"Suz . . ." Ryder said, his voice sounding pained.
"What?" Suzanne said right back, her own voice razor sharp.
Okay. This was exactly how he wanted to spend his only day off. Not. Elec turned to Tamara to avoid getting sucked into either argument about to take place behind him. "Hi."
"Hi," she said, her fingernails digging into her thighs. She was wearing a fluffy yellow skirt that landed right at her knees, and a tight white T-shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she had on simple gold jewelry and gold sandals. She looked pretty and fresh and smart and sexy, and Elec wanted to own the right to sit down next to her. He wanted the ability to put his arm around her, to kiss her, to make her laugh, to make her come, to hold her all night, and to get to know every single thing about her.
Which scared the absolute shit out of him.
He had never felt this way about any woman after one night and it was damn crazy.
It was freaking nuts, he knew it, yet that didn't stop him from dropping his ass onto the couch right next to her and saying, "It's really good to see you, Tamara. I'm glad you came tonight."
"Congrats again on the great finish," she said, clearing her throat. "I didn't realize you'd be here tonight."
"Of course he is," Suzanne said, suddenly appearing in front of them and shoving a beer toward Elec. "Here's your beer, Elec."
Had he even asked for one? He just took it since he was afraid she might hit him with it if he didn't. There was some serious tension in Ryder's living room all the way around.
"You didn't mention it," Tamara said, locking eyes with Suzanne.
"Elec was right behind Ryder and Ty in the Six Hundred last night. This is a victory party.
Of course he's here." Suzanne smiled brightly and the two women stared each other down, eyebrows rising, mouths pursing, heads tilted as they silently communicated.
Elec realized then that Suzanne knew exactly what had gone down between him and Tamara and she was a party to Ryder's plan to throw them into the same room together.
And clearly Tamara hadn't known, and wasn't exactly thrilled with the whole situation.
Wonderful. He took a sip of his beer and wondered what the hell he was supposed to say.
Him not knowing what to say? Now there was a shocker. God, he'd never wished for his sister or brother's big mouth so much in his entire life. They were never at a loss for words.
Nikki said, "Wait a minute. All three of you won the race? That's fun!"
Tamara watched Nikki beaming over her glass of wine, clearly unaware that not a single other person in the room was having an ounce of fun at the moment. She almost wished for that level of ignorant bliss herself. Because she was even not coming close to fun at the moment. She was about as comfortable as a turkey on Thanksgiving and she wanted to kill Suzanne for setting her up like this.
Suzanne should have warned her Elec was going to be there so she wouldn't be sitting on Ryder's leather couch gaping at him like a hooked trout. Of course, Suz knew her too well.
If she had told her the truth, she would have bailed on the dinner party. No doubt about it.
Tamara knew Suzanne felt bad about initially reacting poorly to the news that Elec had asked her out, and Suz felt responsible for the fact that she had canceled on him. Suzanne was trying to right a wrong by throwing them together, and it was sweet, but deluded.
Tamara hadn't canceled the date just because Suzanne had mentioned he was frequently in the company of blondes. There had been a lot of other reasons, too, all of which were damn hard to remember at the moment when he was staring at her with those rich brown eyes, looking like he wanted to take her into his arms and kiss the stuffing out of her.
Truth be told, she wanted him to kiss the stuffing out of her, and that was ludicrous. Her many reasons that she couldn't think of were all valid, she remembered that much, and she couldn't give in to a bad idea just because the man made her feel like she was the only woman on the planet. At least, she didn't think she should give in to him.
Elec didn't even turn away from her when Ty tried to explain to Nikki what had happened during the race. Tamara tried to ignore Elec, but she could feel his gaze pressing in on her as Ty said, "No, we didn't all win. We came in first, second, and third."
"Oh." Nikki frowned, then opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Lord. Where the heck had Ty picked this one up? Amoebas probably had more thought capacity than she did.
"Did you watch the race?" Elec asked Tamara in a low voice, leaning closer to her.
She turned to him, startled at the throaty tone. "Yes," she said, and dammit if her voice wasn't breathy. "Nice finish."
He grinned. "I'm known for that."
Oh, my. That was a sex reference, wasn't it? Her inner thighs seemed to think so, anyway.
"I couldn't say. I haven't followed racing the last few years."
"Did you enjoy it?"
Tamara felt her cheeks flush. "Enjoy what?"
"The race."
Right. The race. "Yeah, definitely. Your car looked a little tight early on, but your crew must have worked it out."
"So you actually do like the sport?"
He was doing that thing again, that intense stare he had where she felt like she was in danger of losing her clothes, her heart, or both. Good God, he was sexy, and she was kidding herself if she thought she could sit there and stay unaffected by him.
It was time to get off the couch and run away before she found herself begging him to take her to dinner after all.
"Of course I like racing," she said, and went to stand up. Only Ryder's couch was too low to stand up with a glass of wine in her hand and she only got a few inches up when she was in danger of sloshing Merlot onto her skirt. She froze, half standing, half sitting.
"Let me hold that for you," Elec said, taking the glass from her.
"I guess you'd rather not have another shirt ruined by my clumsiness, huh?" Tamara stood all the way up, arms across her chest, looking down at Elec.
"Depends. If it gets us both naked again, I'm willing to sacrifice a shirt." He didn't grin, but gave her a slow, naughty smile.
Yikes. Definitely time to retreat, because she was wearing a white T-shirt and there was no hiding the effect he was having on her nipples.
"I'm going to see if Suzanne needs some help."
"I don't," Suzanne said from right behind her. "You just visit with Elec, but thank you."
Tamara turned and glared at her. They were going to have a little chat later about how friends shouldn't throw friends in front of buses.
Ryder moved in next to his ex-wife, bless his heart. "How about feeding us, Suz, I'm starving."
Tamara half expected Suzanne to snap at Ryder again, but she just forced a smile and said,
"Well, y'all better be starving because there's plenty of food. Nikki, I hope you like enchiladas. I went with a fiesta theme since Mexican is Ryder's favorite."
The blonde, who was perched on Ty's lap in a leather chair, said, "Oh, I don't eat."
Elec coughed behind Tamara to cover up a laugh as he stood, her wineglass still in his hand. Tamara blinked at Ty's date, not sure what to say.
Suzanne had no such problem. "What do you mean you don't eat?"
"I try to eat as little as possible. When I eat, I gain weight."
Oh my God. Was the woman even serious?
Nikki ran her eyes up and down Suzanne. "And I don't look good with the kind of weight on me that some people carry."
Uh-oh. Tamara moved forward on instinct, knowing Suzanne just might be inclined to throw whatever was handy in the girl's face. In fact, Tamara could swear Suzanne was eyeballing the wooden bowl with decorative glass balls in it resting on Ryder's coffee table.
Ryder beat Tamara to Suzanne first, and he put his arm around his ex-wife and gave her shoulder a squeeze, whether in warning or reassurance Tamara wasn't sure.
Suzanne stepped out of Ryder's touch, eyes blazing, but she had a very sweet smile on her face. "Oh, honey, well that just explains a lot then. You have to eat something tonight, I absolutely insist, because given what I've seen so far, clearly you're starving your brain."
It didn't get any better when they were seated around the table together.
For being a victory party, the only thing anyone seemed to be celebrating was the opening of a fresh bottle of wine every half an hour.
Tamara was sitting next to Elec, and his leg kept accidentally brushing against hers, which was driving her to distraction. Keeping the conversation going was a strain, since the table was rife with tension, and every topic they tried to cover was derailed by the random remarks of Nikki.