Flat-Out Sexy (19 page)

“Are there directions?” he asked. “I’ll read them to you.”

“Okay.” Elec got everything settled on the porch floor and handed the direction sheet to Petey. It didn’t look complicated, but he could appreciate a kid who wanted to follow the rules and didn’t want to skimp on details. He’d been that kind of kid himself, unlike his siblings, who had just dove in without looking.

While Petey studied the directions, Elec glanced around at Tamara’s property. Her house was a raised-roof cottage with a big sweeping front porch, which she had filled with wicker chairs and a sofa, hanging ferns, and colorful pillows. There were pots of red and yellow flowers spilling down the front stairs.

It wasn’t a huge house, but it was very comfortable, and everywhere Elec turned, it exuded a sense of home. This was a great place for these kids to be growing up, giving them stability and comfort.

Elec wasn’t surprised Tamara had provided this for her children, but at the same time, it did funny things to his innards again. He was starting to ache for things he couldn’t have, at a time when he should be thrilled with the way his life was going. He was driving in the cup series, he was doing damn well, he’d taken third at the Six Hundred, and yet he was suddenly pining for the babies he’d never have.

His phone beeped in his pocket, so he pulled it out and glanced at it. It was yet another text message from Crystal. That girl didn’t know when to quit. Not bothering to even read it, he deleted it.

“Okay, so here’s what we do,” Petey said. “We just open the top and shake the ants in.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. This is a self-contained environment. They don’t need to be fed and this doesn’t need to be cleaned.”

“Cool.” Thank God it was easy. Tamara was already less than thrilled with his gift. “I’ll open the lid and you pour the ants in, okay?”

“Yep.”

Petey bit his lip in concentration as he carefully poured the ants into the farm, and Elec could see Tamara in the boy’s features, though not as clearly as with Hunter. But Petey did that same furrowing of his brow that his mother did, and he shared her petite nose. Elec enjoyed watching him, and felt sorrow for Petey that he no longer had his father. Elec had a lot of special memories with his own dad, and this boy wouldn’t have any more of those.

“Put the lid back on,” Petey said anxiously, once the last ant was in.

Elec clicked it into place. “It’s on.” Then he and Petey lay flat on their stomachs on the porch floor in companionable silence, chins resting on their arms, and watched the ants get busy tunneling their way through the gel. They seemed to have a preplanned architectural strategy and it was fascinating to watch.

“So you like bugs, huh?” Elec asked, ignoring his cell phone beeping again.

“Yep.”

“More than car racing?” Elec said it casually, staring straight ahead at the ant farm. He wasn’t sure why, but he got the feeling Petey wasn’t so into racing and he wanted to let him know that was perfectly acceptable.

“Yeah,” Petey said slowly, shooting Elec an anxious look. “More than racing. But don’t tell Ryder that. He’s my godfather and my dad’s best friend, and it might hurt his feelings.”

“I won’t tell anybody anything if you don’t want me to. But you know your mom and Ryder just want you to be happy. It’s cool if you’re more into bugs than racing. Everybody’s got their own thing.”

“Hunter’s thing is racing. And she’s a girl.”

Ah. So Petey was already feeling the pressure of testosterone. “But Hunter’s younger than you … don’t you think maybe some of that love of racing is a way for her to hold on to your daddy?”

“She wasn’t even five when he died. She doesn’t really remember him much, not him being at home, I mean. She remembers seeing him more on the TV than with us. I remember him better.” Petey stared into the plastic of the ant farm and chewed his lip industriously. “He used to throw me up in the air and run around the house with me under his arm like a football. And he used to toss me onto my bed at bedtime, then tuck me in and tell me he’d crossed the finish line in first place when I was born.”

There was a lump in Elec’s throat as he listened to the matter-of-fact tone in the boy’s voice, and he fought to keep his own tone casual. “You’re lucky to have those memories. I’m guessing Hunter doesn’t have those.”

In his pocket, his phone beeped again. Lord, Crystal had lousy timing. Elec pulled it out to silence it.

“Who keeps calling you?” Petey asked, glancing over curiously.

“It’s a girl who likes me.”

“Do you like her?”

“Not that way. And I told her we couldn’t be anything but friends, and she won’t take the hint. She’s been calling me every day.”

“So she’s stalking you?” he asked with the morbid curiosity of a nine-year-old.

“You know, it just might be considered that, Petey.”

“Could you call me Pete?” he asked. “I don’t like being Petey anymore, but my mom won’t stop.”

“Sure. No problem.” Elec nudged Pete with his elbow, knocking him off balance and making the boy grin. The kid was clearly experiencing some growing pains and Elec wanted to reassure him. “If you promise not to tell your mom I’m being stalked.”

“Sure.” Pete glanced over at him. “Do you like my mom?”

“Yeah. I like her a lot.”

“Like
like
her, like her?”

They were heading into dicey territory with that question. Elec knew Tamara didn’t want her kids to know they were in any way dating. “How would you feel about that?”

“That would be cool.” Pete tapped the plastic side of the ant farm. “Geoffrey was gross. I met him at the Christmas thing at my mom’s work and he was old and bossy. I know my mom thinks I didn’t know she was going on dates with him, but I’m not
stupid
.”

“No, you’re clearly not that. So where are you going to keep this ant farm?”

“In my room. Want to see it?”

“Sure.” Elec couldn’t resist. He reached over and ruffled Pete’s short brown hair. “Next time I’ll get you a tarantula.”

Pete laughed. “My mom would freak out.”

“Might be kind of funny, huh?” The image of Tamara’s face if he strolled in with a giant fuzzy spider made Elec laugh, too. Probably not the best strategy to convince her they should be spending more time together.

When Elec laughed, Pete laughed harder, and Elec lay on the porch floor and just enjoyed the moment.

CHAPTER NINE

TAMARA opened the front door to let Elec know she had Hunter’s race program and her daughter was anxiously waiting for him to sign it. What she saw when she put one foot outside and looked down literally ripped the breath right out of her lungs.

Her son was lying on his stomach next to Elec, who was similarly sprawled out on the wooden floorboards, and they were laughing together. The ant farm was set up in front of them and they were watching it as they cracked up to whatever private joke they’d just shared. It was so normal, so masculine, so casual, that damned if she didn’t have tears in her eyes.

This was what her son had lost when Pete had spun out and hit the wall at Talladega. Easy, comfortable moments like this. Rolling around on the floor. Bugs. Guy stuff. Something she could never give him no matter how much she wanted to. Partly because, well, she wasn’t a guy, but also because there was only so much time in a day, and she was responsible for everything. There just hadn’t been a lot of spare time for lolling around and enjoying the moment.

Petey spotted her, and he nudged Elec. “Shhh,” he said in a stage whisper. “Mom’s here.”

That brought an unexpected stab of pain. Her son was cutting her out, preferring Elec’s company over hers. Maybe that wasn’t entirely rational, because Petey had just spent an entire week at home with her, but it still tweaked her.

Elec nodded to Petey then gave Tamara a sheepish smile. “We’re going to check out Pete’s room and give the ants a permanent home there.”

And now Elec had taken it upon himself to shorten her son’s name. Pete was her husband, Petey was her son, and it bothered her, but she wasn’t about to say something in front of Petey.

“Petey, hold up a minute on taking Elec to your room. Hunter wants her program signed, and I’m not sure how much longer she can stay awake. The fever is wearing her out.” She addressed Elec. “Do you mind?”

“No, of course not.” He had stood up and was holding the ant farm carefully in one hand. When he walked past her, he murmured in her ear, “You changed.”

Tamara blushed. “No, I didn’t.” It was still the same pajama pants and pink T-shirt.

“You added something to the outfit,” he said, pulling the racing program out of her hand and continuing on to the family room.

Yeah, a bra, and damn him for noticing. Though of course he had noticed she wasn’t wearing one before. They had both been aware of that fact, which was why she’d been walking around with her arms crossed. When she’d dashed upstairs for the program, she’d tossed a bra on since her arm muscles were tired from the effort to cover her nipples jutting out in the cotton shirt.

Mixing her kids and Elec and all her sexual wants was not at all enjoyable. She really wanted him to just go home and she would catch up with him later, alone, when she was feeling at least marginally sexy.

But there was no hope for him leaving anytime soon. Hunter was chatting his ear off while he signed her program, asking him questions about his driving history and where he hoped to place for the season. Sometimes it was downright frightening to listen to her daughter—she was like a miniature female version of her grandfather, Pete’s father. Even Hunter’s hand gestures were straight from Johnny, the way her index finger came out to tick off points she was making.

It was interesting that Petey was more her child, with her interests in science and sociology, and Hunter was a Briggs through and through.

Hunter held up her program, with Elec’s sprawling signature across the front. “He signed it!”

“I see that. That’s awesome. Did you say thank you?”

“Yeah,” Hunter said, with eye-rolling annoyance.

“She was very polite about it,” Elec said. “And I’m sure she’ll be equally polite when I show her what I brought for her.”

Her daughter’s eyes lit up. “You brought something for me?”

“Of course. I brought Pete an ant farm. You didn’t think I’d leave you out in the cold, did you?”

“I don’t know,” Hunter said with the honesty of a seven-year-old. “I didn’t even know you until today.”

“True. But the answer is yes, I brought something for you, too.”

Tamara watched Elec pull a box out of the bag and hand it to Hunter. Even from where she was standing, Tamara knew it was a die-cast stock car.

“Whoa!” Hunter said, turning the box around and around. “It’s your fifty-six car! Thank you!”

“Yep. Can’t get these in stores because, well, I’m a rookie, and I ain’t all that yet.” Elec grinned at Hunter. “But my father had a few of these made as a gift right before I hit the track in Daytona for my first cup race.”

“Your dad gave this to you?” Hunter said. “I should give it back then,” she added, even as she clutched it to her chest.

It did a mother proud to have Hunter say the right thing, even though she looked like she wanted to die at the mere thought of having to return it.

“He gave me ten. I don’t need ten of my own car lying around. One for my condo, one for my coach, and one for my office, then I’m out of display places. So I’m happy to give one to you.”

“Thanks.” Hunter studied the minicar. “I like your colors. Red and silver are good colors.”

“Yeah, I like them just fine. I lucked out with my sponsor.” He pointed to the car in Hunter’s hand. “The hood and trunk open and the engine has manufacturer specific details.”

“Cool.”

The doorbell rang again and Tamara went to answer it, wondering if she was ever going to get to eat the food Elec had brought for her. But all the distractions had certainly eliminated the whining. From the kids and from her.

The phone was ringing in the kitchen, but Tamara ignored it, figuring if it was important they’d leave a message. A quick glance through the peephole showed Ty and Ryder standing on her porch. Now that surprised her. They weren’t known for randomly showing up without a phone call. Actually, she couldn’t remember the last time they’d been over. They were both good guys, remembering her kids’ birthdays, and sending her gifts or flowers from time to time to let her know they were thinking of her. Ty had even sent her roses on the first Valentine’s Day after Pete’s death with a card that had said, “Because Pete would have sent these if he could.”

They were definitely good guys, but they just didn’t show up at her house on a Monday, and being a worrier, she started to panic. Throwing the door open, she demanded, “Okay, what’s wrong?”

But they both looked startled. “Nothing, why would anything be wrong?” Ryder asked.

“Nice outfit,” Ty commented, gesturing to her pajamas.

“I just thought since you were both here … maybe Suzanne … I don’t know.” Tamara clutched her chest and let her heart rate return to normal.