Ten first dates, p.37
Ten First Dates, page 37
He’d impressed her tonight.
That felt amazing.
“Can’t take me anywhere too fancy,” he said teasingly as he turned around.
Except she was looking at him like she thought he was wrong about that. Like she could take him anywhere she wanted.
He’d told her she couldn’t tell her father about what they did tonight.
She’d insisted he forget she was related to his boss.
The night only had a few hours left in it. How much trouble could they get up to in that time?
“Lucky for you, I’m in the mode for something simple.”
But her breath hitched on the last word. He saw it. She knew it. Wherever they went next, it wouldn’t be simple.
He took a deep breath and opened the passenger door for her. “Then let’s find an all-night diner or something like that.”
Something like that turned out to be a sushi place just north of the 210 because Monica’s phone told her it had the highest Yelp rating of all the local joints.
“Do you eat fish?”
He grinned. “Eat it, catch it, skin it. Yep.”
She laughed. “I only eat it.”
“Let’s put that on your list of things the expensive tutors overlooked.”
Drag racing, fishing, how to keep secrets from her father…there were a lot of things Josh wanted to teach her. Fuck.
In the last four hours, he’d gone from thinking of her as Miss Fischer, a dangerous annoyance, to lovely young Monica, who posed a challenge he was more than up for.
At the restaurant, they pored over the menu together, each suggesting their favourites, which had some convenient overlap. He ordered a beer, and she asked for green tea.
While they waited for the first plates to arrive, he figured he should deal with some unfinished business. “I dodged your question earlier. About your father.”
She frowned, her brow pulling tight. “No, I shouldn’t have put you in that position.”
“Your dad’s an asshole.” He said it straight up.
She burst out laughing. “Okay, so you don’t feel awkward about the question, then…?”
“Not at all. But I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“Ah. That’s nice.” Her lips curved softly. “And now you’re not worried about that?”
“Now I’m quite confident you can compartmentalize how I feel about him from how you feel about it. You’re a smart girl.”
“Woman,” she corrected.
“Barely.”
Her eyebrow quirked. “Is that easier for you? To think of me as Michael Fischer’s daughter? A kid?”
“I didn’t say kid.”
“You said girl.”
“I—” He was glad their drinks arrived. He took a long, slow sip of the refreshingly cold beer. “You just turned twenty-one.”
“And you’re, what, thirty-nine?” She said it like she was joking, like she wanted to get a rise out of him.
“Thirty.”
“Oooh, another milestone birthday.” She lifted her still steaming mug of tea. “Happy birthday, old man.”
“I guess I deserve that.”
“Call my dad an asshole and me a kid? You’re getting off easy.”
“Smart and relentless. You’re going to go far.”
“That’s the plan.” She blew on her tea and carefully took a sip. Then she set it down, narrowed her eyes, and cocked her head to the side. “Are you trying to push me away?”
“I just called you smart, and we’re sharing a meal. If that’s my goal, I’m not doing a great job of it.”
“That’s because you don’t really want to push me away.”
He leaned forward, beer glass firmly in hand. If the backs of his knuckles brushed hers, that was accidental. “Why wouldn’t I want to push you away? You’re nothing but trouble for me.”
“Not true. I’m also a lot of fun.” She nudged her index finger against his. Nothing accidental about that. “Or do you take smart girls to the track every Friday night?”
He never did.
Luckily, he was saved from answering by the arrival of their sushi boat.
As they dug in, he wondered how they had never met before.
The answer, of course, was rich people drama. “My parents had a bitter divorce six years ago.”
Roughly the same time that Josh was hired.
“And when I was a minor, my mother kept me away from here. California. Home of all of his infidelities and vices, I guess. She allowed him custody, but something something…” She waved her hand. “I don’t know. Long story short, I went to boarding school in Switzerland, because that was close to the European racing circuits my father likes to visit.”
“Your mother didn’t object to that?”
“I don’t think she put two and two together. She really just wanted to keep me away from L.A.”
“And now you’re back.”
“Yep. It’s complicated.”
“Isn’t it always?”
She nodded ruefully. “How about you? Parents? Siblings?”
He took a careful swallow of beer. “Four brothers. We’re all close. Our parents died when I was a teenager.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Her brow furrowed. “Are they here in L.A.?”
He shook his head. “Actually, nowhere near here. I’m from Canada. A little town on one of the Great Lakes.”
“Wow. You’re a long way from home. Do your brothers still live there?”
“Three of them. We all left home for a while—some longer than others.” He gestured at himself. “I’ve been gone for twelve years. Pulled pin as soon as I graduated high school. Went to Detroit for the summer, got into working on racing teams. Went back across the border to Canada and trained as a mechanic, knowing I’d probably be able to get a work visa if I narrowed in on a specific skill set. Went to Texas next, and landed here six years ago.”
“Right when I left.” She would have been a colt-legged teenager.
Another reminder of their age difference.
She carefully picked up a piece of sashimi and ate it delicately as she looked at him.
Why had he encouraged curiosity? “What?”
“Just trying to figure you out. You like your job, and you’re not a fan of late nights—”
He barked a laugh. “It’s more the early mornings I struggle with. If you’re wondering if I’m boring, then yeah, probably, but not because I don’t have dangerous tendencies. I’ve just learned to curb them.”
“Like racing.”
He nodded.
She changed subjects. “So you’re not a morning person.”
A hard shake of his head. “All of my brothers are—but I don’t know if that’s nature or nurture. They all went into the military.”
“Speaking of dangerous tendencies.”
That made him laugh again. “One of my brothers is a pilot, so yeah.”
“Is it a family tradition, or…”
“The military service?” He shook his head. “My older brother Owen joined first. He’s a paramedic, and he was a teen dad, too. So the army reserve was extra income at first, and then when my mom died—she died a year and a half after my dad—his unit really stepped up and helped with us.”
“How old were you?”
“Fourteen.” His throat got tight, as it always did. He washed that feeling away with a sip of beer. “As far as brother guardians go, Owen was the best.”
She nodded. “Not a replacement for your parents, of course.”
“No. But he never tried. And my other brother Will was at university, studying to be a teacher. He joined the army too, so he’d have that extra income when he came home, because he wasn’t sure what kind of teaching job he could get in a small town right away. He helped a lot as I went through my roughest years. So after Owen and Will found the structure and support they needed in the military, it just made sense for Seth to go to the recruiting office, too. He went all-in, signing up with the Air Force. He just got out two years ago, and now he has a float plane charter service to the north.”
“Wow.” She leaned forward, chin on hands, the final few pieces of sushi forgotten. “That’s four of you. Who’s the youngest?”
“Adam. He’s a bit of an army bum. He talks about being a firefighter—our dad was a firefighter—but Will and Owen don’t want that for him.”
“Is he a lot younger than you?”
Josh laughed and shook his head. “Nah. He’s just the baby in our hearts. He’s twenty-eight.”
“I bet he loves the overprotective brothers routine.”
“Loves it.” He sighed. “You don’t have any siblings, right?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Although never say never.”
“How would you feel about your father having another child? Or…your mother?”
“Just my father. My mom was young when she had me, but not that young. And I don’t know. It’s his life. But he says he’ll never marry again. Time will tell.”
Josh wondered if there was more to the story there, but he didn’t want to dig into Michael Fischer’s personal life. His job was to fix transmissions and tweak suspensions. That was it.
“So you didn’t want to join the army?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. No. Maybe? I can’t remember what teenage me wanted. But as soon as I found cars, that was it.”
Her eyes crinkled. “Well, I can’t be sorry about that, since if you hadn’t, we would never have met.”
He lifted his beer glass. “I’ll cheers to that.”
She clinked her tea cup against the glass.
“Ready to get going home?”
She nodded and raised her hand for the bill.
Everything inside him itched to tell her it was on him, but that would make this a date, and he wasn’t allowed to want to impress this woman. Couldn’t treat her, not a sushi dinner would be a treat for someone from her background. But it still pinched as she pulled out a credit card that just looked like it had no limit. Subtle logo, monochromatic design, gilt details that matched her expensive sunglasses now perched on her head.
Not that he cared if she was rich.
He only cared that it made her off-limits.
He wanted another nudge of her finger against his. He wanted to tug her into his lap, other restaurant diners be damned, and find out if her mouth was as soft and sweet as it looked.
Yeah, it was definitely time to take the princess home. And then he could knuckle-drag his blue-collar ass back to his one-bedroom apartment just off the 215, between the Dunkin’ Donuts and a run-down auto parts shop.
They took just a few steps out of the restaurant when a loud rumble caught their attention from the street.
“Hey, that’s the Mustang from the track, right?” Monica asked.
Josh waved, to be friendly, and the driver took a sharp turn into the parking lot. He pulled up behind their car and rolled down his window. “I looked for you at the track. Thought you wanted to race me.” His grin flashed bright, even in the shadows of the dark car interior. “This must be fate.”
Josh shook his head and brushed his hand up Monica’s back. “Go on, get in the car.” Then he raised his voice to tell the guy, not tonight.
But Monica stood her ground. “You could take him.”
And she said it loud enough to carry.
Of course he could. That wasn’t the point. He kept his voice low. “Street racing is illegal and I’m here on a work visa. Don’t try to get me deported.”
“Oh.” She winced, and he opened the passenger door for her. “Sorry,” she whispered before she quickly buckled herself in.
The other driver gave him a raised eyebrow look. Like, you wanna impress your girl or not?
Josh swore under his breath. “Not here.”
“Rolling start on the freeway?”
He nodded.
Then he popped his trunk and grabbed his helmet.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Put this on,” Josh said after wrenching open his door. “And buckle up with the whole five-point harness.”
Monica stared at his helmet. “But you’re—”
“You’re the more valuable person in this vehicle. Put that on if you want to do this.”
“What are we doing?” But she knew. Her pulse sped up. “Are we racing? Josh, we don’t need to—”
“In the name of your racing education, we’re going to do something only slightly less dangerous than a street race.” He started the car, gunning the engine.
She twisted her head quickly, trying to figure out where the other car was.
“Monica. Helmet.”
“I didn’t mean to pressure you to…”
“I’m not sorry, so don’t worry about it. This is going to be fun.” He gave her a wicked grin and turned up the volume as a Nickelback song, “Animals”, started playing on the car stereo.
She took her sunglasses off her head and tucked them under the passenger seat, then jammed the helmet on as he tore out of the parking lot.
It wasn’t racing per se, not yet, but it was fast. There was a new energy in the car. In Josh. His arms flexed as he shifted gears, his gaze locked on the car ahead of them.
They followed the Mustang to the on-ramp to the 210, then merged into eastbound traffic. The Mustang moved over a lane, and Josh pulled up abreast of the other car.
They both slowed down, just a little, creating a bit of space in front of them. And that space grew as they flowed down the highway, past the next exit.
Suddenly Josh rolled down his window. So did the other guy.
“At the next exit,” he hollered. “If it’s clear.”
She gulped at the implications. The seconds ticked by. Traffic thinned out, as if the universe knew Hot Mechanic had picked the lesser of two evils, for her, and wanted to make this a good one.
Then they swarmed past the next exit, not a cop in sight, and Josh glanced sideways at her. “Count down from three, honey. As loud as you can.”
“Are you—”
“Any second now.”
“Three,” she yelled. “Two…one. Go!”
He dropped down a gear and floored it. The other car jerked forward too, accelerating like mad, but he wasn’t as fast as Josh’s Gran Torino.
She screamed as the roar of the car mixed with the road noise from tearing down the freeway with the window open.
Josh shifted gears again, flying now, and she tried to look around but she couldn’t with the helmet.
The dark world on either side of them whizzed by in a blur, and up ahead were cars. They’d reach them soon, and—
Suddenly, he took his foot off the gas.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He grinned at her. “Was that fun?”
“Oh my god, yes.” She was breathless from the thrill of it. “Is that it?”
He laughed. “That’s not enough for you?”
“No, it’s good! I just don’t know what— how—”
“He dropped in behind me. A sign to slow down. And in a minute, he’ll pull out and curve around in front of me. Then we’ll switch lanes and probably do it again.”
That’s exactly what happened. It was less aggressive than Monica expected, more playful. Like lion cubs eager to tussle.
This time the other car was on her side, and it was her window rolled down so she could count them down. The warm wind whipped her in the face as she screamed the numbers into the night.
The second race was much tighter, with both cars jockeying for the lead until they reached an exit and had to slow down, just in case there might be a cop on the on-ramp.
When the Mustang peeled off, Josh kept going down the freeway, like they were making a break for the desert. He was grinning, his expression cocky and sexy as hell. His already irresistible charm took on a wild edge.
And her soft, needy little crush bloomed into a wicked impulse to do something very bad.
“You can take off the helmet,” he said, nudging her knee with the back of his hand.
The touch was as good as a lick against her bare skin. Wanton desire took firm hold. She pulled it off and shook out her hair.
His gaze caught on her face, holding long enough that she knew he felt the sizzling chemistry, too.
“Want to find the best route back to work?” His voice was husky. Thick with unspoken alternate questions.
And no, she didn’t want him to drop her back at her car. Yes, she wanted him to take her somewhere, anywhere else.
She didn’t trust that this energy would last all the way back to Riverside. His responsibility would win out, and he would reluctantly make her say a chaste goodnight.
That wouldn’t work for her.
She wanted more. “Can we keep driving?”
No. It was the only answer, but Josh couldn’t make himself say the word out loud. “Where do you want to go?”
She tugged her phone out of her little purse and tapped on a map app.
He stared at the road ahead, at the broken white lines separating the lanes of traffic. Red taillights.
Don’t look at her.
He glanced sideways.
She had her lower lip caught between her teeth as she scrolled around on the screen. “We could drive up to a lookout point in the hills,” she finally said.
“Got any favourites?”
“One exit back the way we just came.”
He immediately got over to the right.
They didn’t say thing as he got off the freeway and looped around.
“This one?” he asked five minutes later.
Even out of the corner of his eye, he could see her magnificent smile spreading ear to ear. “Yep.”
The noise of the highway faded behind them. The hills were dark, but he’d driven them at night before. Lots of twists and turns.
Dangerous and exciting, which seemed like what she wanted from him tonight.
There was a red light at the final cross street before leaving the residential neighbourhood behind, and Josh felt the weight of that stop. Like he knew it was an opportunity to apologize and make an excuse. To turn around and head for the freeway. Get her home, get himself to his own apartment—alone—and forget whatever terrible thing he wanted to do with her in the dark, overlooking a reservoir lake or some romantic shit.
