I closed my eyes and tried to picture Clark and me, but all I could picture was Emmit’s gray eyes looking into mine as he made love to me.
With a sigh, I tossed my phone into my precious purse, the only thing left in this world that loved me as much as I loved it. My purse.
How sad is my life? Pulling my phone out, I quickly sent Clark a text message.
Me: Awe thanks so much, Clark, but I’ll have to pass.
Yep. My life is sad indeed.
The elevator doors opened directly in front of me as I kept my eyes fixed on the floor and walked into the elevator, only to hit head-on with another person.
“Oh! I’m so very s—sorry.”
Gray eyes captured my blue as I sucked in a breath. “Emmit?”
I quickly noticed the blonde standing next to him.
Emmit walked around me as I stood there like a fool. Giving me a weak smile, the blonde whispered, “Excuse me,” as she made her way around me.
As I got my wits about me, I turned around. My shaking hand lifted as I pushed the number seven.
My eyes landed on the back of Emmit’s head as I heard him talking to the front desk agent. “Miss Elliot will be needing to extend her stay for another day.”
The doors shut, and I fell back against the wall as I whispered, “Holy shit, Emmit.”
“I know. He’s dreamy isn’t he?”
I turned to my left only to see a girl my age was standing there wearing a goofy smile. “Excuse me?”
“Emmit Lewis. He’s dreamy as hell. Believe me, I had the same reaction when I saw him get on the elevator. I mean look at me. I was supposed to get off on the lobby floor and here I am riding it back up because I was so taken by him I couldn’t think straight! He totally had me wetting my panties!”
I stared at the girl. “What?” I asked, not even sure why.
She giggled as she rolled her eyes. “I know, I shouldn’t even say things like that. I heard he’s nothing but a player. Hasn’t had a girlfriend in a few years. Word on the circuit is he was about to ask his long-time girlfriend to marry him, but she dumped him because she didn’t like all the traveling or something like that. Wanted him to walk away from his career because she didn’t like racing. What a bitch, right?”
The doors to the seventh floor opened. “It’s your floor. Nice talking to ya!” she called out as I made my way out. Turning to look at her, she waved as the elevator doors closed.
By the time I made it to my room and sat down on the bed, I was full on crying.
“Why in the hell did I ever come here?” I whispered as I fell back onto the king-size bed and stared at the ceiling.
Why?
FINALLY, THIS DAMN DINNER LYNN had thrown was winding down. I walked up to the bar in the restaurant as I motioned for another water. When Jack told me about the dinner his niece had decided she wanted to throw the team, I knew I was stuck for the night. It had been my job to fucking babysit her for the next two days. The only time she wasn’t by my side was when I was practicing or qualifying. All I wanted to do was sit in my bus tonight and watch movies.
The moment I saw Adaline out on the bus pad, I had to keep myself from walking up to her and taking her back to my bus. All I wanted to do was kiss the living shit out of her. She looked beautiful. Her honey-brown hair had been pulled up into a ponytail and those damn blue eyes stood out the second she looked my way.
Of course Lynn noticed my reaction to Adaline and decided to try to dig deep within me for the answers to why I was so angry when I saw her.
I wanted to apologize to Adaline for my behavior towards her, but then when she ran into me inside the elevator and my body came to life with just the small touch from her, I got pissed all over again.
Why in the hell was she even here? She never comes to the races. Ever. This wasn’t her thing anymore.
I sat down as the girl behind the bar gave me a wink. “Here ya go, Emmit.”
With a smile, I looked her over. She looked familiar. “Have we met before?” I asked.
She let out a nervous laugh as she looked down and then back up through her eyelashes. “Last November. You came back to my place for a few hours.”
My smile grew bigger. How in the hell could I forget that night? Fucking hell. “That’s right. You and your roommate . . . what was her name again?”
“Casey was her name.”
I nodded my head. “Yeah. If my memory serves right, seems to me like you and Casey don’t mind sharing.”
She tilted her head and licked her lips before saying, “I can call Casey and we can have a little . . . private party later.”
I felt her presence before I saw her.
Glancing to my left, Adaline stood at the end of the bar dressed in a beautiful light blue dress. Her hair was pulled up with just a few loose curls framing her face. Her lush, sensual lips were covered in a light shade of pink as I watched them move while she talked. Her eyes quickly found mine, and she gave me a smile.
I wanted to smile back, but my pride was still hurt. She turned me down. Walked away from the life we had always talked and dreamed about.
Pulling my eyes from hers, I glanced back at the bartender standing in front of me. “I’ll take a scotch, and I’m afraid I’ll have to take a rain check on the other thing.”
With a pout, she shook her head. “Well damn. That’s a disappointment. Let me grab that drink.”
Adaline laughed at something the other bartender had said to her as I looked back over at her.
As I watched her every move, something hit me. In all the times I talked about becoming a NASCAR driver, Adaline had always told me how proud she was of me, but she never once really said she wanted that life. Sure, she said she wanted to be with me, but was it really fair that I had expected her to be with me from the very beginning? She had every right to pursue her own dreams.
I set the scotch down in front of me as I gave the bartender a nod and threw two twenty’s down on the table. “See ya around, sweetheart.”
“I hope sooner rather than later.”
Not even bothering to look back at her, I took another look at Adaline as she walked away from the bar and back over to her parents. It felt as if the world wobbled on its axis.
Holy living hell, my dick couldn’t possibly get any harder. Adaline had always had an incredible body. It was clear she was no longer a nineteen-year-old girl, but a curvy, sexy as hell, twenty-two-year-old.
“If you eye fuck her any harder, her daddy is going to pound your ass into the wall.”
With a quick turn, I saw Malcolm Wallace leaning against the wall as he watched Adaline move across the room.
I took a step closer. “Maybe you should stop eye fucking her, asshole.”
Malcolm held up his hands and laughed. “Whoa, settle yourself down there, top gun. Even if I wanted to get into Adaline’s pants, she’d never let me. And believe me, I’ve tried.”
I grabbed onto his shirt and pushed him against the wall. “You motherfucker,” I said as I reached back to knock the shit out of him.
Waldo ran up and grabbed me as he pulled me off of Malcolm. Laughing, Malcolm shook his head as he fixed his shirt and tie. “You always were hot headed, Emmit.”
I tried to bust out of the arms of Waldo to go after Malcolm again. “You’re lucky Waldo saved your ass again, you prick.”
Malcolm walked up to me and whispered, “Maybe I’ll take another shot at her.”
Breaking free of Waldo, I reached back and went to punch Malcolm when Adaline stood in front of me and placed both hands on my chest, giving me a hard push.
“Emmit! Stop this now. Don’t let him egg you on. He’s trying to get you to punch him on purpose.”
My eyes landed on Adaline’s pleading face. It killed me to see that look of disappointment in her eyes. “Please, let whatever it is go. He’s not worth it.”
I pointed to Malcolm. “This isn’t over.”
Malcolm threw his head back and laughed. “I’ll be waiting
whenever you’re ready, Emmit.”
I turned to Waldo. “I’m sorry. I’m headed back to the bus. It’s been a long day.”
With a nod, Waldo said, “I think that’s for the best.”
I made my way over to Jack. “I’m sorry, Jack; he knows how to push my buttons. I’m a little on edge this evening.”
Jack looked over my shoulder and I knew he was looking at Adaline. “I’m glad she stopped you before you did something you would have regretted.”
My hand went through my hair as I let out a sigh. “Yeah, I’m tired and I think I’ll head back to my bus.” Glancing over to Lynn, I asked, “I can stay if you’d like me to escort you back to the hotel?”
With a sweet smile, Lynn nodded. “I’m tired myself, and I think I’ll take you up on that offer right now.” Giving Jack a kiss on the cheek, Lynn said, “Do you mind if I bug out, Uncle Jack? I can probably catch Brandon if I get back in time to call him.”
Jack gave Lynn a warm smile. “Of course. I’m sure this is all overwhelming.”
Lynn lifted her hand and said, “Nonsense! I’m loving it. Night, Uncle Jack. I’ll see you first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Welcome to Elliot Racing. Never a dull moment.” Jack kissed her back.
Lynn laughed before glancing my way. “I see that.”
Lynn took my arm as we said goodnight to a few people and made our way to the elevators.
“She can’t keep her eyes off of us. You do know that, right?” Lynn asked me as I hit the down button and waited for an elevator.
Taking a quick look back into the room, Adaline was staring at us. She looked away when I caught her stare. “Well, I’m no longer her concern. She made that clear three years ago when she turned down my marriage proposal.”
“Oh,” Lynn said under her breath. “Did she have a reason?”
I cracked my neck from side to side as I let out the breath I had been holding. “Yeah, she didn’t want to be a NASCAR wife. Seems she didn’t love me as much as I loved her.”
Lynn turned and faced me. “Really? Because the fact that she hasn’t been able to take her eyes off of you all evening says different.”
My heart dropped at Lynn’s comment. Had Adaline been watching me all evening? Shrugging my shoulders, I wanted to change the subject. “She wanted other things. Things I couldn’t give her. It is what it is.”
Lynn was silent as we rode the elevator down and out to the limo that was waiting for us.
We rode to the hotel in silence. The limo pulled up and I smiled at Lynn. “Would you like for me to walk you up to your room?”
Lynn stepped out of the limo and then leaned back in. “No, thank you. Hey Emmit?”
“Yeah?”
Lynn’s face turned serious as she said, “Don’t do something you’ll regret tomorrow morning.”
With a half hearted smile and a quick head nod, I said, “Night, Lynn. See you tomorrow.”
“Night. See ya tomorrow.”
The door to the limo shut, and the driver asked, “Where to Mr. Lewis?”
I pulled my phone out as I searched for the number I was looking for.
“One second please,” I said as I hit her number.
“Hey, Emmit!”
Closing my eyes, I shook my head. “You busy?”
Hearing the noise in the background, I knew my baby sister was most likely at a party somewhere in Dallas. She’d been up since yesterday and watched my qualifying run, hung out with Lynn and me for a bit and then took off to hit the nightlife of Dallas.
“Nope! Just met up with some friends, but I’m totally down with leaving.” My sister just turned twenty-one, and I knew she had been looking forward to this trip with her two best friends. “Your girls with you still?”
With a laugh, Ashley asked, “Which one you interested in?”
“Tell me where y’all are and I’ll meet you.”
“Billy Bob’s, so wear your boots!”
I shook my head as I let out a chuckle. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“See ya then, big brother!” Ashley shouted as I hit end.
“Will you please take me to Billy Bob’s?”
“Yes sir, Mr. Lewis. Billy Bob’s it is.”
I leaned back in the booth and scanned the dance floor for my sister. “Fucking hell, this place is huge. And dark.”
Ashley had told the club I was coming, so they reserved a booth toward the back. It wasn’t totally private, but it was good enough and it still allowed me to look out for my sister, who happened to be hanging on some tall cowboy while they danced around on the dance floor.
One of Ashley’s friends gave me a sexy smile as she slid into the booth. “Ashley told me to come keep you company, Emmit. Said you needed to loosen up before your big race tomorrow.”
With a lift of my mouth into a half smile, I knew all it would take was a full-blown smile, one dimple, and one wink of my eye and I’d have this girl riding me right here in the damn booth.
“What did you have in mind?”
Her eyes lit up as she moved closer and I slide a bit further over so that the wall was blocking us more. “Let me just say this, I discarded my panties just now in the restroom.”
Giving her a full on smile, she ran her tongue along her lips and moved her hand across the growing bulge in my pants.
“What do you want me to do for you, Emmit?”
I pushed her long blonde hair behind her ear and then grabbed onto her neck and pulled her closer to me and whispered against her lips. “Make me forget her.” Pulling out my wallet, I grabbed a condom and tossed it on the table.
Her hand moved quickly to the button on my dress pants; she had my dick exposed and was priming it.
Fuck, I hadn’t even caught what this girl’s name was. If she told me, I had already forgotten. “What’s your name?” I asked as I grabbed her hand and stopped her.
“My friends call me Cookie, cause I’m a baker at a popular restaurant here in town.”
My eyes went to her shaking hands. “Cookie. Okay,” I said with a fake smile. “Cookie, do you want to fuck me?”
Her eyes widened. “Yes.”
“Your hands are shaking. I don’t want you doing something you don’t want to do.”
She let out a giggle and said, “My hands are shaking, because I’m about to fuck the best NASCAR driver in the country. Here’s hoping you aren’t fast at everything.”
A memory of Adaline smiling at me after one of my earlier races as she kissed me and whispered, “Let’s not be so fast with our celebration later,” popped into my head. My eyes glanced at the condom on the table and then down to my exposed dick.
What in the fuck am I doing?
I pushed Cookie away from me and zipped my pants back up.
Quickly getting out of the booth, Cookie gave me a funny look. “W-where are you going?”
My hand went through my hair as I sighed. “I’ve got a race tomorrow. I need to get back.”
With a sexy grin, Cookie asked, “You don’t want me, Emmit?”
I glanced back out to the dance floor and searched for my sister. Seeing her dancing with the same cowboy, I turned back to Cookie. “Ashley’s got full passes for each of y’all, so maybe I’ll see ya tomorrow.”
Her face lit up. “You mean I get to see you, like . . . like down on Pit Row?”
With a fake smile, I forced out a, “Yep.”
“Cool!”
I gave her a quick wink. “Yeah, cool.”
Not even bothering to stop and tell my sister I was leaving, I sent her a text.
Me: Heading back. See you tomorrow
Sis: Okay! Did you and Cookie have fun!?
I rolled my eyes as I headed out of the club. I called the limo driver to swing back around and pick me up.
The entire drive back to the speedway, I stared out the window as I wondered what Adaline was doing. Dropping my head back against the seat I balled my fist. “Fuck!” I shouted as I closed my eyes and prayed I co
uld make it through one more day.
One more day and then I’d be pulling out and heading to the next race while Adaline would be headed back to Austin.
Just one more day.
WALKING INTO THE GARAGE, I grinned seeing everyone hustle about. I had forgotten how amazing the atmosphere on race day was. Daddy was talking with Emmit as I approached them. It was almost as if Emmit knew I was there. Glancing up, he looked at me and then quickly looked back at Daddy.
I blew out a breath and decided I was going to have to talk to him before he pulled out tonight and headed to the next race. Malcolm had told me last night what he had said to Emmit to get him so upset. Then he of course tried to make a play on me to which I promptly turned him down.
Stopping behind Daddy, I glanced around as I watched all the teams get ready. They couldn’t work on the cars because they were in the process of getting pre-inspections done.
“Just don’t scare the piss out of them okay, Emmit?”
Turning to look at my father, Emmit gave him the same smile that I fell in love with so many years ago. My stomach fluttered as I watched Emmit talk to my father. No wonder I could never go out with a guy more than a few times. It was obvious I had never moved on from Emmit. I never wanted to move on.
With a quick glance around, I searched for the blonde who had been with Emmit yesterday and last night. Malcolm said it was Emmit’s latest arm candy, which made me wonder how many women he had dated since we broke up.
Daddy slapped Emmit on the arm. “Go have fun.”
Emmit started to walk off before he stopped and looked at me. “You want to take a lap with me before I get started with the fans?”
My heart dropped at the idea of being in a racecar on the track with Emmit again. But I couldn’t help but think of the girl who had been with him yesterday. “Are you sure?”
With a smile, Emmit said, “Like old times.”
Grinning like a fool, I nodded and said, “Yes!”
Emmit had driven me around tracks plenty of times, but I’d never had him drive me around one of the tracks NASCAR used.
Making our way over to where there was a line of people, Emmit lifted his hand and waved while people cheered and called out his name.
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