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  Jake brushed her knuckles with his thumb, but didn’t say anything as he drove. There was comfort in his simply accepting that she was a wreck, and he was willing to drop everything to take care of her. Did she even deserve that?

  Her first thought was that, no, she didn’t deserve that. She’d been the sole reason that Jake Walker lost his sponsor. Or maybe not, but perhaps her messing with him had started the entire thing.

  Then again, maybe there was a little bit of a mystery now. She’d pushed him out of those races to keep Justice from killing him. But why would Justice have to do that? And if the money to buy the garage was simply money won by betting against, why would his father have sent Justice after him?

  But as she considered it, it had been her father that had told her about Justice trying to kill Walker and push him out of the circuit.

  Her head was beginning to spin with the possibilities of what that might mean.

  How long had her father been in a partnership with Byron Walker? That was an answer she didn’t have. And if they were working for the same team, which was a major conflict of interest and frowned upon by those who governed the small racing circuit, why not just let Walker win the races and take the purses? Why had she been convinced to push him out until his sponsorship was dropped?

  The more she thought about it, the harder it became to breathe. Had she been the one that had been set up?

  “Hey, hey,” his voice snapped her from her thoughts. His hand came to her hair as he pushed it behind her shoulder. “What’s going on? You’re going to pass out on me.”

  “I’m fine. I’m fine!” she shouted, causing him to retract his hand as he pulled up in front of his house.

  “Yeah, sure you are. Jesus, I’ll carry your ass inside if you need me to.” He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face toward him. “You’re pale. Are you sick?” Then his eyes went wide. “Oh, God, you’re not pregnant are you?”

  Her eyes then went wide as his. “Would you continue to look so horrified if I was?”

  Jake scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m not horrified. I just hadn’t considered it. Okay then. It’s not a bad thing. I want kids. I really do. I just wasn’t ready for it.”

  “Shut up, Walker. I’m not pregnant. I’m just out of sorts.” She blew out a breath. “Let’s just get inside. I’ll drink some water. I’ll calm down. Then maybe I can tell you the jumbled mess of things I’ve learned and we can piece it out.”

  His expression didn’t change much. Well, maybe he had some disappointment now. Would he rather her to have been pregnant? Would she have?

  Jake climbed from the truck and skirted the front as she opened her door. Then he reached a hand out to help her out and pulled her to him as her feet hit the ground.

  “Sorry for the minor freak out there,” he said softly in her ear. “I guess a man’s mind goes there when a woman looks sickly and has something to tell him.”

  “I get it,” she said with her cheek pressed to his chest. “I’d never considered that it could even happen, so it hadn’t crossed my mind.”

  Jake placed his calloused hands on her cheeks and lifted her face to his. Pressing a gentle kiss on her lips, he looked her in the eyes. “For the record, it wouldn’t be horrible. If it happened, I might be a bit shocked, but it wouldn’t be horrible. I’d like that someday.”

  She wondered if she’d gone pale again, because certainly the blood had just drained from her head and her knees were weak. “You want to have kids?”

  He pressed another gentle kiss to her lips. “Yeah, I do. And we might not have been at this long, but I’m sure I’d like to have them with you.”

  Now she knew she’d lost blood to her brain as she swayed in his arms.

  He laughed. “Okay, a subject for another day. Let’s get you inside.”

  Missy had leaned on him as he walked with her into his house. Jake unlocked the door and they stepped inside.

  “Let’s sit in the living room on the sofa,” he offered. “I’ll get some water, unless you want something a little stronger, since you’re not with child and all.”

  She chuckled as she kicked off her boots by the door, and then walked to the sofa and sat down, curling her legs up under her. “I need a drink badly, but I’ll take water. We might both need a drink after.”

  He considered her a moment, then walked to the kitchen to get the water. His mind whirled in a thousand directions as to what might have set her off.

  Jake pulled down two glasses and moved to the refrigerator to fill them from the spout. As he did so, he thought about his reaction in the truck.

  He’d never have thought that with any other woman. What if she had been pregnant? He now found there was a little bit of disappointment flowing through him and that confused him too.

  Jake Walker wasn’t a man who ever thought he wanted to get married. He supposed that it hadn’t been until his cousins started expecting kids that he’d even thought about it at all.

  Now he was feeling light headed. What did all this mean?

  Jake took the waters out to the living room and set them on the coffee table. He looked at her sitting on his sofa, legs tucked up under and arms wrapped around her. This was a sign of a woman who was holding in a lot of information and feelings.

  At least she hadn’t hit him when he’d asked if she were pregnant. So maybe whatever she had balled up inside of her wasn’t about him. Otherwise, he would have to assume she’d have been all fists of fury coming after him.

  Jake sat down next to her on the sofa, urged her legs out from underneath her, and draped them over his lap. Perhaps if he let her know he was calm, he’d be a comfort.

  “Okay, now tell me what has you fired up.”

  She watched him for a long moment before taking a deep breath. “I’m not even sure where to begin.”

  “Small pieces. Let’s go with the ones we can fix first. Or can deal with.”

  Giving him a slow nod she considered. “I have been removed from the racing team.”

  He knew his eyes had gone wide and he might have even gasped a bit, but he tried to compose himself internally so they could think through each step.

  “Wow. I don’t know what to say to that.” He thought for another moment. “Is it only because of your wrist? That’s going to heal. You’ll be fine to race again.”

  “No. They’ve even changed the color of the car. Right now my brother will drive. Or I think he will. He might be holed up somewhere punching walls too.”

  That was something to think about, but he needed to focus on her right now. “Are you going to work at the dealership? Running the racing team was your job, right?” he asked, but felt as though he should have known the answer.

  Missy nodded. “Yep. That was my sole career move. Nothing to fall back on. Never mattered much. Weekly paycheck. Bonuses if I won a good race. And free room and board in my parents’ audacious house. But that leads me to the next problem.”

  He gave her leg a supportive squeeze. “Go on.”

  “I have been kicked out of their home.”

  She must have had one hell of a morning.

  Jake bit down hard to keep control of the words he was wanting to sling toward her father. What kind of man fires his daughter and kicks her out of the house?

  How would he know? In all his life, he’d never lived with his father except for the first few years. His father hadn’t even invited him into his home. He’d closed the door and talked to him on the driveway.

  “Okay. So, you’re unemployed. It just so happens I could use your mechanic skills, your business sense, and your management skills at the garage if you’re interested.”

  She coughed out a laugh. “Oh, you just happen to have some opening for your rival?”

  “I happen to have an opportunity for the woman I live with.”

  Missy adjusted on the sofa, dropping her feet to the floor. “What?”

  “You said he kicked you out of his house.”

  “Yeah. I ne
ed to find me a place.”

  Jake leaned back and pulled his keys from his pocket. He took Missy’s hand and dropped the keys in her palm. “Done.”

  Her jaw had dropped and she stared at him blankly. He’d have taken amused or angry, but this said nothing.

  “I can’t just move in here.”

  “Why?”

  “Jake, this is all new. We’re sleeping together and having a nice time, but…”

  “But I was very clear with you that it was more than that. So, you can keep that in the forefront of your scrambled mind at the moment and accept my offer.”

  “What if you change your mind?”

  “We’ve never had a problem telling each other off. I suppose if I’m done with the arrangement, I’ll kick your ass out.”

  Her eyes lit in humor and her shoulders dropped. “We have probably said more hurtful things to each other than complimentary ones.”

  “I assume that’s over for us. We’ll have to deal with that.” He rubbed his hand over her thigh. “You’ll stay here? The job, well, there are a million jobs in this town. Hell, you could ask Lydia if you want something different too. She’s always opening up something that needs a good employee.”

  She smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind, but for now I’ll take your offer if you don’t think it’ll cause problems with your current staff.”

  “You’d be a ray of sunshine, sweetheart.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Now, the job thing isn’t a problem and you have housing. You probably want a few days to let it all settle before you go to get your things, so as much as I hate it, I’d even go to the mall with you so you could get some new clothes.”

  Missy maneuvered until she was seated on his lap, straddling him on the sofa. She pressed her hands to his unshaven cheeks.

  “I hate malls,” she said.

  “God, so do I.” He ran his hands up her back before settling them on her hips. Taking the day off was worth the payoff he was about to get right in the living room he thought.

  “There’s more, Jake.”

  He lightened his grip on her hips and she broke from him and stood. Pacing in front of him, she dragged her fingers through her hair and let it fall over her shoulders.

  “You’re killing me here,” he said resting his forearms on his legs clasping his hands which ached to continue with her sitting on his lap.

  “It seems as though Stout Farms racing has a few partners whom have been very silent, if you will.”

  “It happens.”

  “They’re looking to go big circuit with Justice.”

  That raised the heat on the back of his neck, but he wasn’t going to argue it.

  “Could see that coming.”

  “Jake, one of the silent partners is my dad.”

  The heat spread and brought the anger with it. No wonder they’d set her up to take him out, he thought. How long had she known that?

  “That’s a lot to take in,” he admitted running his tongue over his teeth.

  “Here’s some more,” she said and he lifted his eyes to meet hers. “Your dad is the other silent partner.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  She watched him, and she waited. Waited for Jake to leap to his feet and put his fist through the wall—or something. But Missy waited as he sat there on the sofa, his hands clasped together, pressed against his forehead.

  “Are you going to say something?” she finally asked after the moments had ticked into a full minute of silence.

  He sat back on the sofa and rubbed his hand over his forehead. “I’m not even surprised.”

  Confusion and fury were a strange mix, she decided, when they collided in her belly. “That’s all?”

  “He cheated on my mother. He cheated on all his wives. He had gambled away every savings account he ever started for me. He even gambled away my grandfather’s ranch, which he didn’t even have ownership of. My grandfather knew what kind of S.O.B. he was. He gambled against me in my races. Why shouldn’t he take another man and make his dreams come true, racing him in the big circuit, on surely someone else’s money. Honey, this is how my life goes.”

  “Jake this isn’t okay. They have a conflict of interest. My dad is putting my brother behind the wheel of a car knowing that Justice will do anything necessary to push him out so that the points go to him. Look what he did to you.”

  His eyes grew wider and now he stood. “Justice? There’s no proof he did anything to me. There’s a hell of a lot of proof that you pushed me out of the last three races.”

  Missy nearly choked when she gasped. In fact, she sucked in so much air that her head had gone dizzy. “What the hell does that mean, Walker?”

  He moved to her, stood toe to toe with her, and looked down at her with those blue eyes. “You wanted me out of those races.”

  “Because between Justice and Maverick, one of them was going to kill you.”

  “Why? They fired me. I lost my sponsor. It certainly doesn’t even seem that having my dad on the inside helped that out. You on the other hand might have known all this. Maybe you’re mad they’re not taking you to the big circuit. What, you want Daytona that bad?”

  She raised her hand to slap him, but he caught her hand mid-air. “Let me go.”

  “I want to know how long you’ve known this. Were you trying to prove to them that you were the better racer, so you pushed me out of those other races? Looks like it back fired. Justice still got the ride.”

  When he let go of her wrist, she swung again, and this time she made contact.

  “Jesus Christ! Why do you do that?”

  She balled her fists to her side. She was ready to attack if she needed to. Finally, there was a reason for that stupid cast on her arm. “You really think I would do something like that to you? Do you really?”

  “Doesn’t seem like anyone is playing nice anymore.”

  “Who the hell plays nice in this game?” She let out an angry yelp and stomped around like an angry toddler. “I only found out today. Sam saw them all come in and meet with my dad. He did just what any good little brother would do, he snuck up on them and eavesdropped.”

  The anger in his face diffused. A grin toyed with his lips. Laughter finally erupted.

  “What are you laughing at?” She charged at him hell bent on kicking his ass for mocking her.

  Her hands came to his chest to shove him, but he took hold of them, turned her, and a moment later had her pinned beneath him on the couch. Now he straddled her, much as Sam would have when they were younger, only he’d have been dangling spit over her.

  “Look what they’re doing to us, Sheridan. We’re at each other again.” He laughed. “This is messed up.”

  He eased back so she could sit up.

  Missy tucked her legs to her. “I don’t want this.”

  “Me either. But it is funny that your brother would sneak up on them like that. I don’t think he likes me, but you tell him I think that was a ballsy move,” he said on another laugh.

  Missy sulked in the corner of the couch. “They took my car. They took my car and painted it.” Now the first tear fell, and then another. “Why? Why showcase me and tell me I can do anything, only to take it away from me?”

  Jake rested a hand on her knee. “If your dad is anything like mine, then he doesn’t even see you. No disrespect, but it was never about you.”

  The tears flowed now, and she didn’t even try to stop them.

  Jake pulled her to him, and she rested her head against his chest. “Honey, we need to decide how important this is to us. We have to let them do what they’re going to do. If we want to race, we play the game. We build our teams, and we beg for sponsors.”

  “I don’t know how to do that.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “How big do you want to go? Do you just want to race the Georgia circuit, or are you thinking big time?”

  Laughter came through the sobs. “How horrible is that I’ve never thought about it. I’ve been racing since bef
ore it was legal for me to drive. It’s just what I did. Sure, maybe I thought I could be the next Danica Patrick, but in reality, racing was what filled my weekends.”

  “I was Phillip Smythe’s first speeding ticket,” he mused with humor in his voice.

  She pulled back and drew her brows together in confusion. “What does that mean?”

  “When he became an officer. I was the first person he gave a speeding ticket to. I’ve now lost count on how many he’s given me and how many he’s forgiven me.” He chuckled. “He let me off the hook the other day when I was coming back from my dad’s.”

  He brushed his fingers down her arm and gazed into her eyes, melting her. “Russell and I used to race everything out on the ranch. We started on bicycles, moved to horses, and I’m not proud to admit it, but we raced tractors once.”

  She laughed. “How did that turn out?”

  “My uncle is a reasonable man. He can keep his temper in check. But the day we raced the tractors, and sent both of them through the wall of the barn, he lost his shit.”

  Her laughter rolled now and she pressed herself to him. “It’s in our blood, Walker.”

  “Yeah, I guess it is. I never wanted more than the local circuit though. Like you said, it occupied my weekends. It gave me some other purpose. The garage, it saved my life. Working while I recovered, that probably made my recovery time shorter. I can’t care that he bet against me, or whatever, to get the money. I have to be grateful that he helped me at all.”

  “Does he own the garage with you?”

  “Oh, hell no. I knew better than that. I paid him off in the first year.”

  “I’ve never had anything that was just mine. I envy you that.”

  “You will. When you know what it is that you want, you can have it. You just have to be ready to fight for it.”

  At that moment, she knew what she wanted, and it wasn’t something—it was someone. Did she mutter the words she was feeling and scare him? He’d blurted them out on his own, but had he really meant them?

  She loved him for so many reasons. He absolutely believed in her when she wasn’t even sure she believed in herself.