At Jay’s chuckle, Sami turned to find her mechanic standing on her right. Jay and Dianne had history. She didn’t know what it was, but it had something to do with when Jay was Eli’s head mechanic. She raised her eyebrows at him and he shrugged with a grin. “What? I’ve got your back. See how bloody awesome I am?”
As always, Dianne stubbornly refused to admit he was there. She didn’t even rise to the bait of Jay’s favorite nickname for her boss.
Draping her elbow on Jay’s shoulder, Sami fixed Dianne with a wide grin. “Tell Swanson when he makes a public apology for saying female motocross riders have no chance of being better than their male counterparts, we’ll have drinks. Until then…” She tossed Jay a sideways wink. “My butt. His lips.”
Dianne let out a sigh, cast Sami a disappointed look and then turned and tottered across the dirt track leading to the pit exit.
It took Sami half a second to realize the entire exchange had been witnessed by more than one member of the media.
Crap.
Turning to the hovering photographers and journalists, she flashed them a grin. “Who wants to ask me if I think Eli Swanson is afraid to challenge me in a freestyle race?”
Beside her, Jay let out a snort.
“So you really do think you could beat him?” a male reporter from the leading Australia sports station asked, microphone pointed at her. “You really think you’re better than the three-time International Motocross Champion?”
Sami let her grin stretch wider. “I don’t think it, Mike. I know it.”
“What do you think, Rutledge?” The reporter, Michael Bailey, swung his mic to Jay. “You were Swanson’s mechanic for five years before jumping ship and joining Team Charlton. Do you think she’s got what it takes?”
Jay slid Sami a sideways inspection. “Fucking oath,” he said, holding her gaze.
For some reason, and for the first time, it dawned on Sami how incredibly blue his eyes were.
Blue and direct and burning with—
“So, Sami, what would you bet to get the chance to prove you’re better than him?” Michael asked, his tone humored.
Heart thumping faster than it really had any right to, Sami tried to drag her stare from Jay’s. Tried but failed.
Holy fuck, since when did her mechanic have such sexy eyes?
Since forever, woman. Admit it. You’ve always thought his eyes were gorgeous. You’ve just never seen him looking at you with such obvious…
An unexpected throb pulsed into warm life at the junction of her thighs.
Sami swallowed. Fuck, why the fuck was she suddenly so horny?
“Ms. Charlton?” the reporter prompted. “What would you bet to—”
“Anything.” The single word answer fell from her lips in little more than a husky murmur.
Jay’s jaw bunched. That heat she’d never seen in his eyes before flared again.
Never seen before? Or never noticed before?
The guffaws of the surrounding media yanked her out of the disquieting moment.
Michael Bailey laughed, scribbling something in the notepad in his hand. “Brave woman.”
The sound of the Bee Gees singing Stayin’ Alive filled the air before Sami could respond.
Jay’s mobile phone.
Her mechanic bit back a muttered curse and turned away from Sami and the media, withdrawing his phone from the back pocket of his coveralls as he did so.
Sami found her gaze roaming over him. God, he had a nice back. And shoulders. And an incredible butt.