Full Throttle(6)

Through the rest of their high school years, the two of them bugged her for NASCAR tickets. Their love of the sport grew. They even built their first car together, which Kane raced, in secret, at the speedway in Myrtle Beach. After Kane quit football and James left Mooresville to claim his scholarship at Florida, they continued to build their racing team. Which, to some extent, had now become a reality.

How ironic that the sport she’d introduced Kane to had been their relationship’s downfall. She couldn’t deal with his fiery devotion to racing, his obsession to win, to prove himself to his father above all costs. Including her.

She got an engineering scholarship to Duke, which she accepted. She broke up with Kane and left Mooresville, promising herself that the next time she fell in love she’d find somebody who was stable and even-tempered. Somebody who didn’t care if she knew a carburetor from a brake pad.

Somebody who wanted her above everything else.

Through her disappointment, anger and pain, she’d found strength within herself, and she’d sworn she’d never be second best again. The irony that she wanted him to be aggressive and obsessed about racing these days, when she’d so resented it during their dating years, wasn’t lost on her.

“Have you seen Kane?”

Startled, Lexie glanced up at Kane’s father. Actually, I have, sir. See, I had this dream that we loved each other more than racing, and—

“Lexie?”

She blinked away the remnants of the dream and tried to focus. “Oh, uh, he’s probably at the airport.”

“I need to talk to him.”

“Try his cell.”

“I already did. It’s turned off.”

With just about anybody else, Lexie would have offered a ride to the airport or at least further concern. But she and Anton Jackson had never gotten along. Kane’s father had always resented her for introducing Kane to racing.

Which was fine by her. She resented him, as well—for years—because he thought she wasn’t good enough for his son, but lately it was because of his lack of support for Kane’s love of racing, as well as the change he’d brought about in Kane’s personality.

At some point over the years, Kane’s obsession with winning had been dampened by his need to get his father’s approval. The fire of competitiveness she’d resented before—and desperately needed now—was diminished. Thanks to the man before her.

“Oh, well.” She made an effort to smile at the man most American sports fans worshiped. “He’ll be back late Saturday, early Sunday.”

Frustration suffused Anton’s sculpted features. “Is he really going to get into the top ten?”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure?”

“As sure as I can be.”

“Everybody was confident before Sunday, too.”

Growing more annoyed by the minute and wondering whether Anton was really concerned about Kane or just the questions he was bound to get in the booth during his NFL broadcasts, Lexie narrowed her eyes. “Mistakes happen.”

“By you or Kane?”

“By the rookie who misjudged his passing distance.”

“But if the car had been stronger, he wouldn’t have been passed.”

It was no wonder the man was one of her least favorite people. Hoping to simply escape before she said something she’d regret, she pushed for a wider smile. “You got me there.”

“I want my son in The Chase.”

As if his declaration would make it so. “Okay.”

He turned away without further comment, though on his way out, he stopped to talk to the guys in the shop. He might be a jerk to her, but he did always make time for his fans. And she could be grateful that though Kane had inherited his intensity, competitiveness and charm from his father, he’d been spared the bulk of his arrogance. In fact, Kane’s humility and down-to-earth nature was one of the primary reasons for his popularity with both fans and sponsors.

She, however, was completely immune to him.

Rolling her eyes at her delusion, she retreated to her office, where she gathered her laptop, printouts, cell phone and the bags she’d brought in that morning from her apartment. Bristol would be an important test for everyone. They had to finish well, and if she’d screwed up somehow…

She locked her office and vowed not to dwell on the what-ifs. She, her dad and the other team engineers had all consulted on the car’s setup, as well as the strategy for the race. The team had run endless drills, hoping to shave even half a second off their time servicing the car. Kane had spent hours working out with his trainer and running computer simulation programs of the track. They were as well prepared as they possibly could be.

Still, it didn’t seem like enough.

The thought of the upcoming racing weekend, plus spending it with Kane made her stomach a bundle of nerves. But she smiled as she crossed the shop, waving to the guys who were already working on cars for the weeks after Bristol. She received several “good luck” shouts, plus a few good-natured jibes. At the door she wasn’t surprised to see Kane’s father still hanging around.

“Going to the airport?”

She nodded.

He graciously took her bags and carried them to her car. Okay, so Kane might have inherited a touch of courteousness from his father, too. “I’ll follow you,” he said.

As she drove her well-used Chevy Blazer, she put Anton Jackson—and the effect his appearance might have on Kane—out of her mind and recalled a night after a race in Myrtle Beach, when she and Kane had lain on an old blanket in the back of his pickup truck. Curled against his side, her head laying over his heart as he stroked her hair, he’d promised her that when he won the championship he’d buy her a pink Corvette. She’d laughed, then wrinkled her nose and declared when she drove a Corvette it would be red.

The laughter had died; the car and the championship never happened. She wondered if Kane thought about that night as much as she did.

She’d been hired to help the team, but she wondered if their past would make the climb to the top that much harder.



“YOU FEELIN’ OKAY, Kane?”

Kane’s eyes flew open at Harry’s question. With his mind constantly on Lexie, he hadn’t slept well all week and had apparently drifted off while waiting to board the company plane for the trip to Bristol. Risqué daydreams still filled his mind, forcing him to fight back a guilty flush as he faced her father, who’d slid into the passenger seat of his truck. “I’m fine. Just enjoying the last few minutes of silence.”

Harry nodded. “It’s an important weekend.”

“Yes, sir.”

An amiable man with a stocky frame and craggy face who managed his team through quiet reassurance, Harry lacked his daughter’s temper and intensity. They made a good yin and yang match.

Kane was well aware of how lucky he was to have had Harry as his crew chief for the last three years. He was grateful Harry didn’t resent him for the bad breakup with Lexie. Though he wasn’t positive about Harry’s feelings, since they’d never mentioned Lexie until she became car chief six months ago.

Given the building tension between him and Lexie for the past few months, and especially after their kiss last week, Kane had to fight the urge to squirm in Harry’s presence. His crew chief would not approve of his driver getting involved with another member of the team. As a father, he’d probably be even less supportive.

“You and Lexie need to remember you’re not the only members of this team.”

Staring into Harry’s direct gaze, Kane reminded himself Lexie had gotten her insight and quick mind from her father. “We do.”

“You’re both professionals, and I trust you to keep the team goals in mind.”

“I am. I can handle it.”

“Like you handled it before, when Lexie cried all the time and you stomped around like a wounded bear?”

She cried over me? was all Kane could think. He hadn’t seen a single tear the night she’d dumped him. She’d just been angry. And resolute.

Harry seemed to read his mind. “Just because she did what she had to do didn’t mean she didn’t hurt.”

He’d hurt, too. After she’d left for college, he’d raced harder, every chance he got. She probably thought his obsession with the track kept him too busy to grieve her loss. But he did that, too.

More deeply than even he would have thought.

“But that was a long time ago,” Harry continued. “You’ve both moved on.”

“Ah, yeah, sure.”

Harry’s eyes narrowed.

“We’re allowed to have a personal life.”

“Not with each other.” He sighed. “It was Bob Hollister’s idea to pull her away from R&D and put her on this team, not mine. I was worried how you two would work together again, but Lexie assured me you two were over and done.” When Kane firmed his lips, Harry’s tone hardened. “You’ve spent more than a decade trying to prove you belong in this sport. You’ve withstood the pointing and whispering, the doubt and the taunts. You’re gonna tell me now you’re willing to risk that for Lexie?”

Kane said nothing, though resentment simmered in his stomach.

“She won’t love you for it,” Harry continued. “If we don’t make the top ten, you’ll resent each other forever.”