by Stacy Borel
Her blue eyes peeked over at me. “Sure. As long as it’s not too personal.”
“What do you think is personal?”
“Turner.” She said my name like she was scolding me. My date was feisty. Good.
I chuckled. “Okay, let’s stick to the basics. What’s your favorite color?”
“Green. Yours?”
“Black.”
“Black isn’t a color,” she shot back.
“It is today, go with it. What’s your favorite food?”
She paused. “Crab legs. But not any crab legs, it’s got to be snow crab.”
Interesting. Most girls said pizza or chocolate. “Mine is steak. Now it’s your turn.”
“My turn?” she asked inquisitively.
“Yes. I just asked the last two questions. Now it’s your turn.”
“Okay. Hmmm . . .” She tapped her pointer finger on her chin. God, she was cute. “What’s your favorite cereal?”
“Now you’re talkin’. One of my favorite food groups.” She giggled. “Fruity Pebbles, but without milk.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s a kid’s cereal.”
“It is not. I happen to be a very grown man, and I love the stuff. In fact, I carry a box with me everywhere for a snack.”
She gave a full bellied laugh. “No, you don’t. That’s silly.”
To prove her wrong, I told her to open the glove box in front of her. She did. Right in front was a snack size box of cereal. “See.”
“Way to prove me wrong.” Her laugh was musical. “Don’t you get tired of it?”
“No way.”
“Hmmm.”
“Give me another one.”
“Do you like being the oldest brother?”
“Good question,” I praised. “It has it’s pluses and minuses. As the oldest, I was the guinea pig for my parents. Whatever worked or didn’t work with me, they did with my brothers. But I was also never babied like the other three.”
“Why do I find that hard to believe?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s true. Mom and Dad were hard on me and expected me to lead by example. Sometimes I wished that they would make their own mistakes and I could do what I wanted to without being watched all the time.”
She nodded and the car got quiet except for the AC blowing. It wasn’t that the silence was uncomfortable, but I had a feeling she preferred conversation over silence.
“You are an only child?” I glanced at her.
“How much further?” She rushed out.
Was my question to nosey? I turned my head in her direction. Trying to decide if I should push or change the subject, I thought it best to let it go and answer her.
“We’re here.”
She straightened up in her seat. Parking, I watched her eyes get wide as she realized where we were. I parked in my usual spot in front of the Athens Speedway Racetrack.
“Are we watching race cars?”
“No.” I paused. “We’re driving them.” I gave her a devilish grin.
Her head started shaking and her pupils dilated. “Turner, I can’t drive a racecar.”
My brows came together. “Why not?”
“Because they’re dangerous, that’s why.”
“Mhmm, that’s what makes them so fun.”
I got out of the car, refusing to let her keep arguing with me. I knew this was an unconventional date, but something told me, she needed this. I’d picked up on some of her discomfort when it came to pushing boundaries. Annabelle may not know this, but I’ve been watching her. I learned her parents died in a car accident but I still don’t know if she was in the vehicle with them. She told me about the house, but I wanted to know more. I needed to know more. My little rule follower was going to step out of her shell for a day.
Coming around to her side I opened the door. She took my hand, and immediately released it when she stood on her own. It’s okay, I planned on getting closer than hand holding later.
Annabelle stayed quiet as she followed me inside the building, and I led her out to the track where a gorgeous racecar sat fueled up and ready to go. A pit crew was off to the side and suits hung on a line near the car. I snagged one and held it out to her. She stood with her long strawberry blonde hair blowing in the slight breeze, and her arms crossed over her chest. Did she realize when she did that it pushed her breasts up on display for my viewing pleasure? I felt my dick stirring in my pants as I shifted on my feet to try and readjust. Didn’t work.
“Throw this on. You want me to drive first or do you want to go?” I asked.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder in pure defiance. “Turner, you can’t be serious.”
I hid my smile and pegged her with a hard stare. “I’m very serious. Put the suit on.”
Her mouth dropped. “You’re awfully bossy, you know that?”
“Yes, I do. Now put it on so I can show you how to do this.”
She wanted to argue with me, but I was leaving no room for it. I took my suit and pulled it on. She hesitated before she mimicked what I was doing. I could have sworn I heard her grumbling under her breath. It was kind of cute. Once she was set, my old buddy from years back approached us.
Reaching out I took his hand and shook it. “Evening, Richard.”
“Turner. You ready to go for a spin?” He looked at both of us.
Annabelle was wringing her hands in front of her. I wanted to soothe her and tell her it was going to be okay, but I wanted to get her alone and in the vehicle first.
“Yes, sir.”
“All right, well, the track is all yours. Pit crew will be waiting on the side ‘til y’all are done. Have fun, and burn some rubber.” He chuckled.
When he walked away, Annabelle leaned over to me. “Burn rubber?”
I couldn’t hide my smile this time. “Yes, ma’am. That was my friend, Richard. Known him for a long damn time. He closes the place down sometimes when I want to come get some aggression out.”
She swallowed. “Sounds ominous.”
“Nah, come on.” This time I did grab her hand. “This is an old NASCAR Sprint Cup race car. She was driven in the Brickyard 500 two years ago and then she was retired. Pretty sure I’m one of the few that still drives her, other than Richard.”
She watched as my free hand tenderly caressed the hood of the car. “And, uh, is she yours?”
“No, I wish. Me and a bunch of buddies tried to buy her when they wheeled her in, but apparently money can’t buy everything.”
“Sounds interesting.” She wasn’t in the least bit interested. Annabelle was too busy trying to prevent herself from a total freak out moment in front of me.
I needed to get her in the car. She needed to get a feel for it and see there wasn’t anything to be afraid of. Besides, I hadn’t planned on going much over one hundred miles per hour. I pulled her around the car to her side and told her she needed to climb in through the window. Annabelle was less than impressed.
“You’re little, you can do it. Imagine being my size squeezing in there.”
She giggled. “Okay you got me there.” She slipped in easily. When she was in her seat, I poked my head in and strapped her into her harness. Her blue eyes were watching me intently, moving with every motion of my hands. I was careful not to linger when I got to the buckles around her chest. I didn’t want her to think I was copping a feel, although I wanted nothing more than to see how she fit in my hands. Instead, I pulled away when I was done and got in on my side and buckled up.
“Okay, you ready for your lesson?” I asked.
“Doesn’t look like I have much of a choice. I’m kind of trapped in here.” Her side glance, and the idea of her being at my whim was more of an aphrodisiac than it should have been.
Giving her some peace of mind I told her, “You want out at any time, just let me know. If I’m going faster than you’re comfortable with, let me know. If you need anything just let me know, and I’ll stop.”
She brought her bright round eye
s to mine. It was a moment, connecting and building a sense of trust in a matter of a couple second. She nodded giving her approval.
“So for starters, I’m going to pull up to the start line. When you’re in this seat, you’re in control of everything. The car will not move unless you are in gear and you are the one pushing on the gas. It’s just like any other vehicle other than there is an engine in it that has nine hundred horsepower. It’s powerful Annabelle. I want you to understand that.” She was listening to my every word with rapt attention. “This vehicle can get up to two hundred miles per hour. We are in a roll cage and are quite safe, but you have to know how to handle this thing around the corners. You shift it just like any other car. Have you driven a standard before?”
She slowly shook her head.
I grinned. “No, no big deal. All right, you ready? I’ll take the first lap slow. After that I’m going to open her up.”
Pushing the gas I felt the familiar purr of the engine. I’d driven this car more times that I could count. I knew it well. Creeping up in speed, I was still on the straightaway. The bleachers were breezing by, but I had tunnel vision. Shifting, I kicked it up a notch. I was creeping up to ninety just as I was hitting the first corner. Annabelle’s hand came up and she was about touch my forearm, when I downshifted and slowed before turning the wheel. She dropped her hand into her lap. I wanted to look at her and tell her it was okay, I was going to keep her safe, but I had to keep my eyes on the track. These cars were unpredictable. I would have spoken to her, but the engine was too loud.
I took both corners at about the same speed. The second one, she kept her arm down and gave me the trust I was silently asking for. I’d only hoped she was enjoying herself just a little bit. As I hit the end of my first lap, I was ready to open it up. I wanted to feel the adrenaline pumping in my veins. I knew it was probably not the wisest choice to give it what I normally did, because I knew she was already on edge. If I wanted Annabelle to feel comfortable, I’d need to take it easy. When I started the second lap, I pushed on the throttle harder than the first time. I let the speedometer creep up to a hundred. Even at this speed, you can feel the G-force pushing you back into your seat. Instead of bringing it down to a comfortable speed for her when I got to the curve, I only downshifted once, and kept up the momentum. Surprisingly, she didn’t freak. Maybe she was okay with this after all. I continued on the track and at the end of the lap, I came to a complete stop in the pit. The crew immediately began fueling the car back up, and checking tire pressure. I looked over at Annabelle, and she was staring at me with such wonder in her eyes. Never had a woman looked at me like this.
“You doing okay?” I asked.
She didn’t answer right away. It was like she was trying to find her words. “I’ve never gone that fast before.”
“It’s a different feeling isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“Would you like to drive? I can teach you.” I wanted her to try it so bad. I wanted to see her let loose and mesh with the car. It would have been the biggest turn on. But I could see her answer already.
“No, I’m okay. I don’t know how to drive a stick and I’m sure they don’t want to replace the transmission on this thing if you try to teach me. I’d rather just sit and feel if that’s okay?” She hesitated, expecting me to push her into changing her mind. I wasn’t.
“That’s fine.” I smiled to offer reassurance. When she smiled back, the feeling that shot through me was incredible. I wanted to make her happy. I’d never given two shits about other women I dated, it was always about them making me happy. But that smile she gave me, my God, it could light up a room.
We ended up going around the track about ten more times before calling it quits. I pushed the car and her comfort level to about a hundred and forty before Annabelle, did in fact reach over and touch me. She’d had enough and I’d maxed out her level of comfort. I was fine with that. After we’d taken off the suits and we were walking back out to my car, I grabbed her hand. Rubbing my thumb back and forth over the smooth skin on her wrist, she was as soft as I’d imagined. Getting her settled in, we drove the whole way to her house in silence.
“Are you hungry? We could stop for something to eat,” I said.
“No, I’m not hungry,” she replied, and I knew what she meant. It was almost as if both of us were trying to take in the evening we’d just had. As soon as we arrived at her house, I helped her out and walked her to her door.
“I hope you had a good time,” I said uneasily.
“Mhmm, I did.” She glanced down shyly.
“I’d like to take you out again, if that’s okay.”
She pondered it for a moment and then said, “I’d like that.”
There was no stopping the smile that spread across my face. “All right then. I’ll be in touch. I need to think about where I want to take you next.”
Her eyes got big. “No more dare devil stuff.” She laughed. “Not sure my poor heart can take it.”
“Did you get hurt today?”
She was confused. “Well . . . no, but . . .”
I cut her off. “Did you have fun?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I’ll let you know when I’ve got the next date set up. And Annabelle . . . it will be fun.”
She sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to win. “I’ll wait for the call then.”
Leaning forward, I tenderly kissed her cheek. The scent of cotton candy was lingering on her skin. I heard her small gasp and I wanted to kiss her on the mouth, but some things were better waited on. Next date, I was going to take what I wanted.
“Goodnight, Annabelle. Thank you for a good evening.”
“Goodnight, Turner.” She twisted in her cute little tennis shoes and went into the house.
She’s different. I’ll give her that much. I was very intrigued by her. I was going to need to think of something that I could do with her, something that we could actually sit and have a conversation while we were out together. Unfortunately, the race car was too loud for either of us to hear the other person. This was going to take some thought on my part. I wanted to break her out of her shell and see what she was made of, but I could tell it was going to be a process. Annabelle was my new project, and I was looking forward to seeing who she really was.
Chapter Five
Annabelle
I WAS STANDING OUT IN FRONT of the PAWS animal shelter waiting for Camden and Keegan to show up. They were thinking about adopting a dog. Keegan had called and asked if I wanted to join them and maybe get lunch afterwards. I reluctantly agreed. My date with Turner was almost two weeks ago and I had kind of kept to myself since. I had a feeling she wanted to pry and find out what happened. Why couldn’t she just ask Turner? I’m sure he’d tell Camden if he asked. Keegan had called the day after, but I was still processing the fact that I had actually enjoyed myself.
Speaking of Keegan and Camden, they pulled up a couple minutes after I’d parked. Getting out of their car, Keegan looked like she was still glowing from her wedding day.
“Morning,” she said.
“Morning back.” I smiled at her.
Camden stepped beside me and nodded. Such a conversationalist.
“All right, let’s do this.” She rubbed her hands together. “And, for the love of God, I am going into the cat room whether you like it or not.” She fixed him with a pointed stare.
He flung his hands in the air. “Fine, we’ll go into the cat room. But don’t get pissy with me when I walk out sneezing or my eyes are itchy.”
She leaned in and kissed him sweetly. “You’ll be fine. But thank you.”
“Welcome,” he grumbled.
As we walked in she whispered to me, “He says he’s super allergic to cats, but I have yet to see a reaction from him when we’ve been somewhere with a cat.”
“Sneaky. Clearly not a cat lover.” I giggled.
As we walked in, we were greeted by the workers who asked us to fill out some information forms. A
pparently they don’t let just anyone in here. And who knows, maybe I’ll come back for a friend for Chaz. When we were done with that, we were led into a side room where barking dogs galore were behind closed doors and waiting anxiously for any human to stop and say hi. The first couple of dogs were older, and lazily sat in their rooms with disinterest. Another room held a beagle mix whose tail was nonstop wagging. She was very cute. Camden and Keegan put her down as a maybe. Little dogs and large ones were scattered throughout and still, they hadn’t come across one that seemed like “the one.” As they approached the final room and feeling discouraged, they came across a black lab with a white patch on his chest. He was a six month old baby, who had been born at the shelter. Letting the volunteers know they wanted to see him, the staff pulled the pup from the room and let Camden and Keegan go into a separate room to get to know him.
While the playful little guy chewed and nipped at Camden’s hands, Keegan turned her attention toward me.
“You haven’t told me much about your date with Turner. Spill the beans. You going on another one? Was he a gentleman? And race car driving . . . that shocked the crap out of me. I had no clue you were even into racing.”
I held my hand up to her. “Okay, for starters, slow down. One question at a time. He was a gentleman.”
Camden snickered in the background. “Well, that’s kind of shocking. You all thought I was a brut, Turner is worse than I ever was.”
Keegan nudged him. “Hush. She’s talking. Anyway, you were saying?”
I glanced back and forth between them. Their relationship and sweetness made me envious.
“Yeah, so I’m not in to racecars. In fact, I had no idea he was even taking me to the track. Had I known I would have told him he could take his idea of a good date and shove it up his ass.”
Keegan’s eyes got wide. “Then what made you agree to do it if you didn’t want to?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. He pulled into the parking lot and he gave me a look that made me feel like I could . . . I don’t know, trust him? So I went with it.”
“Wow. I’m honestly kind of shocked.”
“Did you enjoy it?” Camden asked inquisitively.