The Chase by Erin McCarthy Read Free Book Online

grinned. “You set the drama in motion.”
    Kendall nudged his leg with her foot, smiling back. “Fine. You’re right. I was putting my issues with my dad onto you and that was stupid. I should have listened to you, should have taken your calls, should have given you a chance to explain. I’m sorry.” She really was. For the whole damn debacle.
    God, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Ten years of imagined betrayal gone, just like that, with ten minutes of communication. It was insane.
    “And I’m sorry if I didn’t have the right words to let you know I was proud of you. That I supported you.”
    “Thank you.” Kendall let out a sigh of relief. Her shoulders even physically relaxed down a few inches. Tuesday had been right, this talk needed to happen.
    Turned in his stool, Evan’s legs were on either side of hers, and she suddenly became aware of how close he was sitting to her. How the denim of his jeans was scraping along hers, his upper body leaning towards her. He was as attractive to her now as he had been at nineteen, and he’d been leaner then with youth. Now he was all hard-packed muscle, and Kendall swallowed hard. It had been difficult enough to pretend she wasn’t attracted to him when she had thought he was a raging jerk, but now, well, getting into the Cup series had been easier than denying her feelings now.
    She was so attracted to him.
    “Wow,” he said. “This is funny and horrible all at the same time, isn’t it? I mean, we really tore each other up and for what?”
    “Stupid,” she agreed.
    “So what do we do now?” he asked. The corner of his mouth tilted up. “I’m used to hating you for breaking my heart. I think I need to do some mental recalculating.”
    “Me, too.”
    Was it her imagination or was he looking at her differently? Not with a “gee, glad we worked this out” kind of look. It was something a little more curious than that, like he was studying her face, her lips, her chest.
    Maybe she was doing the same thing, for all she knew. Maybe it was just a normal reevaluating, changing the lens through which you viewed someone after you realized you’d been wrong, but personally hers felt a lot more like plain old lust. Which was a stupid response and one she needed to squash immediately if not sooner.
    “So that’s it? We’re just good now? Friends?” Evan asked, his expression a little bemused.
    “Being friends would be nice.” And so would having him take her hard up against a wall.
    Yikes. Where had that thought come from? Kendall crossed her legs in between his. Tuesday was right. She needed to get out more.
    “Okay, so fill me in on the last ten years. What have you been up to?”
    That question was easy. “Umm, let’s see. Driving with single-minded determination. That’s about it.”
    “No quickie Vegas weddings? No trips around the world? No moment where you walked away from it all and decided you wanted to be like a pastry chef or something?”
    “No, no, and no. I wanted to be a driver.”
    “And now you are.”
    “And now I am.”
    He smiled softly, a smile that went all the way to his rich chocolate eyes. “Good for you, Kendall. I’m happy for you.”
    “Thank you,” she said, mortified when she realized how breathy her voice sounded. Clearing her throat, she added, “What about you? What have you been doing?”
    “Same thing as you. Though it’s safe to say I lack the single-minded determination.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I don’t know. Just that I haven’t been driving well. Some days I just wake up and wonder if this is it . . . struggling and never getting that championship win, that holy grail of racing.”
    “Some drivers never get that. It doesn’t mean you weren’t successful.” Kendall paused, wondering what else she should say. The truth was, she and Evan didn’t know each other anymore, and she couldn’t tell if he was really discontent or just expressing frustration.
    But while she