Two
Ark reached out to grab a handful of the prick-who-had-to-be-a-reporter’s shirt before he could attack the woman.
But all he got was a handful of air. He saw it and still didn’t believe it.
The woman had seen the attack coming and stepped to the side, then swung her foot to knock the man’s feet out from under him and pinned him facedown on the table.
She had his arm wrenched up behind his back.
His cell phone plopped to the ground, but he still held the e-mail in his other hand. It appeared to be undamaged from the iced-tea bath.
The woman said in a very reasonable tone, “Fred, you are seriously pissing me off.”
Ark couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She had long, wavy brown hair, expressive brown eyes, and one hell of an attitude, all wrapped up in a kick-ass package. The dress she wore hugged her breasts and exposed her slender, muscular back. The dress covered her ass, but the way she leaned over the reporter offered him a mouthwatering view.
She looked up at him. “This would be a good time for you to leave, Mr. Underwood.”
The impact of her gaze slammed into him. She had to be the most unusual, and sexy, woman he’d come across in years. He closed the distance between them. “But things are just getting interesting.” He barely glanced down at the reporter. It was the woman that appealed to him. “What’s your name?”
“Tess.” Then she added, “Take my advice, Fred here is a tabloid reporter trying to use you to get a headline. Leave now and I’ll help him understand that he needs to rethink his plans.” She jerked his arm slightly, twisting it farther up behind his back.
“Ouch! Goddammit, Tess! Get off of me!”
Ark dropped his gaze to Fred. His neck was arched up and streaked with swollen veins as he fought her hold, his face a sweaty red around blazing blue eyes. He held the e-mail clutched in his hand. Ark seized the e-mail and read through it. Then saw the signature line, Dr. Tess Collins, Marriage and Family Therapy.
His gut went stone cold. The warmth he felt, that flicker of interest in Tess, died. He looked up at her, at the doctor. And for a second, he thought he saw a shimmer of tears and regret. But she blinked, and all he saw was determination. Just another shrink who thought she knew it all. He held up the e-mail. “This is you?”
Fred answered, “That’s her. She wrote that e-mail! Called you a mama’s boy. Says you can’t get it up! What’s your comment?”
Ark turned to Fred. “Shut up.”
Fred’s blue eyes froze with fear. He shut up.
He looked back to see Tess watching him. She said, “Yes, it’s me, and I’m very sorry. I sent that e-mail to Fred by accident, but the damage is done. I’ll do whatever it takes to fix it.”
Ark looked into Tess’s eyes, into her brown eyes with amber flecks, and was surprised by the flash of hurt he felt. She had really intrigued him; something about the way she handled Fred made him think she was honest. Until he’d read the e-mail. Shit. Ark dropped the e-mail back on the table by Fred’s nose. “Fix what, sugar? That’s me, all flash and no substance.”
Fred angled his head around to sneer at Tess. “Guess you won’t be getting laid by your fantasy now.”
Ark stared at Tess. Her face flushed, and white lines appeared around her mouth. But her pressure on Fred’s arm she held behind his back never changed.
Ark had the urge to reach out and slam Fred’s head into the table. Or ignore Fred altogether and sweep Tess away to talk about her fantasies. Turns out that he was still interested in the doc, in spite of her e-mail. But a hand on his shoulder checked the urge.
He turned to see Giles standing there with another man. Behind them were another dozen or more people watching the scene. Damn, he’d been so intent on Tess, he hadn’t noticed the growing scene. He supposed he’d see himself in the papers tomorrow.
Giles grinned. “This all looks interesting. Are any of us going to jail? Getting on the six o’clock news? Need an ambulance? Or maybe the nice manager, Al here, can help?”
That was Giles, always the good guy. He swept in right on cue to solve everything with calm and reason. He was like that on the track, too, appearing like a gentleman who plays by the rules, right up until he decided to go for it, leaving all the drivers behind him stunned. Giles operated on pure charm and deceit. Ark shifted his gaze to the manager. He had his name stamped onto a white rectangle nametag pinned to his black shirt.
“What’s the problem here, Mr. Underwood?” Al inquired.
Ark glanced at Fred. “This reporter tried to attack the lady.”
Al puffed out his chest. Then he had to let the air out in order to bend down and see Fred’s face. “Sir, you’ll have to come with me.”
“Get this bitch off of me!”
Tess let him go and stepped back, but she didn’t say a word to defend herself. She just stood there quietly while Al convinced Fred to go with him. Fred had the presence of mind to remember to pick up his wet camera phone from the floor and the dry e-mail Ark had dropped back on the table. Then he glared at Tess and said, “You can get your suitcase out of the Dumpster, bitch.”
Tess didn’t say a word as she watched the manager steer Fred away. The crowd faded back to their drinks and Buffalo wings.
Ark looked down at Tess and was slapped with a huge case of lust. What the hell was wrong with him? She was just another woman who somehow wanted to capitalize off his fame and money.
But his gut told him something else. She’d tried to prevent Fred from getting a story from him. Ark wanted to know more about her.
She met his gaze. “I’m sorry. This is my fault. I’ll do what I can to make this right.”
Before he could react, she smoothly turned and left.
Ark watched her walk through the sports bar to the door that led to the lobby of the hotel. Oh, hell. She was going to get her suitcase before Fred got back to the room. As best as Ark could determine, Tess was staying with him, but had been somehow blindsided by Fred having the e-mail. He couldn’t let her confront that idiot again alone.
Tess punched the elevator button six or seven times until her finger hurt.
Damn, damn, damn. And she had no one to blame but herself. She wrote the e-mail that triggered this whole nightmare.
Could she have been any more stupid? To actually have believed Fred cared enough about her to book a weekend around the races that she loved? Ha, he’d just wanted to use her to advance his own career, and destroy another career in the process.
She punched the elevator button again and told herself not to think about Ark. About the look on his face when he read that e-mail.
“You’re going to break your finger.”
She whirled around, and her mouth dropped open. “Ark!”
“That’s a relief. I was afraid you’d forgotten me already.” His mouth curved wickedly.
Tess narrowed her eyes. And tried not to notice how good the short-sleeved, black button-down shirt looked on him. Or the way his jeans sat on his hips. Or the fact that his sun-streaked light brown hair looked good against his tanned skin. And his eyes ... deep mysterious hazel eyes that made her think of—
Sex.
She was a sick woman, and she should know. Sheesh. “Umm, is there something I can do for you?”
Ark leaned forward, bracing his hand over her head on the wall. “Funny that you should ask. Give Giles here your keycard to your room. He’ll put your suitcase in my room while we’re having dinner.”
Huh? “We’re not having dinner.” She glanced away from Ark to see Giles. He looked amused.
Ark got her attention back. “Of course we are, sugar. We have to find out how accurate your diagnosis of me is. And I want to hear all about your fantasies of me.”
Tess just bet he did. He probably got off on the idea of women fantasizing about him. “I don’t think so.” She tried not to inhale the clean scent of leather and spice.
Ark didn’t move. “Let me put this another way. First, you’re not going up to the room to get your suitcase alone.”
Like she was going to take orders from him. “I can take care of myself.” Since that didn’t impress him, she added, “I’m a black belt.”
“I’m guessing Fred-the-prick didn’t know that. But about dinner, I believe we need to come up with a strategy to deal with the press—once your little e-mail gets out, that is.”
Guilt slammed into her. What could she say? She had to go to dinner with him to help him. “That’s a dirty trick,” she pointed out while reaching into her purse for her keycard. She knew damn well he was manipulating her, but he was right; she owed him all the help she could give him. She pulled out her card. “Just let me get my suitcase, then I’ll meet—hey!” Ark snatched the card from her fingers.
He turned and handed the card to Giles, then looked back at her. “Room number?”
“Four-oh-two.” She relented. So she’d get her suitcase after dinner. What difference did it make? The difference, her rational brain pointed out, is that I’ll have to go to Ark’s room to get it.
Ark put his hand on the small of her back. “There’s a steakhouse a few blocks over. We’ll take your car.”
Fifteen minutes later, they sat in a booth at the restaurant. Tess ordered a glass of Cabernet and followed that with an order for steak cooked medium rare, baked potato, and a kill-me-now chocolate cake.
She tended to eat when she was nervous.
Ark ordered steak and ribs, rice, cole slaw, and a slab of corn bread.
Tess didn’t think he was nervous, just hungry. She sipped her wine, pretended it was courage, and said, “Ark, this whole thing is a big mistake. I never meant for Fred to get a hold of that e-mail.”
He studied her in the dim lighting across the Formica table. “How did he get it, then? Why did you write it in the first place?”
She had debated what she’d say for the last fifteen minutes. But he deserved the truth. “It was a cross between a game and self-therapy. My friends believe my ... uh ... infatuation with you is interfering with real relationships with men. Other men can’t live up to you. So we wrote the e-mail as kind of a joke, giving you flaws to destroy the fantasy.” Wow, Tess finally found something more humiliating than her yearly gynecological appointment. She took a quick but deep drink of her wine and finished her pathetic story. “So I wrote the e-mail and meant to send it only to my friends’ e-mail accounts. But I must have clicked on Fred’s e-mail by mistake.”
He didn’t say anything, just stared at her.
Tess knew the trick. Cops used it, and so did therapists. But still she fell for it, compelled to fill the uncomfortable silence. “I never meant the e-mail to get out! It was just a tool of therapy.”
Ark took a drink of his wine and said, “Let me see if I understand this. You have a case of lust for me, so you wrote an e-mail to cure yourself and accidentally sent it off to Fred, a tabloid reporter. Whom you were going to spend the weekend with?”
She had to laugh at herself. “I’m afraid that’s about it.”
He laughed, too, and then settled his gaze on her. “Why me, Tess?”
That surprised her. She hadn’t thought he’d care why. Didn’t he have thousands of women throwing themselves at him? She ran her thumb and forefinger up and down the stem of her wineglass. “I guess because I met you once when we were kids. I know it’s stupid.” She saw no reason to lie to him. Not now, not after the e-mail that was going to cause him problems.
He looked surprised.
She went on before she chickened out. “My father was Miles Collins, the sports photographer. Your dad brought you with him for a shoot on a beach in San Clemente. You and I played in the waves while my dad did the shoot with your dad.” She didn’t mention her mother hovering around her father in her role as his greatest fan.
Ark’s gaze sharpened as he thought for a second, then softened. “That was you? That scrawny little girl who got caught in the riptide?”
He remembered. She rushed on to just get it over with. “Yes. Anyway, I’ve followed your career. My friends and I are huge NASCAR fans. And ...” She shrugged. How did she explain being such an idiot? Sitting across from the man made her fantasy seem even more stupid. “Anyway the e-mail was half a joke and half a way to put you out of my mind.” Tess slowed down and met his gaze to deal with the real issue. “I don’t know what Fred’s going to do with that e-mail, or if it can be fixed.”
“There’s no fixing it. I just deal. And win.” He picked up his wineglass and drained it dry.
Tess stared at him. At his large hand around the glass, then up at his hazel eyes. What she saw there reached deep inside of her. There were layers to this man. “Winning fixes it?”
“No. Winning makes it worth it. Winning proves that I didn’t get where I am because of my dad, or pity after my dad died, or by breaking faces. It proves I earned my place.”
Tess got that. It made sense. “I’m sorry about your dad, Ark. I heard when he died. He seemed like a very nice man. I’m sure he’d be very proud of you.”
Ark shrugged. “Maybe.”
Beneath the charm and humor of Ark, there was a man who had suffered and endured. It made Tess even sorrier about her e-mail. She had cut the man when she had only been thinking about a cardboard fantasy. “What happens when you don’t win?”
His face relaxed. “I break faces.”
Tess studied him. “Not anymore. You’re losing your bad boy touch, Hollywood. I can’t remember the last time you got in a fight on the track.”
“I can.” He flexed his right hand in some kind of automatic gesture. “Seven years ago when I was twenty-three. I broke my hand when I tried to punch a driver who spun Giles and damn near killed him. Went home to my mom’s house to recover. I was there one day when the school called. Bobbie, my youngest brother, had been in a fight. Again. It didn’t take long to figure out that Bobbie was emulating me, his big brother. That was the day I decided to clean up my act and get control of my temper.”
She knew much of Ark’s history from following his career. After his dad died, his mom continued to let him race. Probably, Tess guessed, he needed to race. It was his connection to his dad. But she also knew he’d lost his same-sex parent, which was essentially his guide to manhood. Without his dad, he’d had to figure out himself how to be a man. To a sixteen-year-old boy, that often meant being aggressive and fighting. But Ark had recognized his destructive path and skidded to a stop to turn his behavior around. For his brothers—to be the role model of manhood his brothers needed.
That’s what family meant to Ark.
Her stomach hollowed. It left her feeling off balance. She was growing to admire Ark for more than his driving. “The newspapers still call you the bad boy of NASCAR.”
“It sells papers and tickets. And I give them reason occasionally. My publicist likes it; it gives her something to do.”
Tess laughed. He had a great sense of humor.
Ark leaned his forearms on the table. “You know, Doc, you’re very good. You’ve kept the conversation on me. But I want to learn more about you.”
“There’s not much to learn.” She reached for her wine. It was easy to talk about him. She didn’t want to talk about herself.
“But there is. I want to know all about your fantasy of me. Why would a beautiful woman like you choose a fantasy over a real man? Any man would be damn lucky to have you.”
She sipped more wine and struggled for a way to deflect his question. “Who knows? Maybe I’m just not the passionate type.”
“That is bullshit,” he said in a soft voice.
Startled, she set her glass down and looked at him. “How would you know?”
He reached out and took hold of her hand. “Because you’re a doctor and a black belt, both those things take passion. I know about going after what we want, Tess. I didn’t get where I am by being indifferent. I got here by wanting it bad enough to suffer broken bones, concussions, humiliating loses ... whatever it takes. And you didn’t get a black belt in karate unless you took a few bruising punches, kicks, or suffered the pain it took to master the technique. So maybe you haven’t been with the right man, but it’s not lack of passion on your part.”
She blinked. He wasn’t what she expected. He was more ... sexy, thoughtful, and yet, she could feel the physical strength in his hand. He was also honest. And what he said about the passion it took to succeed was true. She just hadn’t thought about herself as passionate. “I can’t believe I’m talking to you about this.” She also couldn’t believe she just said that. But it felt good to talk about it.
He shrugged. “Why not? Isn’t talking what you do?” He looked down at his hand holding hers, then back up to her eyes. “You got me to talk.”
“I just asked you questions.” People liked to talk about themselves if you asked the right questions.
He held her gaze. “You were interested in what I had to say. In who I am. And I’m interested, very interested, in talking to you about passion and sex. Tell me about your desires, Tess.” His voice was rich and seductive.
She blushed, shook her head, and reached for her glass of wine with her free hand.
He didn’t laugh at her, but said, “How about I tell you mine? I’m tired of sex with girls after me for my fame or money. I want to make love with a woman who isn’t after something from me, except honest pleasure.” He turned her hand to rub his thumb along her palm.
His touch on her palm was firm, yet light. Frissons of pleasure and desire mixed with the wine to warm her skin. A craving for more of Ark’s touch formed deep in her belly. Before she could think of a response that didn’t include crawling over the table and into his lap, their waitress came with their meals.
Ark let go of her hand. After the waitress got their plates situated and brought them more wine, she left.
Tess busied herself slathering sour cream on her potato, a little salt and pepper on her steak, then cutting into her meat. Finally, she couldn’t stand it. “How do you know I’m that woman? The woman who wants honest pleasure?”
Ark bit into a rib and chewed. He watched her for a second, then grinned, deepening the cleft in his chin. “You told me the truth about the e-mail. About yourself. No one would admit to a story like that unless it was the truth.”
He had a point there.
He kept his intense hazel-colored gaze on her. “And we have chemistry. You can’t fake that. I knew from the first moment you ran into me.”
Tess realized she hadn’t had chemistry with Fred—she had been trying to force herself into another safe relationship that wouldn’t cause her pain. That troubled her. Her life’s work was about facing problems, not hiding from them. She ate some of her potato and got her thoughts in order.
He added, “I want to make love to you. I want to have the entire night to concentrate on you. Just you. Every single part of you.”
Her breath shot up into her throat, while a tingling spread from her thighs straight up to her breasts. Tess ate some more of the tender steak and tried to look normal, not like a slut in heat. She needed a dose of reality to cool her lust. “Supposedly you like more than one woman at a time.” If he was going to probe her weakness, and talk about sex, then it worked both ways.
“Are you asking me if I’m into the orgies? If the accusations Fred tossed around are true?”
She looked him in the eyes. “Yes.”
The waitress came and cleared their plates, then brought Tess’s cake and two forks.
Ark stared at her the entire time.
Finally they were alone again. Ark picked up the forks and handed her one while holding her stare. “No, Doc, I’m not into orgies or multiple partners. I like to focus on one woman. I want to see her, smell her, touch her, and know everything there is to know about her.” He nudged her hand to take the fork from him and added, “And then drive myself into her until she explodes beneath me.”
When his fingers touched hers, the contact slammed into her, and heat curled inside of her stomach. He made her want to lean closer to him, get closer to him. Okay, face it, she wanted to get naked with him. God. “But you don’t know me.” She took the fork and dropped her gaze to cut a piece of cake.
He reached out and caught her hand. “I know you don’t sleep around, have a conscience and care about your work, are disciplined enough to get a black belt, and don’t tolerate idiots like Fred. I know you trust your friends.”
She raised her eyebrows at that one. Though she was shocked at how much he did know. How much he had heard and processed.
He grinned. “Or you wouldn’t have sent them the e-mail about me.”
“True.”
“And I know I’m that man who stirs your passion. I can see it in your eyes, feel it in the tension in your hand.” He brought her hand to his mouth.
Tess watched him move his mouth over her hand, felt his lips brush her sensitive skin and shivered. A once in a lifetime chance to see what the whole passion thing was all about—with the very man she’d fantasized about for years.
He had saved her life once, and though he had been just a boy, Tess didn’t think the grown man would hurt her. She really did feel she could trust Ark.
And damn it, she wanted him.