“I don’t think I can move ever again,” she said a few minutes later.
He smiled and swept her hair out of her face. “Fortunately for you, it’s not quite time to check out yet.”
She laughed. “Good. I might be stuck like this for many hours.”
“Yeah, but I’m hungry.”
She rolled over on her side to face him. “What is it with men and sex and the need for food?”
“Protein replacement. When we ejaculate, we have to replenish, you know.”
She rolled her eyes. “I think that’s just an excuse to have a late-night burger.”
“Probably. So what would you like?”
She sat up and slid off the bed. On the way to the bathroom she stopped, turned, and looked at him. “A burger, of course.”
TWENTY-FOUR
EVELYN WAS BEYOND EXCITED TO BE IN ATLANTA, NOT only for the race but the upcoming convention. It was going to be an exciting couple weeks.
Gray agreed to go to the convention and be at his father’s side. The week of the convention was a bye week for racing, so it couldn’t have turned out more perfectly if she’d planned it.
The social media campaign had been going well, and she’d even gotten Gray more involved in that, doing some of his own posts on Facebook and Twitter, which was not only introducing his fans to the senator, it was getting them more involved with Gray on a racing level, which his fans loved. He’d been doing a great job talking about his father and what he was doing on the campaign trail, his father’s platform, and what Gray believed his father could do for the country. Gray mixed that in nicely with weekly race information—how he felt about the last race and information about the upcoming race. He kept his followers in the loop, both politically and race-wise.
He was gaining more followers every day, and hopefully he could see the value of being more directly involved in social media. It was a win-win.
She’d been trying to convince him to give a speech at the convention now that the senator was definitely going to be Cameron’s running mate. So far, Gray had said no, but she could tell from his voice and his body language it wasn’t a firm no. She understood his reluctance. He wasn’t a political kind of guy. Just being at the convention with his dad would be enough support. But if he gave a speech it would seal the deal, and Evelyn knew they’d garner a lot of votes.
Patience. She paced the confines of the trailer. She had to be patient, and everything would fall into place. Which was hard to do when all her peers and everyone who’d been with the senator were working so hard right now at the hotel near the convention center, while she was blazing a hole in Gray’s carpet in his trailer, stopping every few minutes to chew the last stubs off her fingernails or send an email or check polls or the latest blogs or statistics.
Doing nothing when the campaign was about to go into full swing was making her crazy. She wanted to be on the front lines.
She also wanted to be with Gray. This was a big race. He hadn’t done all that well in the Michigan or Bristol races and he’d dropped in the standings. Now in second, Atlanta was important. She needed to be here with him.
Actually, she didn’t. Her being here wouldn’t make him race any better. She needed to listen to her own advice. She’d told Stacie that Donny didn’t need her to be here holding his hand. The same held true for Evelyn.
Still, she wanted to be here, supporting him. She chewed on her fingernail and stared at the latest polls coming up on her laptop.
“You really shouldn’t be here.”
She whirled to find Gray staring at her from the steps, horrified that she’d so lost track of time.
“Tell me I didn’t miss practice.”
His lips curved as he threw his gear into a chair. “It was practice, Evelyn. Not a race.”
Dammit. “I’m so sorry. I just popped in here to check some stats and answer a few emails, which I could have done on my phone. And then I got involved reading some political blogs and a few news capsules. Then I made a few phone calls—”
He jerked her into his arms and kissed her, which always seemed to calm the adrenaline rush work brought out in her. When he pulled away, she was languid and turned on. But still felt guilty.
“I’m still sorry I missed practice.”
“And I don’t expect you to park your ass out there and watch me every second.
You have a job and it’s crunch time. You should be at the convention center. You should pack up and go.”
She shook her head. “I need to be here with you. You’re my job right now.”
He tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’ve already agreed to come to the convention.
Your job here is done. Go work for my dad. I think I can race without you.”
“You can. But I’m not going to let you. There will be plenty of time for me at the convention after you race this weekend.”
He slid his arms around her. “You’re a stubborn woman, Evelyn.”
“I prefer determined.”
*
QUALIFYING HAD BEEN TOUGH, HOT AS HELL, AND JUST as frustrating as a race. And it hadn’t yielded the results Gray had been looking for.
A sixth-place spot wasn’t going to put him where he wanted to be. He thought his time had been great. Obviously not great enough. Even worse, Donny had crashed during qualifying, so he’d have to start the race in the back.
After he answered what seemed like a thousand questions about Preston Racing team’s backslide over the past few weeks, which to Gray hadn’t seemed like a backslide at all, he was hot and tired and in need of Evelyn’s sweet face. He looked around the pits for her, shocked as hell to see his father there.
What the hell was Mitchell Preston doing here? As far as Gray knew, his father had never once attended one of his races. How utterly timely for him to show up at qualifying, a week before the convention. Of course he was all smiles as the cameras were in his face. Gray could well imagine what his father was talking about.
Himself. His campaign. Stumping for votes. Telling the American people how important it was that they vote for him. Maybe something tying Gray into his campaign.
All bullshit.
It was the last insult to an already miserable f**king day. He headed over to where his father was surrounded by cameras. Evelyn caught his gaze and smiled, meeting him halfway, looping her arm around his and stopping his forward progress.