Jacked Up (11 page)

But he’d already suggested it once. He wasn’t going to suggest it again.

She lit the screen up on her cell phone again. “How much time do we have? Sex is a stress reliever, too. Five minutes in my backseat.”

The woman drove him crazy. She had no idea. She grinned at him as he tried to swallow the truckload of saliva that had suddenly pooled in his mouth. Shifting to give his now enormous erection more room in his jeans, Nolan gave her a stern look. “Don’t tempt me.”

Laughing, Eve sat up, pushing her phone back in her pocket. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“How do you know?”

“Because there’s no backseat in my car.”

Nolan snorted. “Well, you got me there.” Of course she had no backseat.

See what lust did to a man?

It made him stupid.

* * *

EVE
tried not to eye-roll her father. “It’s no big deal.”

She was at her parents’ house for dinner, the race on the TV in the family room and the TV in the kitchen. A hundred laps down and Elec was running tenth, Evan twenty-second. Her father’s attention was mostly on the race, but enough on her to criticize her for entering the derby.

She was in the kitchen chopping tomatoes for her mother for the salad. Her father had wandered in during a commercial break to check on the status of dinner and to hound her.

“What do you mean, it’s not a big deal? You just run off half-cocked and enter a demo derby? You trashed your brother’s car. You didn’t tell anyone what you were doing. You have no experience.”

Pausing with her knife on the cutting board, she felt an even stronger urge to roll her eyes. “Half-cocked is a bit of an exaggeration. And I have experience behind the wheel. I know how to handle a car.”

“Not in a derby. Not in ten years, girl. What were you thinking?”

Eve whacked the knife way harder than was necessary. She did not want to fight with her father.

“Elliot, leave her alone, for crying out loud,” her mother said, checking on the lasagna in the oven.

The smell of cheese and marinara sauce drifted through the room. Normally it had a calming effect on Eve, but not today. She could feel the tension in her shoulders that the conversation was generating.

“You’re not concerned about her safety?” he asked defensively.

“No. She was wearing a helmet and a seat belt. There’s emergency staff present during the derby. Get a grip.”

That was what Eve loved about her mother. She was laid back by necessity. With her husband racing for the first twenty years of her marriage and now both her sons, she had to learn not to sweat every spin out on the track.

“Yeah, listen to Mom. She always knows what she’s talking about.”

“I just don’t get why you would just up and do that. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe I thought it would be fun.” Done with the tomatoes, she looked up from the cutting board.

Her father looked dubious. “I’ve never known you to do anything just for fun.”

He had her there. It had been a while. “Someone suggested it and I just decided to try it. I always loved driving.”

“Who suggested it? Elec?”

Oh, Lord. Now her father was going to yell at her brother after he was done yelling at her. “No, it wasn’t Elec. He just loaned me the car after I asked him for it. It was someone on Evan’s pit crew.” Then she realized that was a mistake.

“Who?”

“I’m not telling you. You are not going to go and give the poor guy shit when he just made a friendly suggestion.” If she was going to screw things up with Nolan, she was going to do it all on her own, thank you very much. She didn’t need her family to speed up the process.

“Eve Alexandra, don’t you cuss in my kitchen.”

She’d been swearing since she was twelve. Her mother kept correcting her and she still kept doing it. Neither one of them showed any signs of stopping. It was as familiar a rhythm as Sundays in this kitchen. Over the years her mother had remodeled the kitchen twice, ditching the dark country wood of the eighties for the stark white of the nineties to its current Brazilian cherry cabinets and unpolished granite with an apron sink. But it was still the house she’d grown up in, and she liked that. Details changed but never the big picture.

“Why would you say that?” her father asked. “I wasn’t going to go talk to him, I was just curious.”

“Curious, my foot. You were going to yell at him. And I don’t want you to scare him off. He’s a nice guy.”

She didn’t think she had revealed much in that statement, but her mother was a pro.

“Are you dating him?”

Shit. “I have been on a date with him.” If she didn’t make it clear, they would leap to conclusions.

“And he’s a nice young man? I’m so glad you finally have a boyfriend.”

Leap complete. “Mom, he’s not my boyfriend.”

“He better not be. I thought you said he was on Evan’s crew.” Her father looked aghast.

He didn’t miss anything either. Eve set the knife down before she was tempted to slit her wrists.

“He is.”

“I can think of a hundred reasons why that’s a bad idea.”

“Oh, look, commercials are over.” Eve pointed to the TV nestled in a cabinet next to the fridge. “With Elec in the Chase, today is make or break.” Diversionary tactic. It almost always worked.

Not this time. Her father glanced at the race, quickly assessed the current rankings, then returned his gaze to her. “I understand your need for male company.”

Oh. My. God. Eve choked back a laugh. Was she going to get the birds and the bees talk from her father?

“Honey, I covered that with her when she was eleven.” Her mother was cutting a loaf of soft Italian bread, her mouth turning up in a smile.

Eve did laugh, especially at the look of outrage on her father’s face.

“I’m not talking about . . .
that
.”

“You weren’t talking about sex?” she asked, amused. “Because it certainly sounded like you were talking about sex. Mom, did it sound like Dad was talking about sex?”

Her mother grinned. “I definitely thought he was talking about sex.”

“What is wrong with you two?” he grumbled. “I’m just trying to have a conversation about my concerns and you’re taking it in the gutter.”

“Oh, I think it was you who took it in the gutter,” she said, thrilled with the way this chat was turning out. He had amused her right out of her irritation and he seemed to have forgotten his original point.

Unfortunately not for long. “There are other men you can date. Men who aren’t a part of the equation of your brother’s career and success.”

“I don’t see how me dating his jackman is going to affect Evan’s career.” Not that she hadn’t had this same argument with herself. She just didn’t like hearing the reality of it from someone else’s lips.

“Jackman? You mean Nolan Ford? The idiot who had his ass splashed all over pit road?”

Uh-oh. She’d kind of managed to forget about that incident. Though now that her dad brought it up, it reminded her what a very nice ass Nolan had. She could have been digging her nails into that delicious hard behind of his if she had gone with him to Dover. But the very thought had freaked her out on all kinds of levels, and now instead of exchanging body fluids with Nolan, she was listening to her father lecture her like she was sixteen.

It would have been impulsive to go, no doubt.

But maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

“That was an accident. You have to give him props for not letting it hinder his performance.”

“Who doesn’t wear underwear?” her dad asked. “Idiotic. There’s no way you’re dating him. No way. Out of the question.”

Her jaw dropped. Was he serious? “What is this, the eighteenth century? You can’t forbid me to date someone. I’m an adult. I have a career and my own condo.”

“Elliot . . .” her mother said, her tone filled with warning.

“Evan dated Kendall and you didn’t make a big deal out it.”

“Evan didn’t date Kendall. He went and eloped with her about thirty seconds after they hooked back up for the first time in ten years. I didn’t have time to tell him how stupid it was.”

“Well it seems to be working out just fine for them. It didn’t damage either one of their careers in any way.” Annoyed, she filched a piece of the sliced bread and tore off a bite. “If I were your son instead of your daughter, you would have never said that to me.”

“The hell I wouldn’t have.”

“I guess you’re right.” Furious, Eve squeezed the bread in her hand, decimating both the slice and the bite she’d pulled off. “Because if I were your son, I’d be a driver, so I wouldn’t be dating a jackman. But I’m your daughter, so I’m not a driver. I’m just a stupid PR rep who you don’t think can date or drive in a demo derby without screwing them up.”

Suddenly feeling like she was on the verge of tears, she threw the bread on the counter and stomped off, locking herself in the bathroom. She didn’t do tears.

Staring at herself in the mirror, she willed them to retreat and they obeyed. She wasn’t even sure why she was so upset. It made perfect sense for her dad to be warning her off Nolan. Hell, she’d warned herself off Nolan.

It hadn’t worked.

She wanted to date him, stupid or not.

Part of her had desperately wanted to say yes to his suggestion to fly with her. But the pattern of overthinking was too engrained in her. She questioned everything. She did the safe thing, always.

Look what it had gotten her. A job she hated and a world of boredom and frustration.

What would have been the harm in taking a spontaneous trip?

As she stared at her reflection, eyes glassy from her would-be tears, she realized her hands were white-knuckled on the marble countertop of her parents’ powder room. It was another room that had undergone a makeover, with a new vessel sink and recycled glass tiles. Her mother had good taste.

Eve wasn’t sure what her own taste was. She wasn’t even really sure who she was. What defined her? Career? Family? Both?

But was that her perception of her or really her?

She didn’t know.

My God, she was how old and she’d never found herself?

Rolling her eyes at herself in the mirror, Eve let go of her death grip on the sink. She went back into the kitchen and tossed the salad.

As they were putting the food on the table, her father cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean to suggest you don’t make good choices. You’re an intelligent woman, Eve, and I’m proud of you.”

For a second, the tears threatened to make a break for it again. But she recovered.

“I know. Thanks, Dad.”

“I do think it would be courteous to talk to Evan about dating his jackman,” her mother said. “But Nolan seems like a hard worker, and if he makes you happy, I’m happy. Plus that cute butt doesn’t hurt his cause.”

Eve laughed. That’s what she was talking about.

“Oh, Lord.” Her father paused with a forkful of lasagna halfway to his mouth. “Do I need to feel jealous?”

“Of course not. I
love
you. I just happen to
like
his foxy backside. But pretend I never said it.”

If people had to ever wonder where Eve got her boldness from, they only needed to look to her mother. It seemed to be genetic, though her mother couched hers with charm.

Maybe that was a cue she should take from her.

Glad they had managed to dance around the issue of her outburst, Eve ate dinner and contemplated the look on Nolan’s face when she told him her mother had seen his butt.

The thought was almost as pleasing as the butter on her bread.

CHAPTER

EIGHT

“SO,”
Nolan said to Eve on the phone, “what are you doing tomorrow night?”

“Tomorrow night is Tuesday.”

He was fairly aware of the days of the week. He rooted around in his refrigerator, trying to find something that was edible. So far he wasn’t having much luck. “Yep. It’s the day that follows Monday, which is today.”

“I’m not doing anything after work, just getting my run in like usual.”

Nolan got the impression she ran almost every day. He couldn’t wait to run his hand along her slim muscular legs. Tomorrow night. Tuesday. “Well, what time should I come over then?”

There was a pause. “What are you coming over for?” she asked suspiciously.

“For sex. Guaranteed.”

She snorted. “I’ve heard that before. And you should ask me, not tell me.”

Eyeballing some cheddar cheese that looked a little like snow had been dusted on it, Nolan propped his phone on his shoulder. “Eve, can I come over and have sex with you tomorrow night? Tuesday night.”

“You’re an ass.”

“So you’ve said.” But he felt confident she would say yes. His gut told him she regretted not going to Dover with him. Plus she liked to plan things. So they would plan sex. It would appeal to her need to be in control. “So, what time? Allotting for time for a shower since you’re so worried about washing your hair and all your girl bits.”

“Did you really just say that to me?” She sounded indignant. “I mean seriously, Nolan, girl bits? Yuck.”

“They’re not yuck to me.” At all. “And I’m only mentioning it because you mentioned that you didn’t want to have sex without a shower. I’m trying to be accommodating.” He pitched the cheddar cheese and eyed the clock. There was still time to go out for a steak.

“You’re just weird. I don’t know what to do with you, if you want to know the truth.”

“Have sex with me.” It wasn’t that complicated. He washed his hands. Something slimy had touched him in the fridge. Or technically he had touched it.

She sighed. “Okay. Eight o’clock works.”

That sigh was adorable. He loved the sound. It meant she was out of excuses to get out of doing what she really wanted to do but was fighting. “Prepare to be amazed.”

“Uh-huh.”

He’d make her eat those words of skepticism. “See you tomorrow, cupcake.”

“Bye.”

Nolan hung up his phone, feeling much better despite his lack of food. He was finally going to get Eve in bed. It had only been a week, but it felt like years.

There was a knock on his door. Relieved to close the refrigerator door, he went to answer it. His brother was standing in the hallway.

“Hey, what’s up?”

Rhett bounced on the balls of his feet. “Hey, uh, can I hang out for a while?”

Nolan wasn’t sure what exactly that meant or why Rhett was asking it, but he nodded. “Sure. I’m about to go get something to eat. You hungry?”

“Yeah. You buying?”

“Just because I’m older doesn’t mean I have any more money than you do.” He wasn’t broke, but he wasn’t rolling in it either. Which niggled at him when it came to Eve. Was she the type of woman to care that he couldn’t buy her jewelry?

Not that he wanted to buy her jewelry. But what if he did? At some point. He probably couldn’t.

Then he thought about Eve’s casual wear of sweatshirts and gym shoes and figured she probably didn’t care. About jewelry. Maybe she did about the money.

“What?” he asked Rhett because he’d been too busy being neurotic to hear what his brother had said.

God, he was never neurotic. It was seriously annoying.

“I said are you charging admission to your apartment? Move out of the way, douche bag. I’m standing in the hallway.”

“Oh.” Right. Move out of the way. Nolan did that, following Rhett into his small living room. “Let me get my shoes then we can go. I want a steak.”

His brother didn’t respond, just moved a framed picture of the family at Christmas that their mother had given Nolan. There was obviously some brooding going on, but he figured Rhett would tell him when he was ready.

He was crossing the threshold into his bedroom when Rhett blurted out, “You know, I’ve never been in love.”

O-kay. “You’re what, twenty-five? You have plenty of time to fall in love.” He kept walking, hoping that was the end of that.

“Have you been in love? Like, for real? Not in lust. Love.”

Glad his brother was still in the other room and couldn’t see his expression, which he was sure was horrified, Nolan bent into his closet for his shoes. This was not a conversation he wanted to have. But he figured the best way to end it was to just be honest and let Rhett at whatever it was he was digging for.

“I’ve been in love a time or two, yes.” He had loved Lauren even if it had been an immature love. “But I was a kid and that kind of young love doesn’t weather a storm, you know? For-keeps love, I haven’t experienced that yet.” But he was hoping he would sooner than later. It felt different this time with Eve.

“How did you know it wasn’t the real thing?”

“Because it goes away as fast as it arrived.” He emerged from his room with his shoes in his hand. “Is there someone you’re involved with?”

“No.” Rhett brushed that off. “So what’s the deal with you and Eve Monroe? Are you in love with her?”

Nolan almost choked on his own spit. “Rhett, I’ve been out with her once. Plus two days we spent some time together for the derby and at the derby. I’m not in love with her.”

His brother bit his fingernail and spit it out onto the floor.

“Rhett, that’s disgusting. God, how does Mom put up with you?”

“What? What did I do?”

“You seriously don’t know that you just spit your chewed-off fingernail onto my carpet?”

To his credit, Rhett actually looked bewildered. “I did?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry. But mark my words, bro, you and Eve . . . it’s going to get serious. And I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“How do you know it’s going to get serious?”

“I’m psychic.”

What the hell was the matter with his brother all of a sudden? Saying he should be a stripper, that he’d never been in love . . . it was all totally random and totally unlike Rhett. “Have you developed a drug habit? Because you sound like you’ve been smoking something.”

Normally his brother would take a crack back at him, but Rhett just stared at him, studying him. It was fucking unnerving. “What?”

“Nothing. I’m just trying to remember what you look like as a single man. Because that’s about to change.”

That sounded more Rhett-like. Nolan shoved his shoes on his feet. “Let’s go get you some steak, man, you sound anemic. And weird. Chicks don’t dig weird.”

“You would know.”

“Eve doesn’t seem to have a problem with me.” Nolan clapped his hand on Rhett’s shoulder. “Watch and learn, little brother.”

“I’ll watch how
not
to do it.”

Nolan shot his hand out and punched Rhett in the arm. “Do you see that coming? Since you’re psychic?”

Nolan felt better with them back on more familiar territory as brothers. He wasn’t used to Rhett being anything but happy-go-lucky. Anything else worried him and he didn’t want to worry. He wanted to enjoy the fact that he was getting to know Eve.

They were going to have a whole night to explore each other. In clothes and out.

* * *

WHEN
the doorbell rang at quarter to eight, Eve jumped, almost blinding herself with the mascara wand. Really? Nolan was fifteen minutes early. What about that made sense?

But she should have known he would be early. It was just like him to give every appearance of being eager to see her. Which pissed her off. Didn’t he understand she had no idea how to deal with a man who didn’t get mad at her? Or more accurately, didn’t rise to the bait when she pushed his buttons?

Yet Nolan didn’t. At all. For that, and other reasons, she had found herself actually looking forward to tonight. Cutting short her run, she’d had plenty of time to take a leisurely shower, shaving every inch of her body that harbored unwanted hair. She had used a moisturizer that promised to make her silky and smooth and had blown out her hair with extra care, forcing the baby-fine hairs to have at least a little volume.

All that had been good. She had to admit, she liked knowing where she stood and where the night was going. She’d had time to prepare. Her place was clean, her bathroom toiletries hidden away, her garbage taken out.

Best of all, she was wearing skimpy underwear under her dark jeans and tight white shirt. They had been buried in her dresser with the tags still on them, a hot little lacy bright blue thong and bra, purchased with the idea of seducing her ex-boyfriend when their relationship had started to migrate south for the winter. Only she’d never had the chance, given that he’d canceled their plans over the phone and told her he was moving to Texas. Since she’d seen him in the grocery store two months later, she knew that had been a bunch of bullshit, but she hadn’t cared so much about his lies or losing him as she did the fact that she’d spent a hundred bucks on lingerie that was never going to see the light of day.

Until tonight.

But Nolan was still early and she had mascara on only one eye. There was no way in hell she was answering the door with one eye looking open and alert with lustrous lashes, the other squinty with pale barely there lashes. She started to coat the naked side.

Her cell phone chimed on the bathroom counter. God, he was texting her. Cell phones were both liberating and annoying as hell. Torn between gratitude that he clearly wanted to see her and irritation that he couldn’t just give her two seconds to get to the door, she answered him that she’d be there in a minute.

Finishing her eye at warp speed, Eve studied herself in the mirror. She was no supermodel, but she figured most women weren’t. She was passably cute, especially with the mascara. Lip gloss would have helped as well, but she hated the stuff. It was like walking around with jelly on your lips. Not happening.

A spray of perfume and she was out of the bathroom and hightailing it to the door before he changed his mind and went for a burger.

Throwing open the door, Eve drank him in. Damn, he was a sexy guy.

He wasn’t tremendously tall, but he was taller than her, and he had a chiseled jaw. Friendly eyes. Muscles. Lots of muscles. Had she mentioned the muscles?

“Hey,” he said, his eyes running over her from head to foot, making her a little warm in her blue thong.

“Hi. Come on in.”

She let Nolan into her condo, trying to ignore the fact that her heart was racing and her hand was shaking slightly. She was excited. Generally speaking, she didn’t have a lot of men over to her place, and when she did, it wasn’t like this. This was she and Nolan saying straight out they were going to have sex. Tonight. In her bed. Maybe even other places if things went according to plan.

Nolan was wearing his usual uniform of jeans and a T-shirt. It was the only way she could picture him. Well, that and in his track uniform. With his ass hanging out. Which reminded her . . .

“So,” she told him, hiding her grin as he followed her into her living room. “My mother thinks you have a nice butt. In case you were wondering.”

He winced. “Oh, Lord, are you kidding me? Okay, maybe now I see the problem with not wearing underwear. I do not even want to think about you and your mother discussing my backside.”

“She’s the one who brought it up.” Eve had to admit the look on his face was quite enjoyable. He managed to look both pained and pleased at the compliment all at once. “Apparently it made quite an impact on her.”

“This is a nice place.” He looked around her house, eyes drinking in her midcentury modern décor.

“Changing the subject?” she asked.

“Oh, hell, yeah, I am.” Nolan held up a six-pack of beer he’d been holding. “Can I put this in your fridge?”

“Sure, if you let me drink one.”

“Of course. And that wasn’t just a diversionary tactic. I do think your place is great. It’s huge.”

“Is it?” Eve looked around her condo with an outsider’s eye. Her parents had a good-sized house. Not as grand as the drivers of today bought, but a large house designed for family gatherings and large-scale entertaining. To her, this condo seemed average-sized in comparison, even small. But she realized that to someone who had grown up in twelve hundred square feet with eight siblings, it was downright enormous. “Yeah, I like it. I got a good deal on it before the housing market in Charlotte exploded. But that still doesn’t change the fact that you have a cute butt and my mother knows it.”

“Oh, God, stop saying that.” He deposited his beer in her fridge, but not before he took two out of the six-pack. “Bottle opener?”

“Use your teeth.”

“And ruin my Crest smile?” He gave her a model display of his teeth. “I don’t think so.”

She had to admit, he did have perfect teeth. “You are a poster child for dental hygiene. I would definitely feel guilty if you chipped a tooth.” Rummaging in a drawer, she found a bottle opener. Taking a bottle from him, she set it on the granite island and popped the top off. But when she reached for the other bottle, he held on to it.

“I can do it,” he told her.

“It’s no big deal. I can open a bottle.”

“I got it. Just give me the opener.”

Frowning, she tried to read his intention. “What, you think I can’t open a stupid bottle of beer?”

His eyebrows rose. “Uh, no. Of course you can open it. I just don’t want you to have to wait on me. I was trying to be nice.”

Oh. Well, how was she supposed to know that? “And I was trying to be freakin’ nice, too, and open the bottle for you.”

“I guess we’re just a couple of considerate as hell people.”

“Guess so.”

He took a swig of his now opened beer.

She did the same.

Now what?

“Come here and give me a kiss,” he said softly.

It was, she imagined, a very normal thing to say. But to her, it sounded like a request for submission. Something she definitely wasn’t good at. Her feet stayed rooted to her hardwood floors. What the hell was the matter with her? He didn’t mean anything by it other than he wanted a kiss. Why couldn’t she just do it?