Page 75 of Fast & Reckless
Jem rolled her eyes. “And I get testy when she acts like a right bitch.” She turned back to Will. “Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine. You just keep yourself safe out there.”
Jem would be fine. She’d always land on her feet. But Ed’s whole life was Hawley and Sons. And Clarissa and the girls were relying on him, too. But Jem was smiling brightly at him, probably sorry she ever said anything, so he let it go. For now.
“If I’m meant to stay safe then I’m definitely in the wrong line of work.”
“You know what I mean. Now shove off and go find her.”
He startled. “What do you mean? Who?”
She gave a shrug of exaggerated innocence. “Don’t know. But you couldn’t stop looking around the room tonight. It was obvious you were on the hunt for someone. And since you ordinarily can’t be bothered to look for the ladies but let them look for you, I’m guessing this one, whoever she is, must be special.”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down at his feet. “Maybe? I dunno. It’s tricky.”
“Well, any girl who’s got you feeling a little unsure of yourself gets my vote.” She reached up to pinch his cheek and he swatted her hand away. “You and this pretty face of yours have had it too easy. You need to work for it a bit. It’ll be good for you.”
“Jem!” Ed called in desperation from behind her. “The longer she waits, the worse she gets!”
“Coming! Take care, Will.”
She hugged him and he squeezed her back. “You, too.”
He watched them go, still thinking about what Jem had said. She was right. In the past, he’d never had to exert much effort if he wanted someone. But he’d been pursuing Mira since the first day he saw her, which had to mean she—this—was different. Important. If he wanted more with her—and he did—he was going to have to suck it up and be brave.
Pulling out his phone, he sent a text to Violet.
Do you know where Mira is? I need to ask her something.
She texted back immediately.
Your *girlfriend* is back at the track. Next time text her directly.
Well. Seemed Violet had figured it out. Now it was time for him and Mira to figure it out, too.
33
Usually the crew would have had almost everything struck and loaded out this many hours after a race, but since they were heading into the midseason break and the Lennox factory was just a couple of hours’ drive away, her father had given everyone the night off. There was no one in the Lennox garage to even wonder why Mira had shown up there at midnight.
She hadn’t been lying to Violet, exactly. Even though the teams weren’t allowed to work on the midseason break, she knew she’d go crazy if she didn’t have access to her most critical paperwork. She retrieved her files, then headed to the garage to be sure everything going in the advance shipment to Monza was properly labeled. But now that she was here, she was standing between the two cars, clipboard in hand, and staring into space instead of working.
She needed to talk to Will, but she was terrified. What if she told him she wanted a real relationship and he … didn’t? That would hurt. Actually, it would be devastating, because no matter how hard she’d tried to keep a handle on her feelings, she had to admit, at least to herself, that she was crazy about him. And if he didn’t want her back—
“Hi.”
She shrieked and spun around.
Will was standing just inside the side door to the garage, hands in his pockets.
She flattened her palm over her pounding heart. “What are you doing here? You scared me to death.”
“I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing here alone at this hour?”
“Just going over some stuff.” She gestured to her ignored list.
He eyed her in that way he did when he knew she was bullshitting. “Really?”
She dropped her eyes to her checklist, fiddling with the frayed corner of the paper. “I wanted to check a few things—”
“Mira.”
