Falling Free ( Falling Fast #3) Page 5

  Really, she was just in a hurry to rid herself of the car, a reminder of her blind, misplaced devotion. A good reminder, Gracie, for whenever that sexy rascal floats into your mind as well.

  And her analytical mind so wanted to think about him, to study and dissect him. He’d come from poor like her, been hardworking, and had obviously made some money. She glanced at the check. Serious money, if he could drop twenty grand that easily. If he could call his bank to expedite the check.

  Unless this was all a bluff.

  He had that over-the-edge type of personality to do something like that, too. He’d nearly had her on the tattoo thing. She laughed even as she shook her head. She really did not need a man like that in her orbit right now.

  At the bank, she exchanged pleasantries with the staff, chatting with the teller about the check, and, yes, she was selling the T-bird, it was time. She felt that it was time; she just didn’t know for what.

  And why did Artemis Tanner’s face flash into her mind?

  Because that’s all you’re thinking about, when you should be thinking about the future. And he’s not it.

  She drove back to her building, embarrassed to admit to herself that she’d Googled him last night. He was, indeed, a Formula Drift pro driver. He was listed on a page of international drivers, each with a profile and a picture in his driving uniform. Rather like a dating site, Tanner’s page listed his physical stats: six-one (perfect height), a hundred and seventy-five pounds, twenty-six (too young), blue eyes, blond hair (she knew all too well), and amazing kisser.

  Okay, that wasn’t listed as one of his traits.

  His hometown was Whalen, Tennessee, which accounted for his southern honey accent. The brief paragraph summed up his driving accomplishments, dating back to his BMX and skateboard roots, but there wasn’t much about his personal life. His affiliation with a nonprofit organization called Kids at Risk—KAR—was the only hint of his past. His favorite bands: Bush and Led Zeppelin. Hobbies: hiking and chillin’ with music and a glass of Southern Comfort.

  She might have felt stalkeresque and invasive, but he had, after all, looked at her personal information on her car registration. And this was for public consumption. Fair was fair, and Grace was all about justice.

  She even watched some of the drift competitions on the website. They introduced the drivers, each stationed by his car with a sexily clad woman. None of the drivers seemed overly interested in these women, though. She fast-forwarded to watch Tanner, aka “the Fixer,” ice-skate with his car, just as he’d described with fire in his eyes. She went to his Facebook page, too. Most of his posts were about various events that he was attending, or some update he was doing to his car. Sometimes he offered advice and encouragement to amateur drivers.

  She pulled into her parking spot at her office building. The thought of going in gave her a sinking feeling. But the sight of her prompt, hardworking secretary’s car impelled her to go inside. Janine was the only person in Chambliss who knew about her father.

  Janine was just hanging up the phone. “Morning, Grace. How did your father take—”

  “Hard,” Grace intercepted. “He doesn’t want to go forward with any more efforts.”

  “But we will anyway. Right?” Her ever-optimistic secretary.

  “I’m going to honor his wishes. And, honestly, I’m not sure what else we can do that has any more of a chance of succeeding.”

  Janine tilted her head. “I’m so sorry. You must be crushed.”

  “You have no idea.” Her voice thickened, a clear sign to change the subject. “Who was that on the phone?”

  “Oh, a prospective client: Chuck Brown, arrested for domestic abuse, already bailed out. He has a court-appointed attorney but wants to set up a consultation with you. I’ve sent his information through to you. He’s innocent, of course.” She gave Grace a too-wide smile, because they all said that. “I didn’t tell him that we had our own lie detector right here in the office.”

  Her. Janine meant her. Except…

  Oh, shit. She wasn’t a lie detector at all. Not once had she doubted her father’s story, his version of events. What about all those other people she believed were innocent? Had she misjudged them, too? What if she’d helped guilty people get away with crimes?

  “You okay?” Janine asked. “You went all pale and pasty just now.”

  How many times had she been wrong?

  Grace grabbed the envelopes in the mail holder and flipped through them. “Tell him we’re too busy to take his case.”

  “Uh…but we’re not. Especially now that we don’t have your father’s case—”

  “I know. It’s just that I’ve been focused on being a lawyer since I was twelve years old. For justice, for my father. I’ve been fighting for so long, and to lose over and over again…I need a break. A pause. Just in regard to taking on new cases. Why don’t you focus on your paralegal studies during any downtime you may have?”

  “That would be great. But only after I organize the closed-case files, clean the conference room, and whatever else needs doing around here.”

  Grace smiled. “You’re a good employee, Janine.” She went into her office and took care of things for a few ongoing cases. She didn’t like domestic-abuse cases, not when the accused wanted her to represent them. Most of the time they were guilty and wanted her to get them off on some technicality. She had no tolerance for abusers of any kind.

  By lunchtime, she’d wrapped up her tasks. When her phone dinged a text alert, she had the crazy thought that it was Tanner. Except that he didn’t have her phone number—at least, as far as she knew. It turned out to be Raleigh: I’m doing an oil change at four if you want to assist

  Her heart did a little jig, and she was sure it had nothing to do with Tanner’s being at the track.

  I’m there. Thanks!

  The thought of exploring a new skill sent a fire through her. Engines were pretty straightforward. If they were broken, you just figured out why and fixed it. There would be no relying on her own judgment, which was faulty.

  There were things she’d wanted to do, back when she aced her finals and received some college scholarships. But she couldn’t remember what they were now. She’d wanted to leave Chambliss, that she remembered. Then fate had intervened and tied her here.

  When Brian, the computer-repair guy, came in at three to fix a Wi-Fi issue, she watched him pull up the networking software and try different things.

  “What do you love about working on computers?” she asked.

  “It’s like a puzzle sometimes,” he said, crawling down beneath her desk to fiddle with something. “Hunting down the cause of an issue or finding a fix. And it’s always changing, along with technology. I’m constantly learning new software, new hardware.”

  She liked that idea. “What do you dislike about it?”

  “Sometimes you can’t figure it out. And then you have an angry client who wants resolution. They don’t want to hear that you don’t have any, other than setting up a new computer.” Light glinted off his glasses when he pulled himself out. He smiled. “Sometimes it takes hours of trying this and that to find the answer, resetting the PC over and over.”

  Grace wrinkled her nose. “I wouldn’t like that.”

  “You looking for a new profession?” he asked with a chuckle.

  “No, just…a hobby, I guess.” Direction. Diversion. The panicked part of her psyche that was now scared to death that she’d never been able to tell if someone was innocent—maybe it was looking.

  He packed up his kit. “We all need new challenges, especially if we have a hole to fill. After my divorce, I needed something to restore my confidence. I took up kite-boarding. You should try it.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” She pictured the folks she’d seen either struggling to keep the sail up or doing flips on the breeze. Maybe not.

  He raised his left arm to show her a ginormous bruise all down the side. “It takes some getting used to, but conquering a new sport or skill is defi
nitely confidence-building.”

  She was going through something like a divorce, and she needed to build her confidence in her abilities. “Ouch,” she said, wincing at his injury. “For both your divorce and your bruise. I guess that is what I’m trying to do—find something new to fulfill me.”

  Wait for it. Yep, there it was, Tanner’s grin flashing into her brain. What she did not need was a fling.

  After Brian left, she sank down at her desk and pulled out a list she’d compiled of activities that might interest her. She wrote “computer tech” and then put an X next to it. She surveyed the professional office she’d put together. Everything—wood floors, neutral colors, and austere artwork—chosen for her professional façade. If she looked in the mirror, she’d see the same façade. The wild, undisciplined, foolish girl she’d been all wrapped up tight in her purpose and her reputation.

  With a sigh, she dictated two motions and one letter into the software and sent Janine an email asking her to prepare them.

  “I’m taking off for the day,” she announced a few minutes later as she walked into the reception area.

  Janine glanced at the clock. “At three-thirty? Are you sure you’re okay?” She searched Grace’s face. “You’re not pale anymore, but still, this isn’t like you.”

  Grace laughed. “I might actually be figuring out who I am. I sent you an email about some docs. When you finish them, you go on home, too.” She paused at the door. “I have a special research project for you. I want you to follow up on all the clients we’ve helped to avoid prosecution. It’s a curiosity thing, really, just for our own consumption.”

  “Confidential—got it,” Janine confirmed with a nod.

  “Very. Find out if any of them were ever arrested again. Don’t worry about Raleigh West or Blake Sullivan.” She knew that Raleigh had been innocent. And Blake had not. So far, she was one for one.

  “Will do,” Janine said, jotting down the instructions. “Have a good day. Do something fun.”

  “Fun. Yeah.” Hopefully it would be, though she wasn’t about to divulge exactly what she was doing. Grace felt both light and guilty for leaving early. That she was letting no one down felt good. She walked out into the hot afternoon and headed to the entrance at the center of the shopping plaza. Stairs led to the second floor, which held residential apartments.

  “I even live where I work,” she muttered, unlocking her door. It had seemed wildly practical at the time, and the price had been right. After a quick change, and not too much time spent on her looks—okay, a little more than usual—she headed out. Time to get down and dirty.

  —

  Grace tried really hard not to seek Tanner out when she drove down the side road leading to Raleigh’s garage a short time later. It was hard to miss the deep-blue Supra backed into the middle bay, and even harder to miss the owner, leaning into the open engine compartment.

  She got out of her car and walked toward the office. Rock music poured from the speakers, the lead singer saying how everything was Zen…or not. Between Tanner’s focus on whatever he was doing and the music, he didn’t know she was there. His muscles moved as he bent farther in and turned something. Or at least that’s what she thought he was doing. His cargo shorts fit rather nicely over a tight derrière, and she allowed one sort-of quick, longing glance after ascertaining that there was no one in sight. Then she forced herself to look ahead, toward the office door, because she wasn’t there to gawk.

  Raleigh sat at the desk inside, phone to his ear. Being big and muscular, he rather dwarfed the small metal desk. He saw her at the door and waved her in. After jotting something down on a notepad, he signed off and gave her a pained smile.

  “Hey, Grace. Slight change of plans. A client’s in a pickle. Her car broke down, and I need to go out and see if I can get it running. I didn’t want you to come out here for nothing, though, so Tanner offered to show you the oil change. In fact, he seemed more than happy…why are you looking at me like that?”

  “All right, cut the bullshit. He put you up to this, didn’t he?”

  Raleigh sat back, looking nonplussed. “The client’s real. The bullshit part? I knew about it forty minutes ago. I could have put you off until tomorrow, but Tanner overheard and it’s no bullshit that he truly is happy to show you…well, whatever he wants to show you.” That said with a completely straight face.

  That’s what she liked about Raleigh; he told the truth. She folded her arms loosely across her chest. “Are you playing matchmaker?”

  “No, ma’am. I’m facilitating a bit, I suppose. Mia and Gemma, now, they get this impish sparkle in their eyes whenever the subject of you and Tanner comes up. Me, I’m neutral. Like Switzerland.”

  She had to laugh, even as the thought of Mia and Gemma conspiring made her feel weird all over. “I believe you. So, what do you think of Tanner? Particularly where it concerns me?”

  “I was a little suspicious of him at first. Pax, now, he’s got almost like a man crush on Tanner. I know it’s ’cause he’s helping set up this drifting program, which is good for the track. Dude’s not asking for a dime, only track time and a place to park his RV. Pax swears he’s got a good rep in the drifting community, though no one knows much about him personally.” Raleigh lifted a big shoulder. “We all hung out last night by his RV till about two in the morning. I gotta say, I like him more now. My gut says he’s a good guy.”

  Raleigh crossed one ankle over the other. “But where you’re concerned? Depends on what you’re looking for. If it’s a fun time, I’d say go for it. No judgment. He doesn’t strike me as a settlin’ down kind of guy. On the other hand, if you’d seen his face when he spotted your car here you’d wonder. I thought he had a hard-on for your car.” He laughed. “But apparently it was for you. If you’ll excuse my language.”

  She waved that away. Raleigh had heard her say things that assured him that she wasn’t a fainthearted gal. She wanted to know more about that first sighting—every nuance of his body language, every word Tanner had said. Which she knew would sound about five ways desperate, so she didn’t press. But she did say, “Tell me more.”

  “He said he’d met women from time to time, no big deal. But you were different. You were having so much fun talking, you hadn’t even gotten around to hooking up. Then you got a panicked look and took off. Which I thought was weird, because you don’t strike me as the panicky type.” He paused, letting her perhaps explain.

  “I’m not. Usually. So what else did he say?”

  Raleigh tapped his chest. “That you’d stuck to him. Then the girls came over and got all sparkly, and soon they were conspiring to get you two together. They seem to think you need a good time. So, yeah, I ended up playing a part in that yesterday. I hope you were okay with it. ’Cause if he did something to scare you—”

  “No, he was a perfect gentleman.” She didn’t want Raleigh to have the wrong impression of her. Or of Tanner, for that matter. “Remember the time you and Pax saw me at that bar in PCB?” She remembered it well, the shock of seeing familiar faces, even if they were friendly. “I went there to cut loose, and I didn’t want anyone from Chambliss to see me. I’m sure you wouldn’t have gossiped, but I wasn’t taking any chances.”

  “That’s kinda what we figured, though we felt bad about inadvertently chasing you off. We understood. Heck, that’s why we went to PCB to party.”

  “Well, I didn’t go to the Beach Shack for that reason the day I met Tanner. I just wanted to discuss the aftermath of an unpleasant situation with Jose Cuervo. Then Tanner came over to cheer me up. All of a sudden, I realized I was having too much fun. If that makes any sense.”

  He shrugged. “It sort of does.”

  That’s why she liked talking to guys. They didn’t probe the way women did.

  “Okay, then,” she said with a nod. Then she realized how protective Raleigh had sounded in his earlier statement. “But I appreciate your concern.”

  She’d stuck to Tanner. That stuck to her.


  “Grace, I have your back. If you want out of this instruction thing—”

  “I’m okay with it.” She rose to her feet, trying to stifle a grin at Raleigh’s helpfulness. “Thanks. I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for a long time now.”

  “I know that feeling. But it’s nice to have someone else in your corner, too.”

  She did let out a smile. “Yeah, it is.” God, did that sound as mushy to him as it did to her?

  He stood, too. “All right, I’ll leave you to him. I mean, to it.”

  “Ha.” She knew exactly what he’d meant, even if it wasn’t intentional. “I’m not looking for a fun time.”

  He tilted his head. “That’s too bad, Grace. Too bad indeed.”

  She fought the urge to ask him why he’d said that, and why in such a heartfelt way. He opened the door and gestured for her to precede him.

  This time Tanner looked up when she walked out. He gave her a dazzling smile that shone from his luscious mouth to his blue eyes. “Why, it’s Miss Grace, come to honor us with her alluring presence.”

  “There you go with those pickup lines again.”

  “Just stating facts, ma’am.”

  “I’m not here to be picked up, Mr. Tanner. I’m here to learn how to change oil.”

  He held her gaze for a heart-stopping moment. “Yes, you are.” To Raleigh, he said, “You told her, then? How she’s stuck with me?”

  “I did. You two are on your own.” He aimed a raised eyebrow at Tanner. “You be good, y’hear?”

  “I do.”

  Tanner would be good; that was the problem. Grace knew that if she gave in to temptation it would be very, very good. Nothing had changed that first impression.

  He was all innocence as he gave Raleigh a wave. Then he turned to her. “You ready?”

  So ready…

  Stop that.

  She decided that he was a class-A player, way, way beyond the standard grade. With his looks and charm, he had to be. The only reason he kept pursuing her was the challenge. “Why are you doing all this?” she asked, because she wanted him to admit it. “Buying my car, convincing Raleigh to let you teach me how to change oil?”