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But she was beautiful. She looked like a Renaissance painting of some wild goddess, her hair poking out at odd angles, her stomach definitely popping now, and a satisfied smile on her face.
Well, she had been smiling. Now she was frowning in my direction.
So I did the manliest thing I could think of—I ran away while changing the subject. “So, I think we’re definitely done for the day. I feel a bit like Thai food. Or tacos? What do you say to tacos?” I’d made it all the way into the kitchen by the taco speech, and I grabbed my water bottle and chugged the cold liquid, like it was going to cool the fire in my blood.
I’d need to be frozen for that to happen.
She sounded amused by the time she made it to the kitchen. “Sure, I could go for tacos. Let me grab my purse.”
She moved toward the back of the house where her room was, and I gave myself another pep talk, which was mostly calling myself every derivative of asshole I could come up with. I was just going to ignore that I’d opened my big mouth. Maybe if I pretended that it was no big deal, Tally would forget about it.
Solid move.
I grabbed my wallet and keys, stuffing them in the pockets of my jeans. When Tally emerged, she’d changed into leggings with a cropped t-shirt. The leggings accentuated the bump of her stomach, and when she bent down to slip on her Chuck Taylors, I noticed they also accentuated the curves of her delicious ass.
We climbed into my old truck, and I listened intently as Tally chatted about all sorts of things. Appointments Will was taking her to, stats for Rocco Passero that she’d Googled, what the plumber had said about underfloor heating, and the fact that she was negotiating with a lady on social media for a crib.
“Take one of us with you if you go to look at it. I’ve seen that episode of Law and Order.”
She raised an eyebrow at me, but agreed easily. The whole thing was so fucking domestic, that if I didn’t know our circumstances, I’d think we were a couple expecting our first child, living the American dream.
What was even more surprising was that the idea didn’t make me want to run for the hills. So we’d come full circle; I was so fucked.
Clearing my throat as we pulled into the parking lot hosting the taco truck, I interrupted her recount of the differences between IndyCar and Formula One. “You should message Hayes and see if he wants any tacos.”
She blinked those big eyes up at me. “Shit, of course. I’ll call him.” Pulling out her phone, she dialed his number. “Hello?” She paused, frowning in concentration. “We’re getting tacos. The one down by the park. Yeah. Okay, we’ll wait for you… What is it? Hayes, I hate surprises.” She huffed, and it was cute as fuck. “We’ll see you soon.”
I raised an eyebrow as I parked, coming around to open her door. I held out a hand, and she took it easily. The way her small fingers curled in mine made my heart thump in my chest, and I felt like such a sap in that moment.
She grinned up at me. “Thanks, Jesse. Hayes says he’s got news, but wouldn’t tell me what it is. You think VANT got one of the Ferrari guys to defect to IndyCar?” she teased, and I couldn’t help but laugh too. Her face lit up. “Holy shit, feel this.”
I realized she was still holding my hand as she tugged it toward her stomach, and suddenly, I was cupping the small mound of her belly in my palm. I felt the flutter of something beneath her skin. A kick. Or a headbutt. It was hard to know.
Her eyes were shining, the flash of the taco truck lights making them sparkle with happiness. “Guess I can’t call it a cryptic pregnancy anymore. Lug Nut is making himself known. Or herself.”
I stared down at her stomach, nothing in my brain but white noise. We stood there, in this silent bubble moment, the setting sun making her skin a soft pink and so damn kissable.
Our eyes caught, and I could see it then—the attraction she felt for me too. My eyes dropped to her lips as they parted, her tongue darting out to wet her puffy lower lip. I wanted to kiss her more than anything. My eyes darted back to hers, all the impossibilities suspended in the silent moment stretching between us.
I leaned closer, infinitesimally, hoping she’d see the invitation and want to kiss me enough that she’d close that distance between our lips. That she felt this thing between us as much as I did.
A car door slammed, jolting us from the moment, and then Hayes was there, grinning wildly as he picked Tally up and spun her around.
She laughed, her eyes flicking briefly to mine, before she focused on my best friend. “Oof, Hayes. Put me down.” He settled her back to her feet, and she looked at him like he’d gone nuts. “What are you so happy about? Did you win the lottery? Did someone give you a Hellcat for free?”
“Better!” He was all but bouncing from foot to foot. “I got you a job. Well, another job.” He flicked his eyes to me briefly. “Well, basically a glorified interview. They want you to do some testing on the cars.”
Emotions crossed her face like camera flashes. Elation. Fear. Happiness. Worry. Doubt.
“They know she’s pregnant?” I couldn’t help but ask.
Tally rolled her eyes. “The whole underground racing circuit in this city knows I’m pregnant now, thanks to this guy.” She lifted her chin at Hayes, who was giving me the stink eye, like I was shitting all over his grand reveal. I felt like crap as some of the excitement left her face. “He makes a good point, though. I can’t test drive pregnant. Also, I’m about twenty pounds heavier than I should be.”
“And still thirty pounds lighter than most male racers. Plus, it’s all sim driving for a while anyway. You can do this, Tally. It’s not the same as before, but you can dip your toes back in, and who’s to say that it won’t lead to something more? Something different, but just as good. Not your exact dream, but dream-adjacent.” He lowered his voice. “Maybe even better than NASCAR,” he whispered, like Richard Petty might appear from behind the food truck and declare him a traitor to the sport. “But first, they’ve invited us to a team cookout, and I guess they’ll give you an informal interview. Antony said you should come too, Jesse.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. Why would I be invited, unless they thought Hayes and I were… a thing? Whatever, I’d take the opportunity to suss out the VANT group and their intentions, and make sure they weren’t going to take advantage of Tally.
Happiness had made her whole face light up, and I vowed that one day, she’d look at me like that too. I’d just have to work harder for the privilege.
