“Sometimes you have to give something a chance before you realize how much it means to you.” His arm had tightened infinitesimally as he said that.
“Hmm, I think you’re right.”
He held her gaze, looking for her verdict. She nodded toward the track. “You should probably watch the run.”
“Some things are more important than drifting.”
As those words filled her, the cars rolled past the finish line and drifted to a stop, waiting for the judge’s decree.
“Judge One: Gregg Jones. Judge Two: Roger Swede. Judge Three: Gregg Jones. Gregg Jones is the winner!” Gemma’s voice announced over the speakers.
Gregg’s Nissan pulled into the winner’s circle, and the crowd applauded and whistled, and made a wonderful uproar. As soon as Gregg emerged from the car, two guys sprayed him with beer from cans that had obviously been well shaken. A dripping Gregg climbed up on the roof of his car and pumped his fists in victory.
“Please stay for the presentation of the final awards in fifteen minutes,” Gemma added in her sweet voice. “The more applause, the better!”
After more beer-spewing and hand slaps, Tanner tucked her hand into his and brought her over to the group of guys. “Hey, everyone. I want you to meet Grace. She’s Chambliss’s finest kick-ass attorney. Grace, this is Beeker, Double G, also known as Gregg, StevieQ…”
He introduced her to so many people that she’d never remember their names, including his crew. It didn’t help that she was slightly caught up in Tanner’s introduction of her. “Congratulations, Double G,” she said, shaking his hand and then the hands of the others. “Nice to meet all of you.”
“I’ve known these muttonheads since my early drifting days,” Tanner said.
“ ‘Cept we didn’t go all pro,” StevieQ said with mock jealousy.
“So you must be the reason Tanner’s settling down here,” Gregg said, taking her in. “Yeah, I can see why.”
He’d told his friends. Tanner had committed to this—to her—enough that he’d announced it.
Gregg gestured toward his wet, beer-smelly self. “We’d better clean up so we can make our big podium stand. Tanner, I can’t believe you put this together in two weeks. That’s amazing. You even got a podium.”
Tanner slid a glance at her. “Yeah, it is amazing what can happen in two weeks.”
Like falling apart, finding a lifeline, and falling in love. Like finding out who you really are and what you want.
Pax, using his microphone, directed everyone’s attention to the podium, which had three levels, just like the Olympics. Roger Swede and Beeker Callahan joined Gregg, stepping up onto their levels when their names were announced. Each was given a medal and a check. Everyone cheered, then Pax faced the crowd.
“Thank you all for coming to my first event. We raised eight thousand dollars for KAR and the Alliance for Independence. Give yourselves a hand for that!” There was almost as much cheering as there had been for the drift winners. “I know some of you aren’t into drifting, but you came out anyway to support the track and two worthy causes. I hope you’ll come to our drift events and give it a try now. I want to thank the most incredible people in my world for putting everything into this with me: my babe, Gemma Thornton. My best friend, Raleigh West, and his fiancée, Mia Wentworth. Raleigh’s brother, Cody. My business partner, Wade Thornton.”
After everyone’s applause settled down, he gestured for Tanner to step up. “And I want to give a big thank-you to Artemis Tanner, because without him this wouldn’t be possible.”
The applause was even louder for Tanner. Grace’s heart swelled, but Mexican jumping beans filled her tummy. She took a deep breath and stepped up beside Pax. After a quick, silent communication, he handed her the microphone.
“Pax should also be applauded, because it was his dream to save this track! It wasn’t easy, but he pursued it, fought for it, and now he’s bringing family fun to Chambliss.”
Another roar of applause, and Pax gave her a sweet smile of gratitude, bracketed by his dimples.
Then she turned to Tanner and gestured for him to come closer. She took his hand with her free one. “Artemis Tanner is a great drift driver. A great friend. A great man. We’re lucky to welcome him to Chambliss as a new resident.”
He hadn’t taken his gaze from hers, a curious kind of smile on his face. Again, applause resounded, including feet stomping on the bleachers. She took in the crowds, Tom standing by the front corner of the bleachers, everyone she knew, everyone who would blabber. I’m really going to do this.
“But I’m the luckiest of all. Because, as amazing as Tanner is to have pulled this together in two weeks, he did more than that: he helped me see the best in myself. To believe in me, in what I do.” She turned to him. “And, most important, he taught me to forgive. To trust. And to love.” She handed Pax the mike, wrapped her arms over Tanner’s shoulders, and kissed him. “And that’s my verdict,” she said to him alone, above all the catcalls and cheers and “Awwww”s.
“Oh, baby,” he said, squeezing her close. “There has been no success, no podium win, that means as much as that.” He claimed her mouth, and she lost herself in the kiss.
In the distance, she heard people coming down the bleachers, talking, laughing, dispersing. Tanner felt right. In her arms, in her life.
She moved back just an inch, enough to look up at him. “Move in with me.”
“Only until we buy a house. I want a house of my own to go with a woman of my own. My first. And my last. Well, my last woman, anyway.”
“That sounds lovely. The woman part, mostly. The house part, too. Right now I live in an apartment above my office. Before that, apartments, dorms, trailers. I haven’t had a real home that I can remember.”
“Then we’re going to make it a home to remember. Something on the beach, up on stilts. I love those houses. And I love you, too. Damn, woman, when you step out, you do it in a big way.”
She grinned. “A very wise man recently told me that when you find the right career or car, you’ll feel it down to your bones. Well, I found the right man, and I do feel him all the way down to my bones. My heart. And other places, too.”
He threaded his fingers through hers and led her away from the winner’s circle, the noise, and the melee. “There’s something I want you to know about me.”
She held her breath. “Okay.” Then she looked into those beautiful blue eyes and saw the soul for which she’d fallen. “Whatever it is, I can deal with it.”
“I legally changed my name when I was twenty-one. I was born Keith Marshall. So when you were asking me about my first name, and I said I didn’t know where it came from…I lied. I chose it because of my favorite comic-book character.”
“I know.”
His fingers tightened. “You had me checked out?”
“Not on purpose. When I was at the sheriff’s office the day I met Nick, the deputy said he’d seen us at the park. No, not in the woods,” she added at his worried expression. “Sitting on the bleachers at the game, and he saw the way I was looking at you. Like I loved you, because I did. I was fighting it, but I know now that I did. Anyway, he was being protective and wanted to check you out. He found out first about your name change.”
“When did you know?”
“Today.”
He nodded, his expression solemn. “That’s why you backed away.”
“Yes. I was in panic mode. That gave me a reason to step back from the end of that diving board.”
His expression was carefully masked. “Do you know why I changed it?”
“Tom called me when I was about to take the ride-along and said he’d found something ‘very interesting,’ as he put it. Something I needed to know about you. You heard me; I told him I didn’t want to know. He’s here, looking all anxious to tell me, and I don’t care what it is. I care about you, who you are now. So if you stole cars or you were a member of the Mafia, it doesn’t matter.”
He laughed, then s
pun her around. “And that’s why I love you.”
The moment he set her down, she said, “But now you have to tell me. Seriously, I can’t take it any longer.”
“I did. You just didn’t believe me.”
“The car-theft thing, then. Because you probably didn’t inherit a bunch of money from a distant relative. Or—”
“I won the lottery.”
She just stared at him for a second. “Of course I didn’t believe that! It’s preposterous. It’s…you won the friggin’ lottery?”
“At twenty. Fourteen million in one lump sum after taxes.”
Her breath left her for a second. He wasn’t a car-thief ring leader. Wasn’t part of the Mafia. “But how does that happen?”
“You buy a ticket.”
She slapped his arm. “Smart-ass. I mean, that’s crazy.”
“It’s sick, I know. As soon as I turned eighteen, I started buying one ticket a week. When I won, I stared at the numbers for, like, twenty minutes. Wrote them down, compared them, pinched myself. It was real. Of course, the press got hold of it, me being this poor foster kid and all, small-town, and then I found out who my friends weren’t. Yeah, weren’t. My foster siblings, a couple of the parents, old acquaintances—everyone came forward to ask for money.
“Even my good old sister came begging me for forgiveness. I could see that she was still using, and I bribed her into getting help. I could tell she was lying when she promised she would if I gave her money. I did anyway, and paid for her to go to rehab. She did…for three days. Then she disappeared. When she came back for more, with needle tracks in her arms, I told her I would only give her money after she completed a whole rehab program and stayed clean for a year. She left in a huff and never came back.
“The only people who weren’t obnoxious were my drift friends. I liked being able to buy them stuff, but the money changed the way they saw me. I wasn’t one of them anymore.
“I went to a financial adviser straightaway, because I was smart enough to know that I wasn’t smart enough to handle that kind of money. I invested in bonds, annuities, various other things, bought the apartment complex, then started the foundation. That’s when I changed my name. And I started moving on, drifting in the true sense of the word. I wanted to get away from all those people begging and pretending to be my friends. Or the jealous ones. I found a new drift scene in Atlanta and worked hard to get to the pros, telling no one about the win. So sure, I had the equipment, the cars, Harvey. I had advantages other drivers didn’t. But I also helped some of the guys who were struggling financially, even at that level. Anonymously.
“While I’ve enjoyed being a pro, I’m ready to be a free agent. But only when it comes to drifting. I want you at my side, Grace. I knew you were the right woman the first day we met. I didn’t want to tell you the whole story, though, didn’t want you to look at me differently.”
“I wouldn’t have.” She grinned. “After all, I did think you were a prince, and that didn’t sway me.”
“Nope, you still ran off.” He kissed her, letting her know that he harbored no ill feelings. “But here you were thinking I might have a criminal background, and you were willing to commit to me.” He gathered her in his arms. “You are the home I never had.”
Epilogue
FOUR WEEKS LATER…
“And do you, Mia Wentworth, take Raleigh West to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, from now until eternity?”
Mia brushed her veil from where the sea breeze had washed it over her face. “I do.”
A seagull hovering nearby squawked to punctuate the answer, making everyone laugh. Even the minister, who reminded Grace of the Pope. He eyed the cantankerous bird. “I’m afraid to ask if there are any objections.”
More soft laughter. Grace always disliked that part of a wedding ceremony. Why invite dissension? Tension?
The minister didn’t ask. He said, “Who has the rings?”
Cody stepped forward with both rings balanced on either side of a small tire, Harley at his side. When Cody stopped, so did the dog, who sat down with his tail swishing in the sand.
Raleigh and Mia were an instant family, raising Cody while his mom served time for murdering a horrible man in the heat of passion. Grace would continue lobbying for her early release. The kid looked happy, though—beyond happy, at the moment. They all did, and Grace couldn’t be more pleased for them. On the chairs in front sat Mia’s parents, who had both come not only to accept but to love their daughter’s husband-to-be, and Cody, too. Raleigh had stand-in parents on the other side of the rows of chairs, his former boss, Peter, and his wife.
Grace stood up for Mia, along with one of the nurses Mia had become friends with at the hospital where she worked. Gemma would have been her maid of honor, but she was too busy taking pictures of the beachside ceremony, which was being held across the street from her father’s B&B. She refused to leave the job to anyone else. Pax and Tanner stood up for Raleigh, both handsome in their suits, the evening sun casting their faces in warm hues that Gemma called “golden-hour light.” Tanner was now clean-shaven, his baby-soft face frequently the object of Grace’s fingers’ perusal.
Tanner met her gaze as Raleigh and Mia said their ring vows and winked. Grace loved that playful wink. It had captured her that first night at the Beach Shack, when the last thing she wanted was some gorgeous guy winking at her.
Thank God she hadn’t chased him away with her snarkiness.
Nick sat in the audience next to Dakota, a sanctioned date. Her father had dropped the charges after Grace made him admit that he’d thrown the first punch. Nick was staying with a KAR family, working for Raleigh, and paying on Birdie, the car he’d fallen in love with. Having never told him her real value, Tanner set the price at five thousand. Grace had forgiven her father, but she was ready to let the car go. Time for young, shiny, and sexy. She gave Tanner a wink.
As Gemma crouched down to capture the ring exchanges, something glinted beneath her ring finger. Grace banked her surprised look and focused on the ceremony. She’d never been fond of weddings, but she knew how much Raleigh and Mia had gone through for their happy ending. And now that she had love, well, she had hopes that, when the time was right, she’d have her own.
“I now pronounce you man and wife,” the minister said. “Raleigh, you may kiss your bride.”
Everyone cheered, and Raleigh dipped Mia low and planted a long kiss on her.
After a few minutes of hugs and congratulations, they all began to make their way across the street to the B&B for the reception. Grace grabbed Gemma’s arm before gathering her equipment, turning that sparkly diamond she was trying to hide skyward. “What’s this, young lady?”
“Found it in a Cracker Jack box?” she offered coyly. Then her smile broke loose. “Pax asked me last night.”
Grace turned to Tanner, who was also hanging behind the group. “Did you know about this?”
“No one knew,” Pax said, coming up behind Gemma and looping his arms over her collarbone. “I was going to wait until after this, but the moment was just too perfect to pass up.”
“We didn’t want to announce it yet, so as not to take anything away from Mia and Raleigh’s special day.”
Grace hugged Gemma. “Congrats! I am sooo happy for you! We’ll keep it our secret.”
“Just until tomorrow,” Gemma said. “Then I’m busting it out.”
Janey rubbed her hands together, a big grin on her face. “I love those kinds of secrets. And I get a sister!”
Tiny Gemma was swallowed up in one of Janey’s bear hugs. But she didn’t seem to mind at all.
“You’ve had a sister since the moment we met. We’re just making it official,” Gemma said. “I’d better get over. Can’t miss any photo ops.”
As they started trudging through the sand toward the beach-access pass, Tanner called out, “We’ll be there in a minute.” He grabbed Grace around the waist, hoisted her on his shoulder, and ran d
own the beach.
This time she didn’t yelp; she giggled as she clutched his back. Despite her being dressed nice, with her hair done up, he laid her down on the soft sand by the sea oats and came down over her. Kissing her the way she’d wanted him to when they were in Panama City Beach. She pulled him close, her hands skating over the fabric of his jacket.
“Following your impulse again?” she teased when he softened the kiss to look at her.
“You bet. Marry me, Grace. When we go to the drift event in Japan this fall, I want you there as my wife. When we close on our new home, I want both our names on the deed as husband and wife. I was planning on asking you in Japan. I have the ring all picked out and everything. But I just want you as mine.” He dipped low to kiss her quick and possessive like. “Now.”
Everything he’d said overwhelmed her. But the answer was “Yes. Yes, Artemis Tanner, I will marry you now.”
“Whatever and however you want, Grace. If you want a big shindig, we’ll plan that. This is going to be your one and only wedding, so make it your dream one. Whatever you can plan in, say, a week, maybe two. That’s as long as I want to wait. I’ll bribe, wheedle, threaten, whatever we need to do to make it happen.”
“I believe it, after what you did with the drift event.” Grace laughed as she wove her fingers through his soft waves. “I would love a wedding like Mia’s and Raleigh’s. Simple. Sweet. Romantic. With only the people who matter in attendance.” She pulled him down for a kiss. “Because what’s really important is the people. And love. Everything else is just icing on the wedding cake.”
Acknowledgments
A big fat thank you to Gregg Scott Bucell, who answered my many questions about drifting and gave me lots of great stories and information!
And, as always, a huge hug of appreciation to my awesome team! Nicole Resciniti, Sue Grimshaw, Gina Wachtel, Erika Seyfried, Ashleigh Heaton, and Matt Schwartz, along with everyone at Penguin Random House who makes it all happen!
And a big hug to Jenni Dinh, friend and social media whiz!
Falling Free ( Falling Fast #3) Page 22
