Alex's Destiny (Racing To Love) (19 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY

She only put on shorts. They were her favorite pair of khakis, short and low-rise, but they were still—just shorts. After all, this was just a test to see if she could do it, if she could get close. As much as Dallas was doing to help her, a piece of her was still missing. She just wanted to get close, but not close enough she’d need boots or even riding pants.

Dallas
grabbed the small cooler of drinks her mother insisted on making for them, and Ruby’s bowl. Now that it was really happening she didn’t care to argue. Alex just got in her Jeep—but on the passenger side.

His head tilted as he stood on the driver’s side. “You don’t want to drive, Lex?”

She shook her head. Fear was creeping back in, and she didn’t trust herself to talk. One word and she might change her mind and go flying back into the house, to the safety its walls provided. Alex needed Dallas to take over. She needed him to take charge and make the decisions for a little while. Sitting on her hands was the only way to keep him from seeing how bad she was shaking.

“Ruby, hop on in, girl. No.” He chuckled and Alex glanced over. “You’re a smart dog, but I don’t think even you know how to drive. Get your furry ass in the back seat.”

The dog looked to her as if she would like some back up, her eyebrows moving up and down. Alex couldn’t help but smirk. “Sorry, girl. We gotta let him drive.”

As fast as a big dog can move in a small space, she rearranged herself in the back. “That’a girl, Rube.”
Dallas reached into the side of the cooler and pulled out a dog treat. “You’re a good girl. This is from Grandma.”

“Dallas Hunter, did you just make me a grandma?” Her mother said with her hands on her hips.

Laughing loudly, he quickly put the Jeep in reverse and backed out, going over the side of the driveway to the grass path through the field.

“I’m going to beat your ass, Son.” Molly hollered at the red taillights.

She had missed that terribly. The joking, teasing and laughing her family did on an everyday basis. Life had always been fun. That was before. She had gotten a glimpse of it again, a little bit ago in the bathroom, not that her mother knew.

Thinking of him—her hand holding him—sent a jolt through her and she squeezed her thighs together. That was one way to chase away a depressing thought.

She’d never seen a guy’s
thing
before, in person. God that made her sound so naïve. What did she even call it? Penis? That just sounded so, medical. She shivered in her seat. Junk? Dick? Geez, she needed to talk to someone, but her go-to for information on anything had always been her brother. But eww—not about sex. Tasia was her fashion consultant, but she was just as inexperienced as Alex was. She loved her mother, but there was no way in hell they were having that conversation. Especially since her parents were letting Dallas, in effect, sleep with her.

A heavy weight landed on her shoulder with a plop right before the wet nose rubbed up against her bare neck. Curling her arm around her, Alex hugged Ruby’s head to her. “Hi, sweetie.”

Nearing the track, Ruby sat up straight.

“Guess it’s a good thing the top’s off. She might not fit in here otherwise.”
Dallas laughed, glancing in the back seat.

He pulled up near the fence on the far west side. Somehow, without telling him, he knew she didn’t want to make a big deal about this. She didn’t want anyone to know she was there, and she sure as hell didn’t want to pull in the main gate and see the front of the building yet. Her grandfather had made quick work of it, and Alex appreciated his effort tremendously, but she wasn’t ready. Not yet.

She couldn’t see her office in any other way but terrifying at the moment. Even if James Noland’s expertise had dramatically changed not only her office, but the entire front of the building, and in record time.

The parking brake clicked into place, and Alex remained rooted in her seat.

That dirt track was as much a part of her as the blood her body needed to survive. Breathing in the scent, the faint hint of exhaust fumes from a passing bike, she watched as two riders entered the corner they were parked near. A light breeze blew through the open Jeep, and a loose strand of hair fell on her face. Brushing it away, Alex pulled in a steeling breath. With her hand on the door handle, it was Dallas’s hand on her bare thigh that stopped her.

Glancing from his hand to his face, she saw the concern deepen the lines in his forehead. “We can go whenever you’re ready. Just say the word. Okay?”

Leaning close, she laid her face against his. Nuzzling against the whiskers leftover from last night, she inhaled his scent and whispered, “Okay.” Before she could pull away, he brought his hand to her chin and held her in place, bringing her lips to his for a quick kiss.

For something so new, it had been a long time coming. And it felt right. He felt right. She’d always known soul deep they were meant to be. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. Jesse’s laughter could be heard across the track. He had moved closer, though he probably hadn’t seen them yet.
Dallas kissed her forehead and let her go.

Ruby didn’t move a muscle until
Dallas told her it was all right to get out. She was amazing. Without question, she was the smartest dog in the entire world.

“You go stand by Alex, okay? Stay with her.”

The next thing Alex knew, Ruby was trotting around the front of the Jeep and was at her side, just as Dallas had instructed. Alex leaned over, wrapping both arms around her neck and hugging her tight. “I love you girl. You’re just so awesome.” Alex squeaked as Dallas pinched her butt. “Hey!”

“As awesome as I am?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

It was incredibly hard work not to break down and laugh, but then he would have marked that down in the win column. So she stuck her tongue out at him instead.

“Oh, yeah, you want to go there?”

That one-liner was one every person in their family had taken on over the years. It was their trademark of sorts that could only be taken one way…as a challenge.

Alex waited for him to take one step toward her, then darted the other direction to hide behind the Jeep.
Dallas however, anticipated her move and acted accordingly, catching her around the waist and swinging her around in a circle just like he had done too many times to count. She broke down and laughed, squealing loudly as he swooped her legs up and started carrying her toward the fence line.

He looked happy for the first time since he had returned home almost a month ago.

It seemed everything was related to that day. On a timeline, all events fell before or after that marked time, and it was as if everything after had a huge dark black cloud over it, but Ruby was changing things. Dallas gave her a miracle the morning he told the mass of fur and muscle to hop up on the bed. There were still lots of moments when she’d find herself fighting the darkness and anxiety, but having herself wedged between Ruby and Dallas twenty-four hours a day was easing the stress tremendously. She could breathe for the first time. Seeing Dallas smile helped. His kisses were magical. And being in his arms, his gray eyes twinkling at her like they were right now—she lived for it.

The man could be as ornery as the day was long. And she loved that about him. He could take teasing and playfulness, but was also content lying in bed just talking or hanging out with her parents. With him, there were no games, no pretenses. The cards were on the table and there was no guessing. She knew exactly where she stood with him. Especially after he’d placed her hand over his hard-on.

Alex felt her cheeks flame at the memory.

Her face went fire engine red as he was carrying her, and he could tell by the way she was moving her mouth, she was biting the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning. Something had crossed her mind. Being a proud man, he could only assume that she was thinking about a certain event. This day just kept getting better and better.

“So, eh, what’s the blushing for?” He grinned.

“Nothing.”

“I’m not going to put you down until you tell me.”

Alex let go of his neck so she was pure weight in his arms. Like that was going to hurt him. Although Jack had filled out and no one would ever guess, Alex still had the petite stature of being a twin, and had never outgrown it.  She’d barely climbed over five foot, and after the last month of hell, she barely weighed more than his pinkie finger.

“You can’t hold me all day. Eventually your arms will get tired.”

He smirked. “Are you calling me a wimp? You think I don’t work out enough? Is that what you’re insinuating? Huh, girl?”

“Does the shoe fit?”

Dallas
picked up his pace toward the fence with a plan. “Oh, honey, you may have just bitten off more than you can chew.”

“I’m not worried about the pond
honey
. You can’t get over the fence with me in your arms to even come close to throwing me in it. So there.”

“Challenge accepted,
honey
.” Dallas rearranged his load, with her laughing and fighting him the entire time. In the end, she was still under his control and over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, so he easily climbed over the fence. Alex kicked her legs and smacked at his butt with both hands. “Oh, I like that. Do it again.” He taunted as he crossed the track to the other side.

“You, perv. Put me down.
Dallas, don’t you
dare
throw me in. I mean it. I go in—you go in.” She had a death grip around his waist while he only laughed at her threat with more gusto than he had in weeks.

“
Dallas. Don’t. Dallas!”

He stopped just shy of the bank and slid her down the front of him, stopping with her held waist-high. Her face was bright-red, her loose braid was now a complete mess, and she had tears in her eyes. But for the first time in too long, they were from joy and laughter instead of pain. Wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck of her own accord was the equivalent of Heaven for him.

“I love you, Lex.”

She sighed as if he’d just given her the world, then placed the softest feather-light kiss he’d ever felt on his lips. “I love you, too.”

“Does it feel good to be back?”

Alex only nodded with a tug at the corner of her mouth. Letting her slide the rest of the way to the grass below, he quickly took her hand. “I mean it. Whenever you’re ready, we’ll go.”

“Okay.”

Holding her fingers laced in his, she stood next to him, watching the handful of bikes as they made their way around the large track. Glancing around at her other side, Ruby sat as still as a statue as Alex’s hand gently rubbed her head. The three of them remained that way for the longest time. And just as he had expected the peace washed over her.

Without a flicker of thought she let go, walking back toward the Jeep and away from the pond that was in the west corner.

Dallas
stood with his hands in his pockets and a smile smeared across his face, waiting for her to reach her destination. She turned to the sweeping corner, and as the Honda rode toward her she waved him over to her. The rider immediately reacted, turning the bike off and removing his goggles. Dallas didn’t need to move, and Ruby seemed to sense her spot was by his side for the moment. The rider nodded, then turned behind him to point at a line in the dirt. Alex shook her head and walked to that spot. With her toe, she drew a new line in the dirt, going back and forth several times until it was deep enough the rider would see it on a bike.

He gave her a thumbs up and put his goggles back on. Starting the bike back up, he pulled off the track and made a giant circle to hit the corner again like she had instructed him to, taking the new line she’d drawn especially for him. As he floated through the corner with a newfound speed, he hit the next jump and cleared it easily. Cutting back off the track, he rode back to sweep by her, holding his hand out as he passed to thank her, then went back to his laps.

Dallas knew she wouldn’t be able to hold back for long. This called to her. This was her. Her place in life, not only in the general sense, but her calling. She was meant to help others. And she was amazing to watch as she did it. He always told her she should have gone pro, but she knew what she had to do. It was the younger kids she wanted to be with, to help. In that way, even though Molly had been adopted, Alex was every bit James and Karen’s granddaughter.

Walking up behind her, he couldn’t help but be proud of her. She had tried to hide it with a brave front, but
Dallas knew she was half scared to death to pull away from her house. It wasn’t the leaving—it was heading back to the scene of the crime. That’s why he’d chosen to head toward the most secluded part of the track, furthest away from her office.

He knew to speak before touching her so he didn’t spook her and went out of his way to make sure he did the little things like that. “So what do you think, Lex?”

She spun, a sense of peace settling over her expression. “Thank you.”

Sliding his arms around her back, he tipped his head, “For what?”

Alex ran her palms up his chest, and he drank in the moment, loving the contact. “For always knowing what I need and when I need it.”