Shifting Gears (12 page)

He fucking loved it.

Apparently, a lot of other people did, too, because they were getting a lot more traffic in the pit than usual. Guys Grady hadn't seen in months were stopping by “just to say hi.”

Pathetic.

Of course, given how he'd elbowed his own little brother aside this morning in order to sit next to Annabelle at breakfast, he supposed he didn't have a lot of room to criticize. There was about half an hour left before qualifying rounds were scheduled to start when Kerri came up to him and pulled him away from the small crowd of guys gathered around Annabelle.

“What the hell is going on? Why are you having social hour right before the quals?” She kept her voice low, trying not to draw attention, but Grady was pretty sure it would take a fistfight to pull everyone's focus off of Annabelle.

“I'm not having social hour. Everyone wants to meet Annabelle, it seems.”

“Well, tell them to get lost.”

Grady shook his head. “No way. This is part of her job, you know. If she wants to be crew chief, she's got to learn to take control of situations like these.”

Kerri fumed, but she didn't argue. She knew he was right. But at the same time, he was pretty sure Annabelle unfortunately
wasn't
going to rise to the occasion this time around. The way she was smiling—a little tense and forced, but smiling just the same—was too tolerant to be effective in clearing the pit of everyone before it was go time.

“Fine. If you won't do it, then I will.” Kerri turned and stalked off, heading straight for the little group. Less than ten seconds later, Annabelle's fan club practically took off running out of the pit, and Annabelle looked embarrassed. Kerri was talking to her, a stern look on her face, and Annabelle was blushing but nodding. Grady gave them a second, and after another minute, Kerri hugged Annabelle, then headed toward the car.

He approached Annabelle. “You okay?”

She nodded, the color on her cheeks still high. “Yeah, I—Kerri was just telling me I need to get more outspoken if I'm going to succeed at this. And she's right. I just—I just feel like I failed within the first five minutes.”

Tell me about it. It's not easy to find your own place in a family like ours.

But he didn't say that. Instead, he touched her elbow, trying not to stroke it. “Hey, it's okay. This is your first race. You'll learn.”

She looked up at him and smiled. “Thanks, Grady. That means a lot to me.”

“Ready to go up?”

“Sure. Let's do this.”

He led her to the ladder and waited for her to climb up first. He told himself that he was being gentlemanly, staying at the bottom in case she slipped. He did not think about how lucky he was that he got to watch her gorgeous ass as she ascended the ladder.

But he watched, just the same.

They got up on top of the pit box and slipped on their headphones, which would protect their ears from the loud roar of the engines as well as allow them to communicate with Kerri as she drove. They'd agreed that Grady would take the lead with directing Kerri on the track and their new spotter, Brandon, up on the skybox, but that Annabelle could jump in with suggestions that Grady could approve or disapprove.

Bit had been effusive in his praise of her. Bit, who barely showed any emotion, had told Grady yesterday that Annabelle could be a crew chief legend if she could just grow a little more backbone and get over the fear that she wouldn't be good enough.

That was one of the reasons Grady had hung back today, trying to see if she would be able to fulfill that requirement. So she hadn't done so well with that. But like he'd said, it was her first race, and given the way she'd reacted to Kerri's admonishment, he was pretty sure she wouldn't let it happen again.

The qualifying round went smoothly, and Kerri earned sixth pole position. Not bad. She was in great shape for the season, and would most likely finish this race in the top five.

But Grady was hoping she'd win it.

They took a short break and Annabelle and Kerri spent the time deep in conversation, strategizing, while Grady hung back, letting them take the lead. But by the time the actual race came around, Annabelle had gone strangely quiet.

The drivers lined up behind the pole, getting ready to start the race.

Next to him, Annabelle leaned forward.

“Drivers! Start your engines!” The grand marshal shouted into the mic, and the cars started up. The place sounded like a bomb had gone off, making the crowd went wild.

In the small space between them, Annabelle reached over and squeezed Grady's thigh in excitement. Those slender, strong fingers gripping his leg—

Okay.
Shit.
Okay. Now he was getting an erection.

And of course that was the moment she chose to look away from the starting line and at the clipboard he'd had resting on his knee …

By then his arousal was kind of hard to miss.

Her fingers tightened, pushing into his muscle—

“And they're off!” They both jerked as the cars took off down the track, and Grady blew out a ragged breath.

Damn it. He'd missed the flag going up because he'd been so into Annabelle. He couldn't do that again. Trying to ignore her wasn't working, though.

After the race, he wasn't going to send her off to sleep again. This time, he was taking her back to his bed, and they were going to repeat what they'd done on Thursday morning.

But in the meantime … he turned his attention to the computer in front of them, moving the clipboard so that it covered the bulge in his pants.

Two hundred laps. And he was counting every one.

*   *   *

“What gives, Grady? You got some
chick
to take over your job?”

Half an hour into the race, the strange voice crackled through Annabelle's headset, startling her so that she actually looked around the pit box for the person who'd said it.

Next to her, Grady frowned and spoke into his own headset. “That's right, Bourdakis. She's gonna help Kerri whip your ass today. And don't be a dick.”

“Don't be a dick? Exactly, man. This little girlie you got up on the box isn't gonna say shit like that to me. What makes you think she can handle a—”

“Bourdakis, you shut your mouth or I'll beat your ass when you stop for tires.”

The words were out of Annabelle's mouth before she could stop them. She blinked, surprised at herself, and the sound of Kerri laughing filled the channel as Bourdakis switched off with a curse.

Oh my goodness.
What had she just done?

She cut the line and turned to Grady. “Too much?”

He was clearly biting back a laugh, his eyes wide, and shook his head.

She grinned. It had felt good, to stand up for herself and hold her own. She didn't need Grady's approval. But she'd wanted it. She was glad to have it.

She turned away, feeling suddenly uncomfortable, and turned her focus back on the race, trying not to make things weird. She wanted him, definitely. But she hated how she already craved his support. In fact, she probably wouldn't even be sitting in this chair if it hadn't been for his support. Did she owe all these steps toward independence to him?

“What do you think, Annabelle? I'm coming up on pit road. Do I have enough room to fuel up or should I keep going a few more?”

Kerri's voice broke into her thoughts, and Annabelle faltered. She didn't want to ask Grady, but she wasn't sure. What if she made—

“Bring it in, sis. Now's a good time,” Grady said, and Annabelle realized she'd waited too long to make a decision. If Grady hadn't spoken, Kerri would have missed the turnoff to pit. She needed to stop thinking about him. She couldn't afford to lose herself in Grady, no matter how sexy she found him or how good he made her feel.

An hour later, she was doing a much better job of holding her own.

“When you come out of this turn, I want you to gun it. But you've gotta do it fast, or you'll lose the opportunity to overtake Riggs,” she told Kerri.

Annabelle looked over at Grady and held her breath, waiting to see if he would overrule her instructions.

But he didn't.

For quite some time, he'd been completely silent, in fact, even though she'd asked him a couple of times right after Kerri had pitted if what she was suggesting was all right. Once, he'd offered a different tactic from what she'd suggested, but after a while …

He'd just stopped talking, and when she'd asked again for confirmation, he'd simply squeezed her thigh.

Like she'd done to him, right before the race.

That touch had said,
You're doing fine on your own.

But at the same time …
I'm here to hold you, if you need me.

It was the opposite message from what Momma and Donnie had always sent. It eased the fear in her, had buoyed her up and made her feel like she really could do something on her own. Be someone in her own right.

Maybe she wasn't losing herself in him, after all.

She still looked to him to make sure she didn't mess up, though in a way it was more out of a nod to his knowledge and authority than for confirmation of her own. And every time she met his eyes, he smiled and curled his fingers a little tighter around her thigh.

As though he didn't want to let her go.

She looked out at the far curve, at Kerri's car entering the turn. “You're almost there,” she said into the mic. “Keep it tight, and when I say go, you push it hard and—
go!
”

Her fists clenched as she watched the car pick up speed, shooting out of the curve and zipping past Riggs, Kerri's shout of excitement coming loud in her ear.

“Moving up into second position, Kerri Hart. Ten laps to go, ladies and gentlemen.”

The announcer's voice cut through the screaming on the line, and Annabelle allowed herself a grin. It wasn't a win—not yet, anyway—but it sure as hell felt like victory.

Grady spoke into his mouthpiece, and she heard him through the headphones even though he was sitting less than a foot away. “Hell, Annabelle. Nothing like showing the world on your first day that you own the track.”

The rush of pride that went through her at those words was intoxicating. Grady thought she
owned
something? Something that was hers and that she'd done on her own and—

No. Not completely on her own.

But the way he said it made her feel that way. Significant.

Before she could respond, though, someone else's voice came through the earpiece. “You sure you wanna be working for Hart, Annabelle? Blount Racing could use a good assistant crew chief, and I wouldn't mind having you talking in my ear for a few hundred laps. I've got a few ideas for—”

“Fuck you, McFadden. How about this for an idea? Get off our channel and quit running your mouth.” Grady sounded revved up, and he'd taken his hand off her thigh to clench it into a fist, like he was getting ready to punch that McFadden guy—another driver whom she'd met earlier.

“Hell, if you're trying to poach Annabelle then I'm gonna throw my hat in the ring, too,” came another voice, but before Annabelle could figure out which driver that was, Kerri broke in.

“Not that I want to tip off the competition, but while you idiots are holding job interviews, I'm busy winning the race. But I need my crew chief back.”

Darn. Annabelle heard the admonition in Kerri's words. They'd been teasing, but the message was clear:
Don't get distracted by the chatter.

She could certainly use that lesson in her own head. Although, for the past hour, she hadn't had a single thought about how worthless she was or how stupid or how … anything else she was.

In this race, sitting in this chair … she was simply Annabelle.

Nine-and-three-quarters laps later, she was standing along the railing that edged the box, gritting her teeth, holding her breath, watching as Kerri shot up the last straight and—

“Hart is the winner, ladies and gentleman! What a victory here at Dover today for Hart Racing!”

And then Annabelle was screaming. She was screaming and shouting something that sounded a lot like
Holy shit
over and over.

Kerri had won the race. She'd won the race, and Annabelle had actually helped her to do it. She hadn't stayed silent the whole time and merely deferred to Grady. She'd actually given good advice to Kerri on how to handle the car, based on what she'd seen and the videos she'd watched of Kerri's past races.

Next to her, Grady was whooping and jumping up and down, waving his cap in the air in celebration. She turned and looked at him, grinning madly, and the next thing she knew …

He was kissing her. Just pulled her into his arms and put his mouth on hers in front of thousands of people.

And she let him.

In fact, she brought her hands to his hair and dug in, holding him close and tight, opening herself up for more.

She barely even registered the camera flashes going off all around them.

They kissed for what felt like forever, and yet not long enough, before Grady pulled away and smiled. “Let's get down to the pit.”

They practically flew down the ladder, careening into the pit, where the rest of the crew was going just as wild as she felt. They hugged and laughed and started shouting again when Kerri's car came rumbling up pit road, screeching to a stop in front of the Hart Racing booth.

Ranger was the first to get to Kerri, sweeping her up in a big hug and kissing her in a way that made Annabelle blush.
Oh, dear.
Had that been what she'd looked like with Grady just now?

She felt someone's hand close around hers.

Speak of the devil …

“Hey, Grady! Congratulations, man!” A good-looking guy wearing a racing suit approached and clapped Grady on the back. Annabelle gasped when she recognized Ty Riggs, a star driver at Riggs Racing. Sports sites loved to feature him on their landing pages because he was so attractive, and he was even more handsome in person.