April 18, 2000 – Dale Earnhardt Incorporated

“Good Morning, DEI, This is Noelle.” Noelle picked up her office phone, while continuing to type on her computer. She was trying to figure out why she had received over 100 cases of Bud beer delivered to the shop. The people at Budweiser didn’t seem to know why either.

“Avoiding me still?” a familiar voice came over the phone, causing Noelle to almost drop it on her desk. “Hello? Anyone there?”

“I hear ya. What do you want?” She glanced around at the three other cubicles that were in the same room as her. The other reps were busy doing whatever they were doing and not paying attention to her. “Shouldn’t you be relaxing or something?”

“Oh, baby I am. And that’s why I’m calling.” Junior laughed. Noelle tapped her nails against the phone. “Right about now, the mail courier should be walking into your office.” Noelle slid her chair back and watched the mail clerk stop in front of their door and come in. “He’s going to hand you an envelope.” Sure enough, an envelope was handed to her. “Now you’re going to open it.”

“No, now I’m going to throw it into my inbox, hang up on you and keep doing what I was doing.” Noelle threw the envelope down and moved her chair back up to her computer.

“I would highly suggest opening that envelope.” Junior’s tone of voice changed. Noelle sighed and picked the envelope up and slid her letter opener through. She pulled out an airline ticket. “Guess who’s coming to Hawaii to visit me.” Noelle looked at the ticket in her hand. It was a round trip ticket to Hawaii. She read further. The flight left that night and would return four days later. “Noelle?”

“I’m not going to Hawaii, Junior.” She threw the ticket down on the desk. “I’m sorry you wasted your money.”

“Dad isn’t going to be too happy when I tell him that you won’t come out here to see me.” Junior threw the same line at her that she had given him the first night she met him. “I can call him right now. I better do that. I’ll be talking to you.”

“That’s blackmail, Junior.” Noelle hissed into the phone. She heard one of the reps behind her turn around. All three of them were probably listening in on her conversation. “Do you think that by you calling Daddy, I’m going to jump on that plane and fly out to see you?”

“Yes. Daddy writes your checks.” Junior laughed. “Listen baby, I’ll pick you up at the airport at 8:30. Wear something sexy.’ The phone clicked and she was listening to a dial tone. She slammed the phone down and pushed her chair away from the desk.

With the plane ticket gripped tightly in her hand, she stormed out of the office and upstairs to Dale Sr.’s office. She knocked and was called inside.

“Hello there, Noelle.” Dale Sr. looked up from his desk and smiled at her. “How are you doing?”

“Great. Best day ever.” Noelle sat across from him. “Do you know anything about this?” She handed the plane ticket over to Dale Sr. who looked it over and handed it back with a nod. “Can you explain it, please?”

“Junior called me up this morning and asked me to have it delivered to you. Seems that he was a little upset at the race on Sunday about a fight the two of you got into and wanted to make it up to you by flying you out to Hawaii for a mini-vacation. Seeing that he caused such a ruckus with the spokespeople in the VIP room, I figured what the hell…it can’t hurt. You’re doing a great job on that account. I think you should go. Get a little sun, swim a little. Have fun.”

“I don’t have vacation time, sir.” Noelle looked at him and now knew why they called him the Intimidator. Dale Sr. sat back in his chair and shook his head. “I’ve only been here a month, I can’t afford a four day vacation.”

“Don’t you worry about it, little lady. It’s a paid vacation. Now get out of here and go home and start packing. You’ve got some fun in the sun waiting for you.” Noelle left his office and stopped in the hallway totally confused. What was going on?

******

The plane landed and Noelle was met by Junior in baggage claim. He already had her bags waiting when she came through the door. Junior smiled when he saw her, but Noelle said nothing.

“No hug, no kiss, no ‘oh I’m happy to see you’.” Junior asked. Noelle shook her head and started walking toward the exit. “Shit, woman. Wait up.” He hurried after her. He had parked his rental car just outside the door. He put her bags in the trunk and then did the gentlemanly thing and opened the door for her. She got in, still without saying a word. He slammed the door shut and cursed under his breath as he walked around to the driver’s side. “I see you didn’t dress sexy for me.”

“Why should I? Shouldn’t you reserve that request for your girlfriend?” Noelle asked looking at him with fire in her eyes.

“I love it when you’re all angry with me.” Junior grinned and started the car. “Seatbelts on please. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”

“You can say that again.” Noelle muttered.

The ride to the resort was a quiet one. Junior tried talking to her, but she wasn’t interested in speaking with him. Blackmail wasn’t on her list of favorites things and that’s what she felt like was happening. Not just by Junior, but by Dale Sr. as well.

They arrived at the resort and Junior parked in front of a private suite right on the beach. Noelle got out of the car and looked around. There wasn’t an adjoining suite within walking distance and they were a good half mile from the actual hotel.

“Excuse me, but where am I staying?” She asked as Junior walked toward the front door. He stopped and set her backs down.

“With me, of course.” He winked at her and continued to walk. He opened the front door and disappeared inside. Not wanting to stand outside in the dark, she went in and shut the door.

“This is where you’ll sleep.” Junior led her into the master bedroom that had a stand alone hot tub in the corner, a king sized bed and a full bathroom. He set her bags on the floor and then left the room. “Are you following?” She went back into the living room area and followed him through the kitchen to the other side. “And this is where I’ll sleep.” He opened the door to another room, which had everything her room had, minus the hot tub.

“Wow.” Noelle walked back into the living room and sat down. She was amazed at the beauty of the suite and of the island. She had never ventured further than Alabama so being thousands of miles away from home was a little overwhelming.

Junior sat next to her and leaned back on the couch. He flipped on the TV and started surfing through channels until he came to a movie on HBO. They watched in silence and Noelle began to relax a little. She kicked off her shoes and made herself comfortable on the other side of the couch.

“Have you ate?” Junior asked tapping her foot that was resting against his leg. She shook her head. “Pizza ok?”

“Sounds good.” She watched as Junior got up and went to the phone in the kitchen and called room service. While he was on the phone, she went into her room and dug through her bag and found a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt to wear. She had gotten on the plane without changing out of her work clothes. She quickly changed and threw her hair up in a pony tail then went back into the living room. Junior must have had the same thing on his mind because he was stretched out on the couch, wearing only boxers.

“What is it with you and just walking around in your underwear?” Noelle asked pushing his legs over so she could sit back down.

“Be thankful. Usually I just walk around naked.” Junior sat up and looked her over. The boxers she had on showed off her tan, firm legs and the t-shirt was a little on the tight side. He had to refrain from jumping all over her. “Yeah, well….the pizza should be here in twenty minutes. You want a beer?”

“What do you have?” She asked without thinking.

Junior laughed and went to the fridge. “What do I have?” He took out two buds and came back and sat down, handing her one in the process. “You’re funny, you know that?” She opened her bottle and ignored him.

The pizza came just when Junior said it would. He had Noelle answer the door in case it was an overzealous fan pretending to be room service. She brought the pizza over to the couch and sat it between them. They both dug into it, devouring half of it in about fifteen minutes.

“I could get sick.” Noelle laughed holding her stomach and leaning back on the couch. Junior kept bringing her beers and she kept drinking them. All the alcohol was going to her head.

“Know what is great after you eat?” Junior put the half eaten pizza on the floor. She shook her head. “Sitting in the hottub. C’mon.” He got up and grabbed her hand, leading her into her room. He started the hot tub and it wasn’t even completely warm before he shed his boxers and got in. “You coming in?”

“Well I have to go put my suit on.” Noelle turned and looked at him, noticing that he was already enjoying the warm water. “Junior.”

“What?” He asked splashing around. “Get in. I won’t look. See?” He covered his eyes with his hands. “I can’t see you.” Noelle hesitated for a moment and then quickly shed her clothes and climbed in, sitting across from Junior. “In?”

“Yep.” She sank lower into the water so only her head and neck were showing. There were enough swirling bubbles and the light in the room was on dim, that they couldn’t see each other very well. Noelle closed her eyes and rested her head against the side of the tub, enjoying the warm water.

“Can we talk now?” Junior asked. “Get it out of the way so we can actually enjoy the rest of the time here?”

“Whatever.” Was Noelle’s response.

“I did it.”

“Did what?” Noelle opened her eyes and looked in the general direction that he was in.

“Broke it off with her. I’m a single man now.” He smiled at her. “That change anything?”

“Not really. You still didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend at the time and then acted like it wasn’t a big deal. You breaking up with her after the fact is a little too late. And if you think that by flying me out here is getting me in your bed again, you’re sadly mistaken.”

“You’re a tough little gal, aren’t you?” he asked. Noelle said nothing and closed her eyes again. “What would change your mind?”

“Nothing.” She said. “I told you what I thought. Done, over, finished.” The heat from the water was making her sleepy and she yawned. Before she knew it, she had fallen into a light sleep brought on by the relaxation.

Junior moved onto the seat next to her and looked at her. He was still drawn to her. There was something about her that he never experienced with Lori, the girl he had just broken up with the day he flew out to Hawaii. Noelle seemed to be very headstrong, where Lori was with him because of who he was and what he did. Noelle didn’t seem to care that he was a Nascar driver or that his dad was Dale Earnhardt.

“Noelle.”

“Hmm?” She mumbled.

“Get out and get in bed. You’re falling asleep.” He nudged her shoulder to get her to open her eyes. “You’ve probably got some jet lag. C’mon, I’ll get us some towels. He climbed out of the tub and went into her bathroom and came out with two towels. He helped her out of the tub and while she was drying off and putting her clothes back on, he turned off the tub and started the drain and slid his boxers still on. He watched as she climbed into her bed and pulled the covers up. He walked over to where she was laying and leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“See you in the morning.” He whispered as he turned off the light. He didn’t think that she had heard him since she was already breathing heavy. He smiled and went into the living room, closing her door behind him.

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