Clutched (Wild Riders) (12 page)

When she finally looked up at me, it was just long enough that I could see the tears rolling down her face. She kicked on her bike and in Chayse McCade fashion, rode off without so much as second look back.

“Can you fucking believe her?” I said as Brett and I watched her ride to the shed. “She does something stupid and then rides off like it's my fault.”

“It was pretty reckless,” Brett finally offered up. “But... I mean...”

“Please tell me you aren’t seriously going to justify the fact that three days before the exposition she attempted a backflip on her bike?” I looked down my nose as soon as he started talking.

“She landed it,” he said. “And pretty well too.”

All I could do was shake my head.

“Look, I'm not saying it was good idea, but she's clearly done them before. And if she hasn't... if that was the first time... you better get that girl in the Freestyle competition because she's got some mad skills.”

I let out a long, deep sigh and closed my eyes, wishing that every time I did I didn't see her falling through the air and crashing hard into the dirt.

“You said that she's green. She's never had a coach. She's never raced a pro-circuit. You've got to cut her a little slack. She's really good, Hoyt. I'd hate to see you scare her off because she screws up a couple times.” He chuckled. “You know how many times I've screwed up? Reid? None of us are perfect.”

“You aren’t?” I teased.

“Well...”

“I mean, I figured with you recouping so quickly you were damn near perfect.”

“Yeah, well, I’m beast so...” he smiled cockily.

I laughed and shook my head. But he did have me thinking.

Was I being too hard on her? Brett wasn't the first person to tell me I was. It wasn't like I wanted to be an asshole all the time. I just wanted her to be the best. And I wanted her to be alive and safe. For more reasons than I could even let myself admit.

“Maybe you're right,” I said, the taste of the words in my mouth was sour. I hated admitting when I was wrong. “She's just so fucking frustrating.”

“You might want to go talk to her before she packs up and sneaks off.” He pointed across the track the path that led back to the RV lot. Chayse was walking toward her trailer like a woman on a mission. She wouldn't really run away from this, would she? From me?

Not on my watch.

I nodded as he started up his bike.

“Let's grab something to eat later,” he suggested. “And maybe get you a drink or two.”

“Sounds good.” He had no idea how good. I wanted to forget this day ever happened and it still wasn't over.

* * *

“C
hayse,” I said as I knocked on the door of her trailer. “Open up.”

“Go away,” she said curtly. The paper-thin metal of her door allowed her voice to carry thru plain and clear. I knew she wouldn't want to talk to me.

“Come on,” I pleaded. “I may have overreacted.” With that, the door squeaked open just enough so that I could see one of her big beautiful blue eyes staring back at me.

“Go on,” she urged, not giving me anymore that one eye out the door.

“I.. I...” Just as I was about to let my emotions get the best of me, I wised up. Looking around the lot, I knew it was only a matter of time before the other people staying around there put their bikes up for the night and wandered back this way. “Can I please come in? This isn't really a conversation that everyone needs to hear.”

“Fine,” she said with huff, letting the door fall open. She didn't wait to greet me. She didn't even look at me. Instead she walked over to the sofa and took a seat, pulling her legs up underneath her and reminding me just how tiny she was. She'd stripped out of her gear and was wearing a pair of black workout pants and her jersey. My mouth watered. My heart raced. I felt completely powerless. Seeing a girl in a race jersey was like Kryptonite. Or maybe
she
was. Her hair was a wild, tangled mess from her helmet. Her fingers nervously tried to straighten it out as I walked in and shut the door behind me. Her eyes were puffy from crying and what little makeup she wore during training was smeared underneath. She was beautiful.

“Spit it out,” she said, when breaking the trance I was in.

“Okay,” I said, not wanting to wear out my welcome. “I'm sorry for freaking out on you. I panicked when I saw you flip that bike. I imagined every worst case scenario imaginable and even after your wheels hit the ground I was in knots.”

“Why?” she said.

“What do you mean why? Because you could have been killed. Because you have an event this weekend. Because it's not safe for you to do without the proper equipment on. Hell, that wasn't even the proper jump lead.”

“That's not what I meant,” she said. “Why do you care if I get hurt? Why is me being less reckless so important to you?”

“I'm your coach,” I said.

“My coach who follows me out to bars, brings me home, and tucks me in at night? My coach who almost kisses me? My coach who I've caught staring at me on more than one occasion with come fuck me eyes?”

“What?” I tried to play cool, but she saw right through it. “What do you want me to say? We've talked about this already. And for the record, I brought you home and tucked you in because it was the right thing to do. I couldn't just leave you in the middle of that bar in the state you were in.” I turned to face her, drawing one leg up on the sofa so it brushed against hers. “And the whole 'almost kiss' thing you keep throwing in my face, you were there too. You're just as responsible for that as I am.”

“Possibly,” she said with a coy smile. “What about the other part?”

“The staring? Come on... you're beautiful. Every guy stares at you.”

“Do you know how confusing you are? Especially when you say things like 'you're beautiful.' You're up, you're down. You're hot, you're cold. You're a goddamn Katy Perry song—that's what you are.”

“Me? You're about as inconsistent as they come. One day you ride perfect, the next you look like a toddler on a tricycle.”

“Yeah well, maybe if I wasn't playing Guess What The Fuck Hoyt Wants every single day I could focus more on what I came here for.” The fire was back in her eyes. The fire that had been put out by tears that I'd brought on. As pleased as I was to see her not crying anymore, something inside of me was saying now would be a good time to leave if I didn't want to do something I'd regret.

“Likewise, sweetheart,” I replied. I wasn't the only one with fluctuating emotions.

We'd somehow ended up face to face on that sofa. Only our legs were separating us. I looked down between us. My leg wasn't the issue. Her leg on the other hand was taunting me to pull it up around my waist and lay her back on that couch. My eyes trailed up the rest of her body and by the time I reached her face she was wearing a grin as wicked as they come. I swallowed hard and felt the blood surge to my cock.

“Just do it already,” she said after slowly dragging her tongue through the corner of her mouth. Her perfect lips begged me just as her words did. I saw that wild look in her eyes—the spark that I was sure she had every time she did something without thinking. Truth was... I was tired of fucking thinking.

I leaned forward and crushed my lips to hers. One hand moved her leg to the side—just as it had been planning to do—and I scooted my body to hers. My other hand tangled in her hair, anchoring her in place as I let my lips move over hers. Her hands were on my chest and pulling two handfuls of my shirt as I let my tongue taste her for the first time—a mix of cinnamon and mint that had each and every taste bud on my tongue telling me not to stop. The urgency between our mouths was causing a release of pent up frustration and desire that had been building since the moment I met her.

I slipped one hand under the jersey she was wearing and let it trail up the warm, silky skin of her back. Our mouths continued their assault on one another as I moved my hand around to the front zipper of the sports bra she was wearing and slid it down. Not a single thought of why this was a bad idea was present in my head as I palmed her left breast in my hand. I couldn't think of anything other than touching her in places I'd only dreamed about. My fingers worked over the tight peak of her nipple—rolling and plucking at the tight flesh until her teeth sunk into my bottom lip and a moan slipped out. I could feel the smile on her lips against mine. 

“You have no idea how long I've waited to feel your hands on me,” she said letting her head fall back. “To feel your mouth on me,” she added when I placed my lips on her neck. Each and every inch of her was calling out for attention.

“Just as long as I have,” I assured her. I moved my hands to the bottom of her shirt and was ready to tug it over her head when a big dose of reality started knocking on the door.

“Chayse,” Nick called out. “You in there?”

This guy...

“Shit, shit, shit,” Chayse whispered as we untangled ourselves.

“This is exactly why we shouldn't be doing this,” I said, straightening my shirt out and adjusting my cock so it wasn't pitching a tent for all to see.

Chayse let out a huff as she re-zipped her bra and tried to pull herself together.

“Chayse?” Nick called out again.

“Coming!” she yelled.

Not quite
.

There was a thought I should not be having when my boss is standing on the other side of an aluminum door. He could have walked in here at any moment and then I would have been out of a job. Not to mention, what would have happened to Chayse. Her career wasn't even off the ground yet. All because I wasn't man enough to keep my libido in check.

“Here,” Chayse said, pulling the small table out that sat in front of the couch. “You might want to hide that,” she pointed down at my lap. “I mean unless you want Nick to see what we were actually doing in here.” She smirked as she reached for door handle. I shuffled around behind the table. “Grab my laptop,” she whispered, pointing it on a shelf beside where I was sitting.

What exactly were we doing in here? In the moment, kissing her, it felt like I was doing exactly what I was put on this earth to do. The trouble was Nick interrupting us for a second time was the final wakeup call I needed. That kiss was all that was ever going to happen between the two of us.

I
always was quick on my feet. When I let Nick into the trailer, I convinced him that Hoyt and I were watching some racing videos. Thankfully, my laptop was on the shelf behind the sofa and I pointed it out to Hoyt with seconds to spare. He opened it and immediately started pulling up YouTube.

“Just wanted to check in with you and see if you were ready for Saturday,” Nick said. Hoyt and I both assured him that we were. “Did the reporter from MX Magazine find you this morning?”

“He did,” I told him. “It wasn't a very long interview though. I think he got everything he needed.”

“I'm sure you did great,” he said. If he knew what I'd told the little pipsqueak reporter, he wouldn't be standing there with that smile on his face. I was sure when he read it in next month's issue I'd be getting a good lecture about unbecoming behavior. I've never been a liar though. You ask me what my favorite thing to do besides racing is and you're going to get a straight answer. Hoyt almost found out exactly what my second favorite pastime was. Almost. I could still feel the pressure building between my legs and I couldn't wait for Nick to vamoose so we could pick up where we'd left off. It had been a while since I'd invited a guy back to my trailer. And there'd never been a guy in here quite like Hoyt Travers. He was so much different than any guy I'd ever been attracted to. Maybe that was part of the pull with him. He was smart and stubborn and sexy as hell. A wave of heat surged up my body and I felt like I needed a cold shower.

“You okay?” Nick asked in the midst of the checklist he was giving me about appearances and interviews. His question caught my attention and I stopped fanning myself.

“Oh, yeah. I'm good. I just took my gear off. I really worked up a sweat today,” I told him, sneaking a glance at Hoyt. Why wasn't he sitting over there all hot and bothered? Typical Hoyt. He really knew how to turn on the cool and collected vibe. I knew what was hiding under that table though. Judging from the bulge I'd seen pressing against his jeans it was definitely something worth hiding.

“Well good,” Nick said. “I'm glad you two are training hard.”

“Very,” I said, giving Nick a grin that was meant for the other guy in the room.

Nick seemed satisfied with my answers and left after only a few minutes. Problem was, Hoyt followed him out the door. Talk about leaving a girl high and dry.

I'd finally gotten him to act on what I knew he was tossing around in that pretty little head of his and damn it if it didn't feel downright spectacular. His mouth. His hands. All of it. Not only did he kiss like he had his Master's Degree in it, his hands were like weapons of mass destruction. He'd only touched my breasts. I could only imagine what kind of explosion he could cause in other places.

“Sure you can't stay a little longer?” I said to Hoyt as he was walking out the door. Nick turned to look back at me the same time as Hoyt did. “Weren't there a couple other videos you wanted me to watch?” I added to cover my ass. Or our asses.

“We can check them out tomorrow after gym,” he said. His eyes had lost that wanton desire I'd seen in them only a few minutes ago. The expressionless stare that I'd become so used to was back. “I promised Brett I'd meet him for dinner.”

I tried not to let my face express the confusion I felt. We'd just been making out, how could he just go back to normal after that? I knew by the way he was kissing me that he felt the energy between us. He felt the planets align and all that shit. What we'd just shared wasn't something that you could just pretend didn't happen, but it looked like Hoyt was sure going to try.

“Oh, yeah,” I said as nonchalantly as I could. “No big.” I pulled the door closed and walked back to the bedroom. I fell on to my bed, landing on my back, and brought my hands up to my forehead.

What the hell are you doing, McCade?

What was I doing? I was practically being handed a race career on a silver platter and all I could think about was how to get my riding coach back in this trailer and naked. I'd been hanging around with men and boys so long that I was starting to think like them. Sex couldn't be the only thing I thought about. Right?