by Alison Kent
He made a choking sound. “I’m dying here, so I’m pretty sure walking would be the least of my problems.”
“That wasn’t fair. We should’ve gone inside.” God, she was selfish. “Done things right.”
“Are you saying there was something wrong with that?” he asked. “Because wrong is just about the last word that comes to my mind.”
She’d insulted him. Wonderful. He’d just given her the most amazing gift, and the first thing out of her mouth was a complaint. “That’s not what I meant. I just feel guilty that I got all the pleasure out of that. That you—”
“I plan to get mine,” he promised her. “But don’t think you’re the only one who enjoyed that.”
Why did that make her blush? “I don’t think any enjoyment you got came close to what I felt.”
“And that’s why you need to stop thinking,” he told her, taking a step into her space, hovering close without touching her. “At least until you know me better.”
She reached up, running her fingers through his caramel-colored hair where it brushed the top of his ear. “You’re definitely not what I’m used to.”
He turned his head, kissed her wrist. “Your previous fiancés haven’t taken care of you?”
“I haven’t had previous fiancés, but no. The guys I’ve dated haven’t been as—” her fingers paused “—intent on my needs as you’ve been.”
“That’s a shame, but it does explain a few things.”
“Such as?”
“Why you asked me to play your fiancé instead of tapping someone local who you’d dated.”
She lowered her hand, clenched her fingers at her waist. “Tapping someone I’d dated wouldn’t have made sense. I needed someone who was guaranteed to upset my parents. Besides, who would believe I was suddenly engaged to someone the whole town knew was my ex?”
“But being suddenly engaged to me was? Believable?” he asked, pressing…but for what?
Cardin ducked away from him and walked to his truck, hopping onto the tailgate where she’d found him sitting earlier. “It’s not hard to imagine we’d kept in touch, developed a long-distance relationship. Especially with everyone knowing the way things were between us in high school.”
He took his time moving, climbing up to sit beside her, settling in, scooting close. His pinky caught hers where their hands rested at their hips. “And here all this time I thought it was just me.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“Nope. One hundred percent serious.” He slipped more of his finger through hers. “Until I saw you watching that night at Tater’s, I wasn’t sure you knew I was alive.”
She had no idea what to say. She’d had the biggest crush on him in high school. She’d rarely had reason to drive by his house, but had always filled up at the service station where he’d worked, and made up excuses to talk to Tater whenever Trey was around. She’d cut down the hallways where his classes were, then had to rush across campus to get to her own.
How could he not have known how she felt? She’d given off so many signals, Pammy Mercer had nagged her constantly to take a class in subtle before she was put away for being a public annoyance.
“I knew you were alive. As much as you watched me on the football field, I watched you,” she said, but cut herself off before adding all the time.
“You left quite a carbon footprint with all the gas you used.”
“I took the long way everywhere,” she admitted, and then admitted more. “And I let Pammy siphon from my tank for her car.”
He laughed. “You didn’t really use that much. I never filled it up all the way.”
It felt so good to laugh, to remember, to feel that same rush of excitement she’d felt every time their eyes had met, every time she’d sneaked a peek and found him looking.
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “So why did it take us so long to hook up?”
“Neither one of us was very bright?”
“Speak for yourself.”
“I am. I’m having a lot of trouble with the line between fake and real.”
She didn’t want to imagine what he meant. She didn’t want him getting her hopes up. Not when there was a very big chance of her heart ending up broken if she gave her expectations wings.
And so all she said was, “If there is a line.”
“We’ve been at this for less than two days. I imagine it will take time to figure out a lot of things.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her close. “Communication, remember?”
What she remembered was that their engagement had never been anything but a lie. That didn’t stop her from cuddling close. “One day you’re going to make some lucky woman a great fiancé.”
She could only hope he met the woman on the road and never brought her back to Dahlia. She didn’t think she’d survive seeing him as part of a happy couple that didn’t include her.
“You’re assuming that I plan to get married.”
“I guess I am, yeah.”
He ran his hand up and down her arm. “The things your mother said earlier about taking a wife on the road? I’ve thought those same things before. About the type of husband I’d be. The kind of life I could give to a woman. She’s not the only one with those concerns.”
And yet, Cardin couldn’t imagine being apart from him if they were really a couple. “Whither thou goest, I will go.”
“What’s that?”
She hadn’t been aware she’d spoken aloud. “I was just thinking.”
“About?”
“How I would feel picking up and following a husband. Leaving my life behind to live his.”
“If we were really engaged, you mean,” he said, and it almost sounded as if he were testing the waters, sounding her out, wanting to know what she would say if he asked her to be his wife.
She was imagining it. She had to be. “If I were in love with someone who asked me to.”
“That would be a huge thing to ask of someone, wouldn’t it?” He sighed, and held her close as together they stared off into the dark. “Especially someone you loved.”
15
TREY LAY AWAKE BESIDE Cardin long after he should’ve been asleep. He couldn’t get their near-midnight discussion out of his mind. Especially since they were here in his house, lying naked, as if their being together was the most natural thing in the world.
He’d felt more awkward in relationships that were supposed to be real. He didn’t like what that said about him, but had no idea what it said about this thing with Cardin. They were not engaged. That much he did know. But as for everything else…
He eased away from her, taking care to be as silent as possible, finding his jeans and tugging them on, then exiting the house, leaving the front door propped open. The ground was cold beneath his bare feet, and the nip in the air frosting the wee hours chilled his skin.
He found a pair of work boots in the passenger floor of his truck, and a balled up denim workshirt in the seat. He put them on, then headed for the barn where he had yet to get anything done.
The sooner he took care of his business here in Dahlia, the sooner he’d get back to his team. He figured a couple of months on the barn and outbuildings, a month on the property, two months at least on the house. Maybe another to take care of the legal matters—bank accounts, insurance settlements, etc.—he’d been putting off since his father’s death.
Six months max spent finishing up things here, and then he’d get back to work with his team. He wasn’t on a strict schedule, and since he’d planned to do all the work himself, he’d known he was looking at several weeks. But he’d never planned for Cardin time. He’d had no reason to.
He sure as hell had reason now.
He pulled the string, and the single bulb dangling on a wire from the ceiling flickered on, lighting only a small part of the barn, and illuminating the corners just enough to give life to the shadows. The barn was a small one, with only two stalls, and it hadn’t sheltered animals at any time du
ring Trey’s life.
The stalls were used for storage, while work benches and multidrawer chests lined the opposite wall. As careless as Trey’s father had been about so many things, including marital fidelity, he’d been meticulous with his tools—power, precision or otherwise.
Trey had been twelve when his parents had split—old enough to understand that his mother was leaving, too young to understand it wasn’t somehow his fault.
Years later, he had discovered the reason. That his fine upstanding father had slipped. Just once. But far enough and hard enough that Trey was left bewildered. For so long he’d felt that his mother had wronged him and his father both, and he’d hated her for leaving.
But learning of his father’s indiscretion, and that his mother’s younger sister was the one it was with, had Trey thinking a whole lot less of the man who’d reared him. Still, until Aubrey’s gambling had spun out of control, Trey had been the only one to hold him in less than high regard.
Which is why his father fighting with Jeb Worth made no sense. It was like two white hats duking it out.
The only explanation that Trey had come up with was that his father had asked Jeb for money. And even that was thin. For one thing, everyone in town knew that Jeb pinched every penny he had. For another, Aubrey would never borrow money from the people he knew. A bank, sure. A loan shark, maybe. His son, definitely.
But not friends or acquaintances. So, if it wasn’t money, what had it been? It had to be big. It had to be personal. The stakes had to be huge. And Trey was at a complete loss.
“Did you decide the only way to get any work done was to do it when I was sleeping? Since I always seem to be in your way?”
He looked down at the worn brake shoes in his hands, and smiled to himself before he turned. He’d heard Cardin come into the barn, but had to wrap up his thoughts before allowing her to distract him. That’s what she did, each and every time. And he found that he didn’t mind at all. That, in fact, he liked it.
“You asked me today what I was hoping to get out of this deal.” He saw how sleepy she was when she nodded. Her eyes were puffy, squinting as she focused, her droopy lids keeping her from it. Her hair was a tangled curtain around her shoulders. He didn’t have to do this now. “Why don’t you go back to sleep? I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
“No, I want you to tell me now. Tomorrow you’ll forget, or find a reason not to.”
Scary how aptly she had him pegged. “I thought sticking close to you might get me closer to finding out what your grandfather and my dad fought about.”
“But I don’t know,” she told him, hopping up to sit cross-legged on a storage chest. “I’m not even sure Eddie knows. It’s a sore spot with him. One I think he’s picked at too many times.”
Trey chunked the brake shoes in the trash barrel. “If he did know, do you think he would tell your mother?”
“Of course.” She twisted her hair into a tail and tossed it over her shoulder. “Unless it was something Jeb had sworn him to secrecy over. And even then, he’d tell her that much.”
“Maybe he really doesn’t know.”
“I’m thinking there’s only one person who does.” Her head canted to one side, she considered him intently. “The person who thinks enough of you to ask you to drive White Lightning in the Moonshine Run.”
Her grandfather was definitely his best bet, and if it took driving for him in the race…“I told Jeb I’d be over this afternoon to take a look at the car. I figured I’d head out about the same time you go to work.”
“You know, Jeb didn’t ask you to drive for him because we were engaged.” She worked her way down from her perch, came close and wrapped her arms around him. “He asked you because you’re Butch Corley’s crew chief, and because he wants nothing more than to be a bad dog like Butch. So you already had the in you needed. You don’t have to go along with my plan.”
“Yeah, but our engagement makes that in a whole lot more valuable. And pretty much makes me privy to any family secrets.”
“It also means you have to put up with the family drama, you know.”
“The perks are worth it.” He nuzzled the top of her head, rocking her side to side. “You smell so damned good.”
“Oh, I never got a chance to tell you.” She leaned back to look up at him. “When I went by the house to clean up after work, my mother’s car was there. I went back to my apartment to shower. Just in case, you know? I didn’t want to barge in on a reconciliation.”
“I love it when a plan comes together.”
“Speaking of which,” she said, stepping away, “I plan to go back to bed now. I’ll be back out to help after I get my beauty sleep.”
He let her go. He didn’t follow. He knew if he lay down beside her again it would be hours before she got her sleep. She had work tomorrow and needed the rest, but as far as beauty went? She could get by with never sleeping again.
TREY HADN’T BEEN TO CARDIN’S house in, well, ever that he could recall.
If she’d thrown any parties here, he didn’t remember. He would’ve come if he’d been invited. He would’ve crashed if he hadn’t been. Not because he had a reputation to uphold, or because that was the behavior expected of him. No, he would’ve been here because of Cardin.
The Worth’s big two-story farmhouse sat on almost two acres. Jeb’s garage was hidden from street view behind it. Trey followed the driveway around, parking behind Cardin’s red Mini Cooper. For all they’d used Jeb’s truck so far, she needn’t have gone to the trouble of borrowing it. Of course, none of that had been the plan…
He’d barely had time to climb down from his truck before Jeb was out of the house, the screen door slamming off its frame as he crossed the yard. “I was about to give up on you.”
“Sorry, sir. Time got away from me.” Though the truth was that Cardin hadn’t let him go.
“Well, you’re here now.” Jeb brought his hand down on Trey’s shoulder, and turned him toward the garage. “There isn’t much to be done about the delay.”
He said delay like they were on a deadline. Trey decided now was not the time to look for an opening in their conversation to ask about the fight. They obviously weren’t going to have any conversation. At least not one that wasn’t about the Moonshine Run and the car.
After lifting away the fiberglass hood, he and Jeb worked in near silence for the next hour. Near, because like a surgeon asking for instruments, Trey did the same. He had to. He was unfamiliar with what Jeb had on hand, and learned quickly Cardin’s grandfather hadn’t scrimped on his tools.
Neither did he scrimp on sweat equity. Jeb got up to his elbows in the motor right next to Trey. His hands were seasoned, experienced, but they were also arthritic, his joints swollen and twisted, and more than a few times he had to stop to let Trey take over.
That was when Trey asked questions about this part and that, what results Jeb had seen from a particular adjustment to the carburetor, how well the car responded to one timing tweak versus another. They ran basic tests and measurements with the computer equipment set up in the garage. And then they started it up and listened.
It was Tuesday. Two days since Trey last had his head under the hood of a car. He was surprised how much he missed the stringent smells of fluids and fuel, the staccato click of a ratchet turning, the sting of nicking a knuckle on a sharp edge.
He wasn’t sure how he’d thought he’d last six months without working.
He wasn’t sure how he would stand cutting short his time with Cardin to get back to what he loved to do.
He straightened, reached for a red shop rag, wiped his hands and shook his head. “I’ll have to take it out to know for sure, but from what I can see here, you’ve got a hell of a machine.”
Rather than beaming with pride as Trey would’ve expected from someone who’d been given a resounding well done, Jeb stood at the side of the Chevy Nova, his gaze lingering over the motor that appeared to have been spit-shined before Trey ever went to work.
&nb
sp; “You know, folks’ll say winners are born, not made, but I don’t believe it for a minute. It’s more obvious when talking about a car, because an engine born in Detroit isn’t going to give the same performance as one that’s been made by hands like yours or mine.”
“You’ll get no argument from me,” Trey said. He wasn’t sure what Jeb was getting at, but did know he’d be smart to keep what points he could in his favor.
Jeb leaned into his forearms where he’d braced them on the car frame. “Your father was a good man, Whip. He did his best bringing you up. He didn’t have things as easy as some, but being as it was only the two of you for a lot of years, he did a fine job of making you into a winner.”
Trey didn’t acknowledge the compliment except to nod. He didn’t say anything at all. If Jeb was getting ready to talk about the fight, a single wrongly spoken word might stop him. And if he was making his way toward another point, Trey didn’t want to derail him before he did.
“I’ve been bobbing around here like one of those helium-filled balloons ever since you said you’d think about driving.” Jeb straightened to his full height, turning to face Trey. “But when I found out you were going to marry my granddaughter, it was like someone had cut the string holding me down. I’ve been flying ever since.”
That was not at all what Trey had expected to hear, and he was damn glad he’d kept his mouth shut. “I’m glad you approve, sir. I know it was important to Cardin that you did. I wish her parents had been as pleased with the news.”
Jeb gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “Those two can’t even figure out which way is up these days. Don’t pay them any mind.”
“If you say so, sir,” Trey said, fighting a grin.
“And stop with the sir crapola. I may be close to three times your age, but we’re family now, and calling me Jeb will do.” He began storing away all the tools they’d used. “Now, I think a party’s in order, don’t you?”
Huh? “A party?”
“An engagement party. We can celebrate that and you winning the Moonshine Run at the same time.”