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“Never had any complaints,” he cockily replies, matching my step and halting my escape.
“Maybe you’re not using them on the right women. Do you mind?” I chuckle, motioning to where I’m trying to go. He smiles, and I swear it’s like I’ve walked onto the set of a dental commercial. It’s disarming and paired with his boyish good looks, he’s captivating. I feel my heart rate pick up its pace just from his proximity alone.
“Not at all, I just thought you may want to tell me your name before you left,” he says, with a quirked brow and a smirk on his face. His charm is effortless and part of me wonders how often he uses it to have perfected it to such a degree.
My lips curl in amusement and I shake my head, “Sorry, Hotshot. I’m not in the habit of revealing my name to strangers.” With a wink, I slip past him and head to the bar. I really try to play it cool and not look back, but I can’t help peeking over my shoulder. His eyes are glued to my ass, and as I look he meets my gaze with an unapologetic shrug before heading back to his table.
Chapter Four
“What are you actually doing here, Brody?” Maggie narrows her eyes at me dubiously when I end my early morning video call with Louise, my physiotherapist and confidante.
Toweling away the sweat from the virtual workout session, I grab a quick drink before I ask her, “What do you mean? I came to visit my little sister and her urchins.”
The roll of her eyes tells me she’s not buying my story, and I can’t blame her for it because visiting her isn’t the only reason I’m here. I needed to get away and clear my head. There’s so much happening right now, and I’m under so much pressure. It doesn’t matter where I go, lying low is impossible when the press follows my every movement from jet to hotel to paddock to track, and everywhere else in between. There’s always someone watching me. But this place, Silverbell, is small enough that unless you live here or are one of the wealthy people that owns a place in town, no one really knows about it.
When Maggie moved here after her husband died, Dad and I had no idea why she’d isolate herself somewhere like this with two small kids and another on the way. But she’s settled and happy in this sleepy town, and although I prefer a buzzing environment, this is the last place anyone would presume to find me. It’s the perfect hiding spot.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to see you outside the track…”
“But?”
“But in the four years we’ve lived here, you’ve never visited us. It’s always me taking the kids to see their cool uncle race for the weekend.”
“I thought you liked the break and the trip?” Maybe I sound like an asshole, but apart from the weekends she comes to watch me race, Maggie and the kids don’t vacation. She’s a single mom running her own small business in this little town. Life hasn’t exactly been easy for her. “You don’t like it?”
“Yes, of course I do. It’s nice seeing you and your dad. I love that the kids adore seeing you, too.”
“So…what’s the problem?”
A small hopeless scoff pushes past her lips as she smiles warily at me. “I don’t want trouble, Brody. This is my home…my kids’ home. I can’t simply pack up and leave if things get crazy.”
“You sound like Holly when I see her in New York.” Our baby sister lives her life constantly afraid that her successful career and new life in the Big Apple might rot away if anyone knows where she came from.
“I do not. I’m not ashamed of where I came from,” she growls at me, throwing the towel I dropped onto the kitchen island back at me. “I’m protective of what I have. They’re two very different things.”
“Look, if me staying here bugs you, I can check into the hotel or country club. I’m going to make use of the gym there anyway.”
“God, you’re so dramatic,” she chuckles at me lightly. “I’m not throwing you out of my house.”
“You’re not?”
“You can stay here as long as you like, and not because your dad helped me secure the mortgage.” Blowing out a long breath, she finishes packing the kids’ lunches for school before she levels me with a stern mom-glare. “No girls. This is a kid-friendly zone, and I do not want my babies’ innocence tarnished by your playboy ways.”
“Really? My playboy ways?”
“I see all the arm candy you go through, Brody Spencer, and it’s shameful.”
A loud laugh bursts from me at her haughty tone and the way she stands with hands on her hips in front of me.
“Laugh all you like, but you’re thirty-seven years old and you have no idea what a relationship is.”
“The ball and chain,” I tease her, copying her stance.
“Christ alive, I swear…one of these days you’re going to meet your match.”
“Sure…” Shrugging, I finish my water as the kids come skipping into the room, ready for school. “Want me to take the urchins to Summer Club for you?”
“No,” Maggie’s quick to reply before Blaire gets a chance. For a middle child, that girl is wild. Nothing like her mom. Maggie gives me another glare as I help Brooks, the baby, pour himself a bowl of cereal. “I don’t want you anywhere near my kids’ school or teachers.”
