Hard and Fast(28)

"I'd better make sure I leave condoms on the counter in my bathroom.  Last time we did this, Tammy and Elec ransacked my medicine cabinet  before doing the deed in my bathroom. Maybe we can just eliminate the  stress of that for them and the cleanup for me. There was aspirin flung  all over the place."

"Imogen and Ty are not going to be doing it in the bathroom," Suzanne said, scoffing.

"You said that last time." Frankly, it seemed the only one not having  sex lately was him, bathroom or anywhere else. He didn't even want to  contemplate the last time he had been with a woman, because it was bound  to make him cranky.

"Alright, so maybe they'll have sex in the bathroom. Imogen is blushing every time his name comes up.

But I guess that doesn't matter if he's treating her well and is serious about her."

"Easy for you to say since it's not your bathroom. So when are we doing this little night of forced fun?"

"A week from Monday. This Monday, Ty is taking Imogen camping." Ryder  tried to picture serious and studious Imogen hiking through the woods in  her sweater set and shiny black handbag. "She doesn't really seem like  the camping type."

"She's not. Which is why I'm worrying. She's willing to get dirty for  him and that scares me." Not wanting to explore Suzanne's logic with  her, given that he still didn't really think it was any of her business,  Ryder just said, "What do you need me to do?"

"Just invite Ty. I'll invite everyone else."

"Okay. And I guess there will be one good thing about this."

"What's that?"

Ryder grinned. "Nikki won't be there."

Suzanne laughed. "No kidding. Lord, that girl tries my patience."

"You and everyone else." Ryder honestly hadn't been able to figure out how Ty could stand five minutes with the girl.

"Alright, I'm going to let you go. Thanks, Ryder."

That was nice to hear. "You're welcome, Suz. You have a good heart to  care about your friends, ya know that?" Even if it was misguided, he  knew Suzanne's plans came from a place of concern.

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later. I lo-"

Ryder froze as Suzanne cut her sentence short. It had sounded like she  had been about to say "I love you" before she hung up, just like she  used to.

"Bye," she said quickly, and then Ryder heard nothing but a dial tone.

It must have just been habit, conditioning, from when they were married.  Suz didn't have those kinds of feelings for him anymore. Ryder frowned  at his cell phone before jamming it back into his pocket. He and Suzanne  had been divorced for damn near two years. This was his reality.

So why did he suddenly feel lonely as hell?

"Ryder, what's up?"

Grateful for the distraction from his unexpected thoughts, Ryder looked  up to see the very man he and Suzanne had been discussing striding  toward him.

"Hey, Ty, not much. How about yourself?"

Ty looked like he was in a great mood. He was whistling a cheerful tune. He paused and gave a grin.

"Same old, same old."

Because he was mildly curious, Ryder shifted on his feet and said,  "Heard you're not seeing Nikki anymore. You don't look cut up over it."                       
       
           



       







"Nope. I should have ended that a good long while ago." Ty shrugged.  "But it doesn't matter. I've started seeing someone else this week, and  it's looking good."

"She put that stupid grin on your face?"

Ty laughed. "I imagine so. You remember Imogen Wilson, Tammy's student? It's her."

"No kidding?" Ryder pretended like he didn't know. "She's a nice girl.  Not your usual type, but she definitely seems like she has her act  together."

"She's not my usual type, but maybe that just goes to show you I've been barking up the wrong tree.

Imogen is the whole package, you know what I'm saying? She is beautiful,  sexy as hell, and smart. I mean, we have great sex and great  conversations. Who knew that was possible?" Ty looked so bemused at the  concept, Ryder grinned. "I think a lot of people knew that was possible.

You're just a slow learner. But I'm glad things are going good for you."  Suzanne's fears about Ty playing Imogen seemed totally unfounded to  Ryder. Ty looked like a man with a massive crush.

"Things are damn good."

"Well, bring her around my place next Monday. Suzanne is throwing a  dinner party." Ty's eyebrow went up. "How did you get roped into doing  that again?" Ryder realized he'd never been told what excuse to give for  the party, so he just shrugged. "I don't know. You know I have a soft  spot for Suz and she likes these things. Please say you'll be there or  she's going to give me hell."

Ty clapped him on the shoulder and grinned. "Sure, we'll be there. But  you might want to think about why it is you're whipped by a woman who's  not even doing the dirty with you." He had no intention of thinking  about that and hated being reminded of it. "Screw you, McCordle." Ty  laughed and said, "I think you're the one getting screwed. Screwed  over." Ryder felt a wave of anger roll over him.

It was becoming more and more clear to him that he and Suzanne had some unfinished business.

But he wasn't going to deal with that now. He had a meeting to attend. So he told Ty in total irritation,

"Suck my dick."

Which only made Ty laugh all that much harder.

CHAPTER ELEVEN





IMOGEN smiled across the table at Tabby Stephenson, an attractive woman  in her midthirties who had been married to driver Jack Stephenson for  the past seventeen years.

"Thank you so much for agreeing to be interviewed," Imogen said, glad  she had chosen to meet Tabby in the quaint tearoom. It seemed like the  appropriate place to discuss dating and marriage.

"Oh, are you kidding? What woman doesn't like to tell the story of how she met her husband?"

"One who isn't happily married."

Tabby laughed. "True enough. But I have been about as happy with Jack as  a woman can expect to be, so I'm happy to tell you whatever you're  willing to listen to." Tabby tucked her honey-colored hair behind an  ear. "Jack will love this, by the way."

"Good. I certainly appreciate you both being so agreeable. So to start off, just tell me how you met Jack.

Was it by chance or did you have your eye on him? Was he already racing professionally?"

"Not at all. I was only fourteen when I met Jack. He was sixteen and a  total hell-raiser. We didn't go to the same school because I was in the  eighth grade and he was a sophomore in high school, but I met him at the  ice cream shop after church one Sunday. My older sister and I were  allowed to walk up there by ourselves for a cone, and that's where I saw  him, drinking a shake and showing off the engine of his stock car to  his buddies. Honey, I took one look at that backside in those worn  Levi's and the whole





boy-girl thing clicked for me. I'd never looked twice at a boy before  that, but between those jeans, his devilish grin, and that deep, sexy  laugh, I was just gone." Imogen watched Tabby sighing at the memory and  she smiled.

" 'Course, he didn't notice me at all. I was still in middle school and I  had zero fashion sense. I was wearing a denim skirt that damn near hit  the ground since I'd just come from church. I was so fascinated by him,  so upset that he wouldn't look at me, that I didn't even finish my ice  cream cone." Imogen remembered that feeling herself, that longing, that  moody, desperate need for a boy to notice you when you were fourteen.  Not a pleasant thing. Of course, she hadn't really enjoyed the  twenty-eight-year-old version of it either as she had lusted after Ty  for months.

"I wanted to hang around until Jack left so I made up an excuse about  having to use the bathroom. Told my sister I was having intestinal  issues and might be a while." Tabby grinned. "Cindy was always impatient  so she left me and walked home by herself. She got chewed out for  leaving me there, and for walking alone. But anyway, once I was rid of  her, I ordered a soda and tried to figure out how to talk to him, but in  the end, after thirty minutes, I couldn't work up the courage, so I  headed across the parking lot to walk home. This creepy guy in his  thirties called out and offered me a ride, and I was freaking out. I  lived in a small town in Alabama and my mother had warned me all about  crazies who would molest and rape a girl and ruin her life if he didn't  beat her to death or set her on fire or something sick like that." Tabby  shook her head and gave Imogen a rueful look. "Putting the fear of God  into us worked, but I can't help but think there was a better way to do  it than letting us believe we'd be barbequed if we talked to strangers."