Hot Laps (25 page)

You just need to shut your mouth now you lunatic!
Overall, at this point in the night, I’d say shutting up would be the optimal outcome
but it wasn’t going to happen.

“No,” he answered with a nervous edge. “Not like marriage type love or anything.
You?”

“Yeah, once,” I told him. “My goldfish Sampson but the jerk died on me,” I replied
without even thinking the answer through, as if I expected anything more from myself.

I was sure I lost any credibility and dignity I may have had when I pissed myself
in front of him. And anything that wasn’t lost then was gone when I choked on fried
rice and puked in his sink.

Casten propped himself up on his elbows. “Uh … I just poured my heart out to you and
you compared that to a goldfish?” his amused but concerned expression left me analyzing
his reaction.

“He was my best friend. Have some fucking compassion.” I took a handful of popcorn
and shoved it in my mouth to control it from saying anything else just as asinine.
I just hoped I didn’t choke this time.

Casten chuckled. “Wow, geez … sorry,” he paused taking a drink of his beer. “That
must have been really difficult for you.”

“Yeah, it was a rough twelve hours.”

“Was he on his death tank or something?” he let out another amused snicker as he played
with the remote to change the channel for the movie. “Do they put fish on life support?”

“No, I had him for twelve hours. Turns out, you can’t bathe a goldfish. Like I said,
it was a
rough
twelve hours.”

Casten let out a chuckle along with a whoosh leaning back again. “I’m sure he’s in
a better place.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Snuggling in, I made myself a little more comfortable. His arms
wrapped around me pulling up his chest. “Are we going to watch this shit or what?”

His head rolled back against the couch looping to the side before he let his eyes
drift shut slowly. “I can think of a few other things to do besides watching that
movie.”

Finally!

And the hump was on.

“You need to look for a new job,” I told myself.

Not only had I only gotten a few hours of sleep thanks to the fuck fort, but all I
could think about now was that fuck fort every time I saw Casten. And with today being
ordering day, that was a lot.

This wasn’t lost on him and with little effort, he was controlling my mood today and
had me changing my underwear a few times.

Once we finished up the ordering, he approached me from behind, his voice had that
same seductive pitch it had last night when he was whispering engine honing processes
to me.

“You know, I’m a little upset with you.” His bloodshot eyes raked down my body before
a rakish grin spread over his features.

“Why is that?” Reaching for my binder, I attempted to distract myself.

“I couldn’t walk past that fort this morning without getting hard.” Just to demonstrate
this, he pushed his hips flush against me. The smell of oil engulfed me from the bottles
around me and my heavy breathing intensified.

“And that’s bad?”

He smiled with a shy edge. The curve of his lips distracted me thinking of the way
he smiled when he saw the fort. “Well, yeah, Rosa was in my room cleaning for once.”
He did that squinting thing. “Talk about awkward.”

“You’re so adorable,” I told him and then regretted it when his eyes shined.

Believe me, I had a thing for this engine builder, a big thing for him but I couldn’t
have all his cylinders in his engine block, could I?

He knew the revving was in his favor and replied with. “Adorable enough for you to
spend the weekend with me?”

“Say what?” My eyebrow arched taking in his suddenly brooding demeanor.

“Good enough to fuck around with but not spend the weekend with?” he countered backing
me against his tool box, hips shifting forward.

“No, I didn’t say that.” I pushed him right the fuck back. “I just need to think about
it. Where were you think of going?”

“Texas.”

“Oh.”

He stood there for a second before giving me another ruminative glance and turning
away, his eyes suddenly guarded. “Well, you think about it and let me know. My dad
said he’d give you Monday off to come with me.”

And then he walked away back toward the dyno room slamming the door behind him.

Well then.

Confused and slightly annoyed, I made me way back upstairs to my desk to think about
it.

Anna had sent me a message.
Hey slut, hockey game tonight? Cole’s in.

I don’t know. I think I pissed the engine builder off.

I replied with.

That’s not good.

No shit.

Hey, don’t get bitchy.

By three that day, I hadn’t seen Casten again but I was too goddamn busy being Peter’s
Girl Friday every five minutes. When Jameson wasn’t there he automatically thought
I would be his slave.

Every time I got up to go to the bathroom, he would ask me questions or demand something
of me. I got to the point, on the edge of my sanity, where I basically said, “I’m
gonna piss in your coffee cup if you ask me another question when I’m going to the
bathroom.”

He stopped after that. Apparently my piss frightened him too much.

Around four, my plans were still up in the air. Casten had me completely tangled as
to what his deal was. I mean fuck, I built a fuck fort then he goes and gets all serious
over it. The sex was awesome, he was awesome and then I thought, “You’re the weirdo,
what the hell is wrong with you? He’s a great guy. Just go with him.”

Just before I was ready to leave and go find him, heavy footsteps trudged up the metal
steps from the shop. The only one left was me and Casten.

The door swung open, he walked through with the same confidence I’d seen in the past.
Beer in hand, he made his way over to my cubicle. Leaning against the side, similar
to the night of his party, he relaxed and then sighed.

“You don’t have to go. I was just throwin’ it out there.” His voice seemed different
as he stood there focused on his feet rather than me who was looking up at him with
curiosity. “Just know I want you to go, that’s all. I really like you.”

“Okay,” I squeaked out avoiding the “really like” portion of his admission. “Do you
want to go back to your house and do some damage to the fort first.” I wiggled my
hips when I stood up trying to emphasize my point.

His eyes met mine, now alive as they were last night. “What’d ya’ say I apologize
first?”

“For what?”

“For being cranky earlier.”

“Oh, yeah … what’d ya have in mind?” I drew out yanking him forward by his belt.

His hands fell against the side of my desk leaving him hovering over me. “Are those
doors locked?” Casten asked gesturing with a quick nod to the one office door that
led to the showroom.

“Yeah,” I said against his deprived lips. “Is the door to the shop?”

“Yep,” he moved shifting forward to pick me up and place me securely on his lap. “Now
… let me show you exactly how I plan to apologize.”

Livery – The paint and stickers applied to the cars to show sponsorship.

Body parts tangled quickly and before I had a moment to respond to his urgency, Casten
was yanking away clothes and going in for the kill.

This was all well and great, awesome even, but at that moment, I had my stapler up
my ass.

“There’s a stapler up my ass. Can we move?”

Casten just grunted and moved me away from the stapler to me keyboard. This didn’t
really seem like that great of an idea but those thoughts quickly vanished.

“Goddamn, this boy could fuck,” was what was on my mind.

“You’re beautiful,” he panted about the time he bent me over my desk.

I said nothing as moaning and holding on was the only thing I could do. Every touch
scorched my skin as though he was on fire or maybe I was.

Either way, it was hot, both physically and … whatever.

Now when Casten said, “Let me show you exactly how I plan to apologize,” I knew what
this involved but this wasn’t what I had imagined.

“Oh god, Casten!” I screamed with very little volume control. My hands reached back
and grabbed his that were firmly grasping my hips.

“Jesus, Hayden,” he moaned. “I can’t hold on if you do that.”

“Neither can I …” was my last coherent string of words before I fell apart on my desk.
My chest slumped against my keyboard, each nipple pressing a key I’m sure based on
their stiffness.

Casten bent forward lying on my back, his body jerked as he let out a soft grunt of
pure pleasure.

“I’ll take that apology
every day
.” I told him once we were upright again.

His eyes cast down, his long thick lashes were shadowed. Then, with a lazy smirk,
he lifted his head. “I was hoping you understood the meaning rather than the gesture.”

“And that would be?” I slipped my shirt over my shoulders and then pulled my jeans
up.

He stepped closer, sincerity swept over me just by his gaze. “That I really like you.”

There’s the “really like” phrase again.

Me, well, I avoided anything feeling related, and said, “Shall we go to Texas?”

He smiled. “Sure,” and nodded toward the door. “I just need to lock up the shop and
then we need to get some clothes.”

“So we’re flying or driving because I don’t have money for a plane ticket. Or gas
… so I’m actually pretty useless.”

His shirt was still off and my pants were still unbuttoned when we heard, “Oh, there
you are, honey. Listen, your dad said you were coming to Texas this weekend.” It was
his mother. His
fucking mother
. She was walking and talking and not looking. “I’ll be there sometime Sunday morning
but I have to fly to Washington first and then back to Texas.”

Shit on a fucking shingle.

And then she looked up and saw the scene before her.

“Oh …
wow
. I’m so sorry!” she screeched.

“Hey, Mama,” Casten said, with absolutely no panic to his tone, yanking his shirt
back on quickly.

So that’s his mom. Huh, awkward.

His mom giggled stepping toward us. “You must be Hayden?”

A quick cherry red flush spread rapidly over every part of my skin. “Yep, that’s me.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Was her next reply and then reached for my hand. “Casten
told me how much fun you two have been having together.”

Casten laughed running his hands through his hair. “Thanks, Mama.”

She slapped at his chest. “Oh, you stop.” Her pretty green eyes met mine. “It’s nice
he has someone other than Cole.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond. I’d never met the parents of anyone I messed around
with and now I’d just had sex with her son, and she’s here, being kind to me. This
was a lot of firsts for me in one day.

“I won’t keep you two …” her eyes fell upon me once again. “It was nice meeting you.
Drive carefully, baby,” she said, kissing Casten’s forehead.

Casten started laughing as soon as she was out the door. “Well, that was interesting.”

“Not exactly how I envisioned meeting your mom,” I told him leaning against my desk
after putting my boots on.

“Well,” he gave me that adorable wink he had. “My mom’s a champ.”

“I’ll say.”

Casten shrugged his jacket back on. “Road trip?”

“That’s a really long drive …”

“It’s only sixteen hours.” He shrugged. “No problem.”

“Why don’t you fly?”

“I don’t like to fly.” And he left it at that.

Just as we were about to leave, he glanced at my desk, memories I’m sure engulfed
him as they were me, as well. “I’ll never look at your desk the same way.” He shoved
the stapler in the pocket of his jacket. “I’ll be keeping this, by the way. I’m jealous
of it now.” He hinted knowing where it was lodged just moments ago.

We were out the door and standing at his truck when he looked at me strangely. Having
just agreed to leave my car here and take his to Texas, I thought maybe he was second-guessing
the trip for a minute.