Authors: Audra North
That got her attention focused back on him, but there was no longer any softness in her gaze. Instead, she leveled an assessing look on him.
“You know, I might not be as big as the Intercomm Cup drivers, but some people do follow me. Some people know me from the Indy circuit and now they come out to these races specifically to watch
me
. Some people come out because they knew my dad. We’re a small team and we don’t have flashy stuff yet, but I’m not going to forget that there are people out there who have always believed in me.”
“This isn’t about people believing in you. This is about you using your time wisely,” he countered. “The time that you spend pushing Cran-Crappy to the public could be better spent trying to meet with bigger potential sponsors.”
He glared at her. How could she not understand how important this was? Didn’t she want this as badly as he did?
“Money really is all you care about, isn’t it?” Her voice was soft, but her eyes were hard, and she didn’t wait for him to answer. “Maybe that’s why it’s so difficult for you to wrap your head around why I would do this. So I’ll tell you a story that might help you understand, although I doubt it.” Her upper lip curled in a way that made it clear she found him distasteful.
“A few weeks back, I was in Vegas, out in the booth after the practice session. There was a family that walked past, maybe about fifty yards from where I was sitting. A mom and a dad, a little girl and a little boy. They were being sort of being led by the son and the dad, heading toward Ty’s booth. You probably saw it. Riggs Racing has a much bigger setup and a lot cooler giveaways because they’re a huge outfit with a multimillion dollar sponsor. And I get that. I understand that’s more appealing and it happens all the time. But this time, as they passed by, that little girl turned and looked at me, and her eyes went so wide I thought they might burst out of her head.
Her whole face lit up.
I could see something come alive in her, right there in front of me. She stopped and tugged on her mom’s arm, and the mom stopped, and the next thing I knew, that little girl was doing the leading. She just walked away from her family as bold as can be and they had no choice but to follow her right up to me.”
He blinked.
Damn.
She rolled her eyes. “In case you didn’t get the message of that story through your thick skull, it’s that sometimes, all it takes for a girl to realize that she can be a leader, that she already is one, is seeing a woman who is already doing something great. That’s why I do it.”
“Okay. Yeah. I got it, Confucius.”
Shit. It had come out as snappish, but that’s not how he’d meant it. He sighed. “Sorry. I
do
get it. And you’re right, it’s important stuff. I’ll go meet with Alan by myself.”
She gave a curt nod. “See you later, then.” She turned to walk away.
No, damn it!
He didn’t want her leaving like this, annoyed with him. He stopped her before she could take a step. “Kerri.”
She pivoted. “What is it?”
“It takes one to know one.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Being a leader. I want you to know that I understand what you were saying. You lit it up inside of that girl, you saw her potential first.” He brought one shoulder up, trying to do a casual shrug. “Takes one to know one.”
One step. Two steps. Slowly, Kerri walked back toward him, not stopping until her breasts nearly brushed his chest. One slender hand came to rest on his shoulder, and the placket of her racing jacket slid against his shirt as she rose on her tiptoes. “Thanks, Ranger,” she whispered, and landed a soft kiss on his cheek before sliding away, turning back around and walking out of the stall.
Ranger had just left the stall to go meet the TelTex rep when his phone rang.
He looked at the screen and scowled.
How did Al always call at the worst possible time?
He’d been feeling pretty good after that kiss from Kerri—even though it wasn’t nearly as hot as the others they’d shared—and now his pleasurable buzz was ruined.
Of course, there was never really a good time to talk to Al. No doubt this was a business call, and he had to take it. He swiped the screen and put the phone to his ear.
“Ranger here.”
“Hello, son.”
“I’m on my way to a meeting with a potential sponsor. What is it?”
Al was oddly silent for a minute, and Ranger was about to pull the phone away to see if the call had been disconnected when his father finally spoke again.
“I thought you’d be spending more time with the team, not racing off to meetings all the time.”
What the hell? What did Al care about how much time Ranger spent with the team? And this was the second time Al had called to check up on what Ranger was doing with the project.
What was going on?
Ranger frowned as he walked. “I don’t have time to socialize. I’ve got a few months to turn this small-time deal into a
raging success
, remember?”
A heavy sigh came through the phone, and for a second Ranger felt like it was a sound of disappointment. But what would Al have to be disappointed about? Ranger was going after sponsors. He wasn’t going to waste time hanging around the Hart Racing crew when there was money to be made. He was doing things exactly the way Al would have done them.
“All right. I’ll let you get to that, then. But just remember, don’t settle for less than everything.”
It was something Al liked to say whenever he talked about making an acquisition or closing any kind of business deal. But the way he said it this time sounded off, somehow. Maybe it was just the lingering happiness that Ranger had felt after Kerri had initiated that chaste kiss just a few moments ago or maybe having Al so involved was throwing him off, but it felt like Al was talking about more than just the TelTex deal.
It felt personal.
No. This is Al Colt, remember? You might be Ruthless Ranger, but he’s Asshole Al. He’s the last person to give a shit about anyone’s personal life after fucking his up so badly.
Right. Ranger barely managed to get out an “I’ll remember” before he disconnected the call, more annoyed than he’d been in a long time.
But he was also more resolved. He was going to succeed at this. He wasn’t going to let Kerri rile him up and make him forget his priorities. He was going to be fair to the team but also make sure that they were a raging success. He was going to get his promotion, and in another few years he was going to take over Colt International.
He wasn’t going to settle for less than
everything
.
Ranger was growing on her.
Oh, not the physical attraction. That was already fully grown, so big that it was practically exploding out of her. After the race on Saturday, she hadn’t been able to stop touching her lips while she sat at the Cran-Tasty booth, remembering the feel of the stubble on his cheek when she kissed him. His body had felt so strong and he’d smelled so good … she’d accidentally ended up signing “Ranger” on one of her photos for a fan like a besotted middle schooler.
It was the attraction to his
personality
that was throwing her off.
Yesterday they’d stayed in Talladega to watch the more-seasoned drivers in the Intercomm Cup version of the race she’d driven the day before—and he’d come back to the track with her, chatting up the other team owners, talking to some people she’d never seen before, and even spending time with Lee, who actually seemed to enjoy talking to Ranger. Which didn’t help Kerri any when it came to trying
not
to like Ranger. Lee didn’t enjoy talking to anyone.
And during the race, Mom had stayed back at the hotel. The
new
hotel. Apparently, Ranger had upgraded all of their lodging for the rest of the season. When she’d asked him about it, he’d mumbled something about the necessity of a good night’s sleep for peak racing performance, as though he had to justify every expense with some kind of bottom-line reason. And yet, she’d seen the way he’d specifically asked Mom how she had slept and whether the place was to her satisfaction.
He hadn’t changed the hotel for the benefit of the crew. He’d changed it for the only person in the group who didn’t work in racing.
From what she had seen, he was a much better person than she’d originally given him credit for, even if the things he seemed to believe were misguided. Though his Ruthless Ranger epithet might have conjured images of him committing acts of cruelty, she was beginning to suspect it had a lot more to do with how he rolled up his sleeves and got the job done. For folks who found that kind of work ethic intimidating, it was a lot easier to make him look bad than to own up to their own failures.
So maybe his priorities were still off, and she still didn’t agree that money was the most important thing, but in the end, he wasn’t forcing anyone to scrimp and save in an effort to pad the bottom line. The realization had made her step back a bit and try not to antagonize him too much, and yesterday had actually been much more relaxed. Almost peaceful, even.
Now it was Monday morning and Lee, Grady, Mom, Ranger, and Kerri were on the plane flying back to Charlotte for a couple of days to rest before heading on to Kansas City for Lee’s next race.
Bit had called Grady this morning to let him know that they were back at the garage in Charlotte already, breaking down the engine of Kerri’s Chevy and finishing up work on Lee’s truck for his upcoming race this weekend at the Kansas Speedway. It was a grueling enough schedule for a regular-sized crew. With a half-staff, everyone was running ragged.
Ranger was sitting next to Kerri, and the others were in the row behind them. He kept shifting in his seat, switching between looking out the window and staring down at his electronic reader. They’d been in the air about an hour, and Kerri had been scribbling in a notebook for most of that time, trying to ignore the restlessness in the man next to her, though it wasn’t easy. She was so aware of him now, so attuned to every move he made, that by the time he put down his e-reader and looked over at her, she was feeling as wound up as he was.
He cleared his throat. She rolled her eyes and set down her pen, but was smiling when she looked up at him.
“What are you doing, anyway?”
He looked so genuinely curious that she didn’t tease him, even though she wanted to. “I’m writing in my journal.”
“Your journal? Like a diary?”
“Thanks for making it sound like I’m seven years old, but sure. Like a diary.”
“Are you writing about me?”
A surprised laugh escaped her. “Your head is ridiculously huge, you know that?”
“Which head are you referring to, exactly?” He waggled his brows, leering at her.
Oh, wow
. She wasn’t sure, but she suddenly, desperately she wanted to find out. But she tamped down the hot arousal that started rising in her body and picked up her pen again with a prim sniff. “Stop flirting with me in a creepy sexual-harassment kind of way.”
“I’m not harassing you. I’m your fiancé.”
Someone is in a playful mood.
She flicked the end of her pen at him, snapping it against the skin of his hand.
“Ow!”
“Serves you right. You’re as bad as Lee and Grady. Do guys really never grow up?”
He backed off, putting both his hands in the air as if in surrender. “Sorry. I’m sorry. That was pretty inappropriate. And you’re right, guys never grow up. That’s why we need a good woman to show us how to behave.”
She cocked her head to one side and looked up at him through her lashes. “I was just teasing you back. I didn’t mind. But you’re still insufferable.”
He grinned at her. “I like you, too.”
They were quiet for several minutes, and Kerri returned to writing in her notebook before Ranger leaned over again. “So,
are
you?”
“Am I what?”
“Writing about me?”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Ranger!” She thrust the notebook at him. “If you want to know, here. Read for yourself.”
And please don’t laugh at me.
He scanned the page, his brows drawing together as he read. “Huh. So you
are
writing about me.”
She nodded.
“And it’s not very nice.” He set the notebook back down on the tray in front of her.
Not very nice? That’s what he cared about?
“Now why would you say that? I’m just outlining what happened with our deal on Friday. I think I got it down nearly word for word, too. How can you say it’s not very nice when it’s almost exactly what happened?”
He looked away from her. “Because it makes me look like a jerk.”
You are a jerk
, she wanted to say. But after the past couple of days, she was no longer so sure. The way he’d reacted to how she felt about putting in time at the Cran-Tasty booth was more than she would have given him credit for when she’d first met him. But he’d surprised her, time and again.
She was beginning to wonder if their first meeting had been all wrong, had thrown everything off course, and that maybe she was wrong about Ranger. Maybe he wasn’t going to sweep in, change everything, and then leave when she’d just begun depending on him.
Like Earl left, right after Dad had died and you were deep in grief. Like Grady, who falls apart regularly like a rusty old chassis on a dirt road. Like Dad, for dying in the first place …
No, wait. That brought her up short. That wasn’t fair. She didn’t really feel that way.
Did she?
She shook it off. Now wasn’t the time to wonder about something like that.
“Ranger…” She reached out a hand and put it on his arm, but he still wouldn’t look at her. “I’m the one who’s sorry now. I really didn’t think you’d be upset. I wouldn’t have let you read it if I knew it was going to hurt your feelings. I didn’t think you cared.” She kept her voice quiet and leaned close so that Grady and the others wouldn’t hear.
He finally turned back to her and whispered, “What are you writing this down for, anyway?”