One Sweet Ride
Page 3

“Of course I did. You left me no choice.”
“Sure I did. I said no. That was your cue to walk away.”
Her lips lifted. “Clearly, you don’t know me at all. I don’t walk away when I’m given an assignment. Working with you is my assignment, and until I exhausted all avenues, I wasn’t about to give up. And since your mother expressly asked me to convince you, I figured she’d be an asset in persuading you.”
He didn’t answer.
“You don’t like your mother?”
His gaze shot to hers. “I love my mother.”
“Then I don’t see the problem.”
“You went behind my back to serve your own purpose.”
She rolled her eyes. “Do you have a fundamental disagreement with your mother’s agenda?”
He frowned. “No.”
“Then I don’t see what the problem is.”
“It’s obvious we’re not going to see eye to eye on this.”
“That’s okay with me. Did you have a chance to think about the plan?”
He gave her a blank stare. “I didn’t know there was a plan.”
“Oh. I thought maybe your mother talked to you about the campaign’s objectives.”
“My mother spoke to me about her objectives, and asked me to help. That was it.”
Her lips curved.
“Obviously you know her.”
“Very well. I’ve spent a lot of time with her over the past few years since I’ve been working with your father. She runs a tight ship and doesn’t take no for an answer.”
“Then you’ve come to know her well, and you know that while she has a soft voice, she has an iron will.”
“Yes. She’s a wonderful asset for your father, both personally and politically.”
Gray stared down at his coffee. “My father doesn’t deserve her.”
She had no idea what Gray’s relationship with his father was, nor was it her intention to pry. Her only job was to work with Gray on his father’s campaign, not to get involved in family dynamics, unless it interfered in the political process. Then she was required to smooth things over, not intervene, and above all, never let things get messy. “So what’s your conclusion?”
“I guess you and I will be working together.”
She couldn’t resist lifting her shoulders in excitement. “Wonderful. I’m thrilled about this, Gray, and I don’t think you’ll regret it.”
“Oh, I already regret it. But this is important to my mother, so I’m doing it for her.”
Evelyn didn’t care who he did it for. She only cared that she was a success at her assignment. “Great. We’ll hit the ground running. The first thing we’ll need to do is work within your schedule. I know how busy you are.”
They paused while the waitress brought their breakfast. Evelyn dug into her oatmeal and fruit while Gray pounded down some elaborate breakfast that consisted of eggs, bacon, pancakes, hash browns, and biscuits.
“Where do you put all those calories?” she asked.
“What?”
“That’s a huge meal.”
“Oh. I work out, and I also sweat it all out in the car. It’s usually over a hundred degrees in there.”
“My God. That can’t be healthy.”
He shrugged. “You get used to it.”
No wonder he had a body like that, so tall and lean. But today he wore jeans and a tight T-shirt showing off some serious muscle. “So it’s like a sauna.”
“Yup.”
“You have to stay in shape to drive a car.”
He scooped up the last of his eggs with his fork, then finished off his orange juice.
“You can’t control a three-thousand-pound raging beast at a hundred and ninety miles an hour without some muscle, honey.”
Her nerve endings tingled at the endearment. She pushed it aside. “I imagine that’s true, though I freely admit my knowledge of the auto racing industry is somewhat sketchy.”
“We’ll have to change that, won’t we?”
“I suppose we will. The more I know about what you do, the better equipped I’ll be to integrate you into your father’s campaign.”
“And won’t that be fun.”
She pushed her bowl to the side and studied him. “I sense some hesitation.”
“Not just some. A lot. You should know I’ll be dragging my heels the entire way.”
“I can work with that.”
“Okay. I just wanted to be up front about it.”
She liked him. “Thanks for that. So what’s on your agenda for today?”
“Team meetings, then practice runs. I suppose you need to get back to D.C.”
She gave him a blank look. “Uh, no. Perhaps I didn’t outline the parameters clearly enough.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m assigned to you, Gray, and only you, from now until the election. I’ll be with you the entire way.”
FOUR
GRAY ALWAYS LIKED TO BE HANDS-ON WITH HIS TEAM, not leaving anything for them to handle without his involvement. Which meant setting up in the garage and checking out the cars they’d use for the races.
Now that they were in Kentucky, he was overseeing the team meeting for both race teams, and he had control. They went over the wreck last Sunday with the crew and mechanics, dissecting the engine failure. The engine team assured them it wouldn’t happen again, that steps would be taken to ensure the engines for both cars would be in prime shape for the race this weekend.
Gray always kept a mental list of things to cover in team meetings, from tire inventory to which crew members would be on board for the next race. Everyone attended the meetings. It was mandatory. If you didn’t show up, you were replaced on the crew or the mechanics team.
After the general meeting, Donny, his other driver, broke his crew out for their own meeting to discuss strategy for their car, while Gray did the same with his crew chief and team. The meeting went well and everyone was pumped for the upcoming race.
He had a good car and he knew he had a good chance for this season. So did Donny, but Donny was easily distracted. Which reminded Gray that he needed to have a chat with him. After Donny did his practice runs on the track today, he’d pull him aside and have a talk with him.
Donny had looked pale today in the meeting. Gray hoped he wasn’t sick, because that was the last thing they needed. He wanted both his cars to do well this weekend.
He went up to the track where Donny was driving away to start up his practice run.
After a warm-up lap, he got up to speed.
Huh. Maybe Gray was wrong about Donny being sick, because he was taking a fast lap. He had control of the wheel and had precision and confidence on the turns that Gray had never seen before from the young driver.
Impressive as hell. And one of the fastest runs Gray had ever seen the kid drive.
Good. He needed to be great, because Gray had invested a lot of money into adding another car to Preston Racing, so Donny was going to have to do well. Gray didn’t have a lot of time to spend on the kid.
“He’s pretty good.”
Alex Reed came up beside him to watch. Alex would be doing his practice run at the same time as Gray later. He and Alex had known each other a long time, had started on dirt tracks together back in Oklahoma. “Yeah. Has his head up his ass sometimes, but if he straightens out, he could be a great driver.”
“Who hasn’t had their head up their ass at that age?” Alex asked. “Remember when all we wanted to do was drive fast and party all night?”
Gray laughed. “Ah. The good old days when making money and worrying was someone else’s problem.”
Alex slapped him on the back. “I still drive for someone else’s race team, buddy.
It’s still someone else’s problem. You’re the one who decided to go out on your own.”
“Asshole.”
Alex laughed and walked away. He knew better, too. Alex was as driven as they came, as focused on success as anyone he’d ever known. He put everything he had into racing, into winning, because it was all he had. Gray at least had the option of walking away from all this. He was lucky that he had money to back him up. Alex had grown up dirt-poor and had raced his way into success. Without racing, he had nothing. Gray couldn’t imagine what that must be like.
He turned his attention back to Donny, watching his practice.
At least his focus was on racing and Donny this morning instead of on Evelyn, who had shocked the hell out of him when she’d told him she was going to become an extra appendage from now until the election.
Just what he didn’t need. He’d only agreed to this because of his mother’s urging. If he’d known that meant Evelyn would be following him from city to city, he might have rethought this whole deal.
He’d ignored her during his meetings this morning, but now, as he watched Donny race, he looked for her.
He scanned the track and found her sitting in the stands with some of the wives and girlfriends.
She’d changed that morning they had breakfast, and he’d been shocked by the transformation. In a suit, she looked like she belonged on his father’s campaign. He could mentally compartmentalize her there. In a white button-down shirt and skintight jeans that showed off her body, she’d fit in at the track—in his world. And that made him just a little bit uncomfortable.
Maybe he didn’t want her to fit in. Maybe he wanted her as uncomfortable as she made him. He was used to the women who frequented the track, women he knew, not this intelligent woman who regarded him like she knew all his secrets. Plus, she was part of his dad’s world, and that made him even more uncomfortable.
When Donny pulled into the pit and climbed out, Gray started over to congratulate him on his practice run, determined to push Evelyn Hill out of his head for as long as possible.
Donny tossed his helmet into the driver’s seat and graced him with a big smile.
“That one felt good, boss.”
“It was a good run.” Gray looked over at Donny’s crew chief, who nodded and brought over a digital notebook. As they walked away from the track, he looked at the numbers from Donny’s run.
“Let’s talk,” Gray said, then led Donny to his trailer.
And there was Evelyn, just like he’d met her that first day. Only this time she was in jeans again. The heat was climbing, so she’d shed the long-sleeve shirt, leaving her in a white T-shirt that hugged tight to her full breasts.
He blew out a breath. So much for shoving her from his mind.
“Evelyn Hill, this is Donny Duncan.”
“Ma’am,” Donny said, shaking Evelyn’s hand.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Donny.” She looked to Gray. “If you’re busy, I can find something to do.”
“If you’re supposed to hang with me, then hang. Come on in. Donny and I are going to have a short chat, then we’ll get started.”
Donny gave Evelyn a once-over, and Gray was certain he was probably curious. He hadn’t told anyone about Evelyn, wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but he supposed he’d have to fill everyone in sooner rather than later.
“Take a seat,” he said to her.
Evelyn found herself a seat in one of the far corners of the trailer, while he and Donny grabbed a spot at his table.
“Here are your numbers from your run this morning.”
Donny grabbed the notebook from him, scanned it, then lifted his gaze to Gray and grinned. “Damn. I’m good.”
“Don’t get too full of yourself. It was a good practice run, but it wasn’t a race. And you came in twelfth on Sunday with a car that was top five running shape.”
Donny’s smile died. He dragged his fingers through his dirty blond hair and nodded. “I know. I should have done better. The car was perfect, and you’re right. I was top five the whole race. I just let them pass me the last ten laps. That one was on me. I lost my concentration. It won’t happen again.”
Hard to argue with that, and since Donny seemed to be aware of his failings, there was no point in Gray beating on him. “A good racer constantly evaluates what he could have done better. Since you’ve already done that, I guess you and I don’t have anything to talk about. Unless it happens again.”
“Understood, boss.”
“I had a whole speech and everything, Donny,” Gray said. “You kind of ruined it for me.”
Donny laughed. “Sorry. Would you like me to f**k up again this Sunday?”
Gray cracked a smile. “I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Okay. My goal is to get a win.”
“That’s a good goal to have. Don’t forget, you’re not out there alone. You have an entire team behind you who’ll help you get to the finish line, so listen to what they have to say. And pull your head out of your ass and start using your brain. Now get out of here.”
Donny scrambled out of the seat, nodded at Evelyn, and left the trailer.
She stood and came over to him. Gray caught the subtle scent of something musky and very alluring. He tried not to lean in closer to figure out what it was since she was already distracting enough.
“Donny works for you?” she asked, placing her briefcase on his table.
“He drives the second car for Preston Racing. I added him this year. He’s young, but has great skills.”
“So you’re developing him and he shows a lot of promise.” She took a seat and pulled a laptop out of her bag, opened it, and started typing something.
He swung into the other side of the booth. “What are you doing?”