Page 25 of Driving Wild

“Damn, Matt, did you hear a word I just said?” Ryan asks, looking as if I’ve sprouted an extra arm. “Wow, you really are living in your own world right now, aren’t you?” Laughing at me, he grabs the game controller and turns the system on.

As we start to play, my head spins back to Grace. Did I really want more than the two months that we signed up for? Can I be the man she wants or even that she needs?

“Ryan, how did you know that Tinley was it? What made her so special that you thought, ‘damn, I can’t lose this woman’?”

I look over to Ryan and watch as I know he’s thinking back to the relationship he and Tinley had at the start. The smile on his face is growing.

“I guess the moment I ran into her after she went to the drivers’ meeting with Grace in Bristol,” he declares, smiling at the memory.

“But you literally just met her that morning. How the hell could you have known that she would be worth it?”

“Man, the moment I kissed her between the haulers, I knew she was it for me. My whole body caught fire, and I knew that I would do whatever I needed to protect her and keep anyone away who might hurt her. Did I screw up during our early days? Yep, and the media was rough, of course. But when it came down to it, she was there. When I needed her to be, she was right beside me,” he recounts, going to grab a picture.

It's their first kiss. The media caught them kissing and then ran with it wondering who the mystery woman was. When word got out, Ryan thought he’d lost her, but that was just the start of their love story.

Smiling at the image he puts the picture back where it goes and comes to sit back down with me.

“Now, ask me the question you really want to ask,” he pushes.

I pull the cold beer to my lips and take a long pull, trying to wrap my head around what I’m feeling and if it’s even real.

“I think I might be falling for my fake wife, and it’s scaring the absolute shit out of me, man. Problem is, I think she might be falling for me too, but we’re both so freaking terrified of admitting it to each other that we’re using sex to mask things and having to have this talk.

“Don’t get me wrong, the sex is the best I’ve ever had, and I’m not complaining at all, but I guess we should have a grown-up talk at some point, right?”

Just as I am finishing my statement, I hear soft footsteps coming toward us and know that our guy time is ending. But Tinley could help me. She’s Grace’s best friend. Surely, she has some tricks to help me woo my fake wife.

“Hi, guys. Nice afternoon off?” she asks, going over to Ryan and kissing him on the cheek.

“Not too bad. Matt was just asking me how I knew that I wanted to keep you forever,” Ryan remarks with a smirk that makes Tinley blush just enough that if I hadn’t been looking, I would have missed it.

Sitting down between the two of us, Tinley looks at me before resting her palm on Ryan’s knee.

“Are you thinking of Grace as more than just a pain in your ass, McCall?” she asks, looking at me like she might chop my balls off if I give her the wrong answer.

I shift in my seat and face Tinley after grabbing another beer from the table and taking a sip.

“Honestly, the more I’m around her, the more I like her. I don’t know if that means forever or if that is just right now. We haven’t talked about it.”

“Well, she’ll be with you for the long stretch coming up, so you have plenty of time to find out,” Tinley says, like it’s so easy and uncomplicated.

“Yeah, so there lies the problem. Sure, she’ll be with me in California this weekend, but when we head to Texas, she’s flying to Boston to talk with her dad about everything that’s going on. And then she and Mila are going to a fundraiser her cousin, Cort, is having for the Boston Rebels baseball team.”

Tinley looked at me like she had no idea Grace was going home for the weekend. Well, get in line, lady, because that’s a fight I’ve already had.

“Okay, well then you need to tell her how you feel before she leaves for Boston. That leaves us, what, about a week and half to get you on the same page and show her that you're worth the fall too?” Tinley states so matter-of-factly it makes me smile.

Okay, let’s do it.

Walking into the house after a long day at the shop, all I want to do is kick off these damn high heels and take a bubble bath. I set my purse down and walk toward the back bedroom, where the bathtub is screaming my name. I’m struck by millions of roses covering the living room. What the hell is happening? Did I stumble into the wrong house? Looking around, I can see Matt's trophies and my throw blankets on the couch, so I know that I’m in the correct location. The only question is, why is a florist taking up residence in the living room?

Just as I make my way deeper into the room, I see Matt come around the corner with a glass of wine for me and a bottle of beer for him.

“Hey, Red.” He greets me, kissing my forehead. He makes me swoon every damn time, he and that forehead kiss. It’s like he has some magic power when he does that.

“Matt, what’s going on? Why is the living room covered in flowers?”

“Just wanted to do a little something special for you. I know that you’ve been working your ass off, getting things for Mila, and that you are meeting with your dad next week, so I just wanted to make tonight about you.”

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