This Time, Forever by Pamela Britton

Author:Pamela Britton
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

MID-DISCUSSION, Ben Edmonds looked down at his phone, which sat before him on the mahogany conference room table at Double S Racing. His wife’s name flashed on the phone’s screen, signaling her incoming call. Ben was pretty sure he’d told Susie that he’d be with his team owner and crew chief all afternoon, and probably not home for dinner, either. Pretty sure, but not positive. Life had been a little crazy lately.

“Are we distracting you from something more important, Ben?” asked Chris Sampson, who was, as far as Ben was concerned, the crew chief from hell.

“No,” Ben said as he tapped his phone’s Ignore feature and sent Susie off to voice mail.

“Good,” the younger man flatly replied. “Now, I think we can all agree that yesterday’s finish in Kansas was unacceptable.”

“It goes without saying that nineteenth place is not what we’re shooting for,” Ben said.

“Does it?” Sampson asked.

Ben had thought he was becoming numb to the guy’s barely-below-the-surface antagonism, but apparently not.

“I don’t know how you got it into your head that I don’t care or that I have found anything about this season acceptable,” he said.

Topping the list of unacceptable events was Gil Sizemore, team owner and current silent observer at the head of the table, firing Ben’s longtime crew chief and hiring Chris Sampson. Sampson was blunt to the point of rude, confrontational and nowhere near the sort of personality Ben found to be conducive to good teamwork. Beyond that, Ben was just generally ticked to have this guy shoved down his gullet.

“It’s good to hear that you care because I’ve had my doubts,” Chris replied.

Ben didn’t believe in violence, but a man also had his limits. He shoved away from the table and stood, knowing he would have to walk from this room before he did something damaging. Still, he had to finish saying his piece.

“Just because I’m out of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup this season doesn’t mean I don’t hold myself to high standards,” he said. “NASCAR was my life before you had any damn idea what a stock car might be. Sure, I don’t doubt that you have your skills. Your record prior to this year has proven that. But what I can’t tolerate is the lack of respect toward me. I’m putting you on notice now that the next time you make some crack about my dedication, you’re going to find yourself on a whole new level of getting to know me…right down to my fist. You understand that?”

Chris rose. “I understand more than you’re able to see.”

“You think so?” Ben asked in a voice as distinctly unfriendly as Chris’s had been.

Suddenly, though, he saw the humor in the situation. Yes, he was ticked, but he wasn’t about to take on a guy probably ten years younger and definitely a whole lot meaner. Especially one who he had to find some way to work with, or a lot of people might well lose their jobs—himself included.

Gil, who had about five inches on Ben’s five feet ten inches stood, too.

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