In the Groove by Pamela Britton Page B

fingers through her hair in an agitated way. "I'm really sorry. You just looked so nervous on TV, Lance, and there's no need to be. It's just a race. You're not saving the world. You're not helping to promote world peace. You're just driving a car in a circle and I have a feeling you used to have fun doing it, but it sure doesn't look like it anymore."
    "So you baked me cookies," he said with a half smile, not sure if he should be offended at how inconsequential she made his job sound, or touched that she tried to help.
    "I used to do it for my class," she said. "Back when I was a student teacher, my third graders would get upset on test days, too. So I'd bake them cookies. Just by taking the test you'd get one cookie. If you got all the answers right you got five."
    "How many would I have had to have gotten right for eating four?"
    "You would have had to have gotten a B on your test."
    "Then I guess I better do good during the next practice session because that was very definitely an F performance."
    "You will."
    "I will if you're there with me."
    It surprised him how much he wanted that. She was so completely unimpressed by what he did that he wished he could capture some of that. Maybe if he went back to just having fun, his driving would improve.
    "I can watch from here."
    He shook his head. "Nope. I want you there in the garage, holding up a bag of cookies every time I come in."
    She laughed, and the realization that he'd put a smile on her face—well, it made him feel almost as good when he roared down the straightaway.
    Actually, it felt better.
    "You're not serious," she asked.
    "Yes, I am."
    Her look turned somber. "I can't do that. I don't know the first thing about being in the garage."
    "What's there to know? Stay out of everyone's way and when you hear a car coming toward you, make sure you're not in front of it. Drivers have been known to run people down—by accident, of course."
    Which made her lips twitch again. "Lance, I can't"
    He bent down and kissed her on the cheek, the cookie scent of her hair filling his nostrils. Suddenly Lance felt so filled with pent-up longing that it was all he could do not to pull her to him. But he didn't. He just straightened, unable to resist cupping one side of her face with his right hand.
    Stupid, Lance. Stupid move. She might read more into it than she should.
    But he didn't care. Her skin was as soft as it looked. No, softer.
    "Please, Sarah, come be in the garage with me." Because, damn it, he needed her.
    "Jeez," he thought he heard her murmur, the word so softly muttered that it was barely audible over the sound of A/C humming in the background. He felt his whole body still, wondering if maybe she'd felt the same thing he did whenever they made eye contact—as if some sort of charged energy stretched between them. If she did, she hid it well. Then again, she didn't exactly hold men in high esteem.
    "Please," he said again.
    She looked away from him, her brown eyes flecked with tiny streaks of mint green that sprouted from their centers. Pretty eyes, he found himself thinking yet again.
    "All right," she said at last. "When do I need to be there?"
    "In an hour."
    "Okay," she said, nodding, then moving away from him. Lance was smart enough to let her slip away. If he touched her again, if he bent his head and kissed her like he wanted—well, there was no telling what else might happen. And while he was selfish enough to insist on her company in the garage, in hopes that she might be able to help him get his head on straight, he knew that anything more than that would be a serious distraction. Serious.
    CHAPTER ELEVEN
    It boggled Sarah's mind that after suffering a horrible humiliation at the hands of her wacked-out ex-boyfriend, she was actually considering— yes, truly considering—jumping into bed with Lance Cooper.
    There. She'd said it... or thought it. Whatever. She could admit that when he'd walked into his motor coach, his eyes having gone all warm and gooey