by Audra North
But he stood as close as he could without seeming too obvious, and she smiled at him as he made the introductions. “Annabelle, this is Phil Dobson of U.S. Classic Auto. Phil, this is the Hart Racing crew chief, Annabelle Murray.”
He didn’t miss how Annabelle beamed at him. She liked being introduced that way, he could tell, and he was proud of her for earning that position.
Phil walked forward and took Annabelle’s hand. “A pretty little thing like you, working around all those rough guys? I don’t believe it.”
Did the guy just not realize how he sounded? He was probably trying to compliment her, though. Grady could understand. He was willing to let it slide.
Although he didn’t miss the way Annabelle’s face darkened. But she kept her cool, too. Probably figured the same thing Grady did—that Dobson didn’t realize that his attempt at flattery was falling simply flat.
“I try not to hold them back too much,” she said, not smiling anymore, but not glaring, either. Neutral.
She was perfect.
Dobson chuckled and turned to Grady. “And feisty, too. I like her.”
Maybe it hadn’t been a clumsy compliment. Grady didn’t like the way Phil was talking about Annabelle like she was a dog. Or as though she wasn’t even here.
He was about to open his mouth and say something when Annabelle put her hand on his arm and squeezed. Hard. Enough to make him turn his head and look at her in question. She was staring at him intently, obviously trying to communicate … something.
“I’d like your opinion on some of the work I’ve done on this car. But later. I know you’re busy at the moment.”
Okay. He wasn’t that dense. He got the message, that she didn’t want him saying anything to Dobson in her defense. But was it just because of the deal? Or was she again insisting on standing up for herself and fighting her own battles?
Except it wasn’t like he could ask her now, and he was only so skilled at reading eyebrow waggles and death stares.
“Well, speaking of busy, I’ve got to head out. Got a flight to catch.” Dobson clapped Grady on the back. “But I like what you’ve done here, son. I think we should start talking terms and getting my technical guys involved.”
Holy shit. Dobson wanted to move forward. And in a big way. Talking terms meant putting a deal together …
Calm down. You haven’t finished this yet. Calm down.
Shit. He needed a minute or he was going to start hyperventilating all over the place. “Of course, Phil. Of course.” His throat felt a little tight, though, and he had to swallow hard to get the words out.
Just a minute alone to calm his nerves …
“Let me just, um, go grab my laptop.” He turned to Annabelle. “Annabelle, do you mind escorting Phil to the conference room?”
They rarely used the conference room because it was on the same floor as the garage and was a pretty stark room, but he needed to stall somehow.
Annabelle gave him a small smile and nodded. “Of course not. We’ll meet you there in a minute.”
He nodded in thanks, then practically ran toward the stairs. This was going to happen. This was going to work out. Nothing could stop him now.
* * *
Annabelle watched Grady rush off and felt a swell of pride.
She was so happy for him. All that hard work, all those years of feeling like he wasn’t good enough but wanting so much to be someone more … he was finally getting what he wanted.
Sure, Dobson was a nuisance, but at least she wouldn’t have to work with him, and she was willing to put up with a lot if it made Grady happy.
But before she could lead Dobson to the conference room, he stepped closer to her, so close that he was practically pushing his chest against her shoulder, and gave her a smarmy smile.
What the hell?
“I have to admit, you are a welcome sight, Miss Murray,” he murmured.
Ick. She didn’t like where this was going one bit. But she didn’t want to make a scene and tell him to shove it, so instead she backed away subtly and looked at him sideways. “I’m afraid I don’t understand, Mr. Dobson.”
He inched closer.
Did this guy have no conscience? She was starting to get a little worried. Short of running away from him, there wasn’t much she could do without being brutally honest. And that might cost Grady the deal.
Dobson chuckled, all sleazy and slippery. It made her want to retch. “Come now, call me Phil. I mean, usually when I go to outfits like this it’s just a sausage fest. Any women are usually grizzled and dumpy and have spent too much time with the boys. But you…” He shook his head, smirking at her. “You’re a hot piece, Annabelle.”
She blinked at him.
A hot piece. He’d actually taken it there. God, this was like Fogerty all over again.
Except worse.
Because this time, if she stood up to him the way she wanted to—the way she was fully capable of doing on her own—it would cost Grady a contract.
She was sure of it.
On the other hand, if she just shrank away, he’d think he could do this kind of thing all the time. And she didn’t want that. No way did she want that.
But this was Grady’s dream.
Just grin and bear it. He’s not that bad. He—
He reached out and stroked a hand down her arm. “What say I finish up here and then you and me go find a quiet place to have a little chat?”
She couldn’t help it. She recoiled a bit, her lip curling up. “No, thank you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, the conference room is just over there. I think you can find your way on your own.” She started to pull away, but his hand closed around her elbow, hard enough to make her wince.
“Aw, honey. Don’t go getting skittish on me. Or maybe you’re just playing hard to get. I do like a little play to go along with my work. How about you and I go have some fun and in exchange, I do the deal with your boss?”
Her jaw dropped and she froze, gaping at him. “Are you suggesting that I have sex with you in exchange for you giving the contract to Grady?”
He chuckled. “What a dirty little mouth on you. I’ve got a good idea for what you can do with that—ow! Fucking fuck!”
He dropped her elbow as he shouted in pain, and Annabelle didn’t bother to wait around. She took off for the other side of the garage, toward the safety of Bit and the guys, who were already walking toward her to see what the commotion was about.
She hoped she hadn’t actually broken Dobson’s foot when she’d stamped her steel-toed boot on his instep.
Then again, it’s not like he didn’t deserve it.
“You fucking whore! I think you broke my foot! Get back here right now!”
Shit.
She hauled ass toward Bit, who looked furious. Bit immediately grabbed her and put her behind him, shouting at Dobson. “She’s not going anywhere near you! That’s no way to talk to a lady. You’d better get the hell out of here right now if you know what’s good for you!”
“She’s no lady,” sneered Dobson, who was moving toward them awfully quickly for a man who supposedly had a broken foot.
That was when Grady came running down the stairs. “What’s going on here?” He was shouting as he approached.
“This little slut just broke my foot.” Dobson pointed at her, his finger shaking with rage.
“Are you talking about Annabelle?” Grady swung his head to look at her, then back at Dobson. “Phil, I don’t think—” Grady started, but Dobson cut him off.
“Oh, fuck you. I don’t want to hear it. I’m outta here. I expect groveling. I want a written apology and you licking my ass for a couple months before we can talk terms. Otherwise, no deal. I’ll make my own muffler rather than give a cent to an operation that employs a cheap trick like her.”
Asshole.
She expected Grady to lose his temper then and give Dobson a piece of his mind, to tell him that he’d never fire Annabelle just to get a deal done.
But Grady didn�
�t say a word.
Say something! Defend me! Protect me!
But Dobson was already stomping off, and the entire group simply watched him stalk out, slamming the front door and leaving the garage suddenly, horribly quiet.
Annabelle waited for Grady to come to her and hug her, to ask if she was okay.
But instead, he turned with a frown on his face and shouted, “What did you do to him?”
What?
Annabelle gaped at him. “What did I do?”
Please don’t mean what I think you mean.
“What did you do to offend him like that? Is that why you wanted me to wait? So you could stand up for yourself and ruin everything? Whatever you thought you were doing, I could have taken care of if you just hadn’t been so adamant about being independent. But now—what the hell?” Grady was shouting at her.
He was saying that whole thing was her fault.
He hadn’t stood up for her just now because he thought it was her fault.
Oh my God.
She whimpered at the realization. The sound made Bit scowl, and he came forward, grabbing Grady’s arm. “Listen here, Grady. You need to apologize to Annabelle immediately or—”
“No.” Oh, goodness. Her voice was breaking. She was going to cry in front of everyone. She swallowed and blinked hard. “No, he doesn’t. Because I won’t accept it. He’s shown his true colors. Any apology now would just b-be meaningless.”
The words seemed to register with Grady, and he suddenly deflated, almost like someone else had been inside of his body and had just escaped. “No. Wait. Shit. Annabelle—”
But she was already gone, racing out the door and away from Grady Hart and the horrible realization that, once again, she’d grown dependent on someone to take care of her instead of doing it for herself.
And in the process, both of them had failed.
Chapter 17
“You’re a fuckwit, Grady.”
At least no one could ever accuse Kerri of mincing words.
Grady pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed into the phone. “I know.”
After Annabelle had left the garage earlier that afternoon, the rest of the guys had filled him in on exactly what had happened with Dobson, then made it pretty clear what they thought of Grady’s reaction. Bit had been angry enough to tell Grady I don’t want to see your face around here for a while, and Grady had agreed.
He didn’t want to look at himself for a while, either. He was a fuckwit. So he’d gone upstairs and packed up his things, but before he left, he tried to call Annabelle.
Her phone went straight to voicemail.
On the way out, he’d tried to stop at Ranger’s office, but Ranger wouldn’t talk to him, either. Wouldn’t even look at him. So he’d gone to Mom’s and confessed all, and she’d told him that she hadn’t seen Annabelle around for some time, and that he’d made a big mess that he needed to clean up.
He’d said the same thing to her that he’d just said to Kerri.
I know.
But how was he supposed to do that when he couldn’t even find Annabelle? By the time he’d gotten home, all her stuff was gone from his house. All of it. Right down to the strands of red hair that seemed to collect daily in his shower drain.
That had hurt.
He was moping on the couch when the phone rang, and he’d picked up all frantic and eager, thinking it might be Annabelle. Instead, he’d got called a fuckwit.
Well deserved.
“You’re not supposed to agree with me, you know. You have to argue with me so that I can yell at you some more,” Kerri huffed.
“I’m sorry. I just … that’s all I can say, Kerri.” He let out a ragged breath.
“I’m not the one you need to tell that to,” came her reply, but her voice had softened.
He gave a harsh laugh. “Believe me, I’ve been trying. I’ve been trying to call her all afternoon. I went out to Mom’s to see if she’d been there. But I can’t find her, and I don’t know where else she would have gone except for a hotel or something, and how am I going to find which one she’s in? I am sorry. Fuck, I’ve never been more sorry, but I can’t find her and it’s killing me—killing me—that I can’t apologize to the woman I love for hurting—”
There was a gasp, and then Kerri practically shouted, “You love her?”
Shit. He hadn’t even realized it until he said it, but …
“Yeah.” Goddamn this hurt. “I do. I love her. I didn’t mean to mess it up so bad. I just—shit, I was so high on the possibility of that deal and I kept thinking she’d give me a sign if she wanted me to stand up for her…” He trailed off and ran a hand through his hair. “I was an asshole and I don’t think I can ever make it up to her. But I can’t even find her to try.”
“So … you’re not going to try to grovel to Dobson?”
“What?” Grady reared back from the phone for a bit, blinking. “You-you actually thought I would want to work with that asshole after the way he treated her? Who do you think I am?”
Kerri was quiet for a second, and then she said something he hadn’t expected. “I know who you are. But I don’t think you’ve quite accepted it yet.”
That threw him for a loop. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I think you’re the best brother a girl could have. I think you’re loyal to a fault. I mean, look how many years you hung on and stayed in a job you hated and that brought you a shit ton of stress, just to look out for us and help the family. You’re a really great person, Grady. But I don’t think you knew that until you met Annabelle. And even then, I wasn’t sure you’d accepted it.”
“I’d never choose a deal over Annabelle, though. I’d never choose anything or anyone over her.” He couldn’t resist teasing his sister, though. “Not even you.”
Kerri snorted so loudly that the phone rattled. “You’re impossible. But I’m glad to hear it.”
“I love her,” he repeated, shaking his head at how much of a fool he’d been.
An exasperated sound reached his ears, and then Kerri told him, “She’s at my place.”
Annabelle was at Kerri’s?
Thank God. Grady jumped up immediately. “Shit, Kerri. Thank you. I’ll be right—”
“Do not come over here, though!” Her protest stopped him in his tracks, frowning.
“What? Why not? I need to tell her that I—”
“No, you don’t. Right now, you need to give her some space. She’s told me some things about her life and her dreams, and before you come in here and drop a love bomb, she needs to feel like she can answer you as an equal, and not as someone who’s dependent on you. Even though you still need to prove to her that you’re dependable by telling her what you just told me. That Dobson is a shit-for-brains who deserves to be castrated with a dull axe.”
“Uh…” He recoiled at the imagery.
But Kerri didn’t bother taking back her words. “She needs to feel like she has a choice, either way. Which means you have to give her some time.”
He did not like that. “But I need to apologize. I need to tell her I love her.”
Kerri laughed so loudly that it was hard not to be offended. “So what? Listen to yourself. I need this and I need that. If you love her, you’ll make sure she has what she needs before pushing yourself on her like that.”
Fuck. Kerri was right.
He’d told Annabelle that she was strong and that he hoped she got what she wanted, but here he was thinking only about how she made his life complete. How being with her made him feel good, like he was a man worth something even if he didn’t have a deal with Dobson.
“What do I do, then?” He felt so lost.
“Nothing. She’s leaving for Lee’s race tomorrow—and you’re not coming along, by the way.”
“But—”
“No, Grady. You do nothing. This time, you let her take control of her life, make her own decisions, and stand up for herself.” Kerri paused, then added, “And if she’s as smart as I think sh
e is, she’ll realize that you’re the best thing that ever happened to her.”
Grady sank back down onto the couch. “Thanks, sis.”
“You’re welcome.”
But before Kerri could hang up, Grady blurted out, “Could you just tell her one thing for me?”
“Maybe. What is it?”
“Tell her I’ll be watching the race on Friday and I’m counting on her to kick some ass.”
Kerri laughed. “Now that’s a message I’ll be happy to deliver.”
* * *
“Yeah!” Lee punched his fist in the air and let out a whoop as everyone in the pit went wild. The race had just ended with a photo finish, and they’d had to wait for a bit for the results, but the announcement had just come up that Lee had won.
By one one-thousandth of a second.
Annabelle had been biting her nails while the footage was reviewed, praying and hoping that they would come back with a victory for Hart Racing. Not because she wanted the glory. But because Kerri had told her that Grady was watching, and that he was counting on her.
Him, counting on her.
She missed him. She hadn’t seen him in almost three days, and the way she missed him hurt so bad … she’d never known pain like this. Even when Donnie had left her, it hadn’t hurt this bad. When Kerri had told her what he’d said, she’d wanted to go to him and tell him that she was so sorry for running out like that and not giving him a chance to explain.
It had taken her a while to process it, but she realized that she’d run because of her own problems—because she hadn’t stood her ground as soon as Grady had arrived and instead she’d expected him to take over and fight her battles. She’d waited for him to stand up for her instead of her standing up for herself, and that—more than anything else—had scared her. All her alarms had started going off, all her misgivings about trust and dependency and everything she hadn’t realized she even had alarms about.
And she’d run like the coward she was.
Which was exactly why she hadn’t gone to him that very day and begged his forgiveness. First, she needed to prove that she could be brave for herself. She needed to be her own best asset and her greatest protector. Grady did so much for her, but it wasn’t fair to tell him that she could fight her own battles and then turn around and hide behind him as soon as he showed up.