Free Jacked Up by Erin McCarthy Page B

he gaped at her. Then he nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, that was rude of me. I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”
    “Okay. Thanks.” They both rocked. She wasn’t sure about him but she felt awkward. Talking about her feelings wasn’t easy. Communicating without yelling was novel. Funny enough though, being rational about it definitely left her less stressed.
    But nonetheless, she was still grateful that Tamara chose that moment to step out onto the porch.
    “Brr,” she said. “It’s nippy out here. Do you want some coffee?”
    “No, thanks. I’m fine.” Eve hadn’t noticed the cold. She was wearing a sweatshirt and she tended to be hot-blooded. It was ironic, but true.
    “Hon?” Tamara asked Elec.
    “I don’t need coffee, I just need you cuddling up with me.”
    Tammy gave a flirty laugh and went over to him.
    Gag. If they were going to get all lovey-dovey snoogie-wookums with each other, Eve was leaving.
    Her sister-in-law dropped onto her brother’s lap.
    Yeah. Time to go. “Okay, on that note, I’m going home.” She stood up.
    Tammy and Elec finished their hello kiss. Like they hadn’t kissed in the kitchen ten minutes earlier. Or right before dinner.
    She was so jealous it was ridiculous.
    “No, you don’t need to leave,” Tammy protested. “It’s early still. The kids don’t need to be in bed for another hour.”
    Which meant sixty minutes until boom-boom time. It was written all over their faces. Eve would prefer not to be around for any discreet fondling or other forms of foreplay that might occur in the meantime.
    “I want to work out still tonight.” Or imagine Nolan moving over top of her while she got cozy with her mechanical friend. “So from your sister who isn’t getting any, I bid you good night.”
    “Sounds like that might be changing.” Tammy winked at her.
    Eve gave her a stare. “Who are you—Suzanne? Since when do you encourage people to sleep with men they’ve just started dating?”
    Elec coughed into his hand, a grin splitting his face.
    Tammy’s face turned red, obvious even in the dim porch light. She hugged her arms around her midsection and gave a shrug. “I don’t know . . .”
    Oh, God. They had had sex on the first date. Too much information. She’d always known they’d moved fast in their relationship and she seemed to recall a moment of horror when she had realized her brother was shagging a racing widow, but she’d never known details really. She didn’t want them now.
    Nor did she want to share her own.
    Which was why she was an idiot to have broached the subject in the first place.
    “Never mind. Forget I mentioned sex or men or anything that has to do with the interaction between men and women. I’m going to say good night to Pete and Hunter, then I’m heading to the gym.” Where she could sweat her way through thoughts of Nolan, then get home and sweat through some more.
    “Let me get you the keys to the car and the code to the storage unit,” Elec said, patting Tammy’s behind so she would stand up.
    “What car?”
    “Eve’s borrowing one of my cars for the demolition derby. She’s driving on Sunday.”
    “Really?” Tammy’s eyebrows shot up.
    “Really.”
    Her smile lit up the whole damn porch. “That’s awesome! I think that’s such a good idea. Wow! What made you decide to do that?”
    “I don’t know. Someone suggested it.”
    “That’s great. Elec, isn’t that great?”
    “It is. I think it’s a damn good idea.”
    They were starting to freak her out. Eve backed up from their smiling faces and pulled open the door to the house.
    If everyone thought this was such an amazingly wonderful idea, she was starting to wonder if in fact, it was a truly awful one.
    “So, what are the rules of the derby? How does it differ from stock racing?” Tammy asked.
    Eve had no clue what the rules were. She’d witnessed the demo derby at the county fair a few times, but there were very likely regulations about the car