If You Only Knew (Harper Falls Book 3) (16 page)

Jack only watched for a second before he got in the rented
truck and drove away. Tyler would be safe with Drew. Hopefully, this would be
their start back to each other. He’d done his part; getting Tyler safely
delivered. The rest was up to them.

DREW PULLED TYLER close until nothing but two thin layers of
clothing separated them. The heels on her ridiculous shoes brought their mouths
to the same level, making it easy to devour her warm, sweetness. She had a
taste he craved, his drug of choice. He’d been too long without a fix.

Tyler drowned. The air around them was brutally dry, but she
sunk into a glorious pool of hot, sexy man. She didn’t need water. She didn’t
need to breathe. She only needed Drew.

Their tongues explored, rediscovering. Tyler had almost
forgotten how much better this was with Drew. Now that she remembered, she
never wanted it to end.

Drew angled his mouth across Tyler’s, licking at her full,
bottom lip before his teeth bit, harder than he had intended. Her moan of
approval was almost his undoing. He bit again, a little softer, then soothed
with his tongue before taking her mouth again.

His hands began to stray. He slipped under her shirt,
reveling in the feel of her soft skin against the rough pads of his fingertips.
He wasn’t so far gone that he didn’t remember where they were, though it was a
close thing. A few more minutes and he would have had her naked and up against
the nearest car, their audience be damned.

“I think we’ve proven our point.”

Reluctantly, Drew stood back. He didn’t drop his arms; Tyler
felt too good and he wasn’t crazy.

“Point?”

Tyler felt wonderfully dazed. It had been too long since she
had been in a Drew haze. She wanted to savor every moment.

“We wanted to establish that you’re with me. We did
that, and then some.”

“Right.”

Tyler stumbled back, batting his hand away when he would
have steadied her. What had she been thinking? For a few heady moments, she’d
let the past blur the present. She wasn’t Drew’s woman. He had no problem
remembering that even when she let her lust-glazed brain forget.

It seemed so real. Hadn’t he felt it? Even a little bit.
Maybe she was a masochist but she had to ask.

“Was that just an act for the crowd, Drew?”

Hell, no. Drew looked around at the eager, interested spectators.
He wasn’t playing this out in front of a bunch of strangers. Leaning close, he
whispered so only she could hear.

“I want you more than my next breath. What I don’t want
is a bunch of bubbas and bubbettes getting their vicarious thrills off
us.”

Tyler didn’t answer. Drew had said everything that was
necessary. She held out her hand, smiling when he took it. Eyes locked on hers,
he raised the back to his mouth.

“I’m still angry that you’re here.”

“But kind of glad, too?”

“Maybe. A little.”

“Maybe tomorrow you’ll be a lot glad.”

If that kiss was a prelude to getting naked, Drew had no
doubt he’d be ecstatic. He was just mad enough not to share that with her.

“Come on.” Drew pulled her towards his improvised
pit area. “I left my crew battling valve problems.”

“With all this dust, I imagine they get clogged
easily.”

Blocking her body with his, Drew guided Tyler through a sea
of potential gropers. In this bunch, it wasn’t just the men who could get
handsy. In the past, he’d gotten more than a few pinches and butt slaps. Mostly
from women, though he never paused to find out.

“Since when do you know about engines?”

“You’d be surprised what I’ve learned in the past ten
years.” She leaned closer. “About a lot of things.”

Drew suppressed a groan. If she were trying to get a rise
out of him, she could stop, immediately. His erection sprang to life the second
he saw her. Being sexy came naturally to Tyler. Dressed in those Daisy Dukes?
She was off the charts.

“I plan on asking about that — later.”

When Drew had called these guys a crew, she’d pictured the
kind of professional pit crews that she saw on TV. His “crew”
consisted of two men and an old mangy dog. Tripper and Al nodded when Drew
introduced her. No one introduced the dog. She hoped they fit the cliché
don’t
judge a book by its cover
. Otherwise, she was even more worried about
Drew’s safety than before.

“I don’t know about this, Boss. We’ve tried blowing out
the valves. The engine is coughing like crazy.”

“Have you tried reprogramming the EGR valve judgment
criteria?”

The three men looked at Tyler as if she had grown a second
head. She just shrugged.

“Hey, I’m not just another Pit Lizard.”

Tyler enjoyed seeing Drew wince. The flight to Mexico had
given her plenty of time to research this world Drew occasionally inhabited. It
was scary, dangerous and like Jack said, exciting. Finding the term for a
racing groupie had been pure coincidence. As it turned out, a happy one. His
reaction was priceless.

“Jesus, Ty, you aren’t a Pit Lizard, and where the hell
did you even hear that term?”

“Around,” she said, shrugging with a wide-eyed,
innocent look.

“And the valve reprogramming?”

“I read a lot of stuff. Some of it sticks, some of it
doesn’t. I guess that stuck.”

She could tell Drew wasn’t buying it. He was right though;
she wasn’t going to admit anything.

Back when they dated, Tyler became an encyclopedia of car
knowledge. She wanted to talk to him about his favorite subject. Why she
remembered some obscure valve procedure was a complete mystery. The brain
sometimes popped out useful information at the strangest times.

“Since you weren’t invited, I have no intention of
entertaining you. Sit over there in the shade and behave. There is water and
juice in the red cooler, the blue has sandwiches.” Drew pinned her with a
serious look. “Don’t go wandering off. It isn’t safe for a woman on her
own. Hell, it’s fifty/fifty for a man.”

“What about that woman over there?”

Drew glanced to where Tyler pointed. A woman, dressed similarly
to Tyler, made her way through the crowd. She paused every now and then to
flirt and flaunt her cleavage.

“She wants to find trouble.”

“Oh, so she
is
a Pit Lizard.” Tyler looked
closer, fascinated. If she could have five minutes with that woman, imagine the
tales she could tell. Never mind the internet,
there
was her fountain of
information.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“What?” Tyler innocently batted her eyes.

Drew grabbed Tyler’s hand and pulled her over to the
makeshift tent. It wasn’t much, but it did provide some welcome shade when they
were on a break.

“Sit.” He pushed her into a canvas director’s
chair. “Drink.” He handed her an icy cold bottle of water. “And
do not move.”

“Drew.”

“Yes?”

“I know you’re pissed. I just needed—”

“We’ll talk later, Ty.”

She watched him go back to his crew and sighed. He couldn’t
be too angry if he called her Ty. It had always been a term of affection
between them.

Tyler rummaged through her bag until she found her phone. It
didn’t seem likely that there would be service out here in the middle of Hell’s
neighbor. Still, it never hurt to try. She scrolled to Rose’s number and hit
dial. When it started ringing, Tyler grinned. Well, what do you know?

“Tyler. We weren’t expecting to hear from you so soon.
Let me put you on speaker so Dani can get in on this.”

“Hey,” Dani chimed in a few seconds later.
“How goes it in purgatory.”

“You’ve spoken with Jack.”

“He called right after he left you. Is it as bad as he
described?”

“Nah. It’s a vacation getaway. I can see the brochures
now. Tired of cool mountain breezes and pristine beach resorts? Come to Sepsis
City, we’re a disease waiting to happen.”

“Take pictures,” Dani said. “They are worth a
thousand words. From the sound of it, you’ll need them all.”

“I don’t plan on being here long enough to write a
book. Or even a short story. Now if I could only talk to Miss Pit Lizard 2015,
I might consider it.”

“What is a Pit Lizard?”

“Google it.” Tyler ran the bottle of water over
her neck in a futile attempt to cool down. “I don’t know how he stands
this. The heat alone would send me over the edge.”

“Some people thrive on it. In Afghanistan, I would see
natives out working away during the hottest part of the day. Others would stay
inside three or four hours until it cooled down. Everybody is different.”

“Mmm. I don’t know about different, but Drew’s ass
looks amazing in those jeans.”

Bending over to check something under the hood, the material
stretched over the curve of two very nicely formed cheeks. And Tyler thought
the heat was bad before. Add sexual frustration and she felt like her skin was
going to burn off.

Thinking quickly, she opened the water and poured the
contents over her head and down her body. Her sigh of relief was loud and long.

“Did you just orgasm looking at a butt?”

Tyler laughed with her friends.

“Cold water; hot body. And now
wet
jokes. I’d
like to think we’re above such things.”

“True.” Tyler could almost see Dani nodding with a
twinkle in her green eyes. “We’re much too sophisticated for low-brow
humor. Maybe Drew is thirsty. Your cup is overflowing; give him a drink.”

“Ha, ha. Not bad for off the cuff. Rose? You want to
chime in before I say goodbye.”

“I wish. I’ve got nothing. Be safe and keep your powder
dry.”

“What does that mean?”

“No idea. I was trying to link dry with wet vagina.
Instead, I got an obscure World War II reference. The be safe part goes,
though. Any idea when you’ll be back?”

“Drew is having engine trouble. If I’m lucky, he’ll
have to pull out and I won’t need to use my feminine wiles to talk him out of
it.”

“Keep us informed. Love you.”

“Love you back.”

Tyler put her phone away, her eyes still on Drew. The more
she watched, the less she thought this race thing was about his screwed up
state of mind. He was having a great time. Maybe he did need something to
conquer. If that was the case, she wasn’t going to be able to sex him out of
racing tomorrow. She would keep her fingers crossed that the car would be her
unexpected ally.

She took a book out of her bag and a bottle of juice from
the cooler. She didn’t know how long Drew would be. Luckily, she came prepared.
Settling back, she relaxed with some welcome old friends. It didn’t take long
for her to tune out the noise around her and immerse herself in the lives of
the March family.

Every time she read
Little Women,
she talked herself
into believing Beth would survive. This time it would be different. Of course,
that never happened. The outcome was a foregone conclusion. Beth’s tragic end
couldn’t be changed no matter how hard she wished.

She glanced up from her book. Drew still worked in the
blazing sun, sweat covering his face. Were they like a book, she wondered? Had
the chapters already been put down in permanent ink? Or could they rip out the
pages and start again?

Drew looked up as though sensing her interest. He waved, a
half-smile on his face. Tyler felt a surge of hope. They still had time.
Nothing had been etched in stone.

She went back to her book. The author chose the direction of
her characters’ lives. She and she alone manipulated who died and who had a
happy ending.

Ten years ago, Tyler stood by and watched as others dictated
a very important part of her life. She was determined never to let anyone write
her ending, not this time.

TYLER DIDN’T KNOW how it was possible, but somewhere between Jo
meeting her Professor Bhaer and Laurie marrying Amy, she dozed off.

Between the noise and the heat, she wouldn’t have thought
sleep possible. Now here she floated in a dream.

“Relax.”

Drew played leading man. Nothing new there. She could almost
feel his arms around her. The problem was she always woke up alone. Her dreams
were a big, fat tease, always ending in frustration.

Tyler twisted, determined to get away from a fantasy that
broke her heart over and over again.

“Ty, baby. Stop or I’ll drop you.”

“Drew?”

“You were conked out. I’m taking you to my RV where you
can stretch out.”

“Not a dream.”

Drew laughed. “The way I look and smell, more like a
nightmare.”

“You look fine.” Edible. “And you smell,
well, not great. But better than those other unwashed souls out there.”

“That’s because I shower more than once a month.”

“Lovely. You’ve just managed to do the impossible. Make
them even less appealing.”

The tension from her body drained. This felt good, being in
his arms. It felt right.

“Drew — wait a minute. You have an RV?”

“Two. Tripper and Al share. I have my own. They’re a
must out here in the middle of nowhere. That and a generator. Practically all
the comforts of home.”

“You mean all this time I could have been in the
cool—” she thought for a second. “It is cool in there?”

“That’s one of the reasons I have a generator.”

“Right. Why was I suffering when I didn’t have to?
Unless it was your way of punishing me for coming here.”

“No. I’ll punish you in a way that will give me a lot
more pleasure than making you sweat. I didn’t want you alone, Ty. When I said
it isn’t safe, I meant it.”

“Even with the door locked and your gun nearby?”

“Not even then.” He turned his head, his eyes
meeting hers. “Why would you think I had a gun?”

“You used to be a bodyguard. You run a hugely
successful security firm. Of course, you would bring a gun to a place like
this.”