“Because everything I tell you will only trigger more questions.”
“That makes me an eager student.”
“That makes you…” He stopped, turned around, and dragged his gaze down her body. And in all the ways his handshake had made her feel like an equal, if only for a brief moment, this heated glance made her feel like an object. “A very dangerous liability.”
She’d bet money that was intentional. “A sexy liability?”
He laughed. “Oh yeah, Miss Fischer. You are absolutely sexy. And you know it, too. Now run along.”
“I’m not a little girl you can boss around.”
He leaned in close. “I promise you, the only people I want to boss around are pit crew trainees and mature, willing women. Do we understand each other?”
She had never felt more mature or willing than at this moment. Damn shame that was one-sided. “We certainly do. You don’t want to fuck me.” She liked the way his eyes blazed in surprise. She grew up on race tracks. Sure, she may have left them behind six years ago for a Swiss boarding school, but the salty language was baked into her soul. She leaned in. She wasn’t going to be scared off. “But you’re willing to make me think you want to scare me off, because you’re afraid of getting in trouble for helping me. Except I need you to help me, because I’m quite certain that you are the only person on this entire campus who sees me as a fully formed human being with the potential to learn this business from the ground up.”
He blinked.
Blinkedhard. “I’m not afraid of getting in trouble.”
“Then what are you afraid of?”
He dropped his gaze to her mouth. His eyes turned steely. “Nothing.”
“Good.” She pressed her lips into a flat line. “Then what’s my next lesson?”
“I don’t have time for this. I have to—” He glanced at his watch and sighed. “Jesus, it’s late. I need to clock out.”
“Can we resume this tomorrow?”
“No, I’m not working tomorrow.”
“So, Monday?”
“Not Monday, either. I’m working then.”
“But thisiswork.”
“Thiswould be extracurricular self-guided study. Nobody on this campus is paid to give you lessons about racing.”
“Would you prefer I pay you directly, then? Let’s call it a lucrative side hustle for you.”
“I don’t want to have this conversation.”
“Because of what people will think.”
“Sure. That.”
She nodded. “All the more reason to do it off-campus. What are you doing tonight after you clock out?”
“I’m—” He took a long, slow breath. It filled his chest, making him look forbidding, older and bigger and sterner than before.
She shouldn’t find that as attractive as she did, but if there was something Monica Fischer excelled at, it was getting attention from older men who wanted nothing to do with her.
He gave her a pained look. “You want to learn about racing from the ground up?”
“I do.”
“What’s your most prized possession in this world?”
