By the time I made it to my room and sat down on the bed, I was full on crying.

“Why in the hell did I ever come here?” I whispered as I fell back onto the king-size bed and stared at the ceiling.

Why?

FINALLY, THIS DAMN DINNER LYNN had thrown was winding down. I walked up to the bar in the restaurant as I motioned for another water. When Jack told me about the dinner his niece had decided she wanted to throw the team, I knew I was stuck for the night. It had been my job to fucking babysit her for the next two days. The only time she wasn’t by my side was when I was practicing or qualifying. All I wanted to do was sit in my bus tonight and watch movies.

The moment I saw Adaline out on the bus pad, I had to keep myself from walking up to her and taking her back to my bus. All I wanted to do was kiss the living shit out of her. She looked beautiful. Her honey-brown hair had been pulled up into a ponytail and those damn blue eyes stood out the second she looked my way.

Of course Lynn noticed my reaction to Adaline and decided to try to dig deep within me for the answers to why I was so angry when I saw her.

I wanted to apologize to Adaline for my behavior towards her, but then when she ran into me inside the elevator and my body came to life with just the small touch from her, I got pissed all over again.

Why in the hell was she even here? She never comes to the races. Ever. This wasn’t her thing anymore.

I sat down as the girl behind the bar gave me a wink. “Here ya go, Emmit.”

With a smile, I looked her over. She looked familiar. “Have we met before?” I asked.

She let out a nervous laugh as she looked down and then back up through her eyelashes. “Last November. You came back to my place for a few hours.”

My smile grew bigger. How in the hell could I forget that night? Fucking hell. “That’s right. You and your roommate . . . what was her name again?”

“Casey was her name.”

I nodded my head. “Yeah. If my memory serves right, seems to me like you and Casey don’t mind sharing.”

She tilted her head and licked her lips before saying, “I can call Casey and we can have a little . . . private party later.”

I felt her presence before I saw her.

Glancing to my left, Adaline stood at the end of the bar dressed in a beautiful light blue dress. Her hair was pulled up with just a few loose curls framing her face. Her lush, sensual lips were covered in a light shade of pink as I watched them move while she talked. Her eyes quickly found mine, and she gave me a smile.

I wanted to smile back, but my pride was still hurt. She turned me down. Walked away from the life we had always talked and dreamed about.

Pulling my eyes from hers, I glanced back at the bartender standing in front of me. “I’ll take a scotch, and I’m afraid I’ll have to take a rain check on the other thing.”

With a pout, she shook her head. “Well damn. That’s a disappointment. Let me grab that drink.”

Adaline laughed at something the other bartender had said to her as I looked back over at her.

As I watched her every move, something hit me. In all the times I talked about becoming a NASCAR driver, Adaline had always told me how proud she was of me, but she never once really said she wanted that life. Sure, she said she wanted to be with me, but was it really fair that I had expected her to be with me from the very beginning? She had every right to pursue her own dreams.

I set the scotch down in front of me as I gave the bartender a nod and threw two twenty’s down on the table. “See ya around, sweetheart.”

“I hope sooner rather than later.”

Not even bothering to look back at her, I took another look at Adaline as she walked away from the bar and back over to her parents. It felt as if the world wobbled on its axis.

Holy living hell, my dick couldn’t possibly get any harder. Adaline had always had an incredible body. It was clear she was no longer a nineteen-year-old girl, but a curvy, sexy as hell, twenty-two-year-old.

“If you eye fuck her any harder, her daddy is going to pound your ass into the wall.”

With a quick turn, I saw Malcolm Wallace leaning against the wall as he watched Adaline move across the room.

I took a step closer. “Maybe you should stop eye fucking her, asshole.”

Malcolm held up his hands and laughed. “Whoa, settle yourself down there, top gun. Even if I wanted to get into Adaline’s pants, she’d never let me. And believe me, I’ve tried.”

I grabbed onto his shirt and pushed him against the wall. “You motherfucker,” I said as I reached back to knock the shit out of him.

Waldo ran up and grabbed me as he pulled me off of Malcolm. Laughing, Malcolm shook his head as he fixed his shirt and tie. “You always were hot headed, Emmit.”

I tried to bust out of the arms of Waldo to go after Malcolm again. “You’re lucky Waldo saved your ass again, you prick.”

Malcolm walked up to me and whispered, “Maybe I’ll take another shot at her.”

Breaking free of Waldo, I reached back and went to punch Malcolm when Adaline stood in front of me and placed both hands on my chest, giving me a hard push.

“Emmit! Stop this now. Don’t let him egg you on. He’s trying to get you to punch him on purpose.”

My eyes landed on Adaline’s pleading face. It killed me to see that look of disappointment in her eyes. “Please, let whatever it is go. He’s not worth it.”

I pointed to Malcolm. “This isn’t over.”

Malcolm threw his head back and laughed. “I’ll be waiting whenever you’re ready, Emmit.”

I turned to Waldo. “I’m sorry. I’m headed back to the bus. It’s been a long day.”

With a nod, Waldo said, “I think that’s for the best.”

I made my way over to Jack. “I’m sorry, Jack; he knows how to push my buttons. I’m a little on edge this evening.”

Jack looked over my shoulder and I knew he was looking at Adaline. “I’m glad she stopped you before you did something you would have regretted.”

My hand went through my hair as I let out a sigh. “Yeah, I’m tired and I think I’ll head back to my bus.” Glancing over to Lynn, I asked, “I can stay if you’d like me to escort you back to the hotel?”

With a sweet smile, Lynn nodded. “I’m tired myself, and I think I’ll take you up on that offer right now.” Giving Jack a kiss on the cheek, Lynn said, “Do you mind if I bug out, Uncle Jack? I can probably catch Brandon if I get back in time to call him.”

Jack gave Lynn a warm smile. “Of course. I’m sure this is all overwhelming.”

Lynn lifted her hand and said, “Nonsense! I’m loving it. Night, Uncle Jack. I’ll see you first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Welcome to Elliot Racing. Never a dull moment.” Jack kissed her back.

Lynn laughed before glancing my way. “I see that.”

Lynn took my arm as we said goodnight to a few people and made our way to the elevators.

“She can’t keep her eyes off of us. You do know that, right?” Lynn asked me as I hit the down button and waited for an elevator.

Taking a quick look back into the room, Adaline was staring at us. She looked away when I caught her stare. “Well, I’m no longer her concern. She made that clear three years ago when she turned down my marriage proposal.”

“Oh,” Lynn said under her breath. “Did she have a reason?”

I cracked my neck from side to side as I let out the breath I had been holding. “Yeah, she didn’t want to be a NASCAR wife. Seems she didn’t love me as much as I loved her.”

Lynn turned and faced me. “Really? Because the fact that she hasn’t been able to take her eyes off of you all evening says different.”

My heart dropped at Lynn’s comment. Had Adaline been watching me all evening? Shrugging my shoulders, I wanted to change the subject. “She wanted other things. Things I couldn’t give her. It is what it is.”