“So, how’s Lindsey?” I asked.
He rolled his eyes and took a deep swig of his beer. “She’s just a friend. I’ve told you that already,” he said.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“That I’ve told you before or that she’s just a friend?”
He was having none of the conversation, and I decided to let it drop.
“All right. I get the message. You know Mom and Dad are wondering when you’re going to bring a good woman home, though,” I pointed out.
Nick let out a half laugh. “Yeah. Quentin went and ruined it for all of us. He had to find the perfect woman and get them thinking about having a gaggle of grandbabies. But at least I’m not the only one who’s still single. Speaking of which, tell me more about Kelly.”
That was seriously the last thing I wanted him to ask. I figured he would know that, but he looked at me over the neck of his bottle with raised eyebrows.
“What do you mean?” I asked, attempting to play dumb.
“Well, when I was at the bar on Saturday night hanging out with Lindsey, it just so happened Kelly was there. I introduced myself to her, and we got to talking,” he told me.
“That’s nice. She’s going to be a good addition to the team,” I said.
He clearly wanted to talk about her more. The way he was looking at me said he was brimming with curiosity and wanted me to tell him all the gritty details about how I knew Kelly and what might be going on between us. But I didn’t engage with him, and eventually he gave up and changed the subject. I was glad when he dropped it and I could just go back to relaxing and enjoying some time with my family.
The problem wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk about Kelly. The problem was that all I wanted to talk about was her. All I wanted to think about was her. But I couldn’t let myself go down that slippery slope, especially not with one of my brothers. As much as I told myself that we were both adults who were more than capable of just being friends, I was still insanely attracted to her, and there was the little voice in the back of my mind saying maybe I could eventually convince her to give us an actual try. But since I still didn’t know if that was ever going to happen, I needed it to stop there. If I didn’t know if I would ever be more than friends with Kelly, I didn’t want to put her out there in front of my family. She didn’t deserve to be scrutinized and have any of them look at her any differently because they knew about my feelings for her.
After a few more minutes, Nick got up and headed over to spend some time with Vince. Almost as soon as his chair was vacated, Dad came and sat beside me. He tipped his beer toward me, and I clinked mine against his before we both took deep sips. Dad turned to look at the fire and let out a long, contented sigh. He sat there beside me without saying anything. There was no expectation, no obligation for me to fill the silence with anything. It was the best way to spend the rest of the evening. Before I realized it, Dad and I had drank several more beers, and by the time the night was over, there was no way I was driving home. Dad had Mom to pour him into the car and get him back safely, leaving just me. I knew they were willing to give me a ride, but it would be out of their way. Instead, I crashed at Quentin’s house.
12
Kelly
Darren’s tongue slid up my body, sending shivers along my skin and making my toes curl. The anticipation was torture, yet I didn’t want it to stop. I wanted to lie there and savor every touch of his fingers, every second of his weight surrounding me. His mouth closed over one nipple, and he drew his fingers up along the outside of one leg, then around onto the soft inside of my thigh. My body shook in response to the sensation and to the increasing need for him. Every bit of me cried out for him, aching to have him inside me. He brought his mouth to mine and bit my bottom lip as his fingers sank inside me. I cried out, my back arching in response to the pleasure. Kissing him hungrily, I reached down to wrap my hand around… blankets.
I opened my eyes and saw only the bluish light of the hours just before the sun came up, filling my own small bedroom. Struggling to catch my breath, I clapped my hand over my eyes and tried to force the images of the dream out of my head. Tossing and turning for the next hour, I finally willed myself back to sleep for the short time I had left before I needed to wake up.
When the alarm went off, I dug my phone out from under my pillow and stared at it. The snooze button tempted me. I could hit it and sink back into the pillow for a few more minutes. But it was my first day of work and that might make me late, which wasn’t an option. It wasn’t lost on me how big of a deal it was that I’d even landed the position with Freeman Racing. Curiosity led me down the rabbit hole of an internet search the day before, and I’d discovered there wasn’t a single female mechanic on any of the racing teams in the area. Not one. Gus and Quentin made a bold choice when they agreed to hire me, and I didn’t want to jeopardize their trust in me or their confidence that they’d made the right decision. My goal was the same it had been since the day I did my interview: I would have to work harder, longer, and better than any other mechanic they’d ever had to make sure I proved myself every single day.
I didn’t just want them to think I was a good mechanic or to be happy I was around. I wanted them to think I was the best they had and feel like they wouldn’t be able to keep the company running without me. Possibly not the most realistic ambition considering the rest of their stable of mechanics had been with the company for many years and were exceptional at what they did. But a girl can dream.
Dragging myself reluctantly out of bed, I went into the bathroom for a shower I hoped would wake me up. By the time I got out, my usual morning energy was there, and I got ready quickly. Willa was still sound asleep when I crept into her room to kiss her goodbye. Flora was just arriving when I grabbed my bag and started for the door. I gave her a quick rundown of everything Willa needed to do during the day, reminded her again of my contact information while I was at work, and told her if she needed anything, to call me immediately. My daughter was where I drew the line of wanting to be totally professional. If she needed anything or something went wrong, I didn’t care who might be bothered by a phone call.
I got outside, took a deep breath, and headed toward the racing complex. I was far more nervous than I expected to be when I thought of seeing Darren again. Even though we’d agreed to be friends, in all honesty I wasn’t really sure I could manage that. I was the one who’d brought it up, who’d insisted on him agreeing that we would keep everything professional and focus only on being friends. But now I wondered if that was even feasible. Maybe I should haven’t mentioned it. Maybe I should have just kept my mouth closed after he said he wanted me to work at the complex. It was almost as though putting it out into the world that we needed to just be friends put extra pressure on me and gave my brain inspiration to remind me of what I actually felt about him.
As evidenced by the crazy sexy dreams I’d been having about him since I saw him. And the fact that his daughter was sleeping soundly at home.
I was still willing myself not to think about the dream from the night before when I got into the compound. When I walked into the main office building, Glenda, the receptionist, directed me to the HR office. That sounded very formal, and I was inexplicably intimidated until I got where she directed me and realized it was just Minette Freeman’s office. The elegant older woman sat at the desk deeply engrossed in something on her computer screen when I walked in.
“Good morning, Kelly!” she exclaimed when she noticed me. “Welcome.”
“Good morning, Minette. Thank you.”
“Please… Minnie,” she said. “Come on in and sit down. Let’s talk a bit before you head out to work.”
I nodded and sat in the chair across from her. The conversation was easy, and she made even potentially uncomfortable topics like confirming vacation time, paid time off, sick days, raise opportunities, and expectations casual and unintimidating. As we talked, I realized I really liked the older woman a lot, even if I was very aware s
he was Darren’s mother. And that she was doing everything she could to figure me out without me realizing it.
When we were finished talking, she stood and gestured for the door.
“You can head on down to the garage,” she said.
“Really?” I asked, not really meaning to, but so surprised I couldn’t hold it back.
“Of course,” she said. “Unless there’s something else you need to talk about.”
“No,” I told her, shaking my head. “I just figured someone would bring me down there or something.”
She laughed. “Did you forget how to get there?”
“No.”
“Then you don’t need anyone. We all think of this place as our second home, and that’s what it is for you now, too,” she told me.
The touching sentiment brought a smile to my face as I left the building and made my way through the lush green of the center of the complex and down to the garage. My heart trembled a bit when I saw Darren already inside, standing next to his father, as both men stared down at a bike they had partially dismantled. His grease-stained jeans and black tank top were hot as hell, and I had to wrench my eyes away from him to keep from drooling. Instead of letting myself get completely distracted by his sexiness, I didn’t hesitate and instead made my way right to the pieces of the bike. That was my job, after all, and I was going to do it. No matter how chiseled his arms looked or how well he filled out his jeans.
He looked up at me and smiled. I didn’t know if the hint of nerves I noticed in his eyes made me feel better because at least he felt the same way, or worse because seeing that nervousness was going to make it even harder to convince myself we were only friends.
“Hey there, Kelly,” Gus said, looking up at me.
“Good morning,” I said. “Looks like the two of you already got quite the start today. What are you up to?”
He gave me a rundown of what the two of them had been doing and why. He explained the issues Darren was having with the bike and his goals for improved performance and pointed out the different things they were considering trying. I listened carefully, organizing it all in my brain so I would know how to best work on what he needed.
“What would you recommend?” Gus finally asked when he was done.
It was a sincere question. The older man honestly wanted to have my input in the situation and know what I thought about their ideas. It didn’t feel like the tests I’d been put through by other companies when trying to land jobs.
But Gus didn’t use that tone. He really wanted to know, and it made me feel like he was completely confident in recommending me as their new hire. I was already a part of the team. Eager to live up to it, I pushed up my sleeves and dug right into work.
Crouching down to get closer to the machine, I rested my hands on it. I didn’t want to rush with my response to him. Sounding like an eager second grader participating in my first spelling bee wasn’t going to make me look like I knew what I was talking about. I needed to carefully go over everything the two men told me, compare it to what I was observing in the machine and its parts, and bring it all together into a cohesive response.
Not holding back from touching and handling the different parts, I talked Gus and Darren through every step I would take to mitigate the issues he was having and improve the performance of the bike. I already noticed a few problems that could easily be rectified and give him a dramatically improved ride experience. Part of me felt a little strange talking to the former owner of the racing company and the professional rider this way, breaking it down for them and implying there were things they didn’t see or know. But when I made myself step back from that, I realized it was silly to feel that way. Just because they were familiar with the bikes and worked on them frequently didn’t mean they had all the answers. I was a professional and damn good at what I did. If they didn’t need the insight, they wouldn’t have hired me.
They listened to me as I explained everything, then let me take the lead as we embarked on the actual repairs. Happiness and contentment filled me as I got my hands dirty in my favorite way. It was refreshing and exciting to be in a garage again, doing what I’d always loved. I didn’t even realize how long the three of us had been working when Darren’s phone trilled an alert. He wiped his hands before looking down at the phone.
“Ah,” he said. “Quentin ordered lunch. Time to eat.”
Gus immediately put down the tools he was working with and started for the door of the garage, but I kept working. Darren just said his brother ordered lunch, not who it was for, and I didn’t know if I was invited. I didn’t want to be presumptuous or create an awkward situation, so I just stayed where I was and kept going. But Gus walked behind me and clapped a hand down on my shoulder.
“Come on, Kelly. There are some sinks over here where we can wash up,” he said.
I smiled as I followed him, and we got cleaned up for lunch. Ten minutes later I was sitting at the edge of a picnic blanket in the big green field, my legs stretched out in front of me as I ate pizza and chatted with Quentin. A pretty woman with a round belly and big eyes came out and dropped down beside him, sighing happily as she rested her head on his shoulder. Everyone was so comfortable, so casual, it shocked me. But I was beginning to believe I was going to be permanently surprised by the people at Freeman Racing.
13
Darren
In the first two weeks Kelly worked at the complex, we fell into a steady routine. It became second nature to us pretty quickly. It felt good to have not just predictability, but reliability. I knew I could absolutely rely on her to be at the garage first thing in the morning, ready to tackle any challenges set ahead of her. I could also rely on her to have incredible insights about my bikes and my performance I never would have thought about. I had always considered myself fairly well versed in the mechanics of the bikes and even convinced myself I knew them in some intrinsic way nobody else did. But having Kelly around proved me wrong about that.
She was unlike all the other mechanics who had been on the complex for years. Not that they weren’t smart and skilled, which they absolutely were. Instead, it was as though she was able to explain things to me in a way they had never been able to. She could get past my subtly arrogant bullshit and tell me bluntly what I was wrong about, what I needed to do, and how she was going to make sure my problems went away so I could get things done. I trusted her and depended on her to keep me in check and stop me from getting in my own way, which I so frequently did. Being the quiet one of my brothers wasn’t just about being surrounded by three older siblings who were too loud and intense to let me get a word in edgewise. I had always simply been one to keep to myself, to be more of a lone wolf, reluctant to really trust or lean on anyone. I preferred to do things on my own and was usually holed up by myself in the garage tinkering away or doing lap after lap around the practice track rather than engaging with anyone.
Kelly broke me of that. She wouldn’t let it happen, and I could already feel myself better for her being there. We got into the rhythm of starting the morning talking about the repairs that were needed on which of the bikes. Many people were under the misconception that we only had one or two bikes. With only two riders in the company, a lot of people, even fans, thought it was just the two machines and that’s what all we had to deal with. What they didn’t realize was each of us actually had several bikes to ensure we had the proper equipment for each situation we might encounter. Racing bikes were different from exhibition bikes, which were different from show bikes. And we had multiples of each kind to ensure we were always prepared.
That didn’t even include the bikes on the complex for the side business of restoring and repairing them to sell. That was one of my oldest brother’s most brilliant ideas when he took over the company. Fans and motorcycle enthusiasts were constantly champing at the bit to purchase a bike we worked on. It was incredibly successful and brought in a huge amount of money. Some of my favorite memories of the company involved partnering with local ch
arities and using bikes we restored, and I rode a few times as auction items for fundraising. It was always fun to come up with new ways to customize the machines and make them more appealing. But it was also a lot of work.
The routine Kelly and I fell into made it easier to get even more done, increasing our productivity. After a few hours of working on the repairs and modifications to various bikes, we’d break for lunch. More often than not, that meant gathering with everyone else in the field to eat together. We rarely used the field before Merry came along. It was a beautiful place, and the pavilions made it ideal for gatherings or activities, but I barely even noticed it until she started spending more time in it.
A particular tree became her favorite spot for eating lunch, reading, or just working on days with nice weather. Her brother would come down from where he worked in accounting to have lunch with her. Then Glenda joined, then my brothers and parents. Gradually we’d all adopted the field as where we ate lunch when the weather was nice, and sometimes dinner when the days rang long and we couldn’t manage to get home in time.
After lunch we shifted our focus from repairs and maintenance to performance, and I filled the afternoons with practice laps and other tests. Dad would find his way to the garage at some point during the day and was always available to help with our next project, or to watch me go around the track. I enjoyed working with both of them. Having my father and Kelly there gave me a boost and improved my outlook tremendously.
Except that as the days kept easing past, I was getting the strong suspicion Kelly was hiding something. The feeling got stronger when she rushed off every day right as we were taking a break for lunch. I walked with Dad down to the field where Quentin and Merry were organizing box lunches and large containers of sides and desserts on one of the tables in a nearby pavilion. They ordered food for everyone more often than not these days, which was a nice change of pace from me throwing something together at the beginning of the day or, more often, saying I was going to order something and not bothering to stop. Having them get everybody together for lunch forced me to take a break during the day, which felt like it was a good step for my mental and physical health.
The Freeman Brothers: A Secret Baby Romance Collection Page 28
