if it didn't, he'd deal with it. Life had dealt him tougher stuff  than one sexy, intelligent woman turning him down.

But she was one very sexy, intelligent woman . . .

Suzanne Jefferson opened the door right then, which surprised Elec. He  could have sworn Ryder and Suzanne were divorced, last he heard.

"Hi!" she said brightly, wearing a green sundress and sandals, her blond  hair up in some kind of twist or bun thing. "Ryder and I are so glad  you could make it."

"Thanks for the invite," he said, feeling a little confused.



"Come on in," she said. "Ty's already here with his date, and my best friend Tammy Briggs is here, have you met her?"

Elec stopped with one foot on the threshold. Was Suzanne serious? She  didn't know about him and Tamara? Elec thought women told their best  friends everything about their sex lives. Yet Suzanne was just smiling  at him calmly, and didn't look the least bit like she was lying. Which  made him wonder if Tamara was regretting their night together if she  hadn't mentioned it to Suzanne. Or worse, she thought he sucked in bed.  There was a thought to bolster his already crappy confidence.

"I met her again just the other night," he said, following Suzanne down  the hall. "But we also met years ago when I was a punk teenager. There  was a barbeque incident involving me and a car with the keys in the  ignition."

"Oh?" she said, glancing back over her shoulder. "That sounds like a good story."

"Not really." He would have elaborated, but they had arrived in Ryder's  living room and kitchen area, and Tamara was sitting on the couch, a  full glass of wine in her hand, and a forced smile on her face as she  chatted with the very young, very skimpily dressed woman next to her.

Ryder noticed him and stood up to greet him with a "Hey, Elec, what's up? Glad you could make it."

"Thanks, Ryder. Glad to be here. Hey, Ty, how you doing?" He nodded to  the other Hinder Motors' driver. "Congrats on being number two."                       
       
           



       

"Likewise, Rookie. And cheers to Ryder, man. You owned the final three laps."

"I didn't think I was going to do it," Ryder said. "My car was loose the entire race."

As much as he enjoyed race talk, Elec felt he needed to greet the other  guests, so he turned to the couch. And he was full of shit if he thought  for one minute that he would have done that if Tamara hadn't been the  woman sitting there. His etiquette sucked and he was the first to admit  it, but in this case, he wanted to make a decent impression. Not to  mention see if she looked even remotely pleased about his presence.

Not really. The expression on her face was more akin to horror. Oh, boy.  No one had told her he was going to be there. That was damned obvious.  Good times ahead, clearly.

So Elec made eye contact with the other woman in order to give Tamara a  second to compose herself. "Hi, I'm Elec Monroe, it's a pleasure to meet  you."

"Hi, I'm Nikki," the blonde said in a high-pitched voice that  immediately set his nerves further on edge. "Are you a driver, too?"

"Yes." Elec tried not to look at the cleavage spilling from her  supertight red dress, but it was aiming right at him, like a couple of  torpedoes about to fire, and he found it distracting.

"Do you win as many races as Ty?"

There was a snort behind him that he was fairly certain came from Suzanne.

"Oh, now, baby, that's not really a question you should be asking," Ty said, looking embarrassed.

But Elec figured there was no sense in denying the truth. "No, I'm sorry to say I don't.

Maybe in a few years, but right now I'm just a rookie."

"Oh, so you probably don't have as much money either, do you?" Her plump lips had turned down.

Elec almost grinned, but he kept it at bay. "Well, I can't say as I've  seen the bottom line on Ty's bank account, but I'm guessing you have the  right of it."

"Nikki. Damn," Ty said.

"What?" She blinked innocently at her date.



"Come here a second, I need to talk to you."

"A little adult-to-child discussion?" Suzanne muttered behind Elec.