Don't You Ever Fear I'm Always Near

I pulled into the hotel that Tanner and I were staying at. Don’t worry. They’re separate rooms. But I still couldn’t bring myself to go inside yet. It was only nine o’clock at night, but I was so exhausted. All I wanted to do was forget about everything and go to bed.

A sigh came out of me as I walked inside to the front desk. I asked them for my key and I was on my way up to my room. As I was in the elevator, I sent Tanner a text, asking him what room he was in so I could drop off his keys. He never replied though.

But once the elevator doors opened, I saw why. He was leaning against a door frame with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. Mine came over me… along with a shade of red. Tanner came over and grabbed my bag for me, following me the rest of the way to my room. Once it was opened, I held the door so that he could come in.

“Drives nice, doesn’t she?” he smiled once I held his keys out for him.

“Yeah, I might have to invest into one,” I replied.

This started a heavy moment of awkward silence. I eventually went over and flipped the TV on to get some sound in here. After that, I plopped down on my bed and let out a huge sigh.

“Rough day?” he asked while sitting down in the chair a few feet away from my bed.

“With no help from you,” I shot at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” I tried to cover, but he cut me off.

“No, it’s fine. I understand,” he countered with a kind smile.

I let out a groan as I rubbed my hands over my face. As I slowly brought them down, my eyes fell on his. After they stayed locked on his for a few seconds, I quickly diverted my gaze to the ceiling.

“Why are you just sitting there, trying to act like nothing happened between us?” he finally spoke up.

“Because it wasn’t supposed to happen,” I sighed.

“Why?” he asked, that smile starting to leave his face.

“You’re my enemy,” I glared at him playfully.

“Haven’t you ever heard of the expression, keep your friends close and your enemies closer?” he asked with his eyebrow raised while slowly climbing on top of me.

“I’m sure that doesn’t reference this situation,” I couldn’t help but giggle as he hovered over me.

“I have always had a soft spot for you,” he smiled down at me.

“Soft spot? That’s what they call it nowadays?” I couldn’t help but tease.

“Is crush better? I fancied you? Thought you were beautiful? Jealous of other guys being around you? Wanted to do everything I could to make sure I was next to you on the podium so I could be in a press room with you?” he kept going.

“Are you… serious?” I asked, placing my hands on his chest to push him away just a little.

“Well, I could lie and say no and makes this even more awkward,” he said with an adorable twinkle in his eyes.

“I want you to be honest,” I smiled before reaching up to kiss his cheek.

“You’re like… a Porsche,” he started, making me roll my eyes. “You’re so gorgeous and… so hard to get,” he went on to smile down at me.

I hated how much his comment made me blush. Being one of only a handful of woman rally drives, I get the gorgeous/hot/sexy/cute comment from guys a lot. I just brush them off. They don’t know me. And I most certainly do not want to get to know them. But Tanner… he knows me. His words… meant something.

“And you are…” I tried to think. It made him chuckle. I’m so horrible at car analogies. “Like a Camaro,” I laughed at what came out.That’s my favorite car. “You get sexier over the years,” I finished with a huge smile on my face.

“That’s the best you could come up with?” he asked through a big white smile.

“You’re the nerdy one!” I shot at him playfully as he lowered himself to the side, but kept his arms hooked around me.

“Thanks for building my self esteem,” he sarcastically replied.

“But it’s so cute when you’re nerdy,” I cooed while rubbing our noses together.

“Can the Kylee Jacobson have a nerdy boyfriend?” he asked in a taunting way.

“I think the Kylee Jacobson would love to have a nerdy boyfriend,” I smiled with my lips pressed against his as I spoke.

With every word, his smile grew until I finished. Once my sentence was through, we shared the most yummiest kiss. When we parted, I couldn’t get the smile off of my face. He bent down and left another soft kiss on my forehead… and then my phone rang. I rolled my eyes as I saw who was calling.

“What do you want now?” I answered, giggling since Tanner started leaving kisses on my neck.

“I want you to tell me what’s up,” she replied.

“Nothing is up!” I told heruntruthfully.

“Yes there is! And if you won’t tell me I’ll have to hide in your closet and bug you every day!” she protested, making me laugh and it wasn’t from Tanner this time.

“You are so weird, but ok, I’ll tell you. This is sister to sister though,” I countered.

”TELL ME!” she squealed, making Tanner laugh.

“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Tanner and I kissed…” I went on.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Tanner trying to hold in his own laugh.

“AH! I knew it! You two are secretly in love with each other!” she said way too excitedly.

“Kirstie, it’s not love. It’s just an attraction. It will go away,” I replied.

“No it won’t! I’ll make sure of it!” she said like it was her whole life mission to get us together.

“Go be with your moto boy,” I shot at her, wanting to get off the phone to spend time with my Rally boy.

“Fine! You be with your Mr. Drift-O!” she said before she hung up on me.

I laughed as I let the phone fall onto the bed. I’ve never called Tanner Mr. Drift-O to his face… I hope he likes it.

“Mr. Drift-O?” he asked, trying so hard to hold in his smile.

“Yep… it bothered me how good you were at both Rally and drifting. I was jealous so I came up with a nickname to make me feel better about myself,” I said with confidence.

“Whatever makes you happy, baby,” he chuckled.

That’s right. Whatever makes me happy. And right now I’m pretty darn happy. After five years of being single because of my hectic racing schedule, I finally have a cute guy… that I can actually see on a regular basis! And he’s super cute… and nerdy. What could be better?