Shifting Gears (14 page)

“Oh, yes. Oh, Grady, I'm gonna come again,” she panted, and just when he felt the rush of his orgasm start to rip through him, she gave a cry of pleasure, her passage squeezing around him so hard that he had to hold himself still to prevent getting pushed out of her body.

He grunted in reply, falling forward onto her as his cock jerked with climax, pulsing inside of her body as he drew ragged breaths, trying hard to press his hips in just the right way to prolong her pleasure.

It was over too soon.

He felt her go limp beneath him, her eyes closing and her body sinking into the sheets on a sigh. Her arms came up to drape around his back, and her kisses were soft and barely there.

Totally sated.

That had been incredible. He couldn't wait to do it again.

And again and again …

Into forever.

Well. Shit.

*   *   *

Annabelle felt Grady tense all of a sudden, but he kissed her a second later, then grabbed the condom and slid out as gently as he could. He pulled the condom off and tied it, putting it somewhere on the floor in typical bachelor fashion.

Not that she knew what a typical bachelor was like. Some things she just enjoyed assuming because it made her feel a little more worldly than her real self was. And she wanted to feel more worldly right now, especially after what they'd just done.

She lay still for a moment longer, reveling in the blissful bonelessness. Tomorrow she'd have to go home and face the reality of her debt and dependence on her mother, but for now … she was going to enjoy what she had and not think about her troubles.

No. That wasn't true. She
wanted
to think about it. She wanted to
talk
about it with someone who would understand and not judge her or try to protect her, but who would just listen. She wished she could talk to Grady about it. Heck. She wished they had that kind of relationship where she could talk to him about it at all, naked or clothed, in his bed or in his office.

She wanted so much more from him than just sex.

The thought brought back the fear in her, though. More than sex meant some version of dependence, didn't it? And from what she already knew of Grady, he would insist on protecting her, she was sure of it, and then what would she be?

Dependent, whether she wanted to be or not.

But she'd resolved to fix that, and she was going to … on her own. She wasn't going to talk about her problems with Grady. She'd bear the weight of her problems on her own.

She could stand up for herself.

Although right now … damn. She had to go to the bathroom and she didn't want to, er, stand up. She was suddenly very aware of her nakedness and feeling a bit embarrassed about it. She never paraded around without clothes on, not even in front of Donnie. Not even in front of the mirror in the bathroom.

Yet here she was, completely nude, and the bathroom was too far away for her to simply roll there.

Besides, Grady was looking right at her.

The fact that the heat in his eyes was unmistakable helped shore up her confidence a bit. That, and the fact that his erection was already coming back, impressively starting to lift up off his thigh.

Wow.
That seemed to be the only word she could think of when she was naked with Grady.

He made a sound, and she brought her eyes to his face and found him laughing. He'd caught her checking him out, obviously.

“You need something?” He propped himself up on one elbow and stared down at her, clearly completely comfortable with his nakedness.

She crossed her arms over her breasts and nodded, feeling a blush rising in her cheeks, and thankfully he dipped his head to kiss her before she could die of embarrassment. She could feel his nearly-completely hard length against her belly as he explored her mouth, and she made a sound of approval in response.

“I have to, um, go to the bathroom,” she whispered.

He smiled against her lips. “And you want me to close my eyes?”

He knew. She nodded, and he shut them before rolling away.

“Your wish is my command,” he said, teasingly, but she felt the truth behind that statement. He
would
try to deliver whatever she asked, she was sure of it. He was fiercely loyal and protective, even when it cost him his sanity.

But she didn't want to go down that road. She didn't want to ask anything of him. As much as she liked Grady Hart, any kind of dependence on him was dangerous.

She got up and walked away without letting him see just how bare she was.

Chapter 11

Grady drove home from the airport on Sunday after flying back to Charlotte from Dover. He'd tried to get Annabelle to let him drive her home, but she'd insisted on going by herself, the stubborn woman.

He liked her so much. Any reservations he'd had about getting involved with her had fallen away after last night. And as far as work went, this weekend couldn't have been any better. Another couple of races and he was confident that Annabelle would be able to take on the role of crew chief on her own. They'd have to find another team manager, but he could even fill in on that role and still have more time for Carbon Works.

Things were finally coming together.

Grady knew that he owed at least some of that success to Annabelle. If she hadn't stepped up and offered to fill in for the crew chief role, he'd still have all the car work on his plate and probably wouldn't have gotten the testing done for the muffler. Her help had gotten him that much closer to his goal.

She was an incredible woman.

He'd never really contemplated anything long-term before. Life had simply been too demanding to consider it. But less than an hour away from Annabelle and he already wanted to see her again. He found himself wishing that she lived closer. In his house with him, even.

But he brushed that off. It was too soon to be thinking things like that. He was probably just being too protective, and he didn't want to smother her the way Kerri and Lee always complained about. It was something that hadn't helped his performance as a crew chief—the constant worry that something bad would happen to his family and it would be all his fault.

Granted, Annabelle wasn't his sibling, but still—that made it more important, somehow, that he keep his distance. Especially given her reaction to what had happened with Fogerty, when she'd bristled and talked about wanting to stand on her own.

He got that. He really did. After all, he was trying hard to prove himself, too, wasn't he? So that he could feel like he had at least one thing going for him.

The funny thing was, now that he had spent a night with Annabelle, he wanted to be a success for himself even more. So that he could be a man who was worthy of her.

He only hoped she would think he was worthy, too.

*   *   *

Annabelle pulled her car into the driveway of her mother's house, still coasting on her high from the win this weekend and the night with Grady.

But to her surprise, just as she stepped out of the car, the front door of the house opened and out walked Momma, carrying Annabelle's suitcase.

Uh oh.
This did not bode well.

Stay cool. You'll be all right. Maybe she's just doing some spring cleaning.

Except when her mother strode right over to Annabelle and dropped the suitcase at her feet, then turned a mean little stare on her, it was pretty clear that this wasn't about cleaning.

Her stomach bottomed out. Momma was kicking her out. What else would that suitcase be for?

She felt a wave of panic wash over her. She wouldn't even get her first paycheck until tomorrow! And even with that money, how would she be able to rent a place with credit as bad as hers? Maybe she could go to a hotel, but that would blow through her cash too fast. She wouldn't even make it to the next paycheck before she'd be out on the street again.

What had she done wrong?

But she didn't ask. She wouldn't give her mother the satisfaction, although she desperately wanted to understand.

Finally, Momma snipped out, “You are no longer welcome in my home, Annabelle.” That was it. No explanation. No discussion.

So Annabelle was going to have to ask, after all. “Why? What did I do wrong?” She hated the quiver in her voice.
Hated
it. After everything she'd done this weekend …

Her mother sniffed. “I saw the pictures of you and Grady in the paper. Donnie is never going to take you back now.”

What?
Annabelle blinked. What did Donnie have to do with this? “But—we're
divorced.
He left me for someone else. We—”

“You could have reconciled! You could have tried to be what he wanted. I was trying to help you be that kind of woman. A real woman. And you went off and ruined everything
again.
Do you know how
humiliating
this is for me?”

A real woman.

Humiliating for Momma.
That's what the insistence on skirts and makeup had been about. It had never been about Annabelle. It had been about Momma being embarrassed.

But then, it had always been that way. She just hadn't realized it until now. Her entire upbringing had been about not calling attention to herself—avoiding embarrassment for herself and her parents. But she had changed. She'd broken past her fear and was finally trying to make it on her own. She was finally living her own life.

So then—why was she still standing here worrying about the opinion of someone who didn't even like her? Her own mother didn't even like her. What a joke. This was what she'd been clinging to all along, like it was going to save her somehow?

The debt, her homelessness—none of that mattered if she lost herself completely. She
mattered,
damn it! All the anger of nearly three decades seized in her throat, making her choke a little. But it also scared the hell out of her. Because now she was truly, completely on her own.

Momma wasn't done yet. “And since you think you're so special that you can turn your back on everything I've raised you to be, I expect you to pay back the money you owe me immediately. Just like I would from any other stranger.”

Then she simply turned and walked away, not even bothering to say goodbye, and there was nothing else for Annabelle to do but pack the suitcase into her trunk and drive away.

Even though she had nowhere to go.

Chapter 12

On Monday morning, Grady was frowning as he drove into work at the garage.

He'd tried several times to call Annabelle yesterday, but she hadn't answered. He'd left two voicemails, then called one more time, but after that he stopped trying, not wanting it to turn into something obsessive and weird. He didn't understand why she was avoiding him all of a sudden. Or had she just left her phone somewhere else by accident?

He hadn't been able to sleep last night, tossing and turning and wondering what had happened. By five o'clock that morning, he'd given up and decided just to go in to the office and try to get another design ready for Carbon Works, to see if he could reach out to the ATV and snowmobile market next.

When he pulled his car into the Hart Racing lot at ten to six, though, he was more than a little surprised to see Annabelle's car already there.

What was she doing here so early? And why hadn't she answered his calls?

The garage floor was pitch dark, so he bypassed that entrance and went directly inside to the offices. Maybe she'd felt like she had to catch up on her team manager responsibilities, since she'd been off at the race last week. That wouldn't be a surprise, though he'd have to talk to Ranger about that. He didn't want Annabelle burning out.

Of course, if she was working too hard, maybe she wouldn't appreciate it if he interfered …

If he could even find her in the first place. She wasn't in the front office, or in Ranger's office. In fact, all the rooms up here were still dark.

“Annabelle?” He called out her name, flipping on the lights in the hall and in the garage as he made his way down the hall, toward his office, which was the last room on the row.

No answer.

Weird. How could her car be here but she wasn't? Where would she have gone? And with whom?

It was starting to worry him.

He headed to his office and called out for her again. “Annabelle!”

This time, though, he heard a muffled sound coming from his office. What the fuck? Was she in trouble? He ran into the office and flipped on the light, preparing himself to confront an attacker or something, but what he saw had him even more shocked.

She was just sitting up from a pallet of blankets and clothes that she'd made on the floor, her hair mussed and her eyes bleary …

Had Annabelle
slept
in his office? She rubbed her eyes and blinked up at him. “Hey, Grady. I-I didn't expect you so early…” She trailed off, looking so lost and unhappy.

“Annabelle, what's going on?” He tried to be as gentle as possible, but it didn't matter. Lovely, hard-working, sexy Annabelle Murray—
his
Annabelle—started to cry.

*   *   *

This was awful. It was awful and
embarrassing
and she wanted it to stop.

She'd planned to just stay here for the night, wake up early, and make sure she'd cleared out before anyone came into the office. Sleeping at Hart Racing wasn't exactly something she was proud of, even though she'd been relieved when she'd thought of it as she'd driven toward the city from her mother's house yesterday. It wasn't quite the lowest point of her life—that was reserved for the day she'd gotten the notice that she was behind on paying a huge debt she'd never known about—but it was pretty darn close.

She hadn't counted on Grady showing up so goddamned early.

Not that it was his fault. It was hers, for not having the ability to stand on her own. Especially after she'd insisted to him that she could and that he needed to stay out of her way.