“What’s the matter?” Steve asks, propping himself up on his elbow, and I trace my hand over his huge bicep which flexes without him even trying.
I’m just about to tell him when the door chimes again, making Steve groan and pull a pillow over his face as he slumps onto his back.
“Wait until they go away,” his muted voice tells me from under the pillow, but the door won’t stop buzzing and after a minute it turns into knocking.
Heavy knocking.
I start to get frightened, but Steve’s more annoyed than anything else. He tosses a robe around himself and storms to the door, which I hear him tearing open from the bedroom.
“Oh! Mr. Billings,” I hear him murmur, making my heart freeze as I cover myself up, swearing to myself as I realize Steve’s just pinched my robe and the nearest one is in the bathroom.
I decide to stay put, craning my ear to see if I can hear better as they both move into the lounge area of the suite.
“Sorry if I woke you son… got a lot on my mind… need to have a bit of a pow-wow before the race though. Before anything else happens, really,” I hear the older man saying with what sounds like a heavy, reluctant tone in his usually sprightly southern voice.
Once I know it’s safe, I slip out of bed and creep across the doorway to the bathroom where my bag is. I finally get dressed in some of my own clothes quietly, but I’m still not sure if I should come out or not.
“Thanks for sending on my things,” I hear Steve say absently, and I can see the old man’s hand is up as I peek around the door frame.
I can’t help it.
“Steve, I’ll cut to the quick,” he says gruffly. “Mike, the new head mechanic, your buddy. I hear he’s done great things so far, saved us a ton with his new ideas… a little unconventional, but well within the rules and his fresh perspective is just what this team needs.”
“But?” I hear Steve asking, his own voice dropping low.
“But,” Buford continues. I can see them both now, I’ve stuck my head all the way around the door and can see the back of his head as he talks to Steve, who’s trying not to look at me.
“But it looks like you taking a fancy to his daughter isn’t helping things any. I just got word he’s already quit and wants blood… your blood to be exact,” he says, settling back into his seat a little, letting one of his arms rest along the back of the couch.
“Mr. Billing,” Steve starts.
“Call me Buford, boy. Mr. Billings is for a different time and place, we need to sort this out, Steve. I need you behind the wheel and I also need…” but he trails off.
“You also need what?” Steve asks, a hint of annoyance coming back into his voice.
“You can come out now, Missy,” Buford says, tilting his head before turning it to face me then patting the space next to him on the couch.
“C’mon now, don’t be shy. This is as much about you as young Steven here, or your dad.”
Steve shoots me a confused and slightly angry look, but something about Buford Billings has me coming around. Before I know it, I’ve trotted over silently and taken a seat next to him.
He’s looking at me with a warm smile and what I could only describe as nostalgia on his face, like he’s looking at an old photograph or something.
Steve stands up suddenly. “What the hell’s all this about!” he demands, but Buford, and I, find our hands gently going up and ushering Steve back to his seat.
“It’s alright, Steve,” I hear myself reassuring him, looking over to the older man again. “Isn’t it?” I ask him, feeling his hand in mine and giving it a squeeze.
“It certainly is, my dear,” he says, clearing his throat and ignoring a now fuming Steve.
“I had a daughter, Steve. A long time ago. She’s no longer with us, rest her soul… but before she left us, she had a child. A child she didn’t keep. A child until recently I never even knew existed.”
Buford pauses for a moment, and I figure it’s for effect but I can feel his hand starting to tremble a little in mine.
Steve settles down instantly, and looking from Buford to me, his eyes a question, but I don’t have an answer for him.
“I looked into your dad’s employee records, his whole history before I hired Steve,” he says softly, looking over at me with a tear at the corner of each of his pale gray eyes.
“I’m certain enough, without wanting to spoil the life you already have, Penny… that my baby girl was your biological mom.”
“So you hired me just to get Penny,” Steve says with a dry, almost sarcastic tone. “Why not just call her up and tell her? Why all the bluff of hiring me?” he says, looking over to me and I can tell he wants to hold me. Wants me to go to him.
Buford shakes his head. “I hired you because you’re the best damn driver in the country!” he exclaims. “My business with Penny, with her dad… that’s something else and something I’d prefer to keep amongst ourselves for the time being.”
He leans in close to me, patting the hand holding his. “That father of yours, he’s got enough to deal with right now, eh?” he adds with a sly wink and then a broad smile which he shares with both Steve and me.
“You don’t mind?” Steve asks.
“Hell, no I don’t mind, boy. You ask a lot of questions! I’ll have words with Mike, don’t you worry about that. We need you two to focus on the job at hand, not trying to beat each other up,” he exclaims again, sounding genuinely irritated, but settling himself down again once he looks at me.
“I had love, true love just the once in my life, Penny. And those were the happiest years of my life. If you and Steve can get even just a hint of that… Well, I’m all for it.”
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” I tell them both.
I should feel shocked, or sad about family passing I never met, but my dad’s raised me from a baby and he’s the only family I’ve ever known.
Plus, I’m keen to start a family of my own, not chase ghosts from the past.
“Now then, Steve,” Buford says, taking his hands back and drying his eyes discreetly with a handkerchief before assuming his usual blustery personality.
“We’ve got a race to win tomorrow and I don’t want to see any more car’s wrecked, got it?” he asks, shooting me another sly wink.
“Yes sir!” Steve says, standing up to shake his hand.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Steve
The dream job, the dream girl… the whole day having developed an extra surreal, fairy tale type feeling to it but Penny stays the same. The news doesn’t change her a bit.
Buford stays and we have a late dinner together once I finally get changed. We talk about a lot of things, none of them to do with racing or Penny being his biological granddaughter.
We sleep like two exhausted children and I wake up feeling like a new man. Primed with energy and focus, happy I didn’t dream Penny and me and ready for the qualifying rounds of the second race of my new career.
Penny moves around a bit in her sleep, and I wake to see her facing away from me, which I don’t like, but the sheets have come off her and that fine rear end of hers is the best good morning I’ve had in ages.
I sigh with satisfaction, wanting so bad to touch her all over, but knowing it might change the view, so I just lay back and watch her as long as I can before she finally starts to stir.
Her hand absently reaches behind her and finds me hot and hard, the result of me having stared at her for so long.
“You’re up early,” she yawns, smiling to herself without loosening her grip on me for a second.
“I watched you for a while, didn’t want to wake you,” I murmur, letting my hands run over her shoulder, down to her hip.
“You should’ve woken me,” she says, matter of fact, turning to glancing down at my hardness.
“What’s that saying about no sex before a game?” she asks dreamily.
“I have no idea,” I tell her, rolling onto my back as she shivers a long breath in as
she straddles me, fishing behind her to guide me inside her again.
“I’m pretty sure that’s only boxers and football players,” she coos, gasping as she slowly eases herself onto me. I let both my hands rest on her ample chest, slowly working in circles before squeezing them harder and in time with the rhythm she sets for herself.
“I’ll be late for qualifying,” I caution her, not even thinking about cars or the track. Not even thinking about her dad either.
“It’s alright,” she assures me. “I have connections, you can be a little late.”
Everything’s so different, but it’s exactly the same. True to his word, Buford hasn’t said anything and the team manager, his other grandchild is oblivious to everything that’s happened, and he even makes sure to keep Mike and me at a sensible distance throughout qualifying.
Buford must’ve had words with Mike, because he only juts his chin in recognition of me when he sees me, but hugs Penny and acts like nothing’s happened, which I can tell makes Penny feel a lot better too.
The car’s perfect, and I qualify first on the grid again. This time around, my mind is on the race and Penny, and I feel more confident knowing that at least one of those, the most important one, is already mine.
The race? Doesn’t exactly go to plan and I come second place.
I know Buford will be mad, he promised me rewards only if I win races, but I can’t help thinking I’ve already won. With Penny waiting for me in the garage after I cross the finish line, a cup, and prize money… even Buford’s praise, none of it means much compared to having Penny there.
I feel a little guilty though, and notice Buford hovering around the pit but ignoring me, staying out of sight from Penny too. Mike only gives me a distant look and the crew themselves seem a little disappointed.
Penny’s happy to see me though, and without thinking twice, she kisses me the way I want her to, and I kiss her right back, holding her close and picking her as I turn us both around.
Our own victory dance, even if I did only get second place, I’m a winner with her in my arms.
“I’ve got after race stuff to do,” I whisper in her ear. “Don’t go too far though, okay?”
She nods and I see both Buford and Mike reappear in the garage, talking quietly among themselves before a few other crew members get involved, a mild ripple of excitement running through the garage.
“What’s up?” I ask, stepping over to them and figuring I may as well take what’s coming to me.
“Protest,” Mike says, looking past me.
“You didn’t get second,” Buford says, knitting his brow.
I cross my own. “That doesn’t make sense,” I say. “I was second across the line, third was three lengths back.”
Both Buford and Mike smile, unable to hold it back any longer.
“Mike here lodged the protest. He reckons he saw some illegal mechanics on the first place teams car this morning, turns out he was right. You won, Steve… you’re the winner… came in first after all!”
Mike holds out his hand, which I take in my own, pumping it hard before embracing him. “You didn’t have to say anything,” I tell him.
“Yeah I did,” he reminds me. “You won fair and square, plus you’re the better driver.”
“And a better friend?” I ask, not meaning to, but needing to broach the topic at some point.
“Just make her happy Steve, love her and keep her safe, like I know you will,” he says, bumping his chest into mine as his hand slaps my back.
“I will, Mike. You know I will,” I tell him, feeling my heart ease back into place, knowing I’ve found the love of my life and kept my best friend in the process.
“Just as it should be too!’ Buford exclaims, putting his arm around Penny as she joins us.
“What’s going on?” she asks, looking from one of us to the next.
“Oh, just putting things back in their place, my dear. Just as they should be,” Buford says, patting me on the back and giving me one of his sly winks.
“I think a celebration might be in order,” he says, a twinkle in his gray eyes.
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER
Penny
Buford, he won’t let me call him grandpa Billings, ‘Makes me sound so damned old’ he keeps telling me. He’s officially retired from most of his business dealings, spending his time doing what he loves best; setting up new business dealings.
His grandson, Benson, took the news there was extra family nobody knew about well and didn’t even blink, but it turns out he’s the son of Buford’s only son, who lives overseas, so we’re related but not directly. He’s not my brother.
Steve won every race of the season, going to the championship too and becoming the first rookie champ to also retire from racing in the same season.
“I won’t race if you don’t want me to,” he told me, even though I knew how much he loved it, how much passion he had for it, but I had my reasons.
“You really don’t want me to?” he asked, expecting me to change my mind.
“Just trust me, okay?” I asked him, more relieved than I could say once he agreed without question.
“As long as I have you, Penny nothing else matters. I can still mess around with the team at the track though, right?” he asked.
“Sure, just don’t race,” I told him, half-joking but deadly serious.
He took it well, and still has all these weeks later, even though I feel like I’m getting under his feet some days.
“I just need someone to help with all this Buford business,” I tell him, feeling dizzy again, feeling sick.
The catch of being introduced into the Billings dynasty? Everyone has to work for their share, there’s no slacking and once Buford decided to hang up most of his oil and all of his racing responsibilities, it became a full time job for me to even try and get my head around exactly what it is I manage and how much we own now.
I didn’t have to take it on, but Buford assured me it was easy. “Just a few emails and phone calls every day… the odd meeting or charity dinner here and there,” he said.
I’m still waiting for the easy part, but it’s only been a few months, and Steve’s been nothing but supportive, helping me even more now that he’s quit racing.
“We have to go to this one,” he reminds me, holding up an invitation. “It’s for Buford, his retirement dinner tonight,” Steve says consolingly, but looking worried though. I can tell when he’s worried because he always looks at me like I’m made of glass and about to break.
“You okay, sweetheart?” he asks, gently holding me and pressing the back of his hand to my head.
“I just feel… I just…”
I can’t even finish my sentence because I have to rush past Steve to the bathroom, without having time to even close the door before I get sick
“That’s it!” Steve exclaims firmly. I hear his heavy steps down the hall and then his voice on the phone.
“What are you doing?” I try to call out, heaving again and not being able to even speak while another wave of nausea runs through me.
“I’m calling Doctor Fanning,” I hear him calling back to me, followed by “Are you alright, sweetie? Talk to me,”
I hurl again, my groan echoing down the hall as I try to set myself right again, but once I get going it’s hard to stop.
I hope Doc Fanning doesn’t...
I slowly manage to get my breath back, the waves of nausea subside and I can hear Steve’s voice getting softer until I can barely hear him.
“Oh really?” is all I hear him ask before he thanks the doctor and hangs up the phone.
I rinse my mouth and meet Steve in the hallway. I puff my cheeks as I blow out air and pat his chest.
“I think I’ll be okay, but I’d still rather not-” I try to tell him, but he’s picked me up and started to spin around, planting a huge wet kiss right on my mouth.
I think I’m gonna get sick again, but he stops as quickly as he started and squeezes
a hug out of me so hard I feel my back pop.
“When were you gonna tell me?” he asks, and I know it’s hopeless. I can’t keep anything from Steve.
“Did she tell you?” I ask, feeling like the doctor patient thing just went out the window.
“No, she didn’t, she only said you’d been in for a few appointments lately,” Steve confides. “Doc Fanning is a professional… she’d never… ugh! I should’ve guessed, I should have known!” he exclaims, hugging me again and kissing my face all over until he finds my lips again.
“I’m only a few weeks along. I just wanted to wait to be a hundred percent,” I croak, but I have to admit, I’m suddenly feeling much better.
Much better now that I can share the news. I’ve been breaking my head trying to figure out the best way to tell him the secret I thought was so secret but in hindsight is pretty obvious.
“We’re gonna have a baby,” Steve sighs loudly, looking up to the ceiling and then holding my face in his hand gently, pecking my lips and whispering it to me again.
“We’re gonna have a baby.”
I mouth the words back to him, but it’s only when I hear him saying it, feel his huge hand over my belly that it really sinks in.
“I’m gonna be a mommy,” I hear myself saying softly, the tears finally coming, but they’re tears of joy.
“And I’m going to be a daddy,” he sighs, holding me close, but making sure he doesn’t press too hard against my belly.
“So, we don’t have to go to that stupid dinner thing then?” I ask, double relieved.
“Oh, we’re going!” Steve calls out, checking his watch and urging me to hurry up before darting off up the hall.
“Your grandpa Billings will be tickled pink… and your dad!? Oh my god, your dad is going to wet his pants when he finds out!”
“But Steve,” I whine, really not wanting to go, then jumping with a start as he reappears in front of me, a small velvet box in the palm of his hand.
It takes a moment for it to register, but once he pops the lid, and then the question when he’s down on one knee… it finally sinks in.
Driver's Obsession: An Instalove Possessive Age Gap Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 196) Page 7
