by Cat Johnson
As they passed in the middle of the room, Jace grabbed her arm. “You can start packing if you want. We’re heading out today.” He gave her a smile and a quick kiss, before disappearing behind the closed door.
Yup. Things definitely felt different. Cassie’s words echoed in Tara’s head. It’s pretty impossible for a woman to have sex with a man and not succumb to feelings.
As Jace took his turn in the shower, Tara sat on the bed she hadn’t slept in and tried not to admit that some sort of shift had happened between them. She spotted her cell phone on the nightstand and remembered the missed call. Might as well get it over with. It was as good an excuse as any for not thinking about what they’d done. She sat on her bed, still nice and neat, and grabbed the phone. The display read MISSED CALL, but it wasn’t from Tuck. It was Tyler.
Frowning, she hit the button to retrieve the voicemail.
“Sis, pick up your phone. I’ve got a surprise for you. I’ll be at your hotel in an hour and you two had better still be there. Call me back.”
Tyler was an hour away. Why? How did he even know where they were?
She surveyed the disaster around her. There was one bed messed up in a room with two. The bottle of lube was somewhere in Jace’s sheets, and she was pretty sure she could detect the scent of sex in the air, though that might be her paranoia.
Jace emerged from the bathroom, looking jolly and freshly satisfied and that clinched it—Tyler was going to take one look at the two of them and all the evidence and know they’d spent the night and the morning doing things no brother should even think about his sister doing.
“What’s wrong?” Jace halted halfway across the room, naked.
She guessed they’d moved past the towel-wearing stage in their relationship. Great. Just when her brother was an hour away. And wait, he’d left that message a while ago.
Had he called during round one or round two of the morning sex? She couldn’t remember. Either way they didn’t have much time. “There’s a voicemail from Tyler. He’s on his way here. He’ll be here any minute.”
“Tyler? Why? Did you talk to him? How does he even know where we are?”
“Hell if I know. Maybe Tuck told him. He could have looked at the event schedule. There’s one hotel in this town. Wouldn’t be that hard to find us. It doesn’t matter.” She stood and tangled her hands in her hair, trying to figure out what to do first. “We have to clean up in here.”
Tara moved to Jace’s bed, pawing through the sheets to find the bottle of lubricant. She realized some had spilled on the sheets and of course, this being her first lube purchase, she’d made the mistake of buying the scented kind. Anyone familiar with it would recognize the odor and realize exactly what had been going on. She was considering stripping off the sheet and hiding it in the closet when Jace came up behind her. He turned her around to face him.
“What? There’s no time. I have to straighten your bed. And mess up mine.” Too much to do and not enough time to do it.
“Tara. Relax. I’ll help. We’ll get it done. And when he gets here, he doesn’t have to come in. We’ll meet him at the door and take him out to breakfast. Okay?”
It was a smart plan. Jace wasn’t just a pretty face. As Tara wondered at the fact that she’d just thought of him as both pretty and smart, which had never happened before, he raised her chin with his thumb and forefinger so she had to look at him.
“Okay?” he repeated.
She swallowed, realizing she’d never answered him. “Yes.”
“Good. Now pick up your phone and call him back. Make sure you got the message right. And while you’re at it, ask him why the hell he’s coming here.”
Another good idea from Jace. The world truly was upside down. She grabbed her phone and with shaking fingers, pressed to return Tyler’s call.
Chapter Twenty-two
The knock on the door had Tara jumping in the desk chair she’d insisted on sitting in rather than on her bed. As if her brother seeing her watching TV from a bed would make him assume she’d been having sex in it.
She’d gone crazy after Tyler’s call, but that might be a good thing. Maybe she’d finally appreciate Jace’s position. How hard it was for him that she—the girl he’d spent last night and this morning inside—was his best friend’s little sister.
Now that Tara felt the same about Tyler finding out as Jace felt about Tuck, he doubted she’d mock his concerns again. Irony was a beautiful thing.
Jace swung his legs over the edge of his mattress and headed for the door since it was obvious Tara had become glued to the furniture. One look through the peephole revealed a familiar cowboy hat. He flipped the lock and swung the door wide. “Tyler. Good to see you.”
“Same here. My sister here?” As Tyler tried to glance past Jace’s shoulder a frown drew his dark brows low over eyes that reminded Jace of Tara’s.
He smothered the memory of how often he’d stared into her eyes recently while doing things Tyler wouldn’t approve of. He tipped his head toward the bedroom. “She’s inside. Too lazy to get up and answer the door herself. You know her.”
Tyler laughed. “Oh, yeah.”
“Shut up.” From behind Jace, Tara’s annoyance came through loud and clear.
Good. The best way to keep her from acting as if they had something to hide was to keep her good and pissed off. Still in the doorway, Jace turned. “Then prove me wrong and get up here and see your brother. He drove all the way here for some reason.”
That reason had yet to be revealed since Tyler hadn’t divulged it during the phone call with Tara.
“Yeah, get your butt out here, girlie. I’ve got a surprise for you,” Tyler called into the room.
So far the biggest surprise had been Tyler’s unexplained appearance in a town two hours from his home on a day Jace and Tara were scheduled to travel to the next venue. But apparently, they were in for more surprises.
Tara crept up next to Jace. He moved out of the doorway and gave her a tiny push forward. He left his hand on the small of her back for a few seconds longer than necessary, letting her know he was right behind her.
“So, I was talking to Tuck awhile back and he told me he was going to junk your car, so I said, what the hell. Let me take a shot at it.” Tyler looked giddy, like a kid with a secret. He started backing away from the door, toward the parking lot as he talked. “And it took a bit of doing but . . . surprise. I fixed it.” With a big, shit-eating grin, he held up a set of keys.
“You fixed it?” Tara’s gaze swept the parking lot. After a moment, it landed on her car, parked a few spots away from the door. Her handy brother sure as hell had fixed it, because there it was.
Jace stared at the car. “That must’ve taken some doing. It was in bad shape last I saw it.” Why did he feel sick to his stomach? Tara had her own wheels. It should be a good thing.
“Eh, I got a friend at the junkyard who had all the major parts I needed. The rest was just elbow grease and time and a few things I picked up at the auto parts store.” Tyler’s focus shifted back to Tara. “I figured you can consider it an early graduation gift, but Tuck was dead set against me giving it to you. Y’all know of any reason Tuck would get pissed when I told him I was bringing you the car? He tried to talk me out of it.”
Jace knew why. If Tara had her own wheels, she could drive directly to school after the internship and not go back to Stillwater so Tuck could ambush her with the baby news.
Tara shot Jace a look, obviously thinking the same thing. “Uh. No. No idea. Maybe he thought it wasn’t safe or something.” She moved forward, took the keys from Tyler, and delivered a sisterly hug. “Thank you, Tyler. I really appreciate your fixing it and taking the time to bring it here.”
“You’re welcome. When I heard Jace was out injured, I figured you’d need it since you couldn’t travel with him anymore.”
That right there, in a nutshell, explained why Jace’s stomach had fallen the moment he’d seen that piece of junk was running—it meant th
e end of his life on the road with Tara. No more excuse to not go back to Stillwater and face his demons. No more hurtling down the highway together with both phones turned off as they tried to pretend life back home didn’t exist. No more traveling partners with benefits, either.
Or maybe not . . .
Jace reviewed the facts. Tara had no money. She couldn’t afford gas for the car and a hotel room and food. He grasped at the hope, though he had a feeling she wouldn’t want to admit to her brother how tight money was.
He took a step forward. “Actually, Ty, I was thinking of staying with the circuit.”
“Hmm.” Tyler’s brows drew lower. “All right. I was kind of hoping you’d be willing to drop me back home on your way to Stillwater, but if you’re staying, then I guess I’ll call one of the guys from the ranch to come get me.”
“Sorry about you wasting a trip, but yeah, I’m staying. Tara can keep traveling with me, and you can drive the car home so you won’t need to call for a ride. No problem.”
Tara turned to Jace. “I have about a week left of this internship and you’re going to be out of competition at least that long. It’s crazy for you to stay on.”
He dismissed that with a wave of his hand. “Nah, I’m sure the doc will ease up and let me ride this next event once he sees how good I’m doing.”
Tara was going to be stubborn about his riding, but if he could somehow get rid of the car, she’d need him to stay with her, if only for the ride. He glanced at the vehicle he’d thought was dead and buried. He needed to convince Tyler to take it back home. “You sure she’s running all right, Ty?”
“Drove it here, didn’t I? She purrs like a kitten now.”
For better or worse Jace knew that Tara purred like a kitten, too, when he touched that one spot . . . Tyler and the car needed to leave.
“All right.” Jace cringed, hoping to appeal to Tyler’s protective, brotherly side. “I just wouldn’t want Tara stranded along the side of the road all alone.”
“I stand behind my work, Jace.” Tyler shook his head. “Toss him the keys, Tara. Let the man start it up for himself.”
“All right.” Jace nodded and held up his hand for the keys. Hopefully the damn thing would overheat if he started it and let it run long enough.
Tara turned, drew her arm back like a softball pitcher and let the keys fly. Jace reached out to catch them in midair, and missed them by a mile. They landed on the driveway with a jangling noise that seemed to echo around him.
“Do you still have double vision?” Tara strode toward him.
Jace frowned. “No.”
She peered into his eyes until he was convinced she’d see right through him and his lies. Truth was he had no depth perception, next to no peripheral vision, and things dead ahead were still a little blurry around the edges. But hell, that didn’t mean he couldn’t ride. Didn’t need to see clearly to hang on to a bull rope, did he?
“You can’t ride. If you get another concussion on top of this one, which is worse than you’re letting on, it could mean permanent damage.”
“Tara, I missed the keys. Relax. It’s nothing. I wasn’t ready. That’s all.” When she didn’t look convinced, he turned to Tyler. “Tell her it’s not a big deal.”
Tyler’s brows rose. “I’m not getting in the middle of this. And if I was gonna tell her something, it’s that I’ve never seen you miss catching anything . . . ever. Hell, you were trashed at Tuck’s bachelor party and you caught that beer bottle I tossed you from across the room.”
He sent Tyler a look meant to wound, if not kill.
Tyler shrugged. “Sorry, man. Just telling the truth.”
Jace sighed and turned back to Tara. “All right. So I won’t ride in the next event, or even until the doc says it’s safe, but that still doesn’t mean I’m going home.”
Tara opened her mouth, then closed it again, her teeth latching onto her lower lip. She turned toward Tyler. “I’m just gonna talk to Jace inside alone for a second. Okay?”
Tyler laughed. “Uh-oh, Jace. You’re in trouble. You take your time lecturing him on riding with a concussion, Tara. I’ll be out here, admiring this truck of his that I guess I’ll be driving him back home in so we don’t end up wrapped around a pole.”
Jace rolled his eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Come on inside.” Tara led the way back into the room, and turned to him the moment the door closed. “I know why you don’t want to go back home.”
“You do?” Jace always had been pretty transparent but still, he didn’t want Tara knowing he was getting used to their arrangement. Hell, more than that, he was really starting to like it—and her. Her stupid jokes. The companionship on the long drives. And with her in his bed last night, he’d slept better than he had in a year.
Tara nodded. “It’s Jacqueline. You don’t want to face her yet. I understand. Believe me, I do. But it makes no sense for you to stay with the circuit knowing you can’t ride.”
“It does make sense, because I promised I’d get you through this internship and it’s not over yet.”
“But now I have a car.”
“But do you have the money in the bank to pay for the gas and the hotels and the food?”
A frown crossed her forehead even as a smile tipped up her lips. “You want to stay on just for me and you’re willing to keep paying for everything? Even knowing you can’t ride?”
“Yes. We’re traveling partners. That’s what we do.”
“Yeah, we are. But you don’t have to do that, Jace. I’ll be fine.”
“How? You get a sudden windfall I don’t know about?”
“Actually, yeah. What day is the first of the month?”
He was too upset to figure that out, so he just shrugged. “I don’t know. Soon. Two, three more days, maybe.”
“My parents deposit spending money for me into my account the first of every month. If it’s a few days away, I have enough money to last me ’til then.”
“Oh. Okay.” It was starting to sink in that Tara didn’t need him anymore. That, too, should be a good thing. Why didn’t it feel that way?
She strode forward and reached up, depositing a kiss on his cheek that felt much too sisterly considering recent events. “You really are a sweet guy. And if you tell anyone I said that, I’ll deny it, and then kick you.”
“I won’t tell.” Even her joking didn’t cheer him up. This really was over. He hadn’t wanted it to begin with, but now that he had it, he wasn’t ready to let it go. “Tara. Promise me something?”
“Sure. What?” She stood close enough he could smell the fruity shampoo she used on her hair.
“After I leave, don’t hook up with any of the rookies.” He didn’t want her with anyone, but Jace was most worried about Klint and Justin.
“Why would I go to a boy to do a man’s job?” She smiled.
His words turned back on him almost lightened his mood. In this case, they were good words. He even managed half a smile. “I’m glad I taught you something during our time together.”
“You did. I learned a lot.”
Whether she was talking about sex or life on the road, he wasn’t sure and didn’t ask. It was truly over and delaying the inevitable wouldn’t change anything.
Jace blew out a breath and glanced around the room they’d shared. “I guess I should pack up my stuff. We can all go out and grab something to eat and then hit the road so I can get Tyler home. You going to be okay driving to the next venue on your own?”
“Yeah. I’ll stop by the gas station and pick up a map.”
“You should get a GPS.”
“Maybe I will. After the first of the month when I get some cash.” She smiled again.
“All right.” It felt like now or never, so Jace reached out and looped an arm around her neck, reeling her in close. He brought one hand up and cupped her face before leaning low. He delivered a slow, thorough kiss to remind her she shouldn’t settle for less—such as seven minutes in the broom closet with K
lint.
Tasting her for what he realized could be the last time nearly undid him. It made him want to throw her onto the bed and take what he’d been denying them. More than that, it made him want to stride outside and tell Tyler to take the car and go because he and Tara were a couple.
Problem was, they weren’t. And, dammit, when had he started wanting them to be?
Jace realized the answer to that question was this morning, when after spending two weeks day and night with this girl, fighting, laughing, confessing, he’d woken next to her and they’d made love, twice, even if technically she still was a virgin.
He couldn’t help himself. He kissed her for longer and with more intensity than he’d intended, stroking her tongue with his, holding her to him like he’d never let her go.
When he could bring himself to pull back, she stayed close, her eyes meeting his. “I had a good time.”
“So did I.” Wasn’t that the biggest understatement of the year? Jace drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Go tell him the plan. I’m gonna pack up.”
She didn’t move for so long he wondered if she had more to say. Hoped, more like. Something to make it not end . . . such as asking him to stay with her.
Tara took a step back. “I’ll tell Ty the plan. Then I’m gonna go check out my car.”
“Okay.” Jace swallowed away the sick feeling. Then she was gone, out the door to her car and her freedom, and damn if he didn’t feel her absence.
He packed his stuff and loaded it into the truck, and then they went out for breakfast even though he didn’t have much of an appetite.
Under the watchful eye of her brother, Jace couldn’t even kiss Tara good-bye. He settled for a hug that lasted a little too long but hopefully looked platonic. Before he knew it, he was in the passenger seat of his own truck with Tyler behind the wheel heading for home.
Tyler glanced across the cab. “So given your condition, I guess I’ll take you to Stillwater, then get Tuck to drive me back home to my parents’ place.”
“No. That’s nuts. Go home. I can get myself from there to Stillwater.”
Tyler sent Jace a glance full of doubt that pissed him off more.