Speed Demons (18 page)

The performers stood in the lobby to sign autographs and say good-bye. When Evie bought a CD and had one of the leading ladies sign it, her cheeks went pink when the woman clasped her arm and pursed her lips seductively.

“Gorgeous woman,” she said casually as they strolled back to the car.

“Yes. Very nice.”

“She flirted with you.” She was acting ridiculous even bringing it up.

“Who? The singer? She was?” Evie seemed to search her memory.

“Yes. Alice something.”

“Alicia D’Angelo. I didn’t notice. She was friendly.”

“I’m sure.”

“What’s wrong, Blythe?” Evie had begun to turn the key in the ignition, but let go of it and leaned back.

“Nothing.” She couldn’t believe she’d let any sort of jealousy surface. A few heated kisses didn’t warrant this reaction. Nothing did. “I’m sorry, Evie. Ignore me.”

“All right. For now. I’m nothing if not stubborn, Blythe. I’m determined to find out more about the new things I learned about you today. From kissing, to knives, to strange bouts of jealousy. Trust me.”

She didn’t doubt Evie for a second. This woman she was documenting hadn’t reached her success in a man’s world by backing down from a challenge. If Evie wanted to grill her, she would find a way. Close to panicking, she cursed herself all the way back to the beach house.

An hour later, she knew she’d procrastinated enough. Tugging at her fingers she stood by the window in the living room gazing out into the darkness. She could barely make out the waves crashing onto the beach, but she heard them.

Evie hadn’t said much after they got home. She’d withdrawn to her bedroom where she’d immersed herself in paperwork. Apparently NASCAR required quite the red tape to go through. Evie had a lawyer, but eventually she was the one who signed on the dotted line. She should’ve taken a few pictures of Evie doing this. Perhaps she might still be able to.

After dashing into the guest room, she grabbed her small Canon and checked the battery. Outside Evie’s room, she rapped her fingertips against the door frame. The door wasn’t entirely closed, but she didn’t feel right just stepping in.

“Yes?”

“You still going through paperwork?”

“Yes.”

Oy.
She winced. Evie sounded very standoffish. Not that she could blame her. Of all the foolish things to say.
She flirted with you
. And even if this Alicia person had prostrated herself in front of Evie, it would hardly have been Evie’s fault. “Um. Okay if I take a few pictures of that? Don’t have any of you doing paperwork.”

“By all means.”

Finding it a bit odd that Evie sounded so frosty yet still gave her permission, she pushed the door open and came to a full stop right inside. Small mood-light lamps cast a cozy glow around the room. Only the bedside lamp provided enough light for Evie to read through the documents spread out around her. She sat among binders and papers, which shouldn’t have been remarkable, but she didn’t wear her usual attire. Instead she wore navy-blue satin briefs and a matching chemise, and her hair hung in newly brushed waves around her face. Evie smelled of the soft lotion she had come to associate with her.

“Camera? Photos?” Evie looked up, impatient.

“What? Dressed like that? Hardly.” She tucked the camera behind her back for emphasis. No way was she was sharing
this
Evie with the world.

“What’s wrong with this outfit?” Evie looked down at herself. “It’s La Perla. Cost a damn fortune.”

“I’m sure it did. It’s lovely. You look amazing.”

“So?”

“It’s kind of revealing.”

“You didn’t mind my swimsuit, even if it was more close-fitting.”

“Ah, come on. There’s a difference between swimwear and underwear.” She was treading water now. Any moment, Evie would connect her response to the perceived jealousy from earlier and she would’ve dug her own grave, metaphorically speaking.

“So…you think this is too much. For the public.” Evie quickly gathered the papers and binders and tucked them on the shelf in her nightstand. Kneeling on the bed, Evie studied her closely. “But you think it’s a nice outfit?”

“You look incredible. Why are you teasing me? To prove a point?”

“Which point would that be?” Evie tilted her head, appraising her. Her expression wasn’t scornful or angry. If anything, it was enigmatic.

“I managed to destroy the evening. We had a great time, and I said something I shouldn’t. And I’m sorry.” She held on hard to her camera with sweaty fingers.

“You’re forgiven. Please tell me why you said that? About her flirting.”

This was her chance. Evie would know if she stalled or tried to sweep this under the rug with a lie.

“You were right. I saw her touch you. Flirt. She actually did. It was pretty obvious. Still, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have even mentioned it. I—I was jealous.” She looked down at her feet and saw her toes curl, her whole body just as tense. “We kissed this morning. Made out, really. I haven’t let anyone close like that in a very long time. I suppose the fact that I lowered my guard made me too, um, presumptuous.”

“Sweetie. She may have been flirting, but I honestly didn’t notice. If I had, it still wouldn’t have mattered to me one little bit. Do you believe me?” Evie’s voice, suddenly so familiar in its warmth, caressed her ears.

“Yes.” She refused to make a complete fool of herself by bursting into tears. Hot tears crowded behind her eyelids, but she’d be damned before she let them fall.

“Good. Now, why don’t you put your camera to use?”

“No. I told you—”

“Just for me. For us. Please?” Evie winked and slid down in a relaxed position. Her back was flat on the bed, hands next to her head, and hips turned, one leg over the other. It was by far the sexiest thing she had ever seen.

Moving in a dreamlike way, she raised her camera and began to photograph the wonderful woman on the bed. Suddenly a natural model, Evie turned into a new pose every third second or so. Nothing sleazy, just a sensual, stunning manner that hit her right in her chest.

Eventually, the Canon beeped that it needed batteries, which made her lower it and Evie stop posing. She was kneeling on the bed again. “Get any good ones?”

“Several.” Breathless, she kept gazing at Evie.

“Come closer. Please.” Evie extended a hand. “Blythe.”

Nobody said her name like Evie did. She made it sound soft and very feminine despite its androgynous connotation. Blythe walked up to the bed, and Evie took the camera from her and placed it on the nightstand.

“God.” Evie breathed shallowly. “Do you have any idea how it felt to pose for you like that?”

She laughed incredulously, ending in a half sob. “Any idea? How do you think I felt watching you, snapping one photo after the other when all I wanted was…was…”

“Yes?” Evie whispered. “Yes? What did you want?”

“You know what I want. What I want, and what is possible, are rarely the same thing.”

“Yet here I am. Only inches from you. Available.” Evie trailed a hand down her arm, from where the short sleeve of her T-shirt ended to her fingertips. “So, come sit down. At least tell me what you want.”

She sat down, her face going increasingly warmer. “If I could just do what I want, without considering the consequences, I’d spend a very long time removing that pricy La Perla lingerie. I’d kiss every part of you that I uncovered. You’d know how beautiful and sexy I find you. You would have no doubt that you mean a lot to me and that I find you so incredibly sensual.”

She knew she sounded longing and forlorn at the same time. She had in many ways found herself since she began to know Evie, but she had also in a way lost something, even before she had it.

Chapter Seventeen

Evie could hardly speak. Blythe’s words, uttered with such conviction, were so unlike anything she would have expected from the shy woman she’d first known. Gone was the apprehensive persona, and in its place sat a quietly confident woman with passion in her eyes. She was afraid to say something to scare away this person, the woman she suspected was the true Blythe.

“Do I make you uncomfortable?” Blythe laced her fingers on her lap.

“No! No.” She couldn’t take her eyes off Blythe’s face. “Please. Keep going.”

Blythe’s eyes narrowed and her gaze wandered from Evie’s face, along her body all the way down to her naked feet. “It’s more than skin deep, you know. You’re naturally stunning, and the fact that your images have sold more calendars for charity than most testifies to that. But that’s just one aspect. It’s how you respond, you know. How you gasp and moan, and arch into a caress. This morning, when we kissed, I truly felt you wanted me. You were so in the moment, and I’m seldom that way. You were very seductive. I could barely let go of you.”

“Yet you did.”

“One of us has to stay strong.”

“What do you mean?” She leaned forward.

“You’re so passionate.” Blythe sounded yearning. “You go full force, damn the torpedoes, and you draw me in. You make me forget there’ll be a tomorrow.”

“Of course there’s a tomorrow. There is now. Here.” She shifted closer and touched Blythe’s arm again. Blythe twitched under her hand. “And there is tomorrow. The future. Why can’t they go together, you mean?”

“They rarely do. You have people in your life. Or you think you do. Then you don’t. You leave. They leave.” Though Blythe’s voice had been full of sultry passion, now a contradictory mix of cynicism and pain prevailed.

“You left your family. They hurt you so badly, and you left. It was an act of self-preservation.”

“Or cowardice.” Blythe’s lips tensed.

“Sweetie. A lot of words come to mind when I try to describe you. As you know, reckless is one of them, but coward? Never.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Oh, Evangeline.” Blythe suddenly doubled over and pressed her lips against Evie’s arm. She said her full name with such pain, such desire, it sucked the oxygen from her lungs.

“Are you afraid I’ll leave? Or that you will?” She curled around Blythe’s upper body.

“If I allow myself this, you, I might screw everything up. That’s unthinkable.”

“You haven’t answered my question.”

“You don’t understand. It doesn’t matter who leaves.” Blythe pushed at her to sit up. “Someone will. And it will kill me.”

“Kill you.” She stared at Blythe, who would have looked entirely unaffected except for the tears turning her eyes into shimmering blue diamonds. “How?”

“Break me. Crush my heart.” Blythe spat the words as her body temperature actually seemed to decrease where Evie was touching her arm.

“I never would’ve thought I’d have that power when it came to you.” She was dying to pull Blythe into her arms and warm her, cradle her, kiss her into a hot, happy mess.

“Well. You do. There.”

“I have a question,” she whispered.

“Yes?” Blythe looked at her, and it was a miracle that none of her tears had fallen yet.

“How do you think you affect me?”

Blythe seemed at a loss for words. “You? I—I don’t know.”

“Sure you do. Think back to this morning. Think back on everything we’ve been through. No matter the misunderstandings, the hurdles, we’ve solved them, haven’t we?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve made every effort. When I’ve been at my lowest point, who did I turn to?”

Blythe didn’t answer at first. She stared down at Evie’s hand, making her wonder what she really saw.

“To me.” Blythe spoke almost inaudibly, and as she lifted her gaze, a tear dislodged and splashed down on Evie’s hand. “You came to me.”

“Yes. I did. What does that tell you?” she asked softly.

“You care.”

“Logically this means you have the power to hurt me too, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.” Blythe moved so fast, she didn’t see it coming. Suddenly she had her arms full of a trembling Blythe, who in turn clung to her, her teeth practically clattering.

“Shh. It’s okay.” If she let go of Blythe now, she wouldn’t have a second chance. This was it, the pivotal moment that would launch or incinerate their relationship. Despite her own doubts, she was the one who had to be strong. Blythe wasn’t the most trusting woman, to put it bluntly, and she recoiled faster than anyone she had ever known. Also her own struggles, her own lack of trust when it came to family, had the potential to wreck everything in a heartbeat.

“Evie. Evangeline.” Blythe pulled back a few inches and looked at her. “You’ve turned everything upside down for me. I had it all figured out. I thought. Work was all I needed, and work was the reason I approached you. I told myself that anyway. Quite good at fooling myself, as it turns out.”

“How do you mean?”

“I’ve been to so many different danger zones on this planet I can’t distinguish between some of them in my mind. They all mesh into a big blur of heat, mud, sand, death, blood, and severed limbs.” Blythe made a face. “Lovely bedside manners are also something I lack.”

“Go on.”

“Anyway, if it weren’t for my photos, I don’t think I could’ve told you what happened where. It’s all jumbled. Only one thing has been engraved on my mind. I close my eyes, and unless I deliberately force the image away, I see your car, that beautiful red Viper, so powerful, like you, drive into the flames and smoke. It then comes out on the other side, making a perfect spiral where it rolls through the air, engulfed with the most beautiful flames licking its body.” Blythe’s eyes lost themselves in the distance, and she knew she saw it right there and then. “I see this, and I know you’re in there. Hurt. Bleeding. Burned. And I can do nothing but repeatedly press the release on my camera. I look through it, see it all happening through the viewfinder.

“When more than eighteen months had passed and the vision was still with me, I knew I had to contact you. Not only to finish the job with the hope of shaking the images, but because the fact that I remembered this like I suddenly had an eidetic memory was a sign.”

“A sign?” Her heart pumped steadfast and quick. Reliving the horrific events of last year through Blythe’s words was almost more than she could bear.

“You meant more to me than I could explain. Than I knew.”