She was momentarily stunned and without a comeback to that, something that rarely happened to her. She was well trained to handle insults. Politics was all about firing insults and innuendo, and she could deal with anything thrown her way. She just hadn’t expected it to be thrown by Gray.
“You’re kidding, right? I didn’t even know where we were going tonight. Do you think I hid in the bathroom and pulled up Craig and Miranda’s bio and financials, then decided to feel her out to see if I could finagle a way to do her a favor so they’d be in the senator’s debt and toss some money his way?”
His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I don’t know. Did you?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. Of course not. And I’m offended you’d even think so.”
“Well, I don’t really know you, do I?”
“No, you don’t. Which is why we will not be sleeping together tonight.”
He pulled onto the highway. “No, we won’t.”
She fumed silently on her side of the car, and he did the same.
“But if we had ended up in bed together tonight, I can guarantee you there wouldn’t have been any sleeping, Evelyn.”
Asshole. He just had to throw that out there, didn’t he? Not that she cared anyway.
He’d pissed her off and she no longer found him appealing in the least.
And she wouldn’t even think about having sex with him ever again.
EIGHT
IT WAS A DAMN GOOD THING GRAY HAD HIS HEAD screwed on straight, and that he was back on the track where he belonged.
He’d almost done something stupid last night, had almost taken Evelyn to bed. He’d listened to her background story and had actually felt sorry for her, when the whole time she’d been manipulating him behind his back.
What a sucker he’d been. It was just like all the times his dad had shown up at his sporting events at school. Those were such rare occasions, and Gray had gotten his hopes up, so excited to see his father there. And during the opportunities he’d had to glance up and see his father in the stands, it would turn out his dad hadn’t been watching the game at all. Instead, he’d been off wandering the bleachers, glad-handing all the parents and stumping for votes.
God forbid he actually show up for his own kid. No, that wouldn’t be self-serving, and if there was one thing Mitchell Preston did and did well, it was serve himself.
Obviously his father had been teaching Evelyn the finer points of that game, a game Gray wanted no part of.
She’d suckered him in well enough with her sad story of how she wanted a family and a tree swing, how she wanted to be able to balance that with a career. He’d been impressed, and he wasn’t often impressed, especially by anyone in politics. He’d even been dumb enough to believe her, too, which was his own damn fault. He’d started to think she was genuine and honest, that her rockin’ killer body also accompanied a true heart, something so rare in the political world, and even rarer in his father’s circle.
He’d been wrong.
That wouldn’t happen again.
He pulled out onto the track, pushing Evelyn and anything about her to the back of his mind. Now it was time to concentrate on his car and his practice run. He wanted the pole for this weekend’s race. That was the only thing he needed to focus on, because there was nothing better than starting the race in front of the pack.
He hit top speed and his mind went blank, like it always did when he surrounded himself with a great track and an awesome car. Ian and the crew had done their jobs this week. The number fifty-three was running in optimum condition, and by the time he finished his laps he was sure he had a good shot at grabbing the pole in this weekend’s race.
“That was a good run,” Ian said after Gray climbed out. “Keep running like that and you should kick everyone’s butts in qualifying.”
“That’s what I’m hoping for. The car’s running good. The only thing I felt was a shimmy in the left front when I hit top speed.”
Ian nodded and plugged that into his notebook as they walked along. “We’ll take a look at it. Probably nothing.”
Gray hoped not. He was ready to race.
He hung around to watch Donny during his practice run. The kid did decently, seemed to have a little more focus than he’d had the previous week, and his speed was where it needed to be.
He also noticed Evelyn hanging out in the stands with Stacie, the two of their heads bowed together during Donny’s run. He hadn’t spoken to her since last night, figured she wouldn’t even show up at the track today. Instead, she’d been there as soon as the track opened, sitting in the stands. Stacie had joined her there early, too, both of them hanging with the other women watching all the drivers.
Whatever. He didn’t care what she did as long as she stayed the hell out of his way.
She’d shown what she was after last night and he wanted no part of it.
“So what’s the deal with the new chick?” Donny asked as they made their way to the garage to go over their cars’ performances.
He shrugged. “Nothing.”