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Flat-Out Sexy(30)

By:Erin McCarthy

"What if you change cars?" Hunter asked. "Then this is stuck here."

"Doesn't matter. Fifty-six will always be my first cup car, so it's special."

And what Tamara was learning was that so was Elec. He was thoughtful, sentimental, loyal.

She appreciated all those things about him, even at the same time it  scared the hell out of her. Watching her daughter with him was equal  parts exhilarating and heartbreaking.

Petey came over and showed off both his ant farm and his various pox.

"That's a good one right there," Ryder said, pointing to a pock on Petey's forearm. "It's oozing like crazy."

"Oh, Ryder," Tamara said, grossed out by the glee with which he said it.

"What? It's true. It will probably scar, kid, and you can tell all the chicks you got scratched wrestling a bear."

"Yeah," Petey said. "I'll say I took him down with my bare hands and had him pinned when he swiped me."

The words were accompanied by a visual demonstration by Petey, which  Ryder took as an invitation to act out the part of the bear, and in the  blink of an eye, Petey was upside down laughing, his T-shirt over his  face.

The doorbell rang yet again and Tamara went for it, warning Ryder, "If he pukes, you're cleaning it up."



Wondering if it was her in-laws or Suzanne, because she couldn't imagine  who else would show up at seven o'clock on a Monday, and praying it was  Suzanne, Tamara opened the door. It was neither of her guesses, but was  her teaching assistant, grad student Imogen Wilson, who had become a  friend since she'd joined the program. Imogen was from New York and  somehow managed to look like she was pounding the pavement in Manhattan  even standing on Tamara's front porch in North Carolina. Imogen had dark  brown hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail, stylish designer glasses, a  black pencil skirt and ivory sweater set, and an expensive handbag that  she was pulling a stack of papers out of.

"Imogen, hi, how are you?"

"Hi, Tamara, I'm sorry for dropping by unannounced."

Tamara noted Imogen was the only one who had bothered to apologize for that.

"I tried to call you but you didn't pick up and I figured I'd chance it  and stop by anyway. I brought you . . ." She held up the stack of papers  with a flourish. "Final exams to grade. I'm sure you're thrilled."

Tamara laughed. "Oh yeah, ecstatic. Come on in. I tell you, I'm kicking myself for not doing the chicken pox vaccine."

"Isn't it mandatory for kids now?" Imogen asked.

"Not if your kids were born before a certain date. And since it's two  doses, and both kids would have to get the vaccine at the same time, I  never quite got around to it. I figured what were the odds they would be  exposed to it?" Tamara shrugged. "Serves me right, I guess."

"Well, I'm sorry it's such bad timing with exams."

"Me, too. Do you have a minute?" Tamara asked. "I wanted to discuss how we're going to handle the summer classes."

"Sure, I have a minute." Imogen rolled her eyes and gave a sheepish  shrug. "I have a lot of minutes actually, since I have zero social  life."

"Now why is that? Too busy studying?"

"It's been hard to meet people. I'm a bit of a fish out of water here."

Tamara could see how that might be an issue. Imogen was more likely to  eat sushi than barbeque and she probably didn't know a single verse of  "Redneck Woman," which was a requirement if you were going to go out  dancing or sing karaoke.

"You should come out with my friend Suzanne and I sometime. We're older than you, but we're not totally awful company."

"Thanks, I'd like that."                       
       
           



       

Tamara kicked the same laundry basket out of the way yet again. Why  wouldn't those damn towels just fold themselves? "I have some friends  over visiting my kids, so don't be startled. The level of testosterone  in my family room is at an all-time high right now."

"Oh, okay, no problem."

Though Imogen did look startled when they entered the family room. Petey  was on Ryder's back going for a gallop around the room, while Ty was  juggling dime-sized pieces of candy in the air in front of him,  occasionally leaning over and catching one with his mouth. Elec was  still on the couch, but Hunter had moved around to his back and was on  her knees, her arms around his neck, leaning over his shoulder as she  informed him she was going to be the first girl to win the cup series  championship.

Tamara was about to call attention when Petey slid, Ryder lost his  balance, and Petey's foot kicked over the ant farm on the coffee table.  And the lid popped off.

"No!" Petey shrieked.

"Oh, shit," Ryder said, sliding Petey to the floor.



"It's alright," Elec said calmly, dropping to the carpet and righting the farm.

"Holy crap!" Hunter said.

"Hunter Danielle Briggs!" Tamara said, absolutely horrified. "You do not use that kind of language. Ever."

"But that's what Suzanne says when she's upset. And Ryder just said sh-"

Tamara cut her off. "That doesn't give you the right to say it. When  you're an adult, you can speak however you want, but for now, you follow  my rules and there is no swearing in this house."

"Sorry," Ryder said, joining Elec and Petey on the floor.

"Are there ants crawling all over my family room?" Tamara asked, a  little fearfully. She did not want to have to call an exterminator over  this.

"Nope." Elec shook his hand over the open farm. "Just a few and we're  getting them picked up. Most of them stayed in the tunnels when it  tipped."

"Good." Tamara turned to Imogen. "Anyway, let me introduce you to the  madness. The man who had my son on his back is Ryder Jefferson, Petey's  godfather, and a professional race car driver. That boy is my son Petey.  The monkey on the couch is my daughter Hunter.

The other man crawling on the floor is Elec Monroe, also a race car  driver. And standing here eating candy instead of scooping up ants is Ty  McCordle, Hunter's godfather, and yet one more race car driver.  Everyone, this is Imogen Wilson, my TA at the university."

"It's nice to meet all of you," Imogen said with a nervous smile, pushing her glasses up on her nose.

"I'm sorry, what did Tammy say your name is?" Ty asked Imogen, tossing  the colored candy discs back and forth in his hands. "I didn't quite  catch it."

"It's Imogen," she said, fussing with the buttons on her sweater set.

"Come again?" Ty tilted his head like he couldn't figure out why he wasn't quite getting it.

"Imogen."

"Oh." It was clear Ty still had no idea what the hell she had said and  he wasn't willing to ask her a third time. "It's a pleasure."

"So you work with Tammy?" Ryder asked from the floor, giving up on ant  retrieval and falling onto his back. Petey took the opportunity to  launch himself onto Ryder's gut and a playful wrestling match ensued.

"Um . . ." Imogen said, because clearly the person who had asked her the  question was now engaged in horseplay and wasn't going to hear her  answer.

Before Tamara could save her, Elec did, still calmly picking up ants one by one. "So you're a grad student, Imogen?"

And bless his heart, he'd actually gotten the poor girl's name right.

"Yes. I have one more year. I need to start working on my thesis but I haven't found a topic that appeals to me yet."

"Masters in sociology? Maybe you should do a thesis on the culture of stock car racing."

Elec grinned at her. "Plenty of material there."

Tamara was fairly certain he meant it as a joke, but Imogen looked thoughtful.

"There might be something there . . . huh."

"You can interview me," Ty said, holding his bag out to Imogen. "Candy?"  Ty actually looked annoyed that he couldn't figure out what the grad  student's name was, like Imogen had intentionally taken a difficult  moniker just to trip him up.

"No, thank you." Imogen shook her head. "I'm allergic to red dye."



"Oh. Sorry. Wasn't trying to kill you or anything." Ty turned and Tamara saw him roll his eyes at Ryder.                       
       
           



       

Hoping Imogen hadn't seen the rude gesture, Tamara said, "Well, we're  heading into the kitchen for a few minutes to discuss some school  business. Can you all try not to burn the house down or destroy anything  for five minutes?"

"Actually, Tammy, we'll head on out of here," Ryder said, peeling himself off the floor.

"We just wanted to say hi to the sick rug rats."

"Yep." Ty dropped the bag of candy on the coffee table. "Don't eat all  of that tonight," he said with a wink at the kids. "We'll talk to you  soon, Tammy. See ya, Elec." Then he said to Imogen, "Nice to meet you,  Emma Jean."