Magnetic Shift (22 page)

Dean moved across the room and sat on the corner of the
bed. “I have a favor to ask of you.”

A favor? He wanted a favor … from me? That explained his pleasant demeanor.

“Nancy just called.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “She can’t make it to the mall appearance. She came down with the flu, and her assistant is on vacation overseas. She needs someone to coordinate with mall security. You think you can do that?”

I looked down at my laptop screen and clicked the mouse over the save button of my Word document. I had it set up to autosave, but you can never be too careful and well … I needed something to fiddle with. “Why can’t
you
do it?”

“I have an important meeting with the Guardian Board this afternoon. I can’t miss it.”

“Lorna?”

“Annabelle has an appointment.”

Crap. I moved the cursor around my screen, pretending to be preoccupied while he spoke. “Who else is going?”

“Only you and Colt.”

My insides cringed at the thought of spending a whole day alone with Colton after hardly speaking to him for almost three weeks. The extent of our conversations were him calling shotgun every day for the front seat on our way to the shop or to the airport and the odd, uncomfortable exchanges when he helped me load my luggage when traveling.

“You know I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t in a major bind.”

“I know.” I bit my lip. I had to expect that working with the team would sometimes put Colton and me in situations like this. “I’ll do it.”

Dean smiled. “Thank you so much. I’ll have Lorna prepare you a sponsor bag with your official team tee, acting PR Rep
nametag, and a stack of the large promotional cards for him to sign. I’ll need you to make sure Colton remembers to change up his hats, t-shirts, and shades for sponsor exposure.” Dean looked at his watch. “Can you be ready to leave in about an hour?”

“An hour? As in just one?” I was still in my pajamas and I hadn’t bothered to shower yet.

Dean laughed. “You better get a move on. Oh, and I’ll text you Nancy’s number. She said to not be shy about texting her if you have any questions or if any significant problems arise.” He pulled out his Blackberry and started typing away.

Even though I knew I shouldn’t be, I was giddier than I’d been in days. I couldn’t wait to get out of this room, and maybe while I was there, I could get some shopping done. Hey, two hundred bucks a week when you do nothing but work adds up quick and starts to burn holes in your pockets.

I jumped off the bed and started rummaging through my dresser drawers. When the sound of an incoming text coming from Dean’s phone broke my concentration, I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Uh, you’re going to need to leave now or there’s no way I’ll be ready in time.”

Dean looked up, half-aware that I’d spoken to him. I widened my eyes at him and eyed the door. Took him a while to catch on, but he finally did. “Oh, sorry. I’ll leave you to it.”

With Dean gone and my clothes finally picked out, I hurried down to take a shower only to find that the bathroom was already occupied. I waited by the door, as it sounded like they were almost done. I leaned my back against the wall and tapped my foot on the carpet, a subtle sign of my rising impatience. Within a few minutes, the door opened. I pushed away from
the wall and turned to head inside when Colton stepped out wearing nothing but his black cargo shorts sitting super low on his hips, holding a t-shirt in one hand and towel-drying his tousled hair with the other. The clean, fresh scent of his body spray mixed with the steam evaporating out the open bathroom door and from his body.

His very … shirtless …

I shut my eyes. “Oh my God, don’t you have your own shower?”
Oh yum … Oh boy … Oh crap.
Why had I agreed to this again?

“Shower head’s broken.” Sure it was. I reopened my eyes as he stopped toweling his hair and I stared as wet clumps of it fell around his face. He grinned, revealing a hint of his hidden dimples to tease me. Not that he needed to. His wet, glistening chest and bulging biceps were doing a good enough job on their own. I swallowed hard, almost choking on my own saliva.

“So, I guess you’re stuck with me for the day.”

I hardly heard him speak. I’d lost myself in the memory of him, shirtless, pressed up against me the night that Dean and Lorna caught us in the act. When I realized he’d spoken, flames engulfed my cheeks.

I cleared my throat. “Yeah, um, I guess I am.”

“You’d better hurry. You’ve got less than forty-five minutes to get ready.”

My eyes narrowed. “Well, if you’d get your sexy … er, I mean, your ass out of there, I would.” Seriously? Had I said the word sexy out loud? The moment called for a facepalm, but keeping my stern expression meant more to me right now.

“Sexy, huh?”

I bit my lip. His smile shifted into a quirky grin. “Your
loss, I guess.” He turned his back to me and sauntered down the hallway, giving me an excellent view of his flexing back muscles as he lifted his shirt over his head. If only I’d left the cemetery with Roy that night. I rolled my eyes at my delusions and retreated into the bathroom. My life truly was cursed, in more ways than one.

On my way out, Lorna handed me the bag of sponsor gear. “I hope I got everything in there. Oh, and here’s your jacket. Colton told me to remind you to grab it.”

She handed me the heavy motorcycle jacket. “Wait, we’re taking the bike?”

Lorna raised her shoulders in a tight shrug. “Sorry. Annabelle has a doctor’s appointment. I can’t spare the SUV today.”

“Right. No worries. The bike it is.” Oh goodie.

“Now, go on, Colton’s ready and waiting.” Ha … there’s a phrase that would have been hilarious a few weeks ago.

Outside, Colton waited, leaning against his bike, arms crossed against the front of his black and green jacket. “If we’re late, it’s your fault.”

“Keep your pants on,” I snarled as I dropped the bag on the veranda. I slipped the jacket on, then hoisted the backpack over my shoulders.

“Why? You’d get a better view of my sexy ass if I dropped them.” I narrowed my eyes and aimed my stare, giving him the same look an archer would use to hone in on their target. I yanked the helmet from his hand and put it on. He stepped
closer and sank down to my eye level to tighten the chin strap. I closed my eyes to avoid eye contact. He looped, tightened, and tugged on the strap. My head jerked forward and a warm breath caressed my neck. Tingles spread across my skin.

Ah, come on. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up.

“You can open your eyes now.” I did, only to see him still standing inches from me. I tried not to look at his eyes, but ended up staring at his lips. Ah, geez. I blinked hard, then pulled down the visor. He took the hint. I hadn’t been able to forget our last moment together, our last kiss. His lips had become somewhat of an addiction of mine. One I desperately wanted give in to.

I settled in on the seat behind Colton and wrapped my arms around his waist. I was really going to need some shopping therapy after this.

The Perimeter Mall in Atlanta was jam-packed with NASCAR fans, making me want to run in the opposite direction. What the hell had I gotten myself into? Luckily, Link was also part of the appearance and autograph portion, and his PR rep, Debra, and her daughter Ryla became my new best friends. I stuck to them like glue for most of the Q & A portion, then stood behind Colton and Link with them at the signing table on the stage facing the food court. A few times, Debra filled me in on what to do, like where to stand during the signing and when to interfere with the clingy, girly fans that just didn’t want to leave. I even had to gesture to the mall security standing by to escort a few cougar-looking forty-year-olds who wouldn’t take being ushered along as an option.

I can’t say I was overjoyed with having to watch girls flaunt their goodies at Colton when they leaned over the table to pose
with him, or seeing all the phone numbers that were stacking up in a basket at his feet.

The snotty, bubble gum-chewing, girly girl next in line leaned to look at me standing behind Colton. “Hey, aren’t you his girlfriend?”

A tad annoyed, I put on my fakest smile. “Uh, nope. He’s a free man.”

“But I saw you on TV kissing him before the race a few weeks ago.”

Before I could answer, Colton glanced over his shoulder and winked. “I was too much for her to handle.” He faced her again. “So she dumped me.”

The girl scowled at me. “I’d be up for that challenge any day,” she said to him, and voila, another phone number was slipped across the table and added to the pile. I rolled my eyes and caught Debra holding back a laugh.

When the last fan walked off, Gwen Langdon appeared out of nowhere. Since she was the daughter of the major sponsor, Debra and I had to let her through—Colton’s continued sponsorship with Guardian Auto Insurance was already in jeopardy thanks to Carl’s sabotage and his low performance of late.

Colton stood when she approached. I snuck off the stage to let them talk, more for my own benefit then theirs, and went in search of the man in charge of the event to thank him. He stood nearby, clearing the ropes and posts at the back of the designated area.

Colton’s gaze found mine as Gwen held his forearm and looked up at him lovingly. His chest rose and fell. A long, deep breath or a sigh, from what I could tell. I looked away just long
enough to thank the event coordinator and glanced back up at the stage.

Colton pulled out of Gwen’s hold. “This has to stop,” I overheard him telling her. “You’re my sponsor’s daughter and I’m okay with us being friends, but that’s all we’ll ever be. I don’t feel the same about you.”

“But Colton, I—”

He spoke his next words at a lower volume, inaudible from where I stood. He bent and kissed her cheek. She walked off the stage, her back to me, and met up with her friends waiting for her by the escalator. I wondered what he said to her. It was unusual for her to go without a fight—or a loud, annoying whine.

I walked back to the stage, thanked Debra, Ryla, and Link for their very much appreciated help, then picked up my things and headed toward the escalator.

Colton lunged off the stage and grabbed my arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“My work here is done. I’m going shopping.”

“Oh, no, you don’t.” The hint of a laugh escaped with his words.

“And why the hell not?”

“Are you kidding me? Fans are still crawling all over this place. I can’t just go walking around.”

“Who said anything about you tagging along?”

He smirked and narrowed his eyes. I turned on my heel and waved him off. “You can wait outside.”

Colton wrapped his fingers around my arm again. “Come on, Lex, I’m serious.”

I gave him a look and twisted out of his grip. “So am I.”

He let out a deep sigh. “Okay. But can I at least take you to a different mall?”

I arched an eyebrow. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch, I swear.”

I looked up at a store on the second floor I’d been dying to visit since we’d got here and sighed. “Fine.”

Colton smiled, revealing the hidden dimples I never thought I’d see again. “Thanks. Just let me find a bathroom so I can change and then we can go.”

Colton replaced his Guardian t-shirt and ball cap with a form-fitting, plain white t-shirt that accentuated all his best features. The boy was seriously delusional if he thought this was going to deter his die-hard fans from recognizing him. Even without the ball cap.

After a few hours of shopping at a nearby strip mall, we ended the day with a late and awkward dinner at some buffet restaurant on the company card, and then headed back to the house.

I dismounted the bike, not looking forward to what I anticipated would be our most awkward moment of the day. I managed to unfasten my helmet and pull it off before Colton threw the kickstand down and got off. I held my helmet out to him.

“Well, I can’t say today wasn’t fun.”

He pulled his helmet off, ran his fingers through his hair, and moved closer, placing his helmet on the seat of his bike. I held my helmet out further, but he ignored it.

“Colton.”

He blinked slowly at me, then took the helmet from my hand, our fingers touching. I flinched as if I’d just grazed a
loose spark plug wire, but removed my jacket to hide any hint of reaction that might have swept across my face.

“I had a good time, too,” he finally said, taking the jacket from me and throwing it over the tank of his bike. He unzipped his own but didn’t remove it. I wanted him to. It was too hard to focus on anything else with him looking so good wearing it.

“So … I guess I’ll see you at dinner tomorrow, then.” I turned to leave, but his hand lightly gripped my shoulder.

“Lexi, wait.”

I froze for a second. “What is it?”

His hand lingered at the base of my neck. Shivers whirled down my spine, but I refused to let it show. “Colton, don’t.”

“Why not?”

I turned around. “We talked about this.”

His eyes locked onto mine. Crap. Eye contact. I was doomed. “But you never told me why. I still love you, Lex. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

He still thought about me? I shook the thought away. “I can’t tell you why. You’ll just have to trust me that it’s better this way.”