What if Colby is the ride of your life? The words popped into Liam’s mind. Something told him to just go with it. But the disciplined man he was counseled against it. Liam didn’t know why he was making a big deal out of this. It wasn’t like their outing was a date. He was overanalyzing something that ultimately amounted to nothing. This should be easy. Just a few laps around the track. “Let’s do it.” The calmness of Liam’s response didn’t convey the warring thoughts within him.
“Great. But . . . before we go, safety first. You’ve got to buckle up.” Without thinking, Colby stretched her body across Liam’s chest to pull down his harness. She stilled. There was a slight hitch in her breath as her breasts brushed up against a hard-muscled wall. “Sorry. I . . . um . . . need to get the rest of the harness.” Colby blushed as she cleared her throat. “The other two straps are between your legs.”
She was adorable. Liam wiggled his brows up and down. “Feel free to get those if you want.”
“I bet you would.” Colby smirked. “It would be better if you handed them to me.”
Liam did as he was asked and handed Colby the straps. She made quick work of getting him strapped in. Colby ignored the sexual tension between them. “These things can seem a little complicated if you’ve never used one.”
His voice was husky. “I might need you to show me a few more times.”
Colby stole a quick peek at him. There was desire in his eyes, but it was now fused with a bit of humor.
Colby didn’t find this situation the least bit humorous. She refused to acknowledge anything. Colby started the engine and placed her hands on the steering wheel. She kept her eyes focused on the road as she drove out of the parking lot and across the street to the track. When they arrived, Colby let the car idle at the starting line.
She couldn’t drive like this.
The tension between them was thick. She sighed heavily. “Okay, look. Let’s get this elephant out of the stock car. I don’t know exactly what’s going on right now.”
Liam couldn’t help himself. The corner of his lips edged up in a cocky smile. “We’re calling sexual tension an elephant?” He was so used to seeing Colby focused and driven, sometimes even angry, but never flustered. He made her flustered, and something inside of him liked the idea of that.
Colby wasn’t expecting Liam to be so blunt. Since he decided to go there, she figured she might as well tackle this situation head-on. Slowly, Colby turned to face him. “A few minutes ago, you looked at me like,” Colby searched for the right words, “like you wanted me.”
“I do,” he said it matter-of-fact. His response surprised even him—not that he’d wanted Colby—but more that he’d said it out loud, considering he was still having an inner battle about it. Apparently, his subconscious had decided for him.
Colby swallowed. “Well, it can’t happen.”
She was telling him that he couldn’t have her. That was a first, and it kind of irked him. “Why not?” Liam had a list of reasons a mile long of why they shouldn’t get involved but wanted to hear hers.
“The obvious is because you’re my boss’s brother.” Colby held his gaze then slowly exhaled. Might as well go full throttle. “Look, owning Lockwood Racing might just be a game or even a hobby for you and Brian, but this is my life. I’ve already explained to you how hard I’ve had to work to be respected. Others are allowed to do whatever they want without extra scrutiny, but not me.” Colby put her index and forefinger together but not enough to touch. “I’m this close to realizing my dreams.” She almost sounded desperate.
She was giving Liam a glance into who she was, and he had a feeling that wasn’t something Colby did easily or very often.
“I still can’t believe that I’m going to drive for Lockwood Racing.” She flirted around with a smile. “I’m actually going to have a shot at—” Her words broke off. Colby would never tell anyone the other reason it was so important to get on the biggest stage in NASCAR.
Liam wondered what she was going to say. Instead of interrupting to ask, he continued to listen intently.
“Have you ever heard of Tia Norfleet?”
“I can’t say that I have.”
“She was a controversial figure in NASCAR, but she was also the first African American woman to have a chance at racing in a major series. She got her NASCAR license in 2004. Two-thousand and FOUR!” Colby shook her head in disgust. “Tia never got a chance to drive even one lap around a course in a major. The good old boys made sure of it. It was a witch-hunt. And the smear campaign was unbelievable. It was ridiculous the way they slandered that woman’s name and pushed her completely out of racing.”
Liam lived in America. He wasn’t clueless about sexism or racism, but he hadn’t seen how it actually affected the lives of people who were hurt by it up close—until now.
“In two weeks, I will have a chance to do what no other person like me has done. I am going to drive in the Atlanta Cup. Do you know what that means? And not just to me, but so many other women whose dreams I carry?”
His admiration for Colby went up tenfold. Then the guilt of knowing she was not going to drive in that race hit him like a ton of bricks.
“That means . . . I can’t fuck it up. I have to be perfect. The scrutiny I’ll be under will probably be greater than anything I can imagine.”
He agreed.
“When people start digging, I want it to be crystal clear that I earned my spot on the track and not on my back. No matter how much I might want to
