Fast Track (13 page)

Justin knew his
friend had been trying to forget his ex-girlfriend for months, to
no avail. “I don’t know, I haven’t met them yet. We’re all staying
at the same hotel. I thought we’d have a drink after the race, get
to know each other better.”

“Sounds like a
plan.” Mitch pocketed his cell phone. “I gotta say, this is a
different approach for you. Since when do you start meeting a
girl’s family and friends? Especially a girl you’ve only been
seeing for a month.”

Justin wasn’t
even sure that was how Anna would define their relationship. As far
as he was concerned, they were dating. He wasn’t interested in
seeing anyone else, but she may not share his sentiment. “I already
knew her family, remember?”

“Yeah. How does
big Daddy feel about you trying to hook up with his little
princess?” Mitch chuckled. “He can’t be too happy about it.”

Justin scowled
at his friend. “Why would you say that? I get along great with the
McCalls.”

“That was
before you started trying to tarnish their angel’s wings.”

Justin rolled
his eyes. “Shut the hell up.”

“I’m serious.
If you had a daughter, would you want her dating a guy like
you?”

“What the
hell’s wrong with me?” Justin asked, clutching his chest. “I’ve
never broken the law-”

“No, but you’ve
broken quite a few hearts. Pretty publicly, I might add.”

Justin couldn’t
deny he’d been involved in too many dead end relationships, but he
didn’t see why that should have any bearing on his relationship
with Anna. “You really think her old man would hold that against
me?” He knew Ty McCall. He was a fair, honest, decent man. Mitch
was right; Ty would definitely hold his reputation against him if
Anna’s heart was on the line.

“Hell, yeah!”
Mitch laughed. “Can you blame him?”

“No. Okay,
since you seem to have all the answers, what do you think I should
do about her family?”

“It depends,”
Mitch said, shrugging. “Are you serious about the girl, or do you
just want her to help you get over your little problem?”

Justin winced.
Sometimes he wished he’d never confided in his best friend about
that, but he’d been so upset. He’d had to talk to someone outside
of a doctor’s office about his challenge. Mitch seemed like the
logical choice. “I would never use her that way. Besides, I don’t
think it’s gonna be a problem anymore.”

Mitch threw his
head back and laughed. “You hoping to put that theory to the test
tonight?”

“I didn’t lure
her here just so I could sleep with her. She’s not that kind of
girl.”

Mitch sighed.
“Don’t I know it. If I thought she was, I would have tried the
first night we met her.”

“Then I would
have had to kill you,” Justin muttered.

Mitch shot him
a quizzical look. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Man, if I were
you, I think I’d plan to clear the air with Ty as soon as you can.
You wouldn’t want her family standing between you two.”

As far as
Justin could tell, that was one of many issues they would have to
overcome, but Ty seemed like the least of all of his obstacles. “I
have to be in Nashville next week on business. Maybe I’ll talk to
him then.”

Mitch smiled.
“Hotshots business?”

“Yeah. It’s
their quarterly sales meeting. I told Deacon I’d be there.”

“Since when do
you attend their quarterly sales meetings?”

“Since
Nashville became my new favorite place.”

“This is gonna be so
much fun,” Lauren said, clapping her hands as she bounced up and
down in her seat. “We’re so close I can almost hear the drivers
talking to their pit crews.”

They were a
little too close for Anna’s comfort, but she didn’t want to spoil
the fun, so she smiled and pretended to be having the time of her
life.

“I still can’t
believe it,” Nick said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “My
baby sister hookin’ up with the bad boy of racin’.”

“We’re not
hooking up,” Anna said, pushing his arm away. “We’re just friends.”
She didn’t really believe that. Their sexual chemistry was
impossible to deny.

“That’s your
loss,” Lauren said, winking at a good looking man who turned around
in his seat and smiled at her.

Anna wished she
could be more like her cousin sometimes: fun, sexy, flirtatious.
Lauren would know exactly how to handle a guy like Justin. Being
here, in the midst of thousands of people screaming his name,
reminded Anna she was out of her element. When they spoke on the
phone, she almost convinced herself Justin was just a regular
person, but races reminded her he was anything but.

“I don’t just
fall into bed with every guy I meet,” Anna said, crossing her
arms.

Nick covered
his ears and grimaced. “I don’t wanna hear this.”

“Oh grow up,”
Lauren said, reaching across Anna to slap her cousin’s knee. “Your
sister’s a grown woman. Of course she’s had sex.”

Anna’s face
flamed when Evan turned to smile at her.

“Are they
givin’ you grief again, darlin’?” Evan asked.

Anna had also
invited the Spencer brothers and their fiancées, hoping she would
feel more powerful surrounded by her friends and family. Instead,
they made her more uncomfortable. “What else is new?” she asked,
nudging Lauren in the ribs so she would sit back.

“You gotta
admit, this is pretty cool,” Ryan said, grinning.

Clearly Anna
was the only one who wasn’t excited to watch men careen around a
track at life-threatening speeds. Since she’d taken an interest in
Justin, she’d done a little research on racing and had been
horrified to learn that Justin’s friend was one of many casualties
in the last decade. She knew racing was a dangerous sport, but
watching those video clips made it so much more real. She would
have to be crazy to give her heart to a man who did it for a
living.

“Here we go,”
Lauren said, grabbing her hand.

“Excuse me,”
Anna said, jumping up. “I need to use the restroom.”

“Now?” Nick
asked, not taking his eyes off the track.

“Yes.”

Lauren grabbed
her hand again to prevent her from slipping past. “You can’t keep
running away from this, Anna. It’s what he does. Hell, it’s who he
is.”

“I know. That’s
why I can’t be with him.”

“What are you
talking about?”

“I’m going back
to the hotel to get my things.”

“You can’t do
that!” Lauren tried to haul her back down. “He invited you here
because he wants you to be a part of his life. Why won’t you at
least give it a chance?”

“I can’t. I’m
sorry.” Anna broke free and squeezed past her friends on her way to
the exit.

Erika ran after
her. “Hold up, Anna. I’ll come with you.”

***

Justin usually
enjoyed basking in his victory after a race, but that night was
different. He couldn’t stand the thought of signing even one more
autograph. “I need to get outta here,” he said to Mitch as he
handed a pen and signed program back to a young boy’s father. “Have
you seen Anna?”

“Can’t say that
I have,” Mitch said, pocketing his cell phone. “Not that I’m
surprised. This place is like a freakin’ zoo. Where were they
sitting? I can go look for her if you want.”

“I told her to
come find me. I asked the front office to hold some pit passes for
her. Where the hell could she be?” Justin knew she was there
because she’d texted him when she arrived. Looking up into the
stands, he spotted Nick. “There’s her brother. You’ve met him
before, right? On the island?”

“Yeah, I think
so.”

“Do me a favor.
Go and ask him where Anna is.”

“You got it,
boss.”

Justin watched
Mitch jog toward the appointed seats, and he continued to scrawl
his signature on every piece of paper thrust in his face. As soon
as he saw the grim expression on Mitch’s face, Justin knew
something was wrong.

“What the hell
happened?” Justin asked when his friend finally pushed his way
through the crowd and reclaimed his spot at his side. “Where is
she?”

“She headed
back to the hotel before the race even started.”

“Why? She
wasn’t feeling well, or what?”

“It seems she
wasn’t into it, after all.”

Translation:
She wasn’t into him.
“What the hell happened to change her
mind? We talked on the phone last night.” Justin scowled when
someone shoved a program under his nose until he saw the little
hand holding it belonged to a gap-toothed little girl with blond
pigtails. Signing the paper, he forced a smile as he handed it
back. “I thought she was looking forward to it.”

“I don’t know
what happened. But you may be able to catch her before she heads to
the airport if you leave now. Nick said she’s in suite 703.”

“I’m on my
way.”

***

Erika tucked
her legs under her as Anna folded her clothes neatly and stacked
them in the small suitcase. “You have to do what you feel is right,
Anna. You don’t owe him anything.”

“I know, it’s
just that…” She couldn’t explain why the prospect of leaving made
her so distraught. Perhaps it was knowing she would never see
Justin again. “He’s a nice guy. I don’t want him to think he did
anything wrong. He didn’t. I just don’t want to be with someone who
does
that
for a living.”

Erika smiled.
“I can’t say that I blame you. Knowing your boyfriend may come home
from work in a body bag is a little unsettling.”

Anna sighed as
she sat down on the bed beside her friend. “I like him a lot. It’s
just that…”

“He’s so
different from the guys you usually go for.”

“Yeah. I don’t
know how to date without asking myself whether this guy could be
the one, you know?”

“And you can’t
imagine spending your life with someone like Justin?”

“God, no!” Anna
wished she could retract the statement when she realized how it
must have sounded. “I mean, he obviously has a lot of redeeming
qualities, but he’s not exactly husband or father material.”

“And that’s
what you’re looking for?”

“I’m thirty,
not twenty. I don’t have the luxury of taking my time with every
guy I meet. Especially not if I want to have three kids before I
turn forty.”

Erika smiled
and reached for Anna’s hand. “That is a tight timeline, but
sometimes life happens in spite of our plans.”

“What do you
mean?”

“Take you and
Tom for example. You guys dated for a long time. You knew when and
how you were going to get married, how many kids you wanted to
have, where you’d live, and look what happened.”

“He bailed on
me.”

“I think you
bailed on him long before he bailed on you. You said in the Bahamas
that you weren’t sure he was the right one anymore.”

“I know,” Anna
said, sighing. “I don’t think he was, but I don’t think Justin is
either. In fact, I know he isn’t.” If only she felt as convinced as
she sounded.

Before Erika
could respond, they heard a knock on the door.

Glancing at her
watch, Erika said, “The race is probably over.”

“I don’t want
to spoil your weekend,” Anna said, turning to close her suitcase.
“You guys should stay, as planned.”

Erika got up
and peered through the peephole. “Oh wow, it’s not them. It’s him.”
She leaned against the door and fanned her face with her hand. “I
love Evan and all, but that guy is seriously hot.”

All the more
reason for Anna to keep her distance. It was only a matter of time
before he got bored with the timid teacher from Tennessee. “Tell
him I’m in the shower,” Anna said, making a dash for the
bathroom.

Erika grabbed
her wrist. “Oh no, you don’t. You need to tell him what you just
told me.”

“I can’t.”

“You have to,”
Erika said, opening the door. She smiled at Justin as she pulled
Anna forward to face him. “You must be Justin Hunt,” Erika said,
offering her hand. “I’m Erika Carlton, a friend of Anna’s. It’s a
pleasure to meet you.”

Justin accepted
Erika’s handshake, but his eyes drifted to Anna. “Nice to meet you,
Erika.”

“I’ll leave you
two alone,” Erika said, slipping her hand from Justin’s. To Anna,
she said, “Just call if you need anything.”

Anna waited for
Erika to leave before she stepped back to allow Justin inside. “How
did the race go?”

He stopped in
front of the bed and faced her. “What the hell happened to
you?”

“Excuse
me?”

“I was counting
on you being there.”

Anna closed the
door softly, turning around slowly. She tried to buy a few extra
minutes to think of a plausible excuse. “I’m sorry I disappointed
you, but-”

“You did,” he
said, closing in on her. “Damn it, Anna. Why do you keep doing
this?”

She could
barely breathe with him standing so close. “I’m not doing
anything.”

“Yes, you are.
You’re pushing me away.” He circled her waist with his strong arms,
holding her tight. “And I just wanna get closer.”

When he put it
that way, he made it difficult to resist. “I’m sorry-”

“I want you,”
he whispered in her ear. His hands drifted up her back. “You can’t
tell me you don’t want me too.”

“I want you,
but I don’t want everything that comes with you. The press,
screaming fans, fast cars, red carpets, endorsement deals, travel,
women…” She pressed a hand to her forehead. “Just thinking about it
gives me a headache.”

“I’m afraid I’m
a package deal, Anna. I can’t give up racing just to make you
happy.”

“I would never
ask you to do that,” she said, slightly offended he would even
think that. “I know you can’t change to make me happy. Besides, we
barely know each other.”

“I know enough
to know that I want to know more,” he said, brushing his lips over
hers.