Page 19 of Revved up & Ready

“What do you mean?” she asks, using her free hand to tuck pink-tipped hair behind an ear.

“I’m in,” I repeat. “I’ll help you. I’ll do it with you. Whatever you need.”

“You can’t know that,” she says through a bright, dimple-cheeked smile.

“I can.”

“You haven’t even seen the list,” she says, rolling her head on my shoulder to give me a skeptical look.

“Don’t need to.” I smirk back at her.

“Itisa pretty good list.” She pauses to point out a cactus across the street that’s shaped like a snowman before saying, “I’m adding things to it constantly.”

“Can’t wait to hear them.”

“All kinds of stuff. I’m training for a half marathon with Devon and Bea because I’ve never run a race.” Her speaking and walking paces both increase as she shares. “I’d never had a martini before, so Luke made me one at the bar last week. I wantto see a ghost, but I can’t exactly do anything to make that one happen.”

Wondering how I can get her to show me the entire list, I say, “And now you’ve addedhave a good boyfriend.”

She sighs, “I imagine that’ll stay on the list even longer thansee a ghost.”

“Didn’t I just offer?” I ask with a light laugh.

“You offered topretendto be a good boyfriend,” she says, pointing at flowers in another yard we pass. “Very different thing.”

I pull her out of the way just in time to stop her from rolling an ankle on a section of uneven pavement. Big light-brown eyes blink up at me for a few seconds, and I forget what I’m supposed to be talking about.

“Sorry, I should watch where I’m going,” she apologizes.

“You don’t have to. I’m watching,” I say, guiding us back to walking.

“You don’tactuallythink we should pretend to date, do you?”

“I do,” I answer, adrenaline pumping through me at the idea that this is within reach. “You deserve to fuck with your ex a little, and I mean it when I say you’d be helping me with my racing career. I need help fixing my reputation.”

Her shoulders rise and fall on a heavy breath, but then her lips pull into a smirk. “You’re his favorite racer. I think your videos are half the reason he started watching racing in the first place.”

If I didn’t already know my image needed work, being her ex’s favorite racer would be proof enough. “Perfect, isn’t it?” I ask.

That draws a dimpled smile out of her. “If he was scrolling his feed, and a picture of me with you came up, his head might explode.” She sighs. “It’s a fun idea, but it would never work.”

Well, shit.“Wait. Why not?”

“Because we have friends who know we’renotdating,” she giggles.

“Until we tell them we are,” I say.

She hesitates, and I’m dying for her next words. “My friends are nosy.” She brings a hand tipped with light pink nails to cover her mouth. “That sounded mean. I’m nosy too. I don’t mean it like a bad thing. It would be a really hard secret to keep.”

“We could let them in on it,” I suggest.

She rolls her lips together, shaking her head. “They wouldn’t support it. They’d give me a hard time for putting so much effort into making Jared jealous.” When she says they, I wonder if she really means Devon. “I’m alreadyembarrassed,” she lowers her voice on the last word. “I know Ishouldn’tcare what he thinks—”

“Do you want to do it, though?” I interrupt her to stop her from talking herself out of this.

Instead of answering the question, she says, “I’m supposed to be more evolved than this.”

“But you’re not,” I laugh, nudging her ribs with my arm. “It’s okay. Neither am I.”

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