Shifting Gears

by Audra North

  “…muffler on?”

  What?

  She stopped talking and looked at him … with concern. Like he was crazy or something. He wanted her to look at him like he was probably looking at her, damn it. The fact that she wasn’t made him want to hit something, fuck someone, and get drunk. In that order.

  He tore his eyes away from her breasts, hugged by those coveralls in the most tempting way, but his arousal remained, making him feel irritated for no good reason.

  “Guzmán did a good job,” he bit out, probably sounding way too surly, but she didn’t get upset, like his siblings would, or even Ranger.

  She really was coolheaded.

  “Glad to hear it. Um, I heard you carbon fiber muffler is finished. Do you want me to put it on the car? So you can do the tests?”

  “No.”

  He should say more, but his brain wasn’t working very well.

  She stood there for just a moment longer before she gave a half shrug and turned back to the car.

  “What are you doing?” He practically barked it at her, the volume of his question making both of them jump a bit.

  Damn. He hadn’t meant for that to come out that way, either.

  But before he could apologize, she gestured to the engine block of the car. “I’m trying to figure out what’s up with your mom’s car. It’s my assignment from Bit. He wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. I took it out for a drive, though, and I think I’ve figured it out.”

  What? That kicked his brain back into gear. Grady hadn’t known what the test was that Bit had given her, and this was a surprise. He did know what was wrong, though. The car skidded a little on turns. But it wasn’t enough for a regular driver to even notice. It would take a seasoned driver—and someone who knew cars well—to figure it out.

  Annabelle was one surprise after another.

  But just to be sure, he asked, “So … what is it?”

  She shrugged, “It’s skidding on turns. Not a lot, but it’s there.”

  Shit. She was good.

  It made him want her even more. There was something about a smart, competent woman that did something to him.

  But she wasn’t done torturing him, it seemed. “There’s a problem with the viscous coupling unit. The differential is off. Not enough torque. It’s not driving the shaft hard enough.”

  Driving the shaft …

  Hard …

  Grady had to close his eyes for a second at the words coming out of Annabelle’s mouth. It wasn’t supposed to be turning him on, talking about driving shafts and viscous coupling. But he was already battling lust just from seeing her in those coveralls, and now the way her mouth shaped around the word torque had his engine revving hard.

  Torque, for fuck’s sake. And the way she’d twisted her head to look at him just now, seemingly coy, even though he was pretty sure she hadn’t intended it to be … well, it was doing something to his body that he was having a hard time controlling.

  And someone help him, the words kept coming.

  “I don’t think the mechanism is flawed, but it looks like the viscosity is too high. It’s not slick enough.”

  There was that look again. That flirty gaze from under her lashes …

  Holy shit. She was doing it on purpose.

  He took a step toward her, and he noticed her breath hitch, her breasts coming up high and pushing out.

  Fuck. Annabelle Murray wanted him. Not right after a fight, not while they were under pressure, or rushed for time. She wanted him, just as he was. Just as they were.

  His blood started pumping harder.

  “When the driver shaft goes in, it’s coming out just a tiny bit too slow. Almost unnoticeable.”

  Her voice had slowed and deepened, so full of innuendo that he could practically touch it.

  He wanted to touch her.

  If he didn’t explode from lust first.

  She gave him a mischievous smile. “But I rubbed some of the fluid between my fingers and—”

  He stepped close, right next to her. “Stop. Jesus fucking Christ, Annabelle, just stop.”

  He couldn’t take it anymore. Thank God the race cars didn’t have VCUs or he’d be hard all day, every day. These words from Annabelle … he groaned. Thinking of her all damp with perspiration as he hovered above her, pushing his cock in and out of her slick heat … it was destroying him.

  She leaned toward him, her body and breasts filling the small space he’d left between them. She was barely pressed against him, but they were touching. Touching everywhere, every part of them. Like this, he could feel her breaths, quick and fast. Riled up. Needy. Wanting.

  And then she whispered, “I feel the same way.”

  Fuck. He didn’t wait a second longer before snaking an arm around her back, pulling her even closer, and devouring her mouth with his.

  * * *

  Oh, good Lord. This was actually happening. She was seducing Grady … and it was working.

  Annabelle couldn’t hold back a smile as he pulled her even tighter against him, lifting her until her legs were wrapped around his waist. But her smile died as soon as the ridge of his erection—hard even through the fabric of his pants—pushed up against the gusset of her coveralls, adding just the right friction to make her moan.

  Now it was his turn to smile, a satisfied, possessive look that only fueled her arousal.

  He carried her to one of the workbenches in the bay and set her down on it, his body still wedged between her legs, and kissed her again, pushing her back with the force of his slick, hot mouth, until she was lying on the cool metal surface.

  They kissed for what felt like hours, with him poised above her, curving over her, dominating her body, until she was desperate to feel his skin against hers. Her hands roamed over his back, moving downward until her palms curled over his butt.

  She squeezed.

  He grunted and pressed his hips forward, rocking his erection against her.

  “Grady,” she moaned, sliding her hands back up to grab his shirt in her fists, yanking it out from where it was tucked into his pants. She had to touch him.

  He must have felt the same desperate urgency, because as soon as her fingers touched the warm, firm skin of his back, he tore his mouth from hers, and then his fingers were pulling at the zipper on the front of her coveralls, sliding it down all the way, until the top of it was falling off, exposing her bra and panties.

  He stopped for a moment then, staring down at her, and she could feel a blush throughout her entire body. His eyes lifted to hers.

  “You’re beautiful, Annabelle.” He brought his hand to her waist, shoving the side of her coveralls away, and smoothed his palm down her body, squeezing her hip and making her arch up for more.

  More contact. More Grady.

  She sat up, the top of the coveralls falling away completely, and looped her arms around his neck, urging his head down to hers for another kiss while his hands wandered over her body, stroking her, making her writhe and squirm to get closer. Just before she started to get frustrated, he unhooked the clasp of her bra, pushing the straps down far enough so that it fell from her breasts, the cool air making her nipples pull even tighter.

  And then he pulled his lips from hers, bent … and swirled his tongue around the circle of her left areola.

  She nearly melted. His mouth was perfect. Warm and wet and it felt—oh, God, it felt so good. She let her head hang back, her breasts pushing forward, giving him access to more of her, until she was nearly whimpering with need.

  “Grady,” she pleaded. “Please. I can’t wait any more.”

  He stopped abruptly and brought his face up to look her in the eye, studying her in silence. After a moment, he asked, “Are you sure?”

  She nodded. “I’m sure.”

  It took a matter of seconds for him to finish undressing her. Her bra fell to the floor, the coveralls pushed off her hips along with her panties. He ripped his own shirt over his head, and she barely had time to appreciate the lines of h
is muscles before he was unzipping his pants and sliding everything down—

  “Wow.” She couldn’t stop herself from saying it. Grady’s cock was so big and hard that it was difficult not to feel a little intimidated by it.

  His mouth twisted in a wry smile. “Is that a good wow or a bad one?”

  “Good.” She said it before she could think too hard about it, then added a more confident, “Definitely good.”

  He smiled, then stepped back between her legs, bending to kiss her again as he stroked his hands over her body, rubbing her breasts, her stomach, the tops of her thighs. She could feel his erection against her leg, so hot that she found herself trying to pull him to her, inside of her, just to get more of his warmth.

  She needed him, now. But—oh, this was awkward. She wasn’t sure how to say it.

  Just say it. Be brave!

  “I’ve got—there’s a, um—” she wiggled her fingers toward the coveralls she’d been wearing, that were now crumpled in a pile on the floor. “In the pocket…”

  Maybe you still need to work on that bravery thing.

  But Grady didn’t make her say anything more. He leaned down and scooped up her discarded coveralls, rummaging in the side pocket for a second before pulling out a condom. He dropped the coveralls again and held up the foil packet, grinning.

  “Well, I’ll be damned. Annabelle Murray. Did you plan this?”

  She bit her lip and nodded.

  He let out a low growl and ripped open the packet, sliding the condom on but watching her all the while. This time, when he stepped back between her legs, he was closer. Close enough that she could feel the tip of him at her entrance. But he didn’t push inside. Not yet. Instead, he gripped her thighs, pushing them ever so slightly further apart, and paused, staring down at her.

  “Positive?”

  Was she?

  She nodded.

  And then he thrust.

  “Oh my God!” The size of him, the power—it felt so good that she clenched around him in response, feeling the pleasure start to increase with an intensity that hadn’t been there before.

  “Is it okay?” He gritted the words out, his jaw set tight.

  “Yes,” she panted. “Don’t stop. Please.”

  That seemed to be all he needed, because he didn’t hesitate another second before thrusting deeper, opening her wider, making her pick up her legs and wrap them around his hips, clinging to his strength. He went deep, all the way in, grinding against her savagely before pulling out halfway, then plunging again. Over and over, in and out, he worked her body, until she could feel herself on the edge.

  She started to shake, straining hard toward her climax, and he read her perfectly, speeding up his thrusts until—

  “Grady!” she shouted, her orgasm shooting through her, inner muscles pulsing around his cock as he pushed into her one last time and held himself there, groaning out his own release.

  Chapter 8

  That was …

  Well, Grady couldn’t even think of a word for what that had been. The best sex he’d ever had, definitely. Mind-blowing, absolutely. But there was something else about it, that made it so much more than he could explain, that was the reason why he never wanted to get up from this cold workbench. Never pull out of and away from Annabelle.

  But condoms weren’t exactly designed to take his wishes into account. He regrettably pushed himself up from where he’d collapsed on top of her, dropped one last kiss on her swollen, slack mouth, and slid out of her.

  She grunted as he left her body, and the sound filled him with an odd pride. He was the one who’d gotten her all soft and relaxed like that. He was the one who’d made her come so hard. He was the one she’d planned to seduce.

  Damn, but she’d definitely succeeded.

  He pulled the condom off and tied it, then moved closer to her again to help her up and off the bench. As much as he hated to end their closeness, it was starting to get close to the time that the others would be coming in to work. He didn’t care if anyone knew they were involved—he wasn’t ashamed of Annabelle—but he didn’t want her to feel embarrassed.

  “It’s ten to eight,” was all he said, and she got the message, dressing quickly. Within a minute, she was all covered up again and he was buttoning his shirt before tucking it back into his pants.

  Her hair had come loose, and she started gathering it back again into a ponytail. He took a step toward her and she smiled up at him.

  “Grady, I—”

  Bang!

  The door on the far side of the garage swung open, startling the two of them and cutting off Annabelle. A second later, Kerri’s voice echoed through the garage. “Morning! Is it someone’s birthday or something?”

  What was Kerri talking about? He frowned at Annabelle, confused.

  She blushed. “I bake when I’m stressed. Or I guess, in the case of last night, frustrated. I ended up with a lot more cookies than I could eat myself, so I brought them in.”

  That was all she said before Kerri approached, whistling. “I sure as hell hope y’all have a party planned, ’cause I don’t see how we’ll be able to eat a hundred cookies otherwise. They’re almost too pretty to eat, though.” But then she stopped, her eyes narrowing as her gaze moved from Grady to Annabelle. “What are you guys doing here so early, anyway?”

  Great. Now she sounded suspicious. Thank God he’d picked up the condom from the floor and put it in his pocket before his eagle-eyed sister had arrived.

  Of course, it didn’t help that Annabelle was blushing again.

  “Ah.” Kerri said slowly. “Well. Right. So, um, I’m just gonna go, um, eat a cookie. Don’t mind me.”

  With that, she turned and practically ran off.

  So much for keeping it quiet.

  * * *

  Later that morning, Annabelle found herself sitting on a folding chair in the middle of the practice track, trying to focus. It wasn’t easy, with Grady sitting right next to her. What had happened between them this morning … it had been incredible. She’d never known sex could be like that.

  Now, though, she wasn’t sure what happened next. She’d done something significant. She’d seduced him. And she was proud of herself. Maybe more proud than she had a right to be.

  But while she liked Grady, and she liked sex with Grady, she was still afraid. What if he wanted more from her than what she could give right now? What if he expected her to give up her independence before she’d even fully gotten it?

  They hadn’t had a chance to talk after Kerri had found them. Shortly afterward, the rest of the crew came filtering in, and Bit had given her the go-ahead to take over the crew chief spot for this weekend’s race.

  They were scheduled to fly out that night to Dover, to get things set up and ready for Saturday’s race, so now Grady was working with her on the practice track, getting her up to speed on some of the specifics of their team. They were standing in the middle of the track while Lee did laps in his truck.

  Kerri’s car had left this morning, since it would take the transport driver a full day to get up to Dover. The crew would land tonight, unpack, and set up all day tomorrow; then Kerri had qualifying rounds and the race on Saturday.

  Three nights in a hotel with Grady. The possibility that these three nights would be an opportunity she shouldn’t pass by was distracting her. After all, it wasn’t like she could invite him home with her, and she didn’t want to go to his place.

  That felt too … dependent.

  But Grady was saying something and she had to pay attention, not daydream about being wild with him in Dover.

  “…gotta get to know their driving styles. You went over Kerri’s car yesterday, right?”

  He turned to look at her, and she snapped to attention, but she couldn’t control her blush.

  She nodded, swallowing hard at the burning intensity of his gaze. Was he thinking about this morning, too? She hoped so.

  He stared for just a second too long, but then turned away and no
dded, too. “Good. So you at least have an idea of how it’ll perform.”

  Annabelle thought about what she’d learned. Yesterday afternoon, before they’d brought in the sedan, Bit had asked her to help out while they made changes to Kerri’s car right before it got shipped up to Dover. She’d helped on everything, learning as much as she could. Though a lot of things were familiar, race cars were a different kind of challenge from commercially available models. The learning curve was intense, but she’d sworn to overcome it. She was going to be as prepared as she could be for the race on Saturday.

  She nodded. “Yes. It’s in as good of shape as it can be. Next week, after we get the results from Guzmán, hopefully it’ll be even better.”

  Grady’s jaw went tight for a second, probably thinking about the way Blue had cheated them, but after a second he nodded. “Good. So, back to driving style.”

  Grady raised an arm and pointed out at the truck, which was going into the far curve. “For next weekend’s race, remember that Lee is great on curves. He knows how to handle them like a pro. But he gets lazy on the straights, so you have to be on his ass—er, sorry—”

  That was the second time he’d excused himself for his language, and she didn’t like it. She knew Grady still saw her as that reserved, proper thing she’d been as a teen, but she wasn’t that girl anymore, and she didn’t like being treated like she was a prude. “It’s okay. Really. I don’t mind.” Annabelle reached out and put her hand on Grady’s arm in reassurance.

  Oh. That was a mistake.

  That touch reminded her of the way his arms had felt when they’d been braced on either side of her body as he’d thrust into her. Annabelle broke out in a sweat.

  She should really yank her hand away.

  But instead, she kept talking. “It’s okay to use dirty words with me.”

  Oh, God, did she really just say that?

  “I mean, around me. I’m trying to say that I won’t tell you to watch your mouth…”

  Darn it. Now she was staring at his mouth. Mistake.

  Just shut up, Annabelle!