Flat-Out Sexy(38)

Tamara twisted her wet hair around and around and rested her head on the windowpane.

Wasn't she too old to be sneaking a boy out of her bed?





CHAPTER TWELVE


ELEC couldn't get Tamara out of his mind all week, and knowing it was  probably going to annoy her, he still couldn't stop himself from calling  her on Friday from his coach. Evan wasn't back yet and he was feeling a  little lonely.

"Hello?" she said, sounding breathless and surprised.

"Hi," he said eloquently, settling back into his couch and trying not to  smile in the empty room. It was a sign of how far gone he was that just  the sound of her voice cheered him right up. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. Just put the kids to bed. How is Michigan?"

"Cold. It's the first of June and I don't think it got to be more than  sixty-five degrees today at practice. Makes for an easier time in the  car on the track, but tonight it makes me want to build a bonfire. Roast  me some marshmallows."

"You know I have a fire pit in my backyard but I've never used it. I'm  not exactly firewood savvy. I grew up in Seattle, you know."

"No, I didn't know that. How'd you end up in Charlotte?"

"I came for the sociology program at the University of North Carolina  and because I wanted an adventure. Considering how shy I was, that's  kind of a joke in retrospect, but I was proud of myself for moving all  the way across the country."



"You should be proud of that. That's a big deal. So you came to school, and then you met Pete."

"Yeah. So I stayed."

Elec propped his feet up on the coffee table and crossed his free arm  over his chest. He was glad that Tamara was willing to talk to him, that  she hadn't even questioned why he was calling. "So how long have you  had the fire pit?"

"It was here when we bought the house, which was the year Petey was born, so nine years."

"And you've never used it?"

"Well, at first the kids were babies, so it wasn't safe. But like I  said, I don't see myself building a fire, and Pete's schedule was  intense. You know that schedule, you live it."

"Yeah, I do." The season ran thirty-six weeks a year and during those  weeks he spent Thursdays flying to the next track. When he and Evan  arrived, their coach was waiting for them, driven to the compound by  their driver. Friday was for practices and last-minute adjustments to  the car with his team, Saturday was qualifying, Sunday was racing. He  flew back to Charlotte late Sunday night after the race and usually  slept in on Mondays, his only real day off each week. Tuesdays and  Wednesdays he had sponsor events, business meetings with his team and  crew, discussions over the car he would be driving in the weeks ahead,  and various other odds and ends to take care of. Then Thursday he  started it all over again.                       
       
           



       

But he would still find time to light a bonfire for Tamara.

"Well, hell, it's time we made that fire pit work for its keep. We'll  get a big old blaze going and have s'mores and beer, and when you're  giddy from alcohol and chocolate, I'll take advantage of you."

She laughed softly. "And where might my children be when we're doing this?"

Good question. "I don't know." He wanted to say they could go to a  sitter's or her in-laws but that would sound like he was trying to farm  her kids out, and he didn't want her to think that he didn't want them  around, or that he didn't appreciate her responsibilities.

Tamara sighed. "You know, Tuesday is the kids' last day of school. Monday will be our last chance to meet during the day."

He hadn't even thought about that. "Damn, and we just got started on that."

"I know, I wasn't even thinking of that. But the school year is just  about done. My students have already taken their final exams, and after  Tuesday I'm spending two weeks at home with the kids, then I start  summer classes, which are only part-time. And while I'm at summer  classes, my kids stay at my house with my mother-in-law."

Their schedules did seem damn near impossible. But Elec thought it would  all go a hell of a lot easier if she didn't insist their relationship  be kept a secret.

"I guess we'll have to make the most of this Monday and then see what we  can do to sneak some time together." Elec heard the door of the coach  opening, but he had a point to make, and he didn't care if Evan heard  him or not. "I will be with you, Tamara. You can count on that."

There was a pause, then she said softly, "What do you mean?"

"It means that no matter how complicated it is, I intend for us to be  together." He meant that, damn it. Maybe it was rushing things to tell  her that, but he wanted to be honest about his feelings, and he had a  lot of them when it came to Tamara.

His brother looked over at him, eyebrow raised in curiosity as he dropped his keys on the coffee table.

"Elec . . ."



She sounded like she was about to give him a laundry list of reasons why  they wouldn't work together and he didn't want to hear them. "Tamara,  my brother just walked in and he's clearly got something he needs to  talk about. I'll see you on Monday, alright, gorgeous?"

Evan stopped on his way to the kitchen and scoffed.

"Okay."

He dropped his voice to a whisper. "I can't wait to see you."

"Yeah," she said, and her voice was a little raspy. "I feel the same way."

"Good night."

She said the same, and Elec hung up the phone and met the stare of his brother. "What?"

"I don't have anything I want to talk about. Why are you using me as an excuse to get off the phone with your girlfriend?"

Girlfriend. He liked the sound of that. "Because she was about to give  me a whole bunch of practical reasons why we shouldn't be together and I  didn't feel like listening to them."

"Like what reasons?"

"Oh, let's see. Johnny Briggs hates our father, and now you, too, I'm  sure, since you inadvertently insulted his dead son. Her two kids that  she doesn't want hurt if things don't work out between us. Her work  schedule. My work schedule. Our age difference. And I'm guessing she has  a healthy dose of fear about being with a driver again since she lost  Pete on the track."

"How old is she?" Evan asked, like that was the only conflict in all those Elec had listed that really mattered.

"Thirty-two."

"Oh, okay. I thought you were going to say she was pushing forty and I was going to be like, dude. Fifteen years is a bit much."

"She doesn't look forty." Elec frowned at his brother.

"I don't know what she looks like. I haven't seen her since Pete's  funeral, and she looked terrible that day, with good reason. I didn't  think she was that old, but what do I know?"

"Obviously nothing." Elec eyed a hole in the toe of his sock. "It's friggin' cold here," he complained.

"And you're a whiny ass. Just because you're ‘in love' doesn't mean you  own the right to sit on the couch and pout. You've been annoying as hell  all week." Evan rolled his eyes for emphasis as he made air quotation  marks.

Elec dropped his feet to the floor. Evan's words, joking or not, hit him  hard, right in the chest, and he felt a little bit like he couldn't  breathe. "What makes you think I'm in love?"                       
       
           



       

"Dude." Evan shot him a look of sympathy. "You are so gone. I hope you have a spare ten grand lying around."

"What would I need ten grand for?" Was he in love? Elec pondered that  thought. He couldn't honestly say he'd ever been in love before, but he  was fairly certain he wasn't quite there yet. Almost. Falling hard and  fast. But not quite yet.

"Mark my words, little brother. You'll be forking over major cash for an  engagement ring by Christmas." Evan burped to punctuate his point.

"You're disgusting. And why would I buy an engagement ring?" Though he  had to admit, the thought had a weird and sudden appeal. Yellow gold was  totally Tamara, classic and elegant. Elec frowned. He needed to halt  those kinds of thoughts right there. It was ludicrous. "I just got done  telling you all the reasons why she doesn't even want to date me.

There is no way she'd ever agree to marry me. And I never said I wanted to marry her."



"I'm telling ya. Listen to your big brother. I see it all going down, not a doubt in my mind."

"When have you ever known what the hell you were talking about?"

"Who has predicted the winners of the last four World Series? The last  three winners of the Kentucky Derby? Not to mention the latest American  Idol and the Dancing with the Stars winning couple?" Evan did a mock  Samba move and finished up with a flourish.