Fast and Loaded: A Bad Boy Sports Romance

by Roxy Sinclaire

  As I pushed open the door, all the movement inside froze. The crew looked at me and smiled. They weren’t packing up boxes anymore like I had thought that they were. No one spoke though. The further I walked in, the more they seemed to back out the rear door and give me and Amber space. I couldn’t be sure if that was a good sign or a bad one.

  Amber was standing next to Theresa, smiling. I looked at the two women in my life and gasped. She had given her a new paint job. That was the surprise; I was sure of it, and my heart sank.

  It was a nice gesture, but without a running car, it was just a pretty toy. I would take her home and have someone fix her. I had to be grateful though for Amber’s effort. I smiled as I looked at her.

  “Thanks for the paint job,” I muttered, trying to find the words to tell her how I felt.

  “Oh, that’s not the surprise,” she replied with a sly smile.

  Then she tossed me my keys.

  18

  Amber

  “It’s been two days Desmond; you need to go talk to her,” Glen said to me.

  I knew he was right; I had been avoiding Amber ever since I had verbally attacked her. I just didn’t know what I could say now to make up for everything that I had already said. She probably never wanted to see me again, and I couldn’t blame her.

  Knowing Amber, she was still trying to find a way to make Theresa run, but every mechanic I had talked too had said the same thing, there was just no way without the parts. The parts would need to be custom made too.

  “What am I supposed to say to her Glen?” I asked him as I drank my beer, “Sorry I was such a jerk? My dreams have been ruined.”

  He laughed, it was a depressing noise. He knew as well as I did that the end was coming. It was like watching a boat sinking slowly in the middle of the ocean. Nothing could be done to save the vessel, but you couldn’t pull your eyes away from the destruction.

  “Just because you aren’t going to win this year, doesn’t mean that you can’t try again next year,”.

  I scoffed, “Actually, it does. I won’t be coming back to the racing scene. The Grand Nevada was the final race for Theresa and me both. I have other things that I need to do.”

  “Man, what about me?” asked Glen playfully.

  “Don’t worry; I planned on taking you with me where I go. I can’t do a whole lot of good without you at my side,” I joked.

  “Maybe there is someone else that you should have at your side instead?” he offered.

  I shook my head and fell silent. Once again, he was right. In the past two days, I had been miserable, but it hadn’t stopped me from staying away from the shop.

  I knew that the mechanics would be packing things up, and I couldn’t go back there. Not now, it was too soon. It was like returning to the scene of an accident. Amber would never forgive me for everything that I said to her.

  “You know,” said Glen softly. “She probably still blames herself for what happened to Theresa. I know that you don’t want to go back to the shop, but did you think about that?”

  I shook my head. I hadn’t thought about it until he had said something. I knew Amber well enough though to know that Glen was right. She was probably beating herself up trying to make things right and thinking that I was still mad at her for everything that happened.

  That just wasn’t the case. I was staying away because I was the one who was wrong and that was a feeling that I wasn’t use to at all. I didn’t know how to tell someone I cared about that I was sorry.

  Somehow, I knew that even after I told her, the chances of her forgiving me were pretty slim. Who would ever forgive someone after all the awful things that I had said to her? I knew I wouldn’t forgive myself. Although, Amber had continually surprised me, so if anyone had a heart of gold, it was her.

  Maybe I could talk her into leaving the race and everything else in the world far behind us. Maybe she would just drop everything and go. I chuckled at the idea; Amber wasn’t the kind of girl to run away with anyone, especially an asshole like me.

  “What are you going to do Desmond?” Glen asked softly.

  I shook my head, “I guess I am going to go tell her I’m sorry. Even if she doesn’t want to talk to me ever again, I have to try, right?”

  Glen smiled, “Whoa, I can’t believe it! You are turning into a real man, Desmond.”

  I punched his arm playfully. I would need to find a way to stay in touch with Glen, even after my racing career was over. I wasn’t joking when I told him that this was my last race. I had other things in my life that needed to be taken care of. Racing was just one on a long list of things I wanted to check off before I kept going on my journey in life. I was a big believer that you should always challenge yourself.

  The Grand Nevada was the final challenge in my racing career. I knew, even with Theresa down, that I would have won the race. My car and my driving skills were just that good.

  I rose from the track bar and paid the tab before smiling at Glen. “Well, here goes nothing.”

  He gave me thumbs up, and I sauntered out of the bar. The sandstorm was finally starting to pass, and I knew that I was going to have to pull myself from the race before they did the lineup the next morning. I just wanted to see Amber first. I knew that nothing had changed but for some reason, talking to her would be the end. I had no plans on returning to the shop after I pulled out of the race, and I owed her an apology before I left.

  If I would have thought that even for one second she would’ve taken me back, I would have run to her the second I realized I was wrong. No woman, at least no woman with her kind of fire, could possibly forgive me. I didn’t want things with her to be over though. She wasn’t like other women though, once she set her mind to something, nothing would change it.

  Not even a man she cared about, maybe even one she had loved at one point. I couldn’t let my feelings start to get to me now.

  My phone began to vibrate as I walked through the storm, it was Amber. My heart did a little flip at seeing her name run across the screen of my phone. The picture was one of her after we had made love. She was flushed and smiling, beautiful. The coward in me continued to watch her name flash, unsure if I could answer it or not. As the ringing continued, I had to know what was going on with her. I hit the answer button.

  “Hey Amber,” I said. I flinched as I heard my voice, I sounded so desperate, even with just those two words slipping from my mouth.

  “Desmond!” she replied, her voice sounding cheerful and full of happiness.

  It caught me off guard; I wondered if she had found another car or driver to work for. Maybe one with a chance of winning so she could still get the credit for being the winning mechanic. The jealousy inside of me flared back up. I didn’t want her working for another man. I didn’t want to think about her with another man at all. It didn’t matter if they were working or just having a drink. I wanted her to be with me, and me only. Maybe it wasn’t too late to save things with her.

  “Amber, listen,” I started to say. I was frantic now for her to hear me out. “I need to talk to you; I am on my way to the shop now actually. Can you meet me there?”

  She laughed, “Of course I can meet you here! Where else would I be silly?”

  “What?” I said in a stunned voice. “I just assumed that you would have moved on by now, you know?”

  She laughed once again, “Really? Don’t you know me at all Desmond? I don’t give up.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked her, my heart filling with joy. I prayed that she had decided to give me … and us a second chance.

  “Just come on down to the shop, I have a surprise for you,” she said vaguely.

  “What it is?” I asked, never having been one for surprises.

  I could hear the joy in her voice, “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, now would it?”

  She laughed before hanging up the phone without saying anything else to me. I stared at my phone, a blank look on my face for several minutes. I had no idea what had just
happened. I couldn’t even be sure that I hadn’t imagined the entire thing.

  It was so strange that she would be so cheerful after everything that had happened. I didn’t know what to do but apparently my feet did as they carried me to the shop.

  When I arrived outside the door, I froze. I could hear a commotion inside, and my heart was racing. I didn’t know why she wanted to see me, but I knew that I was going to have to tell her I was sorry and pray that she still wanted to give us a chance even after I had been so mean to her. She had said it herself; she wasn’t one to give up on things. I prayed that I was one of those things that she was talking about.

  As I pushed open the door, all the movement inside froze. The crew looked at me and smiled. They weren’t packing up boxes anymore like I had thought that they were. No one spoke though. The further I walked in, the more they seemed to back out the rear door and give me and Amber space. I couldn’t be sure if that was a good sign or a bad one.

  Amber was standing next to Theresa, smiling. I looked at the two women in my life and gasped. She had given her a new paint job. That was the surprise; I was sure of it, and my heart sank.

  It was a nice gesture, but without a running car, it was just a pretty toy. I would take her home and have someone fix her. I had to be grateful though for Amber’s effort. I smiled as I looked at her.

  “Thanks for the paint job,” I muttered, trying to find the words to tell her how I felt.

  “Oh, that’s not the surprise,” she replied with a sly smile.

  Then she tossed me my keys.

  19

  Desmond

  “This is absolutely amazing!” I said for the tenth time in the past fifteen minutes.

  We were driving around outside the track, and I couldn’t believe how amazing the new motor was doing in Theresa. It was like an entirely new car. The sheer power was overwhelming. I couldn’t believe what Amber had managed to do in such a short amount of time.

  “I’m glad you like it,” Amber said softly. “Hopefully, it’s enough to win the race.”

  Up ahead I saw a pull off, overlooking the hillside. It was a crystal clear night, with the stars so bright it felt like you could almost touch them. Something about the stars made me stop. In the ten miles we had been driving, another car hadn’t even passed us. It was off season so the surrounding town was dead except for the racing fans and they mostly stayed in town.

  “You never did tell me where you found the motor. It must have been hard to find. I talked to half a dozen mechanics and they all said the parts couldn’t be found and that a motor was just as impossible.” I said to Amber.

  She looked away from me, “Actually, it was easy to find but hard to get back here. I got it from my garage back home. It was just something I had sitting around.”

  I raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t an answer that I had been expecting. I had assumed that she got it from a specialty dealer.

  The fact that she got it from her own garage was a complete shock. She was full of so many surprises that I couldn’t wait to discover every single one of them with her. Now, with our love pronounced, we had all the time in the world to share together. I would have to tell her about my own past.

  “Wow. What kind of shop do you have? Do you specialize in racing?” I asked her, realizing that I knew so little about her.

  “Not exactly. I inherited the shop from my father. He was the best mechanic I had ever known. He could make anything run like a dream and go faster than any model you put it up against,” she replied softly.

  “Sounds like a great man, you definitely got his abilities.” I replied.

  “Thanks,” Amber said. “The engine was my fathers. It was his pride and joy. He spent all of his free time working on it. I remember tinkering on it as a child. It was the kind of thing that I knew he would pass down to me. It never made it into a car, he could never find one good enough for it I guess.”

  I was blown away by her words. That she had put something she cared so much about in my car, it made me speechless.

  “Amber, thank you so much for what you have done,” I said softly.

  She smiled at me, “It needed a good home. Winning this race isn’t just about the glory. It’s going to change my life. I won’t have to worry about the shop closing down anymore. The clients will come in.”

  “Is that what you are going to do after the race? Go back to your shop?” I asked, unsure of what I wanted her answer to be.

  She nodded her head without thinking about it. “It’s my home. It’s all I have left of my father. He left it to me and I love to work on cars anyway. I just knew that if I could get into this race, I would be able to save it.”

  “Save it?” I asked her.

  “Yeah, we don’t live in a booming city so running a shop means more money going out than coming in most days. We are in the hole.” she muttered.

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The excitement washed over me. “You know, I have to tell you something about myself too.”

  She looked at me in confusion, “What?”

  “This race is my final one. I have challenged every track in the United States and this is the last one. It’s kind of my magnum opus. When I am done with this race, I am done with racing.”

  “What will you do then?” she asked me.

  “I’m not really sure. The wind sort of takes me where I need to go, but that’s not the point. Amber, I am not just a driver. My parents were the owners of The Keys Resorts.” I said to her.

  I watched as she started to connect the dots. She looked at me and her jaw dropped. “Oh my God. I heard about their accident years ago. Desmond, I am so sorry.”

  It was amazing to me that she didn’t go right to the money; instead she went right to the sympathy. Once again showing that she was an amazing person.

  “Amber,” I started slowly. “I don’t think you realize what this means, I am one of the richest people under thirty in the world. I can pay off your debt for you!” I said, elated.

  She smiled and shook her head, “Thank you Desmond, but no. I don’t want your money. I want you and your love but nothing more. My father built that shop with his own two hands and I plan on keeping it by using mine.”

  I looked at her in stunned silence. As she always did, she shocked me to the core. A woman like her was something I was never going to find again. I had no plans on letting her ever get away. I didn’t care what it took. I could make my home anywhere and find adventures wherever I went. I would find my next one with Amber.

  “Well, if you won’t let me bail you out, how about you give me a job?” I asked her.

  She laughed, thinking I was joking. I wasn’t kidding though. “I am serious. I have always wanted to know more about cars. The best way to do that is to work with the best, right? And I happen to know for a fact that you are the best!”

  “Are you serious? You’re rich though! Why would you want to work there?” she asked me.

  “For the same reason you won’t take my money, pride. I want to be able to do more in my life then just drive fast cars and write checks.” I replied earnestly.

  She smiled, “If that’s what you want, then I think I can find a place for you.”

  “I would love that,” I said quietly before pulling her closer to me. “For now, I think I have the perfect place for both of us.”

  She raised an eyebrow, knowing what I was talking about. I reached into the back seat of the car and pulled out a set of blankets that I always kept handy in case of an emergency. I climbed out of the car and looked over the horizon.

  The sun was starting to set in the sky, making everything a beautiful hue of red. It was breathtaking. Amber followed me out of the car and met me at my side. There was a little bit of a chill in the air still from the passing storm, but it was nothing that a blanket couldn’t handle.

  We spread out one blanket on the ground and sat down. Amber curled up next to me and I wrapped her in the blanket. Looking up at the sky, you could see the stars p
oking through a crystal clear sky. The storm had pushed away all of the clouds.

  “Look,” she whispered to me.

  Pointing up into the sky, I followed her finger. “Oh wow, Glen said something about this earlier. It’s the Dalila meteor shower.”

  We sat in silence for several minutes, just watching the meteors falling through the sky, each one setting off a small trail of light across the sky. They made me think of shooting stars and how much I had loved to wish on them as a child. Now, I only had one wish. That was for the woman at my side to agree to stay there, forever.

  I had no intention of ever letting her go. Our whirlwind romance might seem too fast for some. I, however, would be thrilled to make her my wife, but I knew that was something that Amber wasn’t ready for. She was such a strong, stubborn woman.

  As I watched the meteor shower, I closed my eyes and hoped that when the time came for me to ask her to be my wife, she would say yes.

  For now, I was happy just the way things were. Her body, pressed against mine was starting to drive me insane though. I wanted her body. I wanted to feel her bare skin pressed against mine in ways that only she seemed to know how to do.

  Making love to her was better than anything I had ever known. I put my arm around her, gently massaging her shoulder. I knew that she wanted it as well, her nipples were peeking through her shirt at me.

  “Desmond,” she said softly as she turned to look up at me.

  “Yes my love,” I replied.

  She smiled, “Say that again, please.”

  I was more than happy to oblige, “I love you Amber. I plan on loving you for many many years to come. You have made me the happiest man alive.”

  “Desmond, shut up and kiss me,” she murmured.