Jacked Up (2 page)

She just wanted to be done.

But there was no done.

Because what was she going to do?

She ground to a halt when Nolan unexpectedly touched her elbow. Whirling around, she demanded, “What?”

“Hey, sorry for the headache this is causing. It truly was an accident. Let me buy you a cold one to make it up to you.”

So he could irritate her some more? “No thank you.”

“Don’t want to be seen with a lowly jackman, huh?” But he didn’t look like he believed that. In fact, he looked like he was amused by her.

Eve didn’t know what to do with that. No one found her funny. No one found her company enjoyable even. It was unnerving. “I don’t want to be seen with a jackass. ‘Ass’ being the operative word.”

“I double dog dare ya,” he said, his eyebrows lifting as he stood there looking a whole lot of sexy. “Just one beer.”

Damn it. She could never turn down a double dog dare. Even though it always got her in trouble. Three broken bones. Two speeding tickets. A black eye. And a tattoo on her inner thigh she’d just as soon forget.

But she couldn’t resist and she knew it. Someone threw down the gauntlet and she had to pick it up.

“I can’t tonight, I have plans with my sisters-in-law.”

“Tomorrow then.”

That would be better. She’d have time to throw away this blouse and steel herself against his annoying sexiness. “Fine. You’re buying.”

“Of course I am. That’s the whole point. To apologize for the stress I’ve caused you.”

He sounded sincere. He looked sincere. Eve was suspicious. Most men would have walked away from her with their hands tossed up, not invited her for a drink. She didn’t really understand Nolan’s reaction. Flummoxed, she wasn’t sure what to say.

Jim saved her. “Ford, get over here. Seriously, enough arguing with the battle-ax.”

Battle-ax. Nice. That was something every woman wanted to be called.

“I’m coming, Jim. Give me two minutes or less.” Nolan quieted his voice and leaned closer. “What’s your number? I’ll give you a call and we’ll make some plans without Jim breathing down our necks.”

Eve never gave out her number. But she gave it to Nolan. Though she found herself pulling her phone out of her pocket and fiddling with it, unable to look him in the eye. He made her feel like . . . a woman.

Not a lot of men did that, sadly enough.

His eyes were that impossible green that made you think he was wearing contact lenses. But there were no telltale lines or floating lenses, just mossy green eyes that were raking over her when she found the courage to look up.

She relaxed her arm, abandoning the death hold on her gaping shirt.

His phone was at his ear and they were locked in a strange, sensual stare down that she didn’t understand.

Eve’s phone vibrated in her hand and she started at the unexpected sensation, even though he was obviously calling her.

“I take it this is you?” she asked, grateful for the interruption of a weird moment. She didn’t do weird moments.

He nodded. “Now you have my number, too.”

For what? She felt like asking, but she didn’t. “Great. Let’s contact the media with that important piece of news.”

She expected him to roll his eyes or zing her with a comeback.

He just said, “That’s your department, not mine. Talk to you later, sweetness.”

Then with one last glance at her chest, he went back to work.

Eve went back to being unnerved.

And as she left the garage, she found herself watching that video of his tight butt yet one more time.

* * *

“YOU
got any skin left after a verbal lashing from the battle-ax?” Jim asked Nolan as he went back to Evan’s car, up on blocks.

“I feel pretty intact.” In fact, he felt great. Intrigued. Aroused. Excited about seeing Eve the next night. “Don’t see why you call her a battle-ax. She’s harmless.”

It was fairly obvious to him that Eve’s whole problem was poor stress management. She had a tough job and she bottled up all that tension instead of releasing it. But she was all bark and no bite.

“As harmless as a shark is to a minnow.”

Nolan studied the calluses on his hands, thick and yellow from hundreds of hours spent training in the gym and at the track. He wasn’t about to let Jim dissuade him based on a whole lot of nothing. He suspected no one on this team really knew Eve particularly well. “Actually, I don’t think a minnow would be in any danger from a shark. They’re too small for a shark to bother with them. And they’re in freshwater, not the ocean.”

“Okay, Professor Smart-Ass. Still don’t change the fact that the woman is a nag. No wonder she doesn’t date. No man can get a word in edgewise.”

Nolan shrugged. “She apparently does in fact date. I just asked her out and she said yes.”

Jim and three of his other coworkers stopped their work on Evan’s car entirely and just gawked at him. Nolan grinned. “What? You all have known me to ask women out before. Don’t look so shocked.”

“You date women who bake cookies and shit,” Jim told him. “Not hard-asses like Eve.”

Except that Nolan had a feeling she was anything but. There was no telling if she baked cookies or not. Which was why he had asked her out. “I’m just curious about her, that’s all.”

Rhett, who was Evan’s gas man, and just happened to be Nolan’s kid brother, whistled low. “Make sure you wear a protective cup, bro, that’s all I’m saying. She’s a ball buster.”

“And your bosses’ sister. And in a way a coworker. Think that one through long and hard. They always say, don’t shit where you eat,” Jim said, shaking his head as he cracked his hairy knuckles.

That expression was one of Nolan’s personal pet peeves. “I hate that saying. Shitting and dating are not the same thing. It’s associating relationships with something negative and I don’t dig that.”

Jim was a big guy with a cute wife, a pack of kids, and the unwavering conviction that he was always right. “It’s going to be like falling into a barrel of titties and coming up sucking your own thumb. Bad luck, trust me.”

The image of Eve’s breasts bursting out of her blouse popped into Nolan’s head, a delicious carrot dangling in front of him. “Oh, I’m willing to chance it.”

Sometimes you just had to play out the fantasy and see where it went.

Playing chicken with a rattlesnake. Yep. That was him.

CHAPTER

TWO

“WHY
do you keep fussing with your blouse?”

Eve dropped her hand in frustration and looked at her sister-in-law Tamara, who was giving her a curious look. “Damn. I’m doing it without thinking because earlier today my button popped.”

She hadn’t had time to go home and change before meeting Tamara and Evan’s wife, Kendall, at a Mexican restaurant that served margaritas the size of a toilet bowl. When she had walked in, Eve had been surprised to see Suzanne Jefferson, Imogen Wilson, and Tuesday Jones there as well. It had apparently blossomed into a full-on girls’ night out. Of five women who were either married or engaged.

Leaving her the token single woman.

Fabulous.

“The best solution for that is to just leave it unbuttoned,” Suzanne told her with a wink. She took a loud suck on her straw. “God, this tastes good. I realize there’s no alcohol in it because I’m nursing still, but just the idea that I’m having what could potentially be an adult drink makes me very happy.”

“How’s the baby?” Kendall asked her.

Eve stared at her own margarita, not nearly so thrilled with it. She could have a drink any night she wanted. She was single, childless, able to spend all her free time exactly as she wanted. Which usually meant going for a run, eating a premade salad, and falling asleep on the couch watching
Deadliest Catch
, her laptop clutched against her chest as she worked until the last second before her eyes slipped shut.

She was lonely. Stressed. Bored. As she watched her brothers settle down into family life, she was even a bit envious.

Pumping her straw up and down vigorously in her drink, she fought the urge to sigh. It wasn’t like she had a
bad
life. It was just getting old, damn quick.

“The baby is amazing. I love that little squirt more than I can describe. But he’s seven weeks old, and this is the first time I have left him for more than five minutes, so I actually don’t want to talk about him. He’s with my husband, and if I think about that too hard, I might burst into tears. Ryder is a great father but he hasn’t spent any time alone with Track. I’m always there.”

“It’s a challenging task parenting a child when your husband is gone every week for several days.” Imogen pushed her glasses up her nose, her dark brown hair sleek and shiny in a way that Eve had to admit she envied. “That’s something we all have had or will have to contend with. Well, except Eve.”

Except Eve. There it was. Not that she could deny it. “No, I think I would rather gouge my own eyes out than marry a driver. No offense to any of you, but I’ve spent my whole life around the track, and I don’t want to marry it.”

“I don’t know. I think I’ve married the man, not the sport,” Suzanne said.

“But can you really separate the two?” Tamara asked. “I swore I’d never marry a driver again after I lost Pete. And it was damn hard raising kids alone after he died, but I’ll tell you, it wasn’t easy when he was alive either. He was barely home.”

“But isn’t Eve essentially married to the track herself? She is just as immersed in the sport as us, if not more so.” Imogen lifted her drink up, the giant glass comical set against her elegant face. “I would almost think it would be difficult at this point to find someone outside of racing, because one, you spend all your time both personal and professional, involved in racing. And two, who could possibly understand your unique lifestyle if they’re not involved in the sport?”

That was a nice verbal baseball bat to the head. Eve shoved her drink away, stomach suddenly sour. “Well, that’s good to know. If I don’t marry a driver and no one else will have me, that leaves me, what—sponsors, owners, PR reps, and crew members to choose from? Most of whom are married? So my dating pool is the size of a raindrop.”

“I didn’t say no one else would have you. What I was saying is that dating for women in stock car racing is unique. Rather like dating is for women in law enforcement.”

“I’m not a cop. I’m just a PR rep. I think the real problem when it comes to dating is that I have no free time.” Actually, Eve had no idea what the problem was. She just knew that she hadn’t been on a date since the previous winter and hadn’t had sex in way longer than should be legal.

“Eve does work an awful lot,” Tamara said. “Which is why I worry. I don’t want her most meaningful relationship to be with her cell phone.”

If her brother’s wife only knew how accurate that was. Her phone was currently sitting on the tabletop instead of tucked away in her purse because she didn’t want to miss any important calls. “My phone is kind of a needy boyfriend, I have to admit.”

“Balance can be hard,” Tuesday said. “I have the opposite problem. I have flexible hours and Diesel works at home on his own schedule so lately, since I moved in with him, neither one of us have been particularly productive.”

“More like reproductive,” Suzanne said with a grin.

“No! No reproduction. Not yet. We’re not ready to be parents. At least I’m not.” Tuesday raised her diet soft drink in a toast. “Here’s to balance. Happiness. Orgasms.”

“Amen, sister!” Suzanne lifted her virgin margarita.

Eve did the same with her Cuervo Gold. She would definitely drink to orgasms. And anything that turned the topic of conversation away from her lack of a social life and slim pickings for a potential mate.

As all glasses went up, Eve’s phone rang. She glanced at the screen. It was Nolan Ford. She hesitated. Part of her wanted to answer it. Part of her wanted to stay as far away from Nolan as she possibly could. He made her far too aware of her own body, and that wasn’t good when she was talking about a member of her brother’s pit crew.

“Who is that?” Suzanne asked. “Is it business or social?”

It figured that someone would call her out on it. “Um, it’s business, for the most part. There’s a jackman who had a little uniform issue.”

“Oh, my God, that was awesomely hilarious,” Tuesday said. “Nolan Ford’s fine behind just splayed out while he pumped that jack . . . those are the days I live for in blogging.”

“Yeah, same here. Not.” Eve rolled her eyes. “I had to go tell him to wear underwear. This is the insanity of my job. I tell grown men they need to wear underwear.”

“Have you seen his arms? And we all saw his ass.” Tuesday said. “He is in top shape. That job demands it. He lifts a three-ton car. I say let him skip the underwear if he wants to.”

Eve crossed her legs. “And I say I can’t imagine your fiancé would appreciate that.”

“It’s called appreciation of the male form. I have no intention of touching, but I can look. You, on the other hand, you can touch.”

“I don’t want to touch Nolan Ford.” Which was such a lie she was shocked her nose didn’t leap out two feet.

“Who actually called you?” Suzanne asked, leaning over to try to see Eve’s phone.

“Do you have an interest in Nolan?” Kendall asked.

They were coming at her like a swarm of bees, question after uncomfortable question. Eve felt herself panicking, felt anger surging. They meant well, she knew that, but she didn’t have any answers.

“I don’t know! All I know is that my job sucks and I’m pissed off all the time and I haven’t had sex in a long time.” Eve took a gulp of her drink, her mouth suddenly hot. “And then Nolan splits his pants and I yell at him and instead of giving me attitude, he says he’ll buy me a beer. I mean, what is that? He double dog dared me so of course I had to say yes. I couldn’t turn down a dare. But why do I feel like I have a fever around him?”

There was a moment of stunned silence as they all gawked at her around the table.

“Oh, sweetie,” Tamara said.

Which made Eve feel like a complete loser. She wasn’t asking for sympathy. She wanted explanations.

Tuesday just nodded. “From one control freak to another, hey, I get it. But maybe you shouldn’t analyze your reaction. Maybe you should take him up on his offer of a beer.”

“I agree,” Suzanne said, twisting her blond hair into a bun, her diamond ring flashing in the light. “Sometimes the best things come out of spontaneity. Like my baby.” She laughed.

“I don’t know how to be spontaneous.” Eve was pretty sure it would actually hurt.

“Well, if that was Nolan, call him back. That’s an excellent place to start,” Imogen said.

“To what purpose?”

“To letting go of the irritation and stress this whole incident has caused you. Sitting next to Nolan and acknowledging that it was just an accident and you need to let it go,” Tamara said.

Eve studied her sister-in-law’s face. She liked Tamara. There was something calm and maternal about her, and Eve admired the relationship she had with Elec. There was no judgment on her face. Just concern and encouragement. It all sounded pretty damn rational.

“I need to let a lot of things go, don’t I?” She did. She was a bundle of stress. She was tired. Lonely. Approaching her birthday in a couple of weeks.

Letting go of some control and some stress wouldn’t be easy, but would probably be smart.

“Probably. But that’s up to you.”

Her phone rang again. It was Nolan. Again. “It’s him.”

No one said a word. If they had egged her on to answer it, she probably wouldn’t have. But since they stayed silent, waiting for her to decide, she actually found herself picking up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey! It’s Nolan. How are you?”

“Good, thanks. How are you?” She cleared her throat, suddenly aware of the desire to sound sexy. Good Lord. It was ridiculous.

“I’m glad you picked up. I had called you a few minutes ago suggesting the steakhouse to meet up tomorrow, but I changed my mind. Oktoberfest starts tomorrow and I was thinking we could go there instead. Should be fun.”

“To a festival?” Eve frowned. That sounded like a date. Like a real, honest to God, we’re a man and woman out on a date thing. Not just a let’s have a beer and forget we saw each other’s body parts. Not just a simple dare. She was about to say no, but then she saw all those expectant faces staring at her. They all looked so hopeful, five women poised to be happy for her.

There was something really amazing about having these women in her life. She hadn’t always had a ton of girlfriends, so having friends who cared about her, it felt good. They would want her to go. Be spontaneous.

“Sure. Cool.”

Now she’d done it. She had said yes. She was already regretting it as Suzanne fist pumped in the air in celebration.

“Great. If you text me your address, I’ll pick you up around seven.”

Oh, no. There would be no picking up. Nope. Not happening. “I have to work until about six fifty-nine so I’ll just meet you there. Just tell me where.”

“Okay. I’ll text you the details and I’ll see you then. Have a good night, Eve.”

“Great. Thanks. Bye.” She hung up the phone, cheeks suddenly burning, anxiety levels increasing. “I feel like I’m twelve when I talk to him. God, this is so bad.”

“Where are you going?” Kendall asked.

“To Oktoberfest. I hate those things. All those people walking around. Fried food. Why would I agree to do that?”

There was laughter. And knowing glances. But no one answered.

Because they all knew she knew the answer to her own question.

Damn it. She had a crush on Nolan Ford and his tight butt.

* * *

NOLAN
eyed the parking lot and the time on his cell phone. He was fairly certain Eve was going to stand him up. He was surprised she had even agreed to go for a beer with him. She only had because he’d dared her to do it. He had figured asking her to hang out with him at Oktoberfest would be met with a big old hell no. But she had said yes.

He wasn’t even sure why he had asked her. But she was a nut he’d like to crack. His mama had always said out of the nine kids she’d had, he was the most curious, and it was possible it had gotten him into trouble a time or two.

Tonight it was going to get him stood up.

But if Eve didn’t show, he’d go drink a stein of beer, eat a bratwurst, and call it a night. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Only it seemed he wasn’t being stood up. He smiled when he saw Eve moving across the parking lot toward him. Not only was she on time to the minute, she was dressed in a way he never could have imagined, but definitely appreciated. In the few years he’d been around the track, he had only ever seen Eve wearing business outfits—suits, blouses, fancy shoes. For some reason, he had kind of thought she’d be wearing a more casual version of uptight. But she was dressed in jeans and running shoes, with a hooded sweatshirt that was practically swallowing her.

She looked more approachable this way. Huggable.

“This place was impossible to find,” she said by way of greeting. “Whoever is on their PR team needs to put better signage off the interstate.”

Yeah, she wasn’t wearing a suit, but she might as well be. She was scanning the ticket booth. “They’re going to lose their major sponsors for next year’s event if they don’t do a better job of pimping out the festival.”

Nolan shook his head, amused. “We found it. That’s all you need to be concerned about.”

She frowned. “It was just an observation, not a concern.”

“It was you coming to the fair in work mode, and that’s no good. You need to shut that off now and again.”

“You don’t know anything about what I need.”

He knew he’d irritated her, but hell, it needed to be pointed out. She was a workaholic. But he wasn’t about to let her stomp off angry with him. He intended to have fun. “I know you need a bratwurst.”

“Excuse me?”

Now she just looked outraged and Nolan thought she was adorable. He was going to have trouble resisting the urge to kiss her because she had just about the best lips he’d ever seen. They were plump and pink and shiny. Eve didn’t wear a lot of makeup and he liked that.

Mostly what she wore were expressions of annoyance.

“You know, like a hot dog. Dinner. With a beer. It’s Oktoberfest.”

The look she gave him was suspicious, like she was trying to find the loophole in what he was saying, the trick. “I want a funnel cake,” she said with great dignity, her hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt.