Magnetic Shift (18 page)

“Lexi.”

“Please, Colton, don’t.” I turned and held the tips of my fingers over my lips. I’d never been kissed before, not like this. Not like … My temples flared and pulsed worse than they ever had before. Not without losing control.

“Why?” Colton stood. “Have I done something wrong? Do I disgust you?”

I shook my head. “No. Oh, God, no.”

“Then what is it?” He walked up close behind me and squeezed my shoulder. “You don’t like me that way. Is that it? If it is, please tell me. Tell me I read you wrong when we danced the other night. Tell me you didn’t feel what I—”

I raised my hand, palm out. “Stop. I can’t tell you that. I can’t tell you anything.” Tears clung to my lower lashes, on the verge of spilling over. I wanted nothing more than to give in to what
I truly wanted, but I couldn’t do that. He’d never understand.

“Talk to me, Lex. Trust me, confide in me. I’m here for you.” He looked at me with the same look Annabelle used when pleading for her favorite afternoon snack.

“I can’t. No one would ever understand. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me? This
is
hurting me.”

My heart plummeted. “No, it’s worse than that. You don’t—”

“I don’t care.” He wrapped his arms around me and raked his fingers through my hair, pulling it away from my face as he searched my eyes.

“Please,” I pleaded, looking up at him. “Please, I don’t want to hurt you or anyone else.”

Colton’s lips twitched. “I can’t stay away from you.”

“You have to try.” I pushed him back. “You really have to try.”

I headed for the stairs. I had to get away from him, away from all this, but he caught me by the waist, swung me around, and pulled me against him with a low, whispered plea. “Please don’t deny me this.”

His lips parted and pressed against mine once more, this time harder, needier, his tongue caressing mine with quick, soft touches as his arms enveloped me in tingling euphoric heat.

I tried to fight it, but lost.

My pulse quickened again, and so did the throbbing in my temples. What was odd was that I didn’t feel the pain that usually accompanied the warning. Colton drew away. I opened my eyes and met his waiting gaze, and then scanned the room. Nothing had moved, levitated, or overturned. How could that be? All the signs were there but one—I felt no pain. Shit should
have started hitting the fan by now, but for some reason, I had complete control. It was as if acting on my feelings for Colt caused my body to not fight back. My senses were embracing him the way
I
desperately wanted to. Could it be that simple? Could learning to embrace my emotions and stop fighting them be the answer?

Colton’s arms loosened around me, and his whole face frowned. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

“No!” I smiled at him, still shocked, and pulled him back toward me. “I am. I’m the one who’s sorry.”

This time, I kissed him, not wanting to think of the consequences. This was where I wanted to be for the first time in my life. To hell with the rest.

Colton backed me against the wall, hips pressing against mine. I tugged at his shirt, wanting to touch his skin underneath, but then let go and clenched my hands. Was I moving too fast? I was new at this. I didn’t know what to do.

He backed away, pulled his shirt over his head, and reached for the hem of my tank top. I raised my arms and let him pull it off me, revealing my black lace bra. I thought I would be embarrassed, shy, maybe even scared, but I wasn’t. I’d never felt so comfortable. He slid my bra strap over my shoulder with a silky smooth graze of his hand and replaced it with his lips. He was definitely more experienced at this than I was, which was no surprise.

Hello! Gorgeous stock car racing superstar versus hermit and freak of nature.

A sound vibrated from my throat, almost like a sigh, when the tips of his hair hit my burning skin. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want it to end.

Bright headlights beamed through the bay window. Colton pulled away and froze. “Shit,” he groaned. Concealed by the shadow of the wall, we clung to each other, our bodies rising and falling, struggling to regain our breath. “They’re home.”

He lunged for our clothing, which he’d thrown toward the staircase. We hurried to get our shirts back on and threw ourselves on opposite ends of the couch. My face burned. No way would they not be able to tell what had just happened between us.

Colton turned on the TV to some random news channel just as Dean and Lorna stepped through the front door.

“Hey, guys. How was dinner?” Colton asked them, trying to appear nonchalant.

My stomach groaned at the mention of dinner. But was it hunger for food or for more of what I’d just had?

“Good,” Lorna said, using more syllables than needed, and then threw some questioning glances at Colton and me. “And what about you two? How’d things go?”

“Great,” Colton replied enthusiastically. I muffled a laugh and kicked him in the shin. He eyed me with a grin, then looked back at Dean and Lorna.

“Uh huh.” Dean nodded. He cleared his throat and added. “You should head on out to bed. We have to get to the shop early to make sure everything’s in order before we fly out tomorrow afternoon.”

Colton saluted him. “Yes, boss.”

“That goes for you too, Lexi.”

“Aye, aye, captain.” I did the same.

Lorna nudged her husband, who stood there probably waiting for us to comply. When he didn’t get the hint, she
cleared her throat and pushed him into the kitchen, out of sight. “Goodnight, you two.”

Colton shifted forward, gave my hand a squeeze, and lowered his lips to my ear. “Will you be okay?”

I smiled. I was more than okay. I was happier than I’d ever been, but deep down I knew it couldn’t last. Despite the absence of a magnetic disaster tonight—a fact that still boggled my mind—my ability would eventually drive a wedge between us. If embracing my emotions was the answer in some situations, it still wasn’t a cure. And having tasted Colton’s lips, tasted the freedom of giving in to what I wanted for the first time, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to survive giving it all up.

But for now … right now, I felt more than okay. I felt normal.

chapter sixteen

I hurried up the ladder to the top of the hauler the second we arrived in the infield at Bristol Motor Speedway, the track deemed the world’s fastest half mile. They weren’t kidding. This place looked more like a football stadium on steroids than a racetrack. I spun around, gawking at the grandstands surrounding the oval.

“Whoa.”

Colton stepped off the ladder behind me.

I knew it was him. His scent had been forcing my heart to turn cartwheels ever since I’d laid eyes on him this morning.

“Impressive, huh?”

“This is insane. You’re going to get yourself killed out there. It’s like the size of a dirt track, only made of concrete. And the banked turns are nuts. ”

“Nah, it’s a lot bigger than that, and the banks ain’t as bad as you think,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets and rocking from the balls of his feet to his heels. “They used to be banked even higher than this. Thirty-six degrees, I think. That
was before my time, though. They dropped the angle to about thirty when they resurfaced it seven or eight years ago.”

I looked up again. “I feel like a tiny raisin at the bottom of a fruit bowl.”

Colton reached for my belt loop and pulled me against him. “Hey! You comparin’ us drivers to dried up fruit?”

I flicked the beak of his ball cap. “You do taste like one.”

“Oh, do I?” His teasing eyes gleamed as he wet his lips and moved them down on mine. This had to be what it felt like to be a normal teen. And happy. I was definitely happy.

“Come on, guys, we have work to do,” Lenny shouted from below. “We need to set up the rolling garage.”

I pulled back. “What’s he blabbering about?”

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, there’s not much room in the infield for garage space.”

“There’s no garage?” I leaned to the side and looked around, still holding on to Colton and swept my gaze at the infield around us.

“Nope.”

“So where does—”

“Out in the open, near the pits.”

“Huh.” I looked down the front straight. “Not much room for forty-three cars.”

Colton spun me 180 degrees and wrapped his arms around me from behind. “That’s why there are pits stalls on this side too.”

“That’s so insane.”

He chuckled in my ear. “So you’ve mentioned.”

“Guys, come on,” Lenny cried.

“Keep your pants on, we’re coming,” Colton yelled down at him, and then turned me back around. “After I get another
taste of this raisin.” He nuzzled his face in my neck and kissed his way to the edge of my shoulder.

I giggled.

Again with the giggles. Girly, happy, giddy giggles. The whole concept of giggling like a ditz felt foreign to me, but I liked it.

Back on solid ground, I spotted Carl Stacy talking to Lenny five spots over from our hauler.

“Hey, Colt,” I whispered. “Check it out.”

Colton jumped off the last few steps of the ladder.

“What do you suppose he wants with Lenny this time?” I asked.

“Beats me. Maybe he’s trying his luck again.”

“Doesn’t it bother you?”

Colton shrugged. “It does, but there’s nothing we can do. Lenny has a wife and four kids to support. He’s gotta think of them. If Carl offers him a ridiculous amount of money that Dean can’t match, he’d be stupid not to go.”

“Would he up and leave mid-season?”

“Nah, Lenny wouldn’t do that.”

I creased my forehead. Something felt off, but I couldn’t figure out what. Lenny appeared to be smiling, so I guessed everything was good.

“Colton Tayler.”

Colton shifted in the direction of the drawling voice. A partial smile spread across his face. “Mitch Benson. To what do I owe this honor?” He extended an open palm to the lanky older man.

“Wanted to congratulate you on your win last week. How does it feel to win your first Cup race?”

“I could get used to it.”

“I told my crew chief not to let your rookie stripe fool him. You were a rising star last year. I’m not surprised to see you in the Cup this year.”

“Thanks, man. Coming from you, that means a lot.”

“Rookie stripe?” I asked.

Mitch placed a hand on Colton’s shoulder. “Rookies, like Colton here, get to sport the dreaded yellow tape on their back bumper so that us veterans know to be a bit more cautious around them on account of their lack of experience.”

“Oh.” I cupped a hand over my eyes to block the sun’s glare. “I just thought that was part of the car’s paint scheme.”

Mitch laughed.

I glanced back over at Carl and Lenny, itching to know what Carl’s strategy was this time. Mitch looked up and then dropped his hand off Colton’s shoulder. “Man, that tyrant never gives up.” He looked back at Colton. “Sorry about that.”

“No worries, man. In the end it’s Lenny’s decision. No hard feelings.”

“Carl’s gotten me this far in my career and I respect him for that, but he can be an ass. He’s desperate for me to pull a championship hat trick this season. I mean, I want to win, but he makes it seem like there’s no other choice. Doesn’t make it much fun anymore, you know what I mean?”

“How desperate is he?”

I probably should have kept my mouth shut, but I had to ask.

Mitch seemed taken aback by my question. “Hey, yeah, I heard about the sabotage. Listen, Carl can be a dirtbag, but I don’t think he has it in him to cheat.”

Colton glared at me. “Don’t worry, Mitch. Even with Dean and Carl’s history, we’re not accusing anyone without proof.”

“Well, anyway, good luck this weekend.” He leaned closer. “And don’t get too used to winning. The big man’s not the only one working toward that hat trick.”

Colton grinned. “We’ll see about that.” Mitch patted him on the shoulder, then strolled away. I wondered if he really, truly thought Carl was innocent in all of this.

Colton tugged at my belt loop. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I still think his team had something to do with your sabotage in Phoenix.”

“Maybe, but I doubt Mitch had anything to do with it. He wouldn’t jeopardize his career like that.”

“Colton, there you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Nancy ran over, panting over her clipboard. “Are you forgetting you have an interview with the local station in—” she checked her Blackberry “—ten minutes?”

Colton glanced at his watch. “Oh, shit.”

“Yeah, oh shit. Get a move on.”

He took my hand and planted a firm but gentle peck on my lips. “Gotta go. I’ll see you later.”

“See ya.”

With a slight smile, he let go of my hand and jogged off to catch up with Nancy.

“Coming through!” Dylan hollered, rolling two radial slicks past me toward the tent being set up by the rest of the crew.

I stepped back to get out of the way, colliding into someone behind me. “Oh, sorry!”

Lenny stood there, sweating profusely and looking flustered. “Oh, no, sweetheart, it’s my fault. Too much on my mind.” He
glanced around. “Where’d Colt go?”

“PR stuff. Nancy came and got him, but I can help if you need me to.”

He pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed his hairline and neck. It was hot, but nowhere near enough to cause him to sweat this much.

“You sure you’re okay? You don’t look like your normal self.”

“I’m fine. You go. The crew’s almost done setting up here, anyway.” He wobbled off before I could say another word, seeming preoccupied with his own thoughts and leaving me wondering if he was actually weighing Carl’s new offer.

Since the crew didn’t need me, I took a stroll around the infield to pass the time, making sure to investigate the rooftop winner’s circle above one of the few buildings occupying the center of the stadium.

On my way back to the hauler, a strong hand firmly gripped my upper arm. “You’re Lexi, right?” The deep, raspy southern voice sent a chill down my back. Carl Stacy stood next to me, his face shadowed by the large cowboy hat he wore.

I played dumb and arched my eyebrow. “Who wants to know?”