Fast and Loaded: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (11 page)

T
he next morning
, I felt like a child again. Thinking about the fact that this was the last race of my career gave me butterflies. I didn’t know how it was going to end, but I knew that I would have Amber waiting for me at the finish line, and that was the only thing that mattered now.

Of course, it wouldn’t hurt if I was able to put Luke in his place in the process. After everything that he had done to Amber and me, the least I could do was leave the racing scene by humiliating him and making him eat my dust once more.

“Good morning,” Amber said, who was still laying at my side.

We had slept in her bunk; she was unwilling to leave Theresa, even with the extra guards we had posted all over the building.

Any crew who wasn’t essential was sent to a hotel for the night. It seemed to me that with her father’s engine in the car she was twice as protective. I didn’t blame her, after everything that I had found out about the engine, she had every right to be as protective as she wanted over it.

“Good morning,” I replied as I leaned over to kiss her tenderly.

She made waking up at six in the morning a lot easier. I didn’t mind rising before the sun when I had her at my side. Still, I had to wonder if she would be mad if I fell asleep after she got up.

The excitement of the day was too much, though and I couldn’t fall back asleep. Who was I kidding? It was the final race, and I was ready to get up and get started. I didn’t know if I was more excited about the race or about the rest of my life with Amber.

“Are you ready to go kick some ass?” she asked me.

I laughed, “You had better believe it. Are you ready for your business to be booming?”

“Am I ever! I can’t wait to be working my butt off all day,” she said with a smile.

“As long as you save something for me to do,” I joked.

She laughed and climbed down, pulling on clothing and walking from the small bedroom. I rose from the bed and followed her out to where she was sipping coffee and looking at Theresa. It was a sight to see so early in the morning.

The sun was peeking through the windows and kissing the top of the car’s hood, making her look like she was destined to do great things today.

“Are you ready?” asked Amber softly.

I didn’t know the answer to the question, but I nodded my head anyway. As the hours passed, I watched her work, picking up on the little tricks that she did along the way. She was a wonderful teacher; I couldn’t wait to work with her. When the time came for me to leave and head to the starting line, I kissed her tenderly before climbing in.

“Kick his butt baby,” she said to me through the window.

I winked at her and pulled out of the garage. I had Glen in my ear, and it didn’t escape me that this would be the last time that I heard him calling a race with my name in the lineup. Everything was a last for me today, but I didn’t mind. When I pulled up to the starting line, I looked around and caught Luke’s eyes. I had no intention of making today easy on him. I revved up my engine, and he jumped backward, obviously surprised at the powerful sound of my engine. Obviously, he didn’t get the memo that my mechanic was better than his.

I smiled at him, my eyes as dark as his normally were. The anger that filled me was sickening, but I knew that it would all be over pretty soon. One last race, that was all he was worth.

Glen called for the drivers to move to the line I was already at. When the flag girl started her countdown, I was ready for it. I was ready to finish this thing once and for all, before Amber and I rode off into the sunset together, leaving Luke with his pathetic career.

All around us was silence; the air was even still as the numbers fell down to one. When the siren wailed, Theresa and I immediately moved to the front of the pack. Of course, I wasn’t surprised when I looked into my rear mirror and saw that Luke was hot on my trail.

I had heard the rumors; he had a new mechanic. One that knew about Amber and her father and had spent the past three days improving his car. Still, nothing he could do could possibly be as good as the engine that had been a project of Amber’s for decades.

I had spent my entire career fighting off Luke and his dirty tricks. I knew that today would be no different. He would look for some way to try and knock me out of first place. I was expecting it. But, I wouldn’t let him win. Not today.

Today was too important to too many people. I wouldn’t let him take the lead, not now and not ever. I saw him pulling up to my side mirror, and I started to maneuver around.

Static came over my headset, and a familiar voice came through, “Desmond?”

“Amber? What are you doing on this frequency?” I asked her, stunned.

It was standard for most drivers to have a crewmate on their headset, but I had always just had Glen on the other end. I had never needed anyone else before now.

“Hey, listen, I am watching him race, and Luke has a modified GPO,” she said.

“I have no idea what that means,” I said earnestly.

She laughed, “I know. It means that when he tries to shoot the gap, he’s going to have more of a power boost than you normally see from his car. Here’s the thing, most mechanics don’t think about the long run. Let him pass you!”

“What?” I yelled, trying to listen to her and watch Luke at the same time.

“Just trust me, Desmond! I know it sounds crazy, but he will lose a lot of power after he uses the GPO boost. You will be able to soar past him with ease. Plus, letting him pass you, will give him false hope that you won’t be able to rip away from him at the last minute,” she said.

I had to laugh at her dark humor, “I do trust you, Amber. I will do whatever you think is best.”

She ended the call, and I went back to listening to Glen’s commentary. He was as shocked as I was when I moved over and gave Luke the opening that he needed. I saw him from the mirror as he moved over to the side of me.

His dark smile peered through my driver side window as he flew past. He took the lead with ease. I watched him speed past and felt my hand twitch. I hated that I was giving him the lead, and he was running with it. The finish line was coming into view.

I saw what Amber was talking about. The space between Luke and me was starting to close, and he was slowing down. As we progressed towards the finish line, Luke continued to try to run me off the road, but he didn’t succeed.

His car was losing the power he had wasted on the boost, and I was able to soar past him. Amber had been right, all I had to do was bide my time and he had lost the race all by himself.

Looking at him again from my rear mirror, I saw him gaining on me and looking at my bumper and I knew that he was going to try and ram me off the road one last time. I wasn’t about to let him ruin everything, though. Not after all the work that we had put into Theresa.

She was worth too much to both Amber and me now. I quickly jerked to the left and slammed on the brake.

The plan worked, Luke went flying past me, struggling to regain control of his car. Luke was a fool, but not one who was willing to risk his life. He had to slam on the brakes to keep from flipping his car. Once again, I moved past him and took the lead. With him far behind me and the finish line approaching, I smiled. I had done it.

The Grand Nevada was mine, but I had won so much more than just a race. I had taken on a fear greater than myself, and I had won. I had won love.

I crossed the line, my heart jumping up and down as I skidded to a halt and saw Amber running to me. I met her half way across the pavement and scooped her up into my arms, swinging her around in a circle. She had given me so much, and now I was going to make sure that she had everything she wanted for the rest of her life.

I spun her around before setting her down and pulling her lips to mine in a passionate embrace. I didn’t plan on letting her go again for a very long time.

“You did it!” she said above the crowd.

I shook my head, “No, we did it!”

“I would never have known to do any of that if it wasn’t for you. Once again you were able to direct me to do the right thing,” I said to her. “You have made me a winner, and now, we are both winners today.”

“I’m so happy Desmond. Think of what this is going to do for my shop,” she said.

I could see the tears glistening in her eyes as the other drivers started to pull in and climb out of their cars. Thanks to my little stunt, Luke didn’t come in anywhere close to first place. I saw him glaring at me from a few feet away, and I smiled, my arm still wrapped around Amber.

“Hey Luke, I think I will take that car wash now,” I said with a smile.

Everyone who knew what we were talking about started to laugh except for Luke. He continued to curse at me, but I couldn’t hear him over the cheers.

When he saw that he wasn’t going to be able to ruin the moment for me, I watched him storm away. From the crowd, I saw a group of woman waving to me, beckoning for me to come over. They were all very young and very pretty.

I looked at Amber, and she cocked an eyebrow, making me laugh. “Don’t worry baby; I only have eyes for you.”

She smiled at me then and wrapped herself around me. I didn’t resist as the crowd went wild seeing the public display of affection. As Glen came over to us, we both hugged him.

“So what’s next for you two?” he asked me.

I smiled at Amber, “I think we are going to go and turn a shop around.”

Glen smiled, “I am so happy for you two, but don’t you go forgetting about me!”

“Are you kidding?” said Amber playfully, “I expect front row seats to every race you announce from now until the day you retire Glen!”

We all shared an embrace, and I watched as Glen walked away from us on the arm of a pretty young woman. I smiled. It was his turn to enjoy all the women and the limelight. I was going to be just fine with the one woman I had at my side.

Just me, her and Theresa. With that, we walked over to the car, and I opened the passenger side door for her. I had no use now for the spotlight. As I waved to the crowd and climbed back into the car, I looked at Amber.

“Are you ready for our next big adventure?” I asked her.

She smiled at me and said, “I was born ready.”

We burned out of the track and onto the highway, never looking back at our past and keeping our eyes on the future. A future that we would be spending together. It was going to be a wonderful life. I only had one complaint. I still needed to make her my wife.

“
A
re you sure
?” I whispered to Diana.

She nodded her head, “I checked three times Amber. The numbers don’t lie.”
I sat back. I couldn’t believe the news that she had just told me. We were sitting in the shop a year after the Grand Nevada. Once Desmond and I had come home, she had been so excited to meet him that she had left work right away.

It was great that she had been so excited; however, leaving your job at a hospital was frowned upon and she was fired. It hadn’t mattered though, business was booming at the shop and I was quickly able to give her a job working the books.

“Wow, I can’t believe it.” I said again, “Its finally done. The shop is paid off.”
She smiled at me, “That’s right, anything after this is just gravy.”

“I don’t know what to do with myself now actually.” I told her earnestly.

“I know what I would do, a long vacation, say, about a year?” she said with a playful wink.

I rolled my eyes, I knew what my sister was talking about but I didn’t know if I was ready for the rest of the world to know. I would have to start talking soon. I heard the men in the shop laughing and recognized a voice above all the rest.

Desmond was there to pick me up for a romantic weekend and I was definitely ready for it. We had both been working so hard at the shop that we needed a little vacation. Maybe Diana was right, maybe I should take a long trip with him.

I kissed my sister on the cheek and dashed from the office to meet Desmond. Things with us were just the same as always. He was still in love with me and I was still in love with him. Everything about our relationship was perfect and I was worried that things were going to change. We had never talked about having more than just what we had now.

“Ready?” he said with a smile.

I nodded my head and followed him out to climb into Theresa—she was the best car in the world and we took her everywhere we went. As we drove through the streets and into the country, I knew that I would have the start talking to him soon. I started with the good news about the shop.

“Really?” he said, as excited as I had been.

“Yep.” I replied.

“So what now? Keep working?” he asked, ready to do anything I wanted.

“I don’t know; I was thinking about taking a real vacation.” I said to him.

“Wow, you taking a vacation? I don’t believe it!” he said playfully.

I laughed, “It was just an idea. Do you have any family you would want to see?”

I knew the answer, but I thought it would be a great way to lead into everything. He looked at me with a strange smile but played along.

“No, not really. You know that I was an only child and my parents died. I mean,” he continued, “I’m sure that I have family somewhere, but I have never known them and I don’t really want to start now. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” I lied. “Have you ever thought about having a family?”

He smiled, “Well, sure I have thought about it. I mean, who wouldn’t want another dozen kids like you running around the shop right? We could put them to work all day and never have to lift a finger again. I mean, I am not pushing you or anything. I think that we should get married or talk about the future before anything like that. Right?”

My heart sank, “Oh. Right.”

“Hey? What’s wrong? Why do you ask?” he asked.

“Well ... um ... I just found out that I’m pregnant.” I said to him softly.

The car skidded and pulled off to the side of the road with a roaring stop. I jerked forward, my hands resting on the dash. I looked at him in shock. I hadn’t expected that sort of reaction but I guess it was my own fault.

You probably shouldn’t tell someone they are going to be a father while they are driving a race car down the road. Looking back, it seemed like a really bad idea.

“Are you kidding?” he asked me.

“No, of course not.” I said to him.

I had hoped that he would be excited but it was starting to look like he was going to be angrier than anything. It broke my heart to think that he wasn’t excited about being a father.

Maybe it wasn’t about being a father. Maybe it was just being the father of my child. I couldn’t believe that though, he loved me and I loved him. A child wouldn’t change that; it would only make our world even better.

“Amber, this is wonderful news!” he said to me in a hushed tone.

“Really?” I said, my heart starting to skip.

“Of course! It makes everything just perfect!” He all but yelled at me.

I was a little confused, I already thought that everything we had was perfect. He was even the one who surprised me with a weekend getaway to celebrate our one-year anniversary.

Everything was going better than planned. He worked at the shop with me, learning as he went and helping as much as he could. It was easy to teach him though. He was such a fast learner that he made working together easy.

Everyone at the shop had loved him as soon as they met him and it was easy to understand why. He was a different person off the track. He was friendly and loving with everyone he met. In a lot of ways, he reminded me of my dad. Even my sister had noticed how much he was like him but on a larger scale. My father had helped all the people that he could, even on his shoestring budget. Desmond didn’t have that problem but it was a secret he kept well.

The only person who knew about his wealth beside me was my sister and she was more than happy to let him help her out. Still, he had wanted to help me and I refused. My father had worked so hard to build the shop and now I was thrilled that I had stuck to my guns about it.

Knowing that I had paid off his shop without any financial help was an amazing feeling. As I looked at him, my eyes filled with joy. He had made me the happiest woman alive and I couldn’t believe I had ever doubted his love for me.

“Amber, the reason why I wanted us to go away this weekend was so that I could ask you something,” he said to me.

I held my breath, I thought I knew where he was going with this but I couldn’t believe it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. When he opened it, I saw a glimmering green emerald. It was absolutely perfect in every way. My heart was beating so hard I thought it was going to beat right out of my chest.

“Amber, will you marry me?” he asked me softly.

I couldn’t find the words to speak. I wanted to scream, yes! I wanted to shout it from the top of the world but when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. I couldn’t catch my breath.

Instead, I just nodded my head, tears flowing down my cheeks freely as he slipped the ring from the box and slid it onto my hand. I knew that this was the moment he had been waiting for.

For once in my life, I couldn’t wait to share my personal life with the whole world. I wanted to call my sister and tell her the great news. More than anything though, I just wanted to tell Desmond how much I loved him and how happy he made me. Catching my breath, I looked into his eyes and smiled.

“Desmond, you have made me so happy. We are going to have a wonderful life. I am going to be your wife and our baby will have a loving home. You have given me everything I have ever wanted. I love you so much.” I said to him.

For the first time, I saw tears glistening in his eyes and I wanted to kiss them away. I knew they were tears of joy. It was a joy that I shared with him. Knowing that our world was going to change forever wasn’t frightening anymore. I would have Desmond by my side the entire time and nothing could break us apart. Our future was going to be with each other.

“So, what were you saying about taking a longer vacation?” he asked me.

“Well, I was thinking that, with everything going on, maybe I could leave the shop alone for a while. I think that Diana knows what she is doing. With it paid off, we can leave without having to worry about the bills.

She has really taken a shine to the place too. I have never seen her do so well. Even when she was a nurse, she didn’t thrive as well as she did running the office end of things.” I said to him.

He pulled back out onto the road and smiled, “I think that’s a wonderful idea. I know that you love the shop, and I do too. But, I would really like to spend some time together before everything changes for us, for the better though.”

“I think it will do us a lot of good,” I replied.

“So, did you have anywhere in mind?” he asked me.

I smiled at him, “I hear Nevada is nice this time of year.”

We both laughed as Theresa carried us down the road. It didn’t matter where we were going now, all that mattered was that we were going to be together forever. Desmond, me, the baby and Theresa. The perfect family.