Hard and Fast(44)

"When we're done at the garage, I'm definitely going to need a nap," Ty said, wearing a smirk as they walked.

"Then you can do that while I go interview some of the other drivers," Imogen said with a smirk of her own.

Smart-ass, he mouthed to her.

Imogen just laughed, feeling more carefree than perhaps she ever had in her entire life.





TY was proud of her. That's the thought he had as he walked the kids and  Imogen around the garage, introducing her to his crew members. He felt  proud and smug to have such a classy, beautiful woman there beside him,  letting him claim her as his.

The first time he trotted out the term girlfriend when introducing her  to his crew chief, she had shot him a curious look, but hell, that's  what she was, right? After that damned uncomfortable conversation where  he'd stumbled over the confession he didn't want to date anyone else,  and she had agreed, he figured that gave him the right to tag her as his  in public. And he really was damn proud that someone as





intelligent and interesting as Imogen wanted to be with him. He had  never realized how much he'd been spinning his wheels with women like  Nikki. The most she'd ever made him feel at the track when she had  visited him was a mild embarrassment every time she said something not  so bright, or inadvertently offended someone.

Imogen was in a whole different ballpark. She wanted to understand  everything and everyone, and she asked questions out of pure curiosity,  not because she was looking for an angle or a way to get ahead.

Fame and fortune meant nothing to her, he was sure of it, and every inch  of her was real, untouched by plastic surgeons. Hell, she wore glasses,  and how damn sexy was that?

He had it bad. There was no denying it, and while he loved Tammy's kids,  he was counting the minutes until he could reasonably haul their butts  back to their parents.

The need to get Imogen alone and naked was urgent, and he hadn't been  boning up on Shakespeare for the past ten days for nothing. He had  listened to two more plays on tape and had painful discussions on them  with Toni, and he wanted to show Imogen he was capable of culture. Truth  was, the plays were entertaining, it was just deciphering the language  that was so difficult. But he was man enough to admit there was  something cool about the dead playwright's words.

Ty watched Hunter inspecting his engine, while Imogen talked to his crew chief.

"It's just amazing how much science and engineering go into these cars,"  Imogen said. "I'm in awe of your experience and knowledge."

"Thanks," Sam said, looking at Imogen like he might fall in love. "We do  put a lot of effort into winning." If Ty wasn't sure that Imogen was  merely curious, not at all interested in Sam, he might have felt a  little bit jealous. Regardless of how married Sam was, and how much  interest Imogen showed in Ty, he did still find himself edging just a  bit closer to her.

"What is the process for becoming a crew chief? Do you learn via hands-on experience, or is there a formal training program?"

"A lot of the guys have mechanical engineering degrees . . ." Ty  completely tuned out what Sam was saying, focusing instead on the way  the soft dress Imogen wore clung to her ass.

"Isn't that right, Ty?" Sam asked him a minute later.

"Yeah, absolutely," he said with no clue as to what he was agreeing with.

Given the look Sam gave him, he hadn't fooled his crew chief.

And he didn't care. He was in love and at the moment nothing else seemed to matter quite as much as that did.

Ty stared at Imogen, his chest tight, his mood elated, knowing he could  just watch and watch her indefinitely . . . that she made him happy.  God, he was in love with her. It was true. When you knew, you knew .

"We need to leave," he said suddenly, interrupting Sam mid-sentence in whatever he was saying to Imogen.

Both Sam and Imogen swung their heads to stare at him.

"Are you okay?" Imogen asked him, her eyes filled with concern.

"I'm fine. Great. I just realized there's something I need to do." What  he needed to do was get her alone and tell her how he felt, because now  that he knew, he felt fairly bursting with the knowledge.

"Okay. I'll catch up with you later," Sam said. "Nice to meet you,  Imogen." Imogen said her good-byes, then they were rounding up the kids  and hustling them back to their parents.                       
       
           



       

At least Ty was hustling. Imogen didn't seem in a hurry and the kids  were downright dragging their feet, which was making him agitated.

By the time they got to his coach, he was about to crawl out of his own  skin. It felt like his whole life had just shifted in an instant and he  needed to share that with Imogen, the first woman he had ever truly  fallen in love with, the woman he wanted to spend every moment with, the  woman he wanted to wake up next to.

"What on earth is wrong with you?" she asked as he threw open the door with a fair amount of force and strode into the coach.







Ty just turned around. "Close the door behind you."

"I did." She put her hands on her hips, the gesture bunching the fabric  of her soft blue dress. "Did you drink too much coffee, Ty? You're  acting like you're hopped up on caffeine or amphetamines. It's a little  unnerving."

He took a deep breath, then twined both of her hands through his. "I'm fine. I just wanted to be alone with you."

She smiled. "You are incorrigible and oversexed."

"Not today. I haven't had sex at all today." He leaned forward and kissed her, closing his eyes briefly.

"Very funny."

"Hey, Emma Jean?"

"Yes?"

"Do you recognize this quote? ‘When I saw you I fell in love, and you  smiled because you knew.' " There was a pause, and she looked at him  puzzled. "Yes. That's Shakespeare, of course. Why?"

"Because that's the way I feel. I think the first day I met you I fell  just a little bit in love with you, and you knew. Something has drawn us  together from the beginning, don't you think?"

"It sort of seems that way," she whispered.

"We've both been attracted to each other for months, but we didn't do  anything about it, and now that we have, well, it's so good. It's better  than good. It's . . . amazing." She nodded. "It is. I'm very happy with  you."

God love an honest woman who played no games. It was one more reason he adored her.

So he squeezed her hands more tightly in his, locked eyes with her, and said, "I love you." Her eyes went wide. "What?"

"I love you. I am in love with you. I'm both of those, and I want to be  with you." The corner of her mouth lifted in a small, sweet smile. "Oh,  Ty, I love you, too. I do. It's not logical to feel so much so soon, but  I do. I truly love you."

Those were the sweetest, most poetic words he'd ever heard in his life.





TY loved her.

He loved her.

Her.

Imogen was stunned, thrilled, inflated with her own overwhelming  feelings of love for him, and when he kissed her, she kissed him back  with fervor. That was it. The big It. Love.

The very concept amazed her.

It was beautiful and overwhelming, and she poured her heart into the  kiss, feeling that her words were inadequate, that she needed him to  understand.

His hands raced across her breasts, then down her hips to her thighs,  hiking up her babydoll dress. It didn't surprise her. Ty liked sex, and  she loved that about him, too. Anticipating that he would shove her up  against the nearest wall or toss her onto the couch, Imogen was startled  when he dropped to his knees.

"What are you doing?" He was sliding her panties down and she already  had a good idea of what he was planning, but for some reason it  surprised her.

"I just want to taste you . . . I want you to hold my head while I  satisfy you." Her dress was bunched around her waist and his mouth was  already on her, nipping and licking and sucking. Her hands did wind up  on his head, gripping his hair tightly as the passion, the pure physical  delight, intermingled with the emotion of realizing that she loved him.  Ty flicked his tongue over her, in her, and she came quickly,  overwhelmed by everything she was feeling.

"Oh!" she said. "Oh, my God, I only lasted about thirty seconds . . . I  should be embarrassed." He smiled as he stood up. "I'm choosing to take  it as a compliment. Come to the bedroom." They went down the narrow hall  to the small room, which was like a more claustrophobic version of his





bedroom at home, and Imogen marveled at the look on Ty's face. There was  lust in his eyes, no question about it, but mostly, he was staring at  her with so much tenderness, so much love, that she wanted to pinch  herself, wanted to suck it in and hold on to it, wanted to bask in the  feeling of serenity and pleasure she experienced with him.

And when he peeled her clothes off slowly and carefully, and laid her  down gently on his bed, Imogen felt tears pool in her eyes. While she  loved Ty's dominating tendencies, while she really, really enjoyed when  he took her hard and fast, when he teased and tormented her with his  dragging their pleasure out, she thought this was the perfect way to  make love in this moment.