by Zoë Burton
“I was sick to my stomach. I went back up to my apartment and threw up, then cried myself to sleep. I sent him a text the next morning, telling him I had seen him and that I did not want to see or hear from him again. My roommate, Charlotte, took the few things he had given me over to him in a box. I never asked her what she said or how he reacted, but I know she was violently angry when I first told her.”
Liz stared at her hands in her lap. She feared what she would see on Will’s face should she look up; she did not want his pity. When she finally did raise her eyes, she kept her gaze fixed past him. “That was a little over two years ago. I no longer miss him; I understand that he never truly loved me and that he did not respect me. I’m over it as much as I can be, but I’m a changed woman as a result.” She paused with a sigh. “He was bold and flirtatious. A lot like you. I’m afraid, Will. I’m afraid to open myself up like that again. I’m not sure I could survive having my heart ripped in two like that a second time. No matter how much I like you, and trust me, I like you very much, before I can make any decision about ‘us,' I need to know where you see our relationship going.” She looked back down again, thinking about how warm and safe she felt in Will’s presence, feelings so intense that she wondered now how she had ever thought herself in love with that other man. “And you need to understand that there will be no sex before marriage. I just can’t give myself away again without that lifetime commitment.”
As Liz poured her heart out, Will held her as close as she’d let him. He was angry with the jerk who had treated her like dirt, and if he knew the man, he would beat him into the ground. But, he was heartbroken for this strong, beautiful, capable woman who so feared to trust. He knew that he needed to be just as honest with her if he wished to keep her in his life. He spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, and I’m angry with him. I’d like to tear that man limb from limb, to be honest. You deserve so much better, and I hope that once I am done talking, you’ll let me be the one to give you all those better things.”
Tilting his head again, Will silently urged her to look at him. When she continued to stare at her hands, he gently lifted her chin with his bent index finger. “Look at me,” he entreated softly. When her gaze finally rose to meet his, he used that finger to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, caressing her cheek as he did so. “I may be flirty and confident, and I have certainly not led a celibate life, but I have never run around on a woman or broken up with one in a sneaky way. I’ve always been faithful, and I’ve ended every relationship face to face. Then, too, I have always dated popular or famous girls. Cheerleaders, models, actresses—that type, and most of the time we broke up because they cheated on me or could not handle the racing lifestyle and wanted out.” Will stroked Liz’s cheek with his fingers, pleased when she leaned her face toward his hand. “Still, my father raised me to be a gentleman, and no matter what a woman does, I treat her with respect. I understand completely how you felt when than ignoramus stepped out on you like that; I’ve experienced it for myself.”
Will’s lips lifted slightly into a small smile. “I have never met anyone like you before, Liz, and I’m not talking only about my physical reaction to you. You’re not superficial at all. When you figured out who I was, you did not get all giggly. You have never asked about my income, and I can see your discomfort every time I try to buy you something. You are not here with me now because you see dollar signs. That alone is enough to make me fall hard for you, you know.” Will grinned, smiling into her eyes when Liz’s lips curved up at his words. “You are intelligent and successful. You are beautiful, kind, and generous. And, you know almost as much about racing as I do. You love the sport, enjoy time at the track, and everyone on the circuit who has met you has told me how much they like you, including Coach.
“You want to know where I see our relationship going? I’ll tell you. I want to see you every morning when I wake up and every night when I go to sleep. I want you meeting me in Victory Lane after every win, and I want to hear your voice on the car’s radio at least once every race for the rest of my life. I know it might be too soon. You might need more time, to get to know me and what kind of man I am underneath. I’m willing to wait, Liz, for as long as it takes. And one day, when you’re ready; when you decide that you have seen enough and you’re sure of me, I’ll have a question for you.
“In the meantime, you can trust me to not pressure you for sex. If we are intimate on any level, it will be at your instigation and will only go as far as you are willing to go. You can trust me, Sweetheart. I promise you.”
Tears were streaming down Liz’s face. She so wanted to tell him right then that she loved him, but she couldn’t. Instead, she just said, “Thank you,” and leaned in to offer him a kiss.
True to his word, Will only let that kiss go as far as Liz was willing to, and the moment she began to back off, so did he.
Chapter Seven
Armed with Will’s reassurances, Liz tackled one more difficult subject: her family. “I need to talk to you about my mom.”
“Okay. She must be wonderful; she raised a gorgeous daughter.”
Liz laughed. “Thank you, but....” She sighed. This was so difficult! “My mom is rather…challenging.” Liz huffed. “Embarrassing is what she is. I know she loves us all, but she is obsessed with money. When she finds out who you are, all she is going to see are dollar signs. She’s not above trying to wheedle you into buying her something or ‘helping her out’ with a few bucks. She’s a hypochondriac, too, I swear! You’ll hear all about her ailments and how she’s sure to die any day now.
“That’s not all,” she forestalled Will when he opened his mouth to speak. “I think I told you a little about my youngest sister, Lydia?”
Will nodded, remembering that Lydia was rebellious, wild, and promiscuous.
“My mother encourages Lydia, in an indirect way. She laughs at my sister’s antics and does not punish her. Mom has often said that Lydia is the image of what Mom was as a teen. I know that Mom flirts with the neighbors, and there’s an old rumor that she and my friend Charlotte’s dad had an affair.”
“What does your dad say about all this?”
“He laughs at her. I honestly don’t think he cares what she does. They have not shared a bedroom for years. Dad runs his company from the basement of their house; that’s where he spends the majority of his time, and he prefers that we not invade his domain. I do his social media marketing, so he has to talk to me, but we usually just text, unless what we need to say is too complicated. Then, I’ll call. He prefers his home office to any of us, especially mom. We see him at meals, and that’s it.”
Will didn’t know what to say. Her description was totally different than what he had experience with his dad. “Okay, well….how do you feel about this?”
“I love my family, but I understand their faults. Jane and I share this apartment because we both desperately needed to get out of our parent’s house, but we could not afford to live alone.” Suddenly feeling awkward and shy again, Liz looked at her hands, one of which was now wrapped in Will’s much larger one. “She and I both have had boyfriends literally turn and run after they meet our family, especially our mom. I need to warn you, too, that Dad takes delight in making guys feel uncomfortable. He will probably do his best to push your buttons. I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. We all have family members that embarrass us. I have an aunt, one you have not yet met, who makes life miserable for the rest of us. She keeps claiming that my mom wanted me to marry her daughter. Dad denies it, which makes me happy. I know it’s legal in something like twenty-four states to marry your cousin, but I have no desire to go down that road.”
“Why does she insist, then?”
Will shrugged and grimaced. “She says it’s a family tradition. She’s big into genealogy and says that every generation has at least one couple that married as cousins. She also goes on about local politics and her office on the county board of
trustees, and I suspect that she thinks that if Anne and I married, we’d be consolidating two wealthy families and therefore she’d somehow have more power. I’m not sure I understand her thinking, and I certainly don’t want to marry for something like that.”
“I don’t blame you there.” The two fell silent for a few minutes, thinking about each other, their respective families, and the kind of life they might have together. A thought popped into Liz’s head that she felt she needed to clear up right away. “Will,” she said, squeezing his hand, “I do love my family, but I don’t need to live near them, except maybe for Jane and possibly Mary. I just wanted you to know.”
Will was relieved to hear this, but he didn’t want to judge people he had never met. “I’m glad you told me.” He smiled into her eyes and leaned forward, asking for another kiss. To his delight, Liz granted it.
~~~***~~~
The day before Will and Charles had to leave, the girls took him to meet their parents. Jane had done as her sister had, and spoken to Bingley about them, expressing to him the same fears and worries and receiving the same assurances that Will had given Liz.
The visit went as everyone expected. Mrs. Bennet was alternately probing into their incomes, making subtle requests for money and luxury items, and explaining her numerous ailments in more detail than anyone wished to hear. Will, especially, was disgusted, and he had a hard time concealing his feelings. If he did not already know that Liz was the complete opposite of her mother, he’d have done as her other boyfriends did and run for the hills.
Mr. Bennet was no better, and Liz was wise to warn Will that her father would try to make sport of him and his career. However, Will was neither uneducated nor slow-witted, and was able to successfully parry every jab made at him.
Charles, of course, somehow managed to escape Mr. Bennet’s tongue. He always avoids this stuff. I wish I knew how.
The three youngest sisters were a study in contrasts. Mary, who was home from college for a few days, stepped in to help her elder sisters distract her parents. It was obvious that she was embarrassed by them. Kitty and Lydia were oblivious to any tension. They flirted with Will and Charles and proclaimed their weekend plans to “do it” with their boyfriends loudly throughout dinner. Jane and Liz and their guys were grateful that the two girls left the house immediately after dinner.
At the end of the day, though, everyone made it through the visit. The two couples were glad to leave the Bennets to their eccentricities. Will and Bingley spent a couple hours and lots of kisses making sure their girls understood that nothing would stand in the way of their relationships.
~~~***~~~
When Will and Charles returned to North Carolina, it was with the knowledge that their week with Liz and Jane was their last vacation until the end of the season. The last eleven races were going to be intense, with every driver furiously chasing the points that would make him a winner.
Will made sure that Liz and Jane attended every weekend. If he or Bingley could not fly to Ohio to get them, one of DRI’s corporate pilots did. Will moved into his friend’s motorhome for the rest of the season, as well, so Liz and Jane did not have to bunk with his dad. As much as Will wanted Liz in his bed, he was not going to push her. Every time they were together, she became more precious to him. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wanted to marry her, and he was eager for any sign that she was ready. In an effort to wine and dine her, Will selected a different bouquet of flowers to have sent to her every day, and when he was not meeting his obligations as a driver, they explored the area around each track, eating in the restaurants, seeing the sights, and holding hands. Every night, Will left her at the door to the motorhome, having given her a long, slow, deep kiss that left both of them breathless.
That sign Will had been looking for came three races from the end of the season. The series was racing in Texas, a mile-and-a-half, mostly flat track that Will was very good at. Will started in first place, on the pole position, and chose the inside lane to start the race. Being out in front did wonderful things for his car, and he won the first two stages of the race. With three laps to go, he was racing hard to keep one of the sport’s young guns, Jasper Lindhurst, behind him.
Will caught up to traffic that was laps down, losing his momentum. Jasper came up hard to his left. Will moved down the track to block him, but Jasper didn’t back off. He bumped Will, lifting the tires of Will’s car off the track and causing it to spin. Will hit the outside wall, hard, and spun down to the infield. He was able to catch it, though, and drive to pit road. He was, however, furious.
As per the rules, Will’s car went behind the wall into the garage area and Will himself went to the infield care center for a checkup. Jason and Coach were waiting for him when he got there, with Liz between them.
Uncertain what she was allowed to do, Liz fidgeted, wanting to touch him and make sure he was ok, but not wanting to do something wrong. As soon as he smiled at her, though, Liz threw herself at Will, holding him tightly to her.
Will knew at that moment that she was his for the asking. With a smile on his face, he buried his lips in her neck and whispered assurances to her. When she loosened her hold, he kissed her with everything he had, rejoicing when she returned it. It took a cough from Jason and a nudge from Coach to separate them.
Once Will was examined and released, he and Liz followed his father and crew chief back to the garage. The race had ended, of course, and Jasper was heading toward Victory Lane. Seeing the wrecked car fired Liz up again, this time not in fear of an injury to the man she knew she loved, but in anger at the driver who cost him a win and endangered his life. Before anyone knew what she was about, Liz was marching through the garage toward the celebration, fire in her eyes.
By the time Will realized she was gone and started searching for her, Liz had reached pit road. Jasper, who had won the race while Will was still in infield care, was doing his burnout as his crew celebrated in their pit stall. His girlfriend, Selena Parker, who had seen the race from atop his pit box, was the last one down. Her descent was assisted by an irate Liz, who grabbed the girl by the back of her skimpy sundress and hauled her backward off the ladder. Screaming in outrage, Selena turned, ready to threaten a lawsuit on whichever crew member dared to touch her. She was shocked into silence to see Liz instead. By the time Selena had gathered her wits, Liz had her slammed up against the pit box, and was nose to nose with her.
“Your boyfriend could have killed mine today! You need to tell him to back off. His driving sucks as bad as his attitude!”
Shoving Liz away from her, Selena yelled back. “It’s not his fault your old man is slow. Get out of my face before I knock you out!”
Never one to allow another person to have the last word when she was this angry, Liz fired another salvo, to which Selena took such offense that she slapped Liz so hard it could be heard ten feet away. Liz, who had frequently engaged in fisticuffs with the neighborhood boys growing up, was not about to let that pass. Her fist made contact with Selena’s jaw, knocking the other girl backward. She drew it back for a second swing when she found herself picked up and spun the other direction.
Will had quickly surmised where Liz had taken off to, but she had a far enough head start that he had to run to catch up. Yelling back to his crew, he sprinted for pit road. He paused upon reaching it, trying to remember where Jasper’s pit box was. The outraged scream rising above the sounds of celebration told him where to go. Seeing Liz take her first swing just as he arrived at the pit stall, he lunged to grab her before the second could connect. He picked her up from behind and turned, swinging her away. She fought him hard, so angry she didn’t recognize his voice at first.
“Easy, Sweetheart. Ow!” He cried out when her flailing fist made contact with his eye. “Settle down, Darlin’!” He tightened his grip, moving his head to the other side of hers from that lethal fist. By this time, his crew, who had followed him, had positioned themselves between them and Selena. Jasper’s crew had pulled
Selena away from the fray, but the two teams were now hurling insults at each other, as well. Race officials, always alert for flaring tempers, maneuvered themselves between the two groups and urged Will’s team to move away. After a few more tense moments, the sides separated, with Jasper’s team heading to pit road with Selena, and Liz, Will, and his team heading back to the garage.
Chapter Eight
It took Liz a few minutes to understand who had hold of her. It was only when her wild punch caused Will to cry out that she realized it was he and not a member of Jasper’s crew. She immediately stopped fighting, though she did not relax immediately. Will had to spend several minutes talking softly to her before Liz gave up the notion of darkening Selena’s lights, and Jasper’s along with them. Soon, though, Will’s deep, soothing voice had calmed her, and she was able to walk away with the rest of the group.
Jason intercepted them before they got far. “Palmer wants to see you in the hauler. Both of you.”
“Okay, we’ll head over there right now. Thanks.” Will nodded to his crew chief and gripped Liz’s hand tighter.
“SCRA’s hauler?” Why do any of them want to see me?”
“Because you kicked another driver’s girlfriend’s heiney and they want to discourage you from doing it again.” Will laughed as Liz’s eyes grew wide and her mouth formed an “O.”
