Falling Hard Read online

  “No.” But his eyes shifted away, a telltale sign that he was lying. “Yes,” he amended before Pax could call him on it. “But she doesn’t know.” Blake slumped back in his chair. “Shit, you’re right. About marrying Dad. What do I do?”

  “First, cut things off with your secretary. Then tell Tracy you want to make your marriage stronger. Be honest with her about how she emasculates you.”

  “She’ll be pissed. But I will,” he added at seeing Pax’s hard glare. “I will.”

  Blake had always been big and strong on the football field and around his friends. At home, though, he’d been small and weak, and he’d carried that into his marriage.

  “Did you come by just to bust me?” Blake asked.

  “That was an unexpected bonus.” Not. “I wanted to give you a heads-up: Gemma Thornton is in town.”

  A gust of air whooshed out of Blake’s lungs. “Hell. Why?”

  “Didn’t you hear about the car slamming into Wade’s B&B? Put him in the hospital bad. She came down to be with him.”

  “I did hear about a car running into a house, but I didn’t know it was your buddy. He gonna make it?”

  Pax didn’t miss the derision in the word “buddy.” “Yeah, he’ll be okay. Sounds like she’s going to be in town for a while. I didn’t want you to be surprised if you run into her.”

  Now that Blake had processed the shock, his upper lip curled into a sneer. “You see her yet?”

  “Briefly.” No need to tell him that he actually helped her.

  “What’s she look like? Still—” He held out his cupped hands in front of his chest.

  “Yeah, she still thinks you raped her.” Pax wasn’t going to show his disgust at his brother’s first questions.

  “Yes, sir.” Blake gave him a stiff salute. “You done bossing me around, too? I am the older brother, you know.”

  Pax stood. “Nope, I’m not done. Keep your dick where it belongs. Y’hear? From the look on that gal’s face out there, she’s in a world of shame. Stop hurting her and Tracy. Make your marriage work or get a divorce, but don’t screw around. And steer clear of Gemma. You don’t need to stir up trouble. See you at the house tonight.”

  The hell of it was Pax wasn’t sure whom he intended to benefit from that last order, Blake or Gemma. Any kind of encounter, however, would be bad for both of them.

  He made a point of smiling at Lily on the way out. Pax figured his brother had hired her for her big boobs and her meek personality, not her skills. Had she come on to Blake? Really? He doubted it.

  Blake said he needed to feel like a man. He wanted to give the orders. To feel in control. Pax had never seen that in him before. Only his brother’s two sides: meek with his family and confident with everyone else.

  Gemma’s words echoed in his mind: It doesn’t take strength to ply a girl with alcohol and force yourself on her while you twist her words and ignore her pleas to stop.

  A grinding sensation hit his gut, like sharp gears tearing up his stomach lining. No, he couldn’t go there. Think of something else, anything else.

  He was due to meet Raleigh at the speedway in an hour. Pax called and checked in on Wade’s condition during the drive. Despite the grief Pax got from his family, Wade had become a friend. Someone who understood the need to race as he did. And the frustration of not being able to because of time constraints. Pax almost always ended up being scheduled for duty on Saturday nights, when most tracks ran their important races. His dad no doubt had a hand in that “unfortunate timing,” as he’d say when Pax blew a gasket whenever he saw the schedule.

  He was heartened to see that Raleigh was already at the track, obviously excited about Pax’s offer the day before to let him use one of the outbuildings for his brand-new high-performance mechanic shop. Raleigh was losing his longtime job at a local garage because his boss had accepted an offer for the land on which it sat. Pax was happy to help him out, but he was even happier to regain the racing buddy he’d lost the night of the fiery crash seven years earlier.

  His Barracuda, a source of car envy for Pax, was parked outside the building that would house Raleigh’s shop. Pax parked beside the ’Cuda and hopped out, giving Harley the signal to come with him. Raleigh and his new fiancée, Mia, were sizing up the bays. She squealed and knelt as Harley barreled toward her, nearly knocking her backward when he connected. The dog licked her face, then flapped his tongue trying to get her hairs off it. As soon as she pulled her dark brown hair free, Harley was nuzzling her side and making her giggle.

  “Dog’s a sucker for a cute gal,” Pax grumbled, thinking about how he’d sided with Gemma that morning.

  Raleigh shot Mia a grin. “Aren’t we all?”

  “Depends on the gal, I suppose.”

  Mia looked up from where she was nuzzling the dog back. “Sounds like someone needs a cute gal of his own.”

  “Nope, not me. Got way too much going as it is.”

  She shot Raleigh a coy smile. “I’ve heard that before. But here we are. Who can we set Pax up with, honey? How about Marta at the bank? She’s pretty and nice.”

  Pax shook his head. “I’ve known her since I was a kid. She’s almost like a sister to me.”

  Raleigh chuckled. “There’s Grace. We know under all that professional veneer is a hot babe.”

  Mia was now eyeing him. “You do, hmm?”

  “We saw her in PCB a couple years ago. Pax and I used to hit the bars and, um, let loose. We walked into the Love Shack and saw Grace sitting up on the bar looking, well, nothing like an attorney. She was laughing, her hair all crazy and wavy, having the time of her life.”

  “Until she saw us,” Pax said, patting his chest. “Talk about deflating our egos.”

  “She shut right down, all awkward and embarrassed, and hightailed it out of there within ten minutes. We’d heard she was pretty wild when she was young, but we were a generation behind her in high school, so we didn’t know her firsthand. We never saw her out again.”

  “Apparently, she likes to revisit her old days once in a while….Far from Chambliss’s prying eyes,” Pax added.

  “Hmm, hard to picture the attorney who saved your butt getting wild at a bar,” Mia said, patting said butt. “But go, Grace!”

  “That’s the problem with dating, or doing anything, in a small town,” Pax said. “You keep running into them after you break things off. There are ruptured alliances, friends caught in the middle. And people don’t forget. There’s one gal, every time I see her she reminds me how I missed my chance ’cause I was a commitment-phobe. Her words. Truth is, she was way too clingy for my taste.” Pax handed Raleigh a couple of keys on a ring. “Let me show you the space.” He led them to the door and used his own key to unlock it, glad to change the subject. “It’s a mess now, with everything being stored here, but use your imagination.”

  Raleigh whistled as he took in the space. “Nice. This’ll all be mine?”

  “Yep.” Pax cranked one of the bay doors open. “Except for where my car lives.” He nodded toward his late-model racecar in the third bay. “That’s the only cute gal I need.”

  Mia made a decisively contradictory sound as she approached it. “Wait a minute. You’re not one of those people who are intimate with their cars, are you?”

  “Cars are a lot simpler to understand than women,” Pax said, and traded a like-minded high five with Raleigh.

  “I mean, they get intimate with their cars.” Mia gave him a pointed look. “It’s some kind of erotic thing.”

  “Oh…ohhh. No, won’t catch me rubbing up against my car.”

  Mia laughed, probably at his horrified expression, then she peered inside the cockpit. She was wearing a tank top that showed the scarring from the racing accident. And her foundation makeup wasn’t as thick as it was before, when she’d hidden the scars on the side of her face. Love did that, he supposed. Made her brave enough to reveal herself. Or made her not care what the world saw.

  She nodded at the open window. “Can I?
”

  “Climb on in.”

  “Climb?”

  “The door’s welded shut.”

  He and Raleigh both watched Mia figure out how to gracefully climb through the window and settle behind the wheel. Damn if she didn’t look good there.

  “I can’t wait to race in your women’s division.” She was like a kid, making revving sounds, hands on the wheel.

  The way Raleigh looked at her with his heart in his eyes made Pax feel funny, so he punched his arm. “Let’s talk about the space.”

  The two went over what needed to be done to transform the storage space into an honest-to-goodness shop. Raleigh took notes on everything, then sketched out the various areas. “I’m bringing two lifts from the old garage. I’ll take out those shelves and put diagnostics there.” He shook his head, smiling. “This is going to work out great.”

  “A-stounding.”

  “I’m covering the costs for reno,” Raleigh said. “Don’t argue. You’re already charging next to nothing for rent. Which we will revisit later.”

  A growling sound brought their attention to where Mia and Harley were playing tug-of-war with an old rag. “I love your dog,” she said. “I might just steal him away one of these days.”

  Pax looked at Raleigh. “I think you’re going to have to get your gal here a dog.”

  “Sounds like it. Hey, how’s Wade’s house coming along? You need our help?”

  “It’s coming. Got a demo team out there today. The insurance company’s working with me, as Wade’s representative, and it looks like everything will be covered. But thanks for the offer. I’ll let you know.” His gaze settled on Mia and the dog. “Gemma’s in town.”

  Mia looked up. “Already?”

  “She came right down when she heard about her dad.”

  “That’s nice,” Raleigh said. “I’m sure he appreciates that. Is she staying at the B&B?”

  “Yep.”

  “And are you avoiding her like you said you were going to?” Mia asked.

  Pax rubbed the back of his neck. “Not exactly. When I first visited Wade in the hospital, I promised to keep an eye on the house until the exterior wall was rebuilt. With the bikers in PCB and people riding by to see the destruction, I’d feel better staying on the premises. Which is damned awkward with her living there, too.”

  “Man, you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Raleigh said. “Live up to your promise to Wade, but have to be around the woman who caused your family hell.”

  “It hasn’t been so bad. We called a truce on the past. Heck, even Harley likes her.”

  “I hate to tell you this, Pax, but you get this light in your eyes when you talk about her,” Mia said.

  “It’s a how-am-I-going-to-deal-with-this-woman light.”

  “You did have a thing for her,” Raleigh had to contribute, thank you very much. “You might remember her, Mia. She moved to town the same summer you were here.”

  “She came to one of the races,” Pax said. He described what she’d been wearing. He didn’t say how he’d been watching Raleigh and Mia with their sweetness and had felt a longing for some of that. When he’d spotted Gemma, his first thought was Ah, here’s one for me.

  “I do kinda remember her,” Mia said. “Interesting that you recall exactly what she wore.”

  “She stood out. I’ll admit, I was intrigued.” Smitten. Enchanted. “But in the end she dated my brother. And accused him of rape.”

  Mia’s coy smile faded. “Oh. There is that.”

  “Mia, I appreciate your attempt to spread your happiness to me, but please, no matchmaking. Especially with Gemma. As it is, I’m already on the family’s shit list for quitting the force and teaming up with Wade.” And he wouldn’t care so much if it wasn’t for the special way they punished him. “They’ll be livid if they find out I’m staying at the B&B with Gemma. I’d be totally disowned if I became even a little friendly with her.”

  Mia reached for Raleigh’s hand, her engagement ring catching the light. “Now that I’m so happy, I want everyone around me to be, too. But I will try to refrain. What are you going to do?”

  “Avoid her as much as possible.” And if he could torment her in small ways he would definitely take the opportunity. Because, dammit, he enjoyed the banter.

  Chapter 4

  Gemma sat beside her father’s bed, glorying in the fact that he was awake. At least for now. And she would not freak out if he drifted into sleep this time. She’d been able to ask him some operational questions about the B&B.

  “I’m going to do my best to keep things running, Dad. I need a week to get my bearings, but if the incoming guests are okay with the construction, and some imported food, I can keep the income flowing. I’ll discount their rates, of course.” She’d been thinking about this all night, when her mind hadn’t been dissecting everything Pax had said. Or chewing on the fact that he was outside her bedroom window.

  “How long…will I…” Her dad’s words faltered.

  “If you keep progressing, the doctor said maybe you’ll be moved out of ICU in a couple of days.” She gingerly placed her hand on the one bit of undamaged arm she could see. “Everything is going to be all right.”

  “The house?”

  “That, too. There’s a temporary wall where the car smashed through, and they’re already rehabbing the kitchen.” She was trying not to say Pax’s name.

  “Paxton?”

  Damn. She did not want to even hear his name. But wait a minute. “Paxton? That’s right, that is his whole name.” She remembered how tickled she had been about that. Why did it rumble around inside her?

  “He’s there, all right,” she mumbled. “He seems to be handling everything on the construction end. He said he promised to keep an eye on the house. Did he?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  Aha, just as she thought. He was only staying there to torture her. “He was going to stay in the guest room last night, which I told him made me really, really uncomfortable, considering. He ended up sleeping in his truck outside, which was only slightly less uncomfortable.”

  “Sorry, baby,” he wheezed.

  “No, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. It’s not your fault.” Gawd, she’d made her father feel bad for getting reamed by a car. “I’ll deal. He said he’ll leave once the front wall is restored.”

  “He’s a…”

  Bonehead. Jerkwad.

  “Good guy,” her father finished.

  Gemma held in a contradictory grunt. A good guy who thought she was a girl who couldn’t tell the difference between assault and a bad decision. “He did help me change a flat tire last night,” she conceded. “I must have run over something on that lonely stretch of road as I was coming into town. At first he said he did it for you. Then he admitted he did it out of some surprising sense of chivalry. I bet it killed him, though.”

  “Which makes it even more chivalrous. Told you he was a good guy.”

  Gemma didn’t argue. “He’s a good friend. For you, I mean.”

  “Yeah.” Her dad’s smile faded. “What day is it?”

  “Friday. Why?”

  “Time?” He tried to lift his head as his droopy eyes searched the walls.

  “Nine.”

  He seemed to struggle with his thoughts. “You have to…tell Paxton…”

  No, she didn’t want to tell Paxton anything, but she leaned closer and asked her wilting father, “Tell him what?”

  “Surprise. Bleachers coming…this morning. Ten. Needs to be there.”

  She felt herself wilt now. “You need me to tell him to be there?”

  Her dad licked his lips, nodded. “Will spoil surprise…but someone has to be…”

  “Got it. Can you give me his number? I won’t tell him why. How about that?”

  His smile was worth her having to speak to Pax when she hadn’t planned on it. She whipped out her phone and pulled up the keypad. “Go ahead.”

  He recited the number, and
she initiated the call. It rang four times and went to voicemail. Perfect. She wouldn’t have to talk to him at all.

  “This is Pax. I might be fishin’. Or sleepin’. Most likely I’m at the track and can’t hear my phone. You know what to do after the beep.”

  His voice sounded warm and fun, a tone she hadn’t heard personally since…well, since their first meeting. “Hi, it’s Gemma. My dad needs you to be at the track at ten o’clock. I hope you get this in time, since it’s already after nine. Text and let me know, please. Bye.” She focused on her dad. “There, all taken care of.”

  He was shaking his head. “Make sure…” His eyes drifted shut.

  “Make sure what? Dad?”

  He tried to open his eyes, but they barely cracked before slamming shut again. His lips moved silently, then stilled.

  Gemma let out a sigh as the nurse came in.

  “Looks like you had a nice talk,” she said.

  “I did.” Gemma took him in, pale against the sheets, his leg with metal bolts sticking out at the ankle and foot. With another sigh, she turned to the nurse. “Any idea how to get to the old speedway from here?”

  —

  Fifteen minutes later, Gemma stepped into Joe Mama’s Café, a busy coffee shop. Crammed around one of the tiny tables were three scruffy bikers who looked way hungover. She couldn’t help it; her eyes searched for familiar faces as her adrenaline automatically prepared for confrontation. Mostly she was searching for Blake. She had, of course, been imagining running into him since making the decision to come down to Chambliss. He would walk in, exhibit some surprise at seeing her. The scenarios spun off from there, ranging from Blake saying something hateful to ignoring her. She would give him an “I know what you did” look and flounce off. Then possibly throw up. He would no doubt keep up the pretense that she’d wronged him.

  It doesn’t matter. I’m over all this.

  Her chest tightened at the sight of a couple doing the crossword puzzle together at one table. She remembered them from high school, a steadfast twosome even back then. Luckily, they didn’t even bother to look up.