Maybe she could place it in the category of “Poor Taste” and be ashamed of herself, but she liked that Ty didn’t care who saw his interest.
“We could talk,” she told him, feeling a smile creep over her face.
“No matter what you say, I’ll take it dirty,” he said. “I can’t help it. Even hearing the words erectile dysfunction come out of your mouth gave me a boner.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
His hand brushed across her hair. “What’s ridiculous is that we’re still standing here. We could have been naked by now.”
Hunter suddenly wiggled in between them. “Can you take me to the garage? Elec says Mom needs to take a nap.”
Imogen would bet her own mother’s life that Tamara was not the least bit sleepy. She glanced over at Elec, who was trying to look innocent and failing miserably.
“Oh, really?” Ty asked Hunter, then turned to Elec. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Tamara said she needs to lie down. I can’t argue with that. It was a long flight.”
Imogen saw Tamara clear her throat, her cheeks pink.
Elec held his hands out. “I told Hunter she could watch TV for a while, but she’d rather hang out with you.”
“I haven’t seen Imogen in four days,” Ty said pointedly. “When was the last time you saw Tammy?”
They stared at each other in a battle of libidos.
“Three days ago,” Elec finally admitted. “But you can see Imogen whenever you want all weekend. Our ability to see each other is hampered.”
“Fair enough,” Ty said. “But you owe me.”
Elec grinned. “Whatever you want.”
“Is that okay?” Ty asked Imogen. “You want to go to the garage with me?”
“Sure. I’d love to.” Like Elec said, they had all weekend to see each other. Even if her inner thighs wanted to be seen immediately, if not sooner.
“Alright, if your last name is Briggs, you’re going with me,” Ty said loudly. He pointed to Hunter and Pete. “That means you and you. Let’s move ’em out.”
“Whoop, whoop,” Hunter said, doing a victory dance. She ran up and gave Elec a kiss. “Love you! See you later.” She then hugged her mother’s legs and said, “Have a good nap, Mom.”
Tamara hugged her back and said, “Have fun, baby. Listen to Ty and don’t touch anything.” She touched her son’s shoulder. “You, too, sweetie. Have fun. Thank you, Ty. And you, too, Imogen.”
“Sure thing, Tammy. Where are the passes?” Ty asked. “Do I have to go get them? You know they’ll give me crap if you’re not standing right there.”
Elec handed a bundle over to him.
“You were just all sorts of prepared, weren’t you?” Ty asked, his eyebrows raised.
“Just efficient,” Elec said.
“Uh-huh.” Ty reached for Imogen’s hand, but Hunter popped up between them and took his hand in her left and Imogen’s in her right.
“Let’s go.”
Ty shot Imogen a look of frustration over Hunter’s head, but Imogen just smiled. The man was a nice guy, and that did interesting and thought-provoking things to her insides. Being with him, with Tamara and her family, it all felt so right, so normal. Imogen had never thought of herself as lonely, but this was something she definitely enjoyed.
“When we’re done at the garage, I’m definitely going to need a nap,” Ty said, wearing a smirk as they walked.
“Then you can do that while I go interview some of the other drivers,” Imogen said with a smirk of her own.
Smart-ass, he mouthed to her.
Imogen just laughed, feeling more carefree than perhaps she ever had in her entire life.
TY was proud of her. That’s the thought he had as he walked the kids and Imogen around the garage, introducing her to his crew members. He felt proud and smug to have such a classy, beautiful woman there beside him, letting him claim her as his.
The first time he trotted out the term girlfriend when introducing her to his crew chief, she had shot him a curious look, but hell, that’s what she was, right? After that damned uncomfortable conversation where he’d stumbled over the confession he didn’t want to date anyone else, and she had agreed, he figured that gave him the right to tag her as his in public. And he really was damn proud that someone as intelligent and interesting as Imogen wanted to be with him. He had never realized how much he’d been spinning his wheels with women like Nikki. The most she’d ever made him feel at the track when she had visited him was a mild embarrassment every time she said something not so bright, or inadvertently offended someone.
Imogen was in a whole different ballpark. She wanted to understand everything and everyone, and she asked questions out of pure curiosity, not because she was looking for an angle or a way to get ahead. Fame and fortune meant nothing to her, he was sure of it, and every inch of her was real, untouched by plastic surgeons. Hell, she wore glasses, and how damn sexy was that?
He had it bad. There was no denying it, and while he loved Tammy’s kids, he was counting the minutes until he could reasonably haul their butts back to their parents.
The need to get Imogen alone and naked was urgent, and he hadn’t been boning up on Shakespeare for the past ten days for nothing. He had listened to two more plays on tape and had painful discussions on them with Toni, and he wanted to show Imogen he was capable of culture. Truth was, the plays were entertaining, it was just deciphering the language that was so difficult. But he was man enough to admit there was something cool about the dead playwright’s words.
Ty watched Hunter inspecting his engine, while Imogen talked to his crew chief.
“It’s just amazing how much science and engineering go into these cars,” Imogen said. “I’m in awe of your experience and knowledge.”
“Thanks,” Sam said, looking at Imogen like he might fall in love. “We do put a lot of effort into winning.”
If Ty wasn’t sure that Imogen was merely curious, not at all interested in Sam, he might have felt a little bit jealous. Regardless of how married Sam was, and how much interest Imogen showed in Ty, he did still find himself edging just a bit closer to her.
“What is the process for becoming a crew chief? Do you learn via hands-on experience, or is there a formal training program?”
“A lot of the guys have mechanical engineering degrees . . .”