Jesse's Soul (2) (22 page)

The man was sinful. There he stood, with no freaking jersey, all muscled and beautifully ripped, the line of dark hair disappearing into his riding pants. Okay. Yes, the man was ten kinds of hot and made her blood boil. But it was that damn lopsided grin that made his light brown eyes crinkle and her heart skip a beat that got her. He knew exactly what he’d said and he’d done it on purpose.

Referring to them as an
us
, as a couple. Oh, he was a risky little thing tonight. He continued to hold her gaze with barely a nod of his head and half-assed wave to acknowledge their friends walking away. First asking for her to spend the night—the night, one night, and now, he was leaping into couple-hood?

Getting angry at him would be a whole lot easier if he wasn’t making her wet just with the look he had her frozen in place with.

“Hello…? Did you hear me, son?”

Emery and Jesse broke their contact and turned toward Reid. As they listened to some wrap up information, she slid a sideways gl
ance at Jesse. He’d been apparently waiting for just the right moment. He teased her, kissing into the air when Reid looked down at his clipboard.

“There’s a couple things I want to work on this week during practice, but we can talk about it tomorrow. You can go on, I’ll come up in a bit, let me know when the pizzas get here. Good job, son. Four weeks in a row on the podium, could be a good year.”

“Thanks, Reid, but it’s all Em,” he said before Reid walked in the bike trailer.

“No it’s not. No
I
in team, remember that old saying?” She turned back to continue putting her things away and willed herself to not look at him again, at least until he had more clothes on—or less. Either way.

J
esse walked up behind her and leaned down to kiss her shoulder. Now that the rest of the other mechanics and riders were back to their area of the pits, he knew her well enough to keep the touching and kissing to a minimum out of respect. She was trying to maintain a certain level of professionalism in front of her team, and even though he could appreciate that, it still didn’t stop him from fantasizing about turning her around and laying her over the table.

He whispered in her ear, “I’m going to go shower and then go sit down and have a
beer. Don’t work too long, okay? Come meet me please, Em?”

“I’ll be there when I can, okay?”

He discreetly squeezed her hip. “Hurry.”

“I’ll do my best.”

He gripped his fingers, pressing into her hip again. She let out a jagged breath and he caught it. He’d seen the flush on her cheeks a few minutes before when he’d been rather daring and blown her a kiss in front of her father. Jesse knew what to look for, what nuances gave her away. He also knew how far he could push.

“Tonight is going to be fun, huh?” Jesse whispered in her ear.

“Go away.”

“Why, honey?”

“Leave me alone, Frost.”

With each rise and fall of her shoulders there was a shudder. Jesse knew she was able to feel his breath on her neck with every word he spoke.

“Wow, my last name. I must be in trouble, huh? I think you’re turned on, aren’t you, sweetheart? You like knowing I’m this close to you, don’t you?”

“
Go away.” Her demand was whispered through gritted teeth.

“I’m going to be in the shower. If you need something, you know where to find me. I’ll leave the door unlocked.”

“Hold your breath, okay?” A slight snicker escaped her.

“You’re beautiful when you’re fighting me.”

Jesse could tell she wanted to turn around and hit him, but he was so close that if she did, they’d be mouth to mouth. That little tidbit of information made him all the more excited, and interested to see what she’d do.

Lance hollered for her to come see something on his bike. Jesse stood up straighter. In turn, Emery straightened as well, glancing at Lance for a quick second before turning
in the very little space he’d given back to her.

She raised her shoulder in a cocky shrug. “I think he needs me.”

Jesse didn’t even try to hide the smug look on his face. She was playing with fire, and he was having the time of his life. With a pure wicked gleam in his eye, he once again leaned toward her ear and lowered his voice. “I might have said he’s a man, but he can’t do to you what I can, honey. You just remember that.”

He pulled back in time to see the quick flutter of her pulse at the base of her neck.

“Oh, yeah?” She titled her chin. “Maybe I could teach him. You know, being an older woman and all.”

All he wanted was to take her in his arms, although not being able to touch her as they were teasing each other had turned into a game he was enjoying a little too much. To the point of edging on painful. “I don’t know, Em. Why would you want to waste time having to teach him when you know all it takes is one touch from me?”

Her eyes flashed wide for a split second, before they narrowed. Emery could try to hide it all day long, but Jesse could read the desire in those deep emerald greens of hers. He had heard the breath she had sucked in automatically. If he were a betting man, he would lay his money on the table that she was hurting just as badly as he was right about now.

“Go.
Now.”

Jesse bracketed her in against her table, one arm on either side of her. Her back arched
, but he followed. Bent over her like he was left them eye to eye. He watched the tic at the base of her neck, saw her swallow hard.

“Maybe not even a touch, huh? This has been the most exciting conversation I’ve ever had, Em.”

She didn’t answer. Instead she maneuvered herself around in the small space between his arms, her back to him once again. Picking up a tool, he watched as she tried to busy herself, though she couldn’t hide the deep breath she took to calm herself.

He leaned close to her shoulder again. “Bye, baby, see you in a little bit.”

He kissed her head and looked up to see if anyone was watching. They weren’t, so he patted her butt. She jumped at the surprise, and Jesse walked away.

He had told her the truth when he’d said it was the most exciting conversation he’d ever had. Every word had gone straight to his groin, every flinch, shiver, and shudder winding him tighter and tighter. She had no idea what a temptress she could be. Hell, she hadn’t even been trying and he was so hard it was going to make walking a ten on the pain scale. Maybe he’d been the one playing with fire. A woman who didn’t know the extent of her powers she had over a man, could be a dangerous thing to try and handle.

~

Good grief, Jesse.

Emery glanced down at her phone to read the newest text. The man was nothing if not predictable. The messages had been coming every ten minutes like clockwork. After the fourth one, she’d given up trying to hide. She knew her
coming, be right there
, and
almost done
answers weren’t going to buy her much more time before he went all caveman on her ass and came to check on her in person. She tidied up, taking her time so nothing was missed and everything was put away properly.

At least she had found someone who cared that much. The downside to being in a relationship though—she’d found someone that cared that much. Before Jesse, she could easily shrug her dad or Riley off. They’d let her slink off, slip in bed, and let her be. Buying her
I’m fine
line, time after time. She actually didn’t know if they bought it, now that she thought of it. She just didn’t linger around long enough to find out. With Jesse, however, that didn’t seem to be an option. Especially now that he knew what was going on. His worry and concern definitely made it a lot harder for her to pretend everything was normal that was for sure.

She locked everything up and hea
ded to the Noland and Sterling trailers before she got another text. Number seven was due in less than five minutes.

“There’s my girl,” Jesse announced as he pushed up out of his chair.

She saw Jesse’s face light up as she made her way toward the circle of people. He walked the few steps to meet her, immediately running his palm across her jaw, cradling her head in his hand, and stroking her cheek with his thumb. Not meaning to, she leaned into it, wanting the comfort he was offering. Splaying his other hand on the small of her back, he pulled her closer. From under her lashes, she saw the happiness fade from his face, replaced by creases along his forehead and the hint of a frown across his lips.

“You don’t feel well, do you?”

“I’m fine, Jesse.”

“We will not do that anymore, Emery. You’re
not fine, so don’t tell me you are. You’re pale, honey, and I can tell by looking at you that you don’t feel well.” His voice was stern.

She could sense the love in it, but there was no mistaking the steel behind it. She pulled in a breath. “Sorry. Habit. I don’t like people worrying about me. I just need to sit down.”

“When’s the last time you ate?”

Her shoulders sagged in defeat, knowing he was going to be upset, but it was more that she felt she’d disappointed him. Stupid clock. It continually got away from her. She dropped her gaze. Not answering was all the answer she needed to give him.

“Not since I made you eat before I sat down to sign autos, huh? Damn it, Em.” He shook his head. “Baby, we can’t have you passing out. I need you too much. And I don’t mean because of the damn bike. I need you, and I need you to take care of yourself, honey.”

“I’m sorry. I just get busy, and then once qualifying starts, the whole day and night are a blur until it’s too late. It’s not that I don’t want to take care of myself, I just get busy. You know exactly how the clock moves on Saturdays. It’s over in a blink of an eye.”

“I know. It’s okay.” He hugged her tight. “I’m not mad, Em, I just worry. Let’s get you set down and I’ll grab some food for you.” Jesse kept his arm around her waist and led her at a snail’s pace to the empty chair beside the one he’d been sitting in. She wasn’t that bad off, but he was worried. Emery could tell he knew she was fighting the dizzy spells. He was able to read the signs, read her moods, knew what to watch for. In general, he could read her perfectly now, and she knew what made him tick as well. That was just something that happened in close quarters like they were.

“Sweetie, have they ever checked your blood sugar?” Eli asked.

“Yeah, it’s blood pressure.” She managed to get a half-smile across, hoping the subject didn’t go any farther. She opened her mouth to change it, but her father interrupted.

“Em, I told them.”

She whipped her head to look at her dad. “What? We had a deal. Damn it, Dad.”

“And everyone here has seen you get dizzy, or grab your head, or stumble at some point. You’ve been pale and tired and last night, you had everyone really worried.”

Emery watched her dad’s forehead crease. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs, his eyebrow rose.

“And you’re right, we
had a deal. You aren’t keeping up your end or Jesse wouldn’t have to keep making sure you rest and eat. I’ve been watching, and every damn time you’ve eaten over the last few days, it has been because he’s brought you food and then sat there making sure you ate it. And the reason you’re here right now is because he’s been texting you for the last hour. He was damn near close to going and getting you. The rest of the team was done when I came over here, so I know you didn’t have that much to do. You don’t feel well, and you knew I’d notice.”

Eli gave her a sympathetic grin. “Emery, sweetie, don’t be upset. We’re just worried, and we’re pretty discrete, but this group of people right here, we’re family. We take care of our own. Right, D?”

Molly scanned the circle of people, smiling at them all. “He’s right, Emery. I’ve told you about me. And well, we truly are a little family and now you just have a whole bunch of extra brothers to watch over you.”

“I just don’t like people to worry and feel sorry for me.”

“We’ve never heard that before have we, D?” Eli winked at Molly.

Carter pulled Molly closer and she cuddled up against his chest. “Um…maybe once.”

If she could get the room to stop spinning, she’d go lay down. As it was, she felt two steps past buzzed and that was without enjoying even one sip of a damn beer. She’d taken Advil over an hour before she ever walked down to Molly and Carter’s, but it had yet to kick in.

Jesse stepped out of Carter’s motorhome with a plate of food. Seeing it steaming, she knew he’d even gone to the trouble of warming it up. Looking at the piece of pizza, she inwardly groaned, her stomach turning. All these people were scrutinizing her every move. There was no way in hell she’d be able to skate away unnoticed, or to refuse the food threatening to make matters a whole lot worse if she ate it.

“Thanks Jess.” She reluctantly accepted the plate. “I appreciate it. So, by the way, did you know my dad opened his big freaking mouth?” Her tone on her question came out sharper than she meant, but she was frustrated and embarrassed.

“About what?” Jesse looked over at Reid for answers.

“About my being sick.”