by Alice Ward
“Prosthetic arms that could really help him run in the six-figure range,” I explained, testing him out.
He nodded. Holy shit, UnCaged Fitness didn’t just want me. They really wanted me, with double exclamation points. I wondered if I should have him pinch me, but as hot as he was, and as excited as I was, I didn’t think there was enough to stop me from jumping him once skin-to-skin contact was initiated.
He was still waiting for more demands, but I came up blank.
To fill the space, I added, “And of course, Brody will have more demands.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“So what do you want from me?” My eyes trailed over to the bracelet on his tanned forearm, mingling with cinnamon-colored hair. Most everyone had one of those things nowadays, but I always thought I’d beat the shit out of any device that told me to get up and move when I didn’t want to. Besides that, I wasn’t tech. His was camo-colored and looked like an upgraded model. I pointed to his wrist. “You using me to advertise those thingies?”
He looked down at his wrist, then pulled it off and nodded. He touched a button, and a screen lit up. “Yeah. The CageFree,” he said, passing it over to me.
The CageFree was practically a household name, but I’d never paid attention to them before. I noticed it was, at the moment, giving his heart rate, a steady sixty beats per minute. Didn’t exactly look freeing to me. I regarded it with narrowed, skeptical eyes.
“You have one?” he asked.
“Hell, no,” I said dismissively before I realized what I’d said. “I mean—”
“You will have to wear one, of course. As part of the sponsorship,” he said, then added, with great finality, “Everywhere.”
“Everywhere?” I raised an eyebrow. “So if you see me without it, you’ll…?”
“Would I see you without it?” he asked, testing me.
When had this changed? A minute ago, we’d been at each other’s throats. Now, he was looking at me, a wolfish, up-to-no-good glint in his eyes. Was he now… flirting with me?
I pretended to think for a moment. “Probably not, unless you have a penchant for spying on your business associates or whatever you call them while they’re using the shower.”
That shut him down. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. And part of me felt bad about it. I knew I was here for business, but something about Locke Cage made me want to press things, just to see how far they could go.
Chapter Six
Locke
I studied her, wondering what the hell had gotten into me.
When I said I wanted her, it wasn’t purely as a sponsor. Actually, it wasn’t even a little bit about that. Fuck NASCAR, that was my motto. But now? My blood was pumping, my every sense was heightened, and all I could think about was what it would be like to undress her, baring those perky breasts, licking those nipples as she tangled her fingers in my hair.
I’d been come on to a thousand times, but never once had I been so compelled to break my code of office ethics and make a move on one of my potential assets. Maybe I still had a chip on my shoulder against hot women, since they were the ones who’d teased me mercilessly in school. These days, I used them for what I needed and cut them loose, never trying to impress them or letting them see me want them. But now? I couldn’t help it. The cheesy lines had slipped out so easily. I felt myself working to curry her favor, to earn her respect.
I want you. She’d probably been told that a million times by men. And had I really just insinuated I wanted to see her naked? She shut me down each time, trying to keep this professional.
And good thing. Thank god for her morals. Because I was this close to breaking my restraint. This close to reaching across the table, pulling up that skirt, and taking her right there.
Instead, I said, “All right. Could you please call the others back in, Miss James?” After all, I couldn’t stand. I was stuck behind the table, me and my raging hard-on.
She did as I asked, which only made things worse because I had a perfect view of her tight ass as she retreated. When they returned, my sister gave me a curious look as she settled into her seat. This was how the meetings usually went. We felt potential sponsors out during a lavish meal, and if it all seemed agreeable, we invited them back to headquarters to discuss the program in more detail. “All good?” she asked, looking for the signal to proceed.
I knew she was thinking that this was doomed, from the way Emma and I had been circling each other like sharks, but I nodded.
“I believe we’ve overcome our differences of opinion.” I looked toward Emma to agree with me. She nodded. “You may continue.”
Laura did a double take at me, a vaguely astonished expression on her face. “If all these preliminary details sound favorable to you, we invite you to come to our headquarters. We have a short video presentation for you, and then we can get into the nitty-gritty of what this sponsorship entails.”
We had dessert, or at least Emma had an enormous brownie sundae while I wondered how she managed to keep such a tight body. We chitchatted about the weather and about upcoming races, and how the town came alive in February when the Daytona 500 got the season started. It gave my cock the time it desperately needed to settle down.
I couldn’t stop looking at her, studying the way she licked her lips as she ate, the way her long fingers brushed the hair from her face. The other women in our ads were beautiful, strong, and powerful. But Emma undoubtedly added something else — raw sexuality that was offset by an innocence I couldn’t explain.
Her ad wouldn’t just empower — it would titillate. I knew she’d captivate people in the ad, male and female.
A stab of jealousy hit me in the gut. I didn’t want other men ogling her.
I wanted her all to myself.
Damn. What the hell was I thinking? Pissed at myself, I looked up and noticed that her brother was staring at me, eyes narrowed.
Shit. I’d given that look to enough men who’d come on to Laura, so I knew exactly what it meant. It meant that if I weren’t dangling sponsorship papers over their heads, I’d already be toast, with his fist likely up my nose.
I cleared my throat and tried to focus. “Shall we be off, then?” I said, pulling my blazer closed as I stood, just in case the hard-on made a reappearance.
We had three Town Cars waiting at the curb, and the idea was that Laura and I would ride with the prospective assets. When I climbed into the cabin of the car and sat across from Emma, I realized that her skirt was so short that even though she kept her legs closed, I could see right up in that space between her thighs, to her pink underwear.
Pink. So she was feminine, underneath all that motor oil and grease. I wondered what other secrets she held, deep within… what other mysteries I could unravel.
My cock pulsed again. Those long legs, that pink triangle, and beneath it, that sweet pussy…
I shifted my gaze and landed right on Brody. His lips curled in a snarl, his eyes hard. I knew I might as well have had a thought bubble over my head that said I want to fuck your sister because, without a doubt, he looked even more pissed off than before.
I cleared my throat. “So what do you think of Daytona?” I asked, this time trying to include them both so he wouldn’t think I was zoning in on his sister, even though I had been.
She smiled. “It’s nice here. I’d love to see the speedway.”
“You will. We’ll get you a tour. Especially since you’ll be racing there in February.”
She blinked, then froze. “What?”
I relished seeing her off her game. “Didn’t we tell you? This sponsorship is going all the way. We want you to compete in the Monster Cup Series, and my goal is to get you into the Daytona 500.”
She looked at me like I was insane. “But I’ve never been in Monster Cup races before. Just Xfinity. I’d have to place in a hell of a lot more races, you know, to do that.”
I grinned at her. “And I’m betting millions of dollars that says you will.
We want to be the primary sponsor for all your races, Miss James. As many as we can get you in over the next two years at least. Because we want you to earn enough points to get into Daytona.”
She blanched. “All my races? That could seriously cost…” She shook her head, and I could practically see her attempt to count all the zeros. Her voice was barely a breath. “Are you sure? I-I can’t—”
“You said that word wasn’t in your vocabulary, Miss James.” I smiled smugly as I sensed Laura’s eyes bulging out next to me. We’d never had a sponsorship that big before, and she was my purse strings.
Brody was finally smiling. He reached over and dropped a hand on his sister’s knee, squeezing it, and then they hugged in celebration. She smiled broadly at me, thanking me so effusively I thought she might lean over and hug me too.
But I knew she had no idea what she was in for. I was going to work her, make sure she earned every cent of that sponsorship. I just need to make sure I stuck to ways that wouldn’t get me slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit.
The UnCaged Fitness Headquarters was built on a large twenty-acre property I’d secured just outside of Daytona, right on the Halifax River, in a town called Holly Hill. For the first few years, we’d been set up in the city proper, but as our business and number of employees grew, we had to search for another home base to join our operations offices on the West Coast and in New York.
This building was my baby since I’d helped build it from the ground up, in much the way I’d built my business. It was constructed to bring in as much natural light as possible, and it was so energy efficient that it was hailed as a model for other businesses in green and environmentally conscious design. The offices looked like living rooms, there were plenty of spaces to go recharge, a massive on-site gym, and the on-site cafeteria served menu items from UnCaged Online, our lifestyle website featuring all things fitness.
When we pulled up to the front of the enormous beige stucco building, I explained this to the Jameses. Emma looked less than impressed, as usual. She probably thought I was coming off as a pretty boy again. And yes, I may have liked sweat and sand, but dirt, not so much. I made a mental note to try to get some dirt under my fingernails later, if that would impress her. What the hell was wrong with me? When had I ever wanted to impress any woman?
When we got them into the conference room and lowered the screen to show the movie, a story about my humble beginnings as a geeky computer programmer fifteen years ago, a “certifiable genius” who’d developed his first fitness app in the garage of his modest home in Holly Hill, then went on to sell it at the age of seventeen for a tidy eight-figure sum. Blah, blah, blah, wasn’t I wonderful? I hated that stupid movie and made a mental note to ask Laura to scrap it as soon as possible.
I stepped outside, breathing hard, running my hands through my hair as I sat on a nearby couch.
Laura came out only a second later and saw me vising my head in my hands. “What?” She looked concerned.
“That movie is shit,” I grumbled. “It needs updating. Especially the part about me. It’s embarrassing.”
“No, it’s not. There’s no pictures of you in it, Pudge.”
That’s for damn sure. I’d never let that movie survive otherwise. “No, but it should be more about the company. Not about me.”
“Whatever.” She sat down next to me, grinning as she looked through her emails on her phone. “Is she not perfect, like I told you?”
“Oh, yeah, she’s perfect,” I agreed. A perfect way to ruin my concentration completely.
“But millions of dollars worth? We’re seriously looking at ten million at least. For all the races.” She crossed her arms with a raise of an eyebrow, probably ruing all the changes she’d have to make to the already drafted contracts. We’d talked about a couple million, a few races. We said that maybe we’d up it to five, if the meeting went well and our outlook was especially auspicious.
But all of them?
UnCaged was big, but a seven-figure sponsorship wasn’t a drop in the bucket to us. I’d just gone and blown our entire sponsorship budget for the year. Emma James had made me lose my mind completely. And I knew this was just the beginning.
I nodded and slumped against the wall, hoping this was a decision I was making with my head and not my dick. “Yep. All of them.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Emma
Things went like a whirlwind after that trip to Daytona. From the time I called my dad, telling him the miraculous news two weeks ago, everything had gone so fast.
When I found myself at the Volunteer Speedway for my last race as an independent, I had to stop myself from breaking down in tears.
The official announcement of the sponsorship hadn’t been released, so I’d been instructed to keep it a secret, even from my crew. But after my trip to Daytona, the rumors had been swirling, and when the press asked me, I deflected, trying to follow the contract I’d signed to the letter. I was convinced I’d do something stupid and have the whole thing come crashing down.
And Brody didn’t help. He kept offering sage advice that felt more like a threat, causing my nerves to tighten even more. Things like, “Enjoy it but don’t take it for granted because you’ll only get this one shot. Things like this don’t happen every day, and probably won’t happen again in our lifetime.” He was such the fortune cookie these days, moping around introspectively, but I got it. All the things he wanted for his life were happening to me.
Jonesy thought it was just nerves. And it was partly that, but not about the race. It was like I couldn’t even breathe. Every time I turned around, we were fielding another call from someone wanting to firm up a detail or ask me my preferences on something. It only went to show me that I had a lot riding on my racing.
Brody looked my way but didn’t meet my eyes. “Good luck.”
It was so hard to be happy when he was so terribly sad. “Thanks.”
But everything about this felt scary and somewhat sad, like an ending rather than a beginning. Our last ride in the rickety camper that broke down at least once a month. Our last cheap, no-frills meal at a truck stop Dairy Queen and overnight stay at a fleabag motel. Truthfully, though I complained about those things, I’d loved every minute of it. From now on, I knew everything would be Locke Cage-style — pretty and top-of-the-line.
“No comment,” I said to a reporter as I stepped out of the camper. God, they were on me like fleas on a dog, huddling outside, ready to jump on me given a moment’s notice. I’d never had press like this before, so I knew they’d definitely gotten wind of the UnCaged agreement.
Jay and Dan Sanderson were getting my car, a white Camaro, ready for the race. Helmet stuffed under my arm, I walked toward it, feeling sentimental. It’d be retired from this type of racing after this, so I was mostly checking it out, but they leaned against it, watching me approach as if I was checking them out. “What do those reporters want with you?”
“They wanted to talk to you, actually,” I told them, petting my Camaro’s hood. “I said you didn’t do that. Told them you just grunt and make animal noises.”
Jay raked his eyes over me. “Going to come in dead last again?”
“Depends on how fast you are with the tires,” I said, ignoring them, wondering if it would look too desperate if I kissed my car.
“I think it depends more on the driver,” Jay said, elbowing his brother. “And women like you are only good for one thing. Why don’t you bring that tight ass over here and sit on my face where you belong?”
I smiled sweetly and gave him the finger. It was going to be so sweet to fire them after tonight and detail all the reasons they wouldn’t be going with me to Daytona. “Why don’t you sit on this?”
The other brother crossed his arms. “I don’t know why we’re working here so hard with no reward. You gotta give us something.”
I wiped imaginary dust off the car’s windshield. “How about if I just win this here race, and then I’ll give you the chance to eat your wo
rds?”
Jay scoffed. “You? Win? Please. Don’t make me laugh.”
I shrugged. If I did, I’d be the first woman ever to even place on this oval. Didn’t matter if I did or didn’t. I had the means now to hire anyone I wanted for my pit crew. Jonesy, Tom, and Albert were in, but the Sanderson brothers? Don’t let the door hit you in the ass. Still, I wanted to win this race, mostly because I wanted to prove to Locke that he’d made a solid investment.
And I wanted to win it for me.
I kissed my father and waved to Brody, who’d started coming to some of my races again, even though I saw the pain being there caused him. I wanted to win for him too. I wanted him to be proud, to know his own sacrifice wasn’t being wasted.
Please let me win.
But even as I asked the prayer, there wasn’t the desperation behind it that there was before. I had a sense of security, a knowing that I was wanted for me… for me… that seemed to release some of the worry.
When I slid through the window, buckled in, and wrapped my gloved hands around the steering wheel, I actually felt relaxed, mostly. I took a deep breath, letting all the frustrations go.
Someone wanted me. Locke Cage. UnCaged. They wanted me, I reminded myself.
I rarely felt in control anywhere else, but right then, behind the wheel, I felt powerful. I was at home, right here, more than any other place in the world. In the quiet of the cabin, I closed my eyes and let the calm seep in. When I maneuvered to the starting line, I felt good.
And I knew it like I knew my own name.
I was going to kick ass.
Hell yeah… I was going to drive like a girl.
I did just that. I stayed in the front from the beginning — my signature move — and I never let anyone get ahead of me. It was just a dirt track, but I’d grown up racing on dirt tracks, and I relished the way the tires hugged the ground. Loved the slide. Loved the way the dirt rose around me, casting everything in a dusty brown glow. Loved the way it got in my every pore, and hell, I even liked choking on it. With my body in the seat, tires screaming below me, I had the absolute time of my life.
