Legends and Lies (9 page)

CARS HAD LONG BEEN a passion for Jared and he kept a different one in each of the houses he owned. In Daytona he’d been driving his new Aston Martin, but in Atlanta he kept his classic ’67 Jaguar. Tucker had helped him restore the car three years ago.

His house was set back from the road with a winding driveway that led up to the huge mansion. The home had belonged to his maternal grandparents and he always felt like it was still theirs, though they’d been gone for more than twenty years.

His grandfather had let him drive up this circular driveway when he’d been only fourteen. Jared chuckled remembering the experience.

“What are you laughing about?”

“My granddad let me drive his Cadillac when I was fourteen…see that statuary near the stairs?”

“Um…yes.”

“She used to have a mate on the other side.”

“So your driving skills weren’t always that great?”

“No. But my granddad didn’t mind.”

“Was this his house?”

“Yes. And my mom grew up here. That’s why I always attend the Bea and Thom Mellon Foundation Event. My family has supported it for years, and my grandparents were on the board when they were alive.”

“I really enjoyed myself tonight.”

“I did, too.”

He turned off the car and got out. He opened her door and her legs emerged first. The slit in her dress fell open to reveal her shapely thigh. Oh, man, she was killing him.

“You’re staring at me,” she said, a wry note in her voice.

“Am I?” he asked, stroking his finger down the side of her neck.

She shivered as he rubbed the pad of his finger over her pulse.

“Yes, you are,” she said.

“You have gorgeous legs,” he said, putting his hand on her back and leading her up the stairs and into his house.

“I can’t believe you are just noticing,” she said.

“I’ve noticed before but tonight…in that dress…I just can’t take my eyes off of you.”

“Then don’t,” she said.

He drew her down the hall toward the living room. He tossed her wrap and purse over the back of the leather couch. He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it aside, too. Then he leaned back against the marble-topped wet bar and stared at her.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Exactly what you told me I could do,” he said.

She shook her head, bringing her hand up to cover her face. “Stop it.”

“Now you know how I feel when I catch you with your camera trained on me.”

“It shouldn’t bother you. You are a very handsome man. I could spent all day photographing you and still not capture that energy you exude in person.”

“So you’re trying to capture me?”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “Yes, I am.”

She closed the gap between them, resting her hands on his chest. “I’ve had you in my sights for a while now.”

“And tonight you’re closing in for the kill?”

“Mmm-hmm, but I promise it won’t be painful.”

“You’d be worth it,” he said, drawing her back into his arms.

She flushed. “You flatter me.”

“No, it’s the truth. Every lush curve of your body makes me want to sink my fingers into it. When we’re apart I’m distracted wanting to be with you, wanting to hold you closer in my arms.”

She slid her hands around his neck and drew his head down to hers.

“What are you going to do now?” she asked.

“I’m thinking about kissing you.”

“Just thinking about it?”

“Yeah, I’m just thinking…wondering if your mouth tastes as good as I remember. I always think that it can’t possibly.” He whispered the last words against her lips.

She licked her lips. His eyes narrowed as he followed the movement with his gaze.

“Annie?”

“Hmm?”

“Last chance…” he said, brushing his lips over hers. He hoped he could be a gentleman and walk away if that was what she wanted.

She pulled back. He forced himself to let her go. But then she lifted her eyes to his. Taking his hand in hers, she led the way down the hall to his bedroom.

DAVE EXITED the media center. He liked racing in Atlanta, as did most of the other drivers. The track was high-banked, repaved back in ’97 and reconfigured into a quad-oval, making it one of the fastest tracks they raced on.

He glanced across at the grandstands where a few die-hard fans were already seated and waiting for the drivers to take their practice runs.

He’d done a couple of media events during the week leading up to arriving in Atlanta and he was tired. He was tired of rehashing his loss last week to Tucker. But he knew it was part and parcel of the life he’d chosen, so he forced a smile to his face as a couple of other drivers who also drove for Jenner Racing waved at him.

His dad’s health had been one topic of conversation in the interview. Dave thought it had gone well until that last second when the reporter had asked if he was going to win on Sunday…for his dad.

He’d smiled, said something glib and glanced at Melissa, his assistant, who came over and said the interview was over. He couldn’t blame the reporters or anyone else. He was just in a funk.

Part of it was Annie and her relationship with Jared. Another part was Daddy and his health. And his mom’s well-meaning calls to update him on his father’s slow recovery. He felt the pressure building inside him to not let anyone down. He wanted to be the hero he’d always been to his sister, but she was spending more time in Tucker Aldridge’s garage and hauler than his, hanging out with Jared and making friends with the man who rubbed him the wrong way.

Once they were in the garage area he went to the bay he’d been assigned. He’d won this race last year so he was in the first garage bay. Tucker had come in second so his team and car were right next to Dave’s.

He glanced over, telling himself he wasn’t looking for Annie, but he knew he was. His sister had been in Atlanta since Wednesday and he still hadn’t seen her for more than five minutes without Jared by her side.

He had to get his head in the upcoming race and not worry about his family. This was the part that made him feel like a first-class whiner. But there were times—like now—when he hated being a part of dynasty. Hated the fact that more times than not he wasn’t just racing against the other drivers on the track. He was racing against his father.

He had to hold up the Jenner family name. Had to ensure the legacy of racing and winning didn’t end with him.

“Dave?”

“What?”

“I asked if you had time now to meet with the family here from the wish-granting foundation. Their son, Jon, is your biggest fan.”

Kids with terminal diseases and their families. He glanced at the sky thinking that maybe God was sending him a message—one that he needed as a reminder. “Of course, Mel. I can meet him now. I’ve been looking forward to it. I’ll be out in a sec. Did we give him a shirt and hat?”

“Of course. Donovan’s been with the family all morning.”

Dave continued walking out of the garage into the cluster of fans waiting between the garage and hauler. He signed a few hats and T-shirts. When someone handed him a Jenner shirt, one that had the numbers of his and his father’s cars, he signed it but felt like a fraud. It was as if he was letting down the Jenner family with his failure to win the NASCAR NEXTEL Championship Cup.

ANNIE WAS IN Turn Two photographing the race. The weight of the camera with the large slow-motion lens was heavy, but she was used to it. The race was a close one and she held her breath each time there was a bump or any contact between cars, hoping that Dave wasn’t involved. The race was well-run, there were a minimal number of crashes and when it was over she made her way to Victory Lane to photograph Tucker, who’d won.

Dave was talking to a couple of officials as she made her way through the throng to get into position to take pictures. She saw Jared behind Tucker talking with Tucker’s crew chief.

Jared smiled in her direction and Annie felt a warm flush cover her body. She knew she was falling for him. Had been falling for him from the first moment they’d met.

Annie wanted to believe he was the kind of man she could count on. The type of man who’d always be there when she needed him. He seemed so rock-steady.

But she couldn’t quite believe Jared was all he seemed and she remembered clearly that just over a month ago he’d accused her of doing something illegal.

She tried not to dwell on that. Jared hadn’t known her well enough then to realize she’d never cheat. But he did now. She was slowly relaxing her guard around him, letting him see her as she really was. Not playing at being the kind of woman that would fit into his life perfectly. Not changing herself into what she thought he needed.

She finished her assignment, checked out at the media center and went to find Dave. This loss was going to be hard to take. Not that they all weren’t, but he’d mentioned before the race that he’d wanted to win for Daddy, since he was here watching the race today.

The garage was still off-limits so only those with a hot pass were allowed in. Annie was waved through and went to Dave’s garage. Vinnie and Dave were both talking to another official.

“What’s going on?” Annie asked Dave when Vinnie walked away with the official.

Dave looked tired and pissed off. He still had on his uniform but had unzipped it and she saw he had on her dad’s old T-shirt underneath. It was the T-shirt that commemorated their father’s first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series win. “Aldridge won that race on four tires that hadn’t been changed.”

“So?” she asked, thinking that Dave was getting a little intense in his rivalry with Tucker. She hadn’t seen him so obsessed before.

“So everyone else in the top five had at least two new tires on.”

“And fresher tires normally allow you to go faster,” she stated.

“Exactly. I should have caught him on that last lap,” Dave said.

Her brother was pure brilliance when it came to those last laps of a race.

“We asked the official to check the tires.”

“What could Tucker do to his tires?” she asked. All of the drivers used the same tires and they were inspected carefully before they went on the cars.

“We’re not sure. I’m thinking he used some kind of synthetic substance that would enable him to use his tires longer than normal.”

“Oh. When will you know?”

“Not until tomorrow.”

She knew that all the top five cars were always inspected after the races, as well as a group of randomly selected cars from the rest of the pack. That was why the race standings were always unofficial until the following day. If anything out of the ordinary was found on the car the driver could be fined or disqualified.

Dave left to join Vinnie and the officials, and Annie left the garage following her brother and taking pictures of the event.

Everyone was mumbling about the complaint that Jenner Racing had lodged. She tried to catch Jared’s eye but he and Tucker were both talking to the officials.

When he did glance up, he gave her a hard look before stalking away.

Annie knew that the fact that they were both a part of rival teams mattered and Jared had just proved that. She found her brother and did her job taking photos of him, finding solace in her work so that she wouldn’t have time to think about the look on Jared’s face.

THE INQUIRY THAT Dave had requested didn’t turn up anything illegal on Tucker’s tires. That had only served to drive a deeper wedge between the two men. Annie felt pulled in two directions.

She’d flown home on Monday morning and there had been no call from Jared. In fact, he’d said nothing to her after Tucker’s win. She’d thought about letting this situation with him simmer until he brought it up, but that had been one of the things that had soured her relationship with Malcolm. Instead of confronting him with his infidelity she’d tried to ignore it and keeping it inside had ultimately caused her far too much pain. She wouldn’t let that happen with Jared. She needed to see him.

“Um…can you wait for a moment?” she asked the taxi driver when he pulled up to Jared’s Atlanta house. The driveway was gated and she didn’t want to talk to him through the box with the taxi driver.

“Sure, miss. I’m going to keep the meter running.”

“No problem.”

She got out of the car at the gate that protected Jared’s privacy. A light rain began to fall and she shivered, wishing she’d worn a jacket. But the sun had been shining when she’d left Florida.

She knew he was in residence at this house because she’d called earlier and spoken to his housekeeper, who had told her that Jared wasn’t taking calls this morning.

She hit the buzzer.

“Yes.”

She took a deep breath. “Hi. This is Annie Jenner. I’m here to see Jared.”

“Are you expected?” the woman asked.

“No.”

“Just a minute.”

She stood there for what seemed like an hour, but in reality was only five minutes. “Come on up.”

She went back to the cab and climbed in as the gates opened. The taxi took her to the front of the house. She paid the driver and got out, stopping on the step and remembering the closeness she’d felt to Jared the last time she’d been here.

The door opened before she rang the bell and Jared stood there in a pair of faded jeans and a faded college T-shirt. His feet were bare and his hair was damp, as if he’d come from the shower. He looked tired.

“Hey,” she said, adjusting the strap of her overnight bag on her shoulder.

“What are you doing here?”

“I…things felt unsettled between us,” she said.

“It’s not us…it’s, ah, come on in, Annie.”

She followed him into the house. He went to the living room and leaned against the wet bar the way he had the last time she was there. But this time she felt less sure of herself. This was the kind of rift that wasn’t going to go away no matter what the two of them decided.

“Tucker and Dave are always going to be rivals,” she stated.

“I know. I’m not angry at you or even at Dave,” Jared said. “He has the right to lodge a complaint after a race.”

“So why do I feel like it has affected us?” she asked, wrapping one arm around her waist.

He shook his head. “I wanted to pretend that Dave and Tucker weren’t really a part of what’s been going on between us.”

“They aren’t. That’s stuff that happens at the track.”

“Yeah, right. Your brother doesn’t like the fact that we’re dating.”

Annie had a sinking feeling in her stomach that she and Jared weren’t going to be able to move past this. “He wouldn’t accuse Tucker of something just because he doesn’t like you.”

“I’m not so sure about it.”

She took a deep breath. “I am. I know that Dave can be overprotective when it comes to me, but the rest of the guys on his team don’t care about who I date.”

“You have a point,” Jared said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I haven’t slept in thirty-six hours.”

“I know it’s been rough,” she replied. “Let me help you. Relationships are built on moments like this.”

“Our relationship…does that mean you still want to do this? I don’t think that this is going to be an isolated incident. Tucker is going to be scrutinizing everything your brother does and vice versa.”

“I tried to go home and forget about you. It would be easier for my family if I just stopped seeing you, but it wouldn’t be easier for me.”

“Ah, Annie,” he said. He crossed the room and drew her into his arms. He wrapped her in a bear hug that quieted the worries in her head.

“Where do we go from here?” she asked.

“We stick together. At the track we’ll do our jobs, but in our free time…we’ll be together, right?”

“Yes,” she said. She knew that they were facing a rough patch but she felt that he was worth it. She’d taken a huge leap of faith by coming here today and Jared… Well, Jared had proven he was worth the risk.