WITH A TOWEL WRAPPED AROUND my waist, I walked out of the bathroom only to find Ashley standing in my kitchen.
Fuck.
“Ash?”
She spun around and raked her eyes over my body before looking back up at me. “Hey. I see you’re still looking fine as ever.”
“Um . . . what are you doing here?”
She leaned back against the counter and looked at me with a serious look as she leaned in closer and stared hard. Her mouth dropped open as she gasped. “Oh my God. You met someone!”
My head pulled back in shock. “What?”
Pointing her finger at me, a huge smile moved over her face. “You. Met. Someone.”
Right about that time, the door to the bus opened and Autumn came bouncing in. “Hey, big brother! Did we surprise you?”
I looked between Autumn and Ashley. “How . . . how did y’all meet up? I’m so damn confused.”
Ashley laughed and said, “I left my little black dress at your ranch a few months back. Remember after that night of fun in Dallas and we went back to the ranch?”
I nodded my head. “Well, I needed it and I called the main number thinking Clarisse would answer, but Autumn did instead. We got to talking and found out we had a lot in common.”
I wrinkled my forehead as I looked between them. “Okay, so you both decided to come to the race together?”
Autumn chuckled. “I’ve never missed one of your Texas races, and I don’t plan on it now. I asked Ashley if I could stay at her place this weekend. Sophie is staying with Mom and Pop.”
Ashely wiggled her eyebrows. “We’re having a girls’ weekend.”
I raked my hand through my wet hair. “This is . . . weird.”
“Why? Because we used to be fuck buddies and now I’m friends with your sister?”
Autumn set her bag on the counter and mumbled, “Gross, visual not needed.”
“Wait!! Back to what we were talking about. You met someone didn’t you?”
Autumn sucked in a breath. “W-what! You’re dating someone?”
“No!” I said as I shook my head. “And no I haven’t met anyone, Ash.”
She walked closer to me and I wondered where that familiar pull was that I used to get around her. Any time I ever saw her I only had one thing on my mind. Sex. The only thing on my mind now was how to get her and my sister off of my bus.
Ashley smiled and slowly shook her head. “I see it in your eyes, Wallace. You met someone.”
“Who is she?” Autumn said as she did a little hop and grabbed onto my arm.
With a huff, I turned and headed back to my room. “May I please change?”
They both started a laughing fit and said something about my manwhore days being over. “Never!” I yelled out as I shut the bedroom door behind me.
Reaching over, I grabbed my cell phone and pulled up Paislie’s number and hit Call. I saved it when she called me the other day.
“Hello?”
I held the phone to Deuce who barked right on cue. “Deuce wanted to make sure y’all were still on for tonight.”
“Where do you come up with this stuff? Do you always use your dog to pick up women?”
I thought about it for a second. I’d never really used him except when he was a puppy. He was a total pussy magnet then.
“Not since he was about six months old. Before that he was lining them up for me.”
“Wow. Your sheer honesty was not expected. I don’t know if I should turn around and go back home or floor it and get there faster.”
The way my heart thumped in my chest had me holding my breath for a few seconds. Something about this girl did crazy ass things to me.
“My vote is to floor it.”
With a chuckle, she responded, “I figured it would be.”
Dropping my towel, I pulled on a pair of jeans and searched for a T-shirt. “I’m really looking forward to seeing you, Paislie.”
“Same here,” she barely spoke. “My GPS says I’ll be there in thirty-seven minutes.”
I glanced over to the clock and fist pumped. Perfect timing. “Perfect. I’ll have Deuce ready.”
When she laughed it did something to me I’d never experienced before. “Sounds good, see ya in a few.”
“See ya,” I said as I hit End and tried like hell to wipe the stupid grin off my face before facing my sister and Ashley.
The door to the bedroom opened and Ashley yelled out, “I knew it! Oh. My. Gawd! Who is she? Are you dating? What’s her name? Where did you meet her?”
Autumn was behind Ashley jumping as she wore a huge smile.
“Stop it, both of you. I’m not dating her—I met her in Vegas at a race, she lives here in the Dallas area so I invited her for dinner tonight.”
Ashley stumbled back. “Dinner? You invited her to dinner?” She spun around and grabbed onto Autumn’s hands as they started screaming.
My hands went over my ears before I pushed them both out of the way. “What in the fuck is wrong with you two?”
I made my way into the kitchen and lit a candle that Adaline insisted I have. I’d never admit it to her, but I loved the damn thing. It reminded me of their house. I’d been back over for dinner almost half a dozen times.
Ashley stood on the other side of the bar in the living room and looked at me. “Malcolm, I’m the closest thing to any sort of relationship you’ve had in a long time and you never once took me to dinner.”
I frowned. “That’s not true. We went to dinner all the time.”
She lifted her brow. “Yeah, after a roll in the sack and we were both hungry.”
Autumn walked between us. “Again, can we not reference the fact that the two of you had sex. It really bothers me for some reason.”
Ashley giggled. “It would my brother as well.”
“Fine!” I said. “We never went out to dinner on a date before. This isn’t a date. I mean at least not with me. Deuce invited her out to eat and she’s coming to have dinner with him.”
Oh shit. Why in the hell did I think that would be okay to say?
My sister looked at me like she really couldn’t believe what she just heard.
“What in the hell did you just say?” Ashley asked while my sister still stared at me, but now with more of a concerned look.
“Did you wreck at practice?” Autumn asked.
I dropped my head back and moaned in frustration. “Please . . . will you both just leave? Paislie is going to be here soon.”
Autumn and Ashley both said, “Paislie!”
“What an adorable name. What does she look like?” Ashley asked.
My hands came up and covered my face as I dragged them down slowly. “If I tell you, will you leave?”
“Yep!”
I closed my eyes and shook my head as I counted to ten and looked back at them both. “She is gorgeous. Dark hair, emerald eyes, a voice that sounds like an angel, a body that’s sinfully perfect, and a smile that leaves me breathless.”
Both of them stood there and stared at me. Autumn had tears in her eyes and Ashley looked stunned. “Where in the fuck was this Malcolm when we were—”
“Don’t say it!” Autumn cried out.
Looking at Ashley, I tried to figure out where that came from. Even though I had spent more time with her than any other girl, I never had the feeling that it would have led us anywhere else and thought she felt the same. “Ash, I think you’re amazing and . . .”
She placed her finger over my mouth and smiled. “Don’t say anything. I was kidding. Malcolm, what we shared was fun, but that’s all it was for either of us and we both knew it wasn’t going anywhere outside of the bedroom. But this girl has changed something about you. I saw it in your eyes the moment I looked at you.”
Autumn wiped a tear away as I looked at her with a confused look. “Why are you crying?” I asked and pulled her into my arms. She pulled back and looked into my eyes.
“This Paislie, she’s brought a part of you back to life, Malcolm. I see it.”
I shook my head and laughed. “I’ve only ever seen her twice and talked to her twice on the phone. The two of you need to slow your roll.”
I lifted my hand and wiped my sister’s tears away. “Now please, will you both go?”
I’d never seen either one of them move so fast. Ashley opened the door and screamed out when she ran into Janet, my assistant.
“Hey, Janet! Don’t tell Emmit I was here!”
Autumn gave Janet a kiss on the cheek as she said, “Hey, Janet! See you later!”
Both girls walked off laughing and cackling about me finally meeting someone.
Janet turned to me and gave me a questioning look. “Do I want to know?”
I shook my head as Deuce ran up to his second-favorite person in the world. Janet was a retired fifty-nine-year-old teacher who lived her life for NASCAR. She had volunteered to help out in the office back in Charlotte and quickly started getting every single person organized. When I approached her about becoming my assistant, her husband had just retired so traveling for them was no problem. She gladly accepted and she has been covering my ass ever since.
“I have it all set up. I’m not asking questions, it’s none of my business but I will say this, I smiled the entire time I was setting it up.”
Walking up to her, I gave her a gentle hug. She was a tiny woman, five foot if that and thin. I was always afraid I would break her if I hugged her too tight.
Pulling back, I asked, “Wait. Who is there watching everything?”
She shot me a dirty look. “Are you saying I don’t know how to do my job?”
I lifted my hands up in a defensive move. “No! I would never.”
“Just know I had to pull some strings to get this done for you.”
With a peck on her forehead, I said, “I owe you.”
She patted me on the chest and winked. “I’ve always wanted to go to Aruba.”
Before I could reply, she was out the door and gone. Glancing down to Deuce, I shrugged. “Are you ready for your dinner date?”
Deuce jumped up and barked as he wagged his tail. With a chuckle, I gave him a good pat and replied, “I feel the same way, boy.”