Jesse's Soul (2) (4 page)

“It was a twisted sort of entertainment, but when I was little, I’d take the engine or a carb apart and put it back together while timing myself. I mean, how many nine-year-old little girls do you know that do that? Or I’d name all the parts of the bike in the order that they
are assembled, and then do it backwards. I was not normal, I know that, but I get how the bikes work. It was easy and it was fun. And by the way, I had that memorized by the time I was seven. Oh”—she chuckled—“and I guess I’m a teeny bit OCD.”

Jesse finally gave in and laughed. He’d felt bad for hurting her, but instead of him doing something about it, she was the one to make him feel better. She had a great sense of humor and fireball of a personality. He loved her voice, hearing her talk. There was a slight Irish lilt that he could detect if he tried really hard to hear it. He smiled watching her light up as she spoke of her family. Obviously
, she was very attached to them—another bonus point. He sighed to himself. He was falling fast, and there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it.

“The guys on dad’s team respected him and figured out I wasn’t just a bratty little kid when I trav
eled with him, so they let me stay close and do little things here and there to learn even more. The older I got, the more dad and grandpa let me have control. When dad retired from racing, he ran Riley’s career until Riley went pro. When he was hired as a factory team manager, I stayed with Riley on his team.”

“You’re pretty close to your brother, huh?”

“Why would you say that?”

“I can see the look on your face when you talk about him.”

“Yeah.” She looked back down at her plate. “But we’re not going there. You and me, we’re business. That’s a personal conversation. I was just giving you a little background to try and reassure you that I know what I’m doing.”

“I’m just trying to get to know y
ou, Em.”

“I know,” she replied, with a hesitant smile, “but let’s keep it business only. It’ll be better that way.” She took another bite of her breakfast. “You can really cook. This is good, thank you. I would’ve helped you, but I don’t think I had it in me to stand that long.” She gave him a real grin
, and he caught a glimpse of her dimples.

“You’re really pretty when you smile, Em.”

She shook her head. “Damn it, Jesse, business only, bud.”

“What? I’m just saying. I like the few tiny freckles sprinkled across your nose. My grandma always called that fairy dust. And I love your dimples when you smile. You’re really beautiful.”

Emery rolled her eyes. “I’m real damn hot with what’s left of my makeup smeared, my hair hasn’t been even brushed since yesterday morning, and I’m still in the same clothes. You add the smell of antifreeze, oil, and gas, and I’m quite a catch.”

“I think so.” He gave her a daring smile, challenging her to try and keep a straight face. Seeing her squirm gave him the upper hand he’d been waiting for. She didn’t realize by shutting him down time after time, she was making herself a challenge. He was a competitive guy by nature and by profession. Jesse had been attracted to her immediately, but now he was set on her. He wiggled his eyebrows at her as she rolled her eyes at him again.

“So, dark hair, fair complexion, and the most beautiful emerald green eyes I’ve ever seen—can I take a stab and guess you have some Irish in you?”

“You’re bound and deter
mined to get personal, aren’t you, Frost?”

Jesse grinned at her fighting him every step of the way. “Well?”

“Kincaid. Reid, Riley, Emery? What do you think?”

Jesse grinned as he scooped another bite onto his fork. “So I’m right?”

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

“So, Irish, huh? Good Catholic Irish or
good beer-drinking Irish?”

“Sweetheart…they’re one and the same.” She nodded at him very matter-of-factly. She took her last bite of food and stood to take her plate to the sink to rinse it off and put it in his small dishwasher. Coming back to the table, she tentatively reached for the coffee mug she’d been using, but stopped herself.

“Can I borrow your coffee cup? I promise to return it.” At his half-nod, Emery turned, headed for a refill.

Jesse sat back in his chair, watching her in his kitchen, and he
couldn’t help the smile that rushed across his face at the picture, hoping he would see it again and again. It felt more than just natural to have her in his space—it felt right, like she belonged there.

“I have a feeling you’re going to need the caffeine today.”

“I’ve got to get back to the trailer. Thank you, Jesse. I appreciate the breakfast.”

Having gotten some hot food in her
, along with a heavy dose of caffeine, Jesse felt like a switch had suddenly flipped. Not that she was completely relaxed before, but now she seemed skittish and ready to bolt. Her eyes darted between him and the door, and her words tumbled out in a rush.

He quickly pushed to his feet. “Wait, I’ll go with you.”

Indecision flashed through her eyes. If Jesse knew her better, he’d almost venture to say she was having a harder time ignoring the “boy-girl thing” as she called it than she’d like to admit. He was laid back and about as easy going as they came—there was almost no way he’d believe she was nervous to be around him because of his personality. For someone who could’ve won all the money in the world at a poker tournament, her body language was all of a sudden betraying her.

“You don’t need to. Stay, get some more sleep.”

“Excuse me?
Pot
.” He lifted one eyebrow and crossed his arms over the span of his chest, challenging her to finish the statement.

One thin eyebrow rose. Jesse could tell she was assessing him. With an exasperated huff, she jerked one shoulder. “Fine
”—she paused, scrunching her nose at him—“
kettle
.” She smarted back with the fire of a teenage girl.

Jesse pursed his lips, trying to contain the humor he saw in her and the thrill. She was spunky in every sense of the word
, and he was more than happy to accept any challenge she threw his way. He felt it, sensed it. The
harder they fight, the harder they fall
adage applied to women too, and Jesse knew if he could win her over, knew that with someone that fought that hard, she’d love even harder.

Winding their way back to the factory trailer, she had settled some and granted Jesse some casual conversation. He assumed she thought she owed him—she didn’t, but he would take it just the same. It was relaxing to be by her side, until she let out a huff and mumbled something like
unfucking believable
to herself. He followed her gaze to see Reid watching as the two of them walked his direction. By his stance, it was also more than obvious he was pissed.

“What the hell?”

Jesse’s mouth flew open and his palms flew up in surrender. “Reid, it’s not like that, we…”

Emery’s father—also known as his boss—didn’t even look at him.

“You said you were coming to the motorhome in a few minutes when I left last night. Damn it all to hell, Emery.”

“Dad, don’t.”

Jesse glanced over to see her jaw clenched tight, on guard to fight with her dad. He turned back to her father and tried once more. “Reid, we didn’t—”

Reid cut Jesse off again. “
You need your sleep. You can’t do this to yourself.”

“Not here, Dad. We will not discuss this here.” Emery stared her dad in the eye. “Got me? We had a deal.”

“You’re right. We had a deal. Your end of the bargain was to take care of yourself. Now sleep. Go.” Reid pointed in the opposite direction. “Now.”

Both were breathing heavy. Both trying to intimidate the other, although Emery was at a minor height disadvantage. Their clashing tempers were another hint at the Irish Jesse’d teased her about earlier. He looked between the two and realized that only one was really pissed
, and that was the woman beside him. Reid’s face had softened as concern replaced anger. He wasn’t upset at the thought of them spending the night together at all, which was Jesse’s first thought. Something was going on with Emery, and her dad was extremely worried about her.

“I will. After he rides.”

“You stayed up all night working on that damned bike, and I want you sleeping now.”

She glared at them both, then pointed at Jesse’s bike. “That’s
my bike now! No one touches it. His ass doesn’t so much as sit on it without me here. You got me?”

The clipped precision each word was spoken with was louder than if she had screamed them at the top of her lungs. Though her voice had dropped, the message was loud and clear. She might have been speaking directly to her dad, but there was no way in hell Jesse would
defy her. Even if Reid was just pacifying her, Jesse made up his mind that his ass was indeed going nowhere near that bike until Emery said so.

“That’s fine. Now go.” Reid’s voice was a couple of notches calmer, but not nearly as mild as the man normally was.

Jesse had bonded with Reid immediately after he’d had signed with his team. Jesse was young and eager to learn. Reid was a gentle, calm man with a no-nonsense work ethic that Jesse appreciated. The way he ran the team was so completely different than any other factory, and it worked. But it was the father figure that Jesse had become attached to. Reid had taken Jesse under his wing and become more than his boss—Reid was his friend and mentor. Jesse knew him, knew his voice, the varying tones, the Irish lilt that came out when he was emotional, knew the fire that came out when he felt he needed to defend the boys on his team. Jesse had seen it all. No one directly on the team ever questioned Reid. Emery was right—their last name was legendary in the sport.

It was going to be something else to watch this season. Jesse had a feeling Emery had no problem going toe-to-toe with her father. God help the fool who tried to break that up. Jesse bit his lip to keep the chuckle from escaping at the thought.

“I mean it. I’m warning you now, if you don’t wait for me and he rides without me, I’ll kill you both.”

Reid didn’t answer. Instead he nudged his head in the direction his arm was still pointed.

She rolled her eyes, then looked at Jesse and tapped his chest. “You wait for me.”

“I will,” he quietly replied.

Jesse watched her take a deep breath as the finger that had tapped him became a palm laid against his chest. “Thanks for breakfast.”

“Anytime, Em.” He patted the delicate hand on his chest.

His pulse would have skipped a beat at the physical contact, but she looked defeated as the exhaustion set in. Another stab went through his heart. With not even half a smile, she turned to go. He held her hand as long as he could until her finger tips slipped from his. Instantly, he wanted the connection back.

Jesse watched her walk away for a couple of minutes until she turned between two trailers and was gone.

“I’m guessing this has nothing to do with the fact that it looked like we spent the night together? Which, by the way, we didn’t.”

“That wasn’t what I was worried about, son. Did I catch that you made her breakfast?”

“Yeah. I walked up here about six-thirty to be ready for her when she got here, but I found her asleep in a chair instead.”

“Did you have to make her go eat?”

Jesse raised his eyebrow, wondering how her dad would know that. Hesitantly, he answered, unsure if the truth was going to do more harm than good. “Yeah?”

“Figures. Damn child.” Reid looked down at the ground.

“Reid?”

“Yeah?”

“It seems to be a personal matter, but can I ask what’s going on here?”

Reid looked back up
, let out a worried breath and shook his head. “I wish I could, Jess, but that was our deal. I keep this between her and me, if she takes care of herself.” He patted Jesse on the shoulder. “It’ll be okay. She just gets worn out easily still. Especially when she does stupid shit like stay up all night.”

“I’m so sorry she was up working on my bike. I had no idea.” T
he lump in his stomach grew tenfold.

“I didn’t, either, so don’t feel bad. She just wants to be invincible. I do appreciate you making her eat something. You just keep doing that, okay?”

Reid’s words were more of a request for help, and Jesse gladly jumped at the chance. “Anything, Reid. I like her.”

Rei
d chuckled. “She’s sort of bullheaded and bossy. She hasn’t scared you off yet?”

“I don’t scare that easy, Reid,” Jesse replied back with every bit of confidence in the world that he could handle her.

“We’ll talk Sunday. You haven’t been through a race with her yet.”

Chapter T
hree

As Emery walked back toward the bike trailer after napping and showering, she caught sight of Jesse coming out of it wearing only his riding pants and boots. No jersey, of course. She stood, watching him from a distance as he laughed with her father.

God, he’s good looking. Damn it.

She’d always been drawn to muscular guys, but when combined with a guy who could pull off that groomed five o’clock shadow look, that just did it for her. Everything about him screamed sin. With a capital S. The way he moved with an easy confidence, the crooked smile that could melt her into a giggling little high school girl. The man was all that and more. Emery blew out the breath she’d been holding.

He was perfect—for someone else.

“The man is freaking gorgeous, this is so not fair,” she muttered to herself as she threw a mental hissy fit.

“Whatcha looking at, Emery?” Molly teased.

Emery whipped her head around to see the shit-eating grin on Molly’s face.

“What?” Sucking in a breath, she knew she’d been busted staring. She only hoped Molly hadn’t heard her talking to herself. “Nothing.”

Heat burned her cheeks, and Emery prayed a giant sinkhole would crack the concrete floor of the stadium they were in and swallow her whole.

“He’s pretty handsome, huh? Especially if you’re the type to like a southern accent.” Molly nudged Emery’s arm.

It was one thing to be teased for being caught in an embarrassing scenario, it was an entirely different thing to follow Molly down her path to a match made in heaven.

“Oh, no
, no, no. Don’t go there, Molly. Uh-uh.” Emery shook her head. “We are business only.”

“But my cowboy is so cute, and he’s a great guy.”

Molly’s name was called out in greeting, and with a quick wave, she turned back to Emery still smiling like a fat, happy cat.

Skeptical but amused, Emery rais
ed her eyebrow. “Your cowboy?” Emery let the visualization slide into place, a wicked little grin appeared at the picture in her mind.

Well
, crap.

That was going to make getting to sleep a hell of a lot harder later on—or maybe more interesting. He was yummy enough in riding gear, but remembering how he looked in casual clothes the night before had her pulse speeding up. The well-loved, well-fitted jeans, simple plain t-shirt, and abu
sed brown cowboy boots flashed “cowboy” in neon lights for any woman with an active libido to swarm to. He was the epitome of the word cowboy, all right. Emery blew out a breath trying to erase last night’s memory of him.

“I’ve called him that since I met him.”

“Yeah, well, sorry. Business only.”

With a slight tilt of her head, Emery
raised her eyebrows in a silent but gentle warning not to push the subject. A few seconds passed, and she couldn’t contain it anymore. Emery gave in and confessed the obvious truth aloud.

“Okay—fine. I’ll admit it. He is a good looking man, huh?”

Molly’s face lit up. “Yep.”

Emery saw the hopeful look of a matchmaker on Molly’s face. She dismissed the idea, hoping Molly would too. They started walking toward Jesse’s rig, making idle conversation.

“Hey, Emery, are you feeling all right?” Molly asked casually.

Emery jerked to a stop. “Yeah, why?”

She knew her dad would take one look at her and start in on her again if Molly could tell, and they’d just met. As much as she loved the man, subtle was not a word her father knew the meaning of. After the morning’s debacle, she could only assume the worst would be waiting for her.

“You just look really pale. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m always pale in the winter.”

“It just looks like you don’t feel well.”

“I’m fine, Molly. I was just up late last night. Don’t worry about it,” she said, trying desperately to convince her new friend. “Okay?”

“Yeah, try again.” Molly put her arm around her waist as they walked up to the first bike in the neat row with Reid and Jesse standing beside it discussing the track.

“Damn it, Em, you look like shit.” Reid crossed his arms and shook his head.

She’d been right. This was worse than the last time. While the early morning’s confrontation with her dad had only been in front of Jesse, now it was almost lunchtime and the entire team, plus Molly, were present. Not that the other riders and mechanics behind them could probably hear with all the activity that was going on and with one of the lites bikes running, but still. Even with the sound of metal against metal a
nd engines revving, it was still embarrassing.

Emery put her hand up. “Don’t.” She turned to Molly. “Does your dad tell you that you look like shit when you walk up?”

Molly snorted. “I wish I was that lucky. He would just as soon chase me around and hold me down to tickle me to death, or worse, tickle me until I’m about to make me pee my pants.”

Jesse started cracking up.

“Bite me, Cowboy, you’re always in on it, too, you big brat.”

Jesse stuck his tongue out at Molly, who in return
, flipped him off. Emery covered her mouth so neither saw her laugh. Her dad, on the other hand, shook his head like he’d given up trying to make little children behave. She stole a sideways glance at Jesse, who was grinning like a fool. The amusement lit up his eyes along with the a gleam that was pure wicked. That was a bad sign all by itself, but he added in that crooked grin directed at her, and Emery knew she was in big trouble.

Molly looked back at Emery. “Just a quick lesson on our little family tree we’ve got goin
g here. Jesse, Eli, and Carter are like brothers. And my dad is…well, let’s say calling him an overprotective control freak is an understatement. We have a fairly large property up in Pennsylvania. I made the mistake of making Jesse and Eli drive up to stay with us there during the off-season. Now my dad has convinced both of them, and my husband, to buy some of his property and build up there just so he can keep me close to home.”

Emery blinked twice, before her eyebrow went up slowly in disbelief. She shook her head, but no words came out. Her dad started laughing, and she knew why. Emery had accused him of being overprotective on more than one occasion, but Molly’s
father had just won grand prize in the category, making her dad look like a cream puff.

“And get this
...when we’re home, he does nothing but tease and torture me, and now he has three extra ‘sons’ in addition to my brother to help him.”

Carter walked up behind Molly and put his arms around her waist. “There you are, Gorgeous. I’ve been looking for you. Hey, Emery. How’s it going? Frost being good to you?”

Emery glanced at Jesse before turning back to answer Carter, just as Molly turned around in his arms and rose up on her tip toes to kiss him.

Jesse nudged Emery’s arm. “You’ll have to get used to that.”

Emery tried her best to hold in the chuckle threatening to escape at Molly’s expense after seeing the pink flash in her new friend’s cheeks.

“Come on, Gorgeous, lunch time.” Carter began to walk, pulling Molly’s hand along.

“Emery, come eat lunch with me,” Molly said, squealing loudly as Carter picked her up and carried her toward their motorhome.

Emery let out the laughter she’d been holding in. “Okay. I want to hate her because she’s absolutely beautiful. But I just can’t, she’s so damn funny. She’s just adorable.”

“You’re not the only one. Most everyone around here has fallen in love with her.” Reid smiled. “I told you last night you two would get along. And you think I’m bad as an overprotective father? She’s not exaggerating. I’ve been around James, her dad. Especially after everything that went on last season, he’s something else, but I can’t blame the man.”

Emery watched her dad’s smile fade. The reprieve she thought she’d been granted had expired the moment Carter carried off Molly. For some reason, unbeknownst to her, her dad didn’t feel the need to keep their private life from Jesse. She, however, did not feel the same way. They may have some special father-son bond or whatever, but she didn’t give a shit. Emery didn’t want her secrets aired in front of anyone—period.

“I didn’t say much a few minutes ago, but since it’s just the three of us again, you really do look bad, Em. You’re really pale.”

Emery dropped her head back, looking up at the gray concrete ceiling for a second, before closing her eyes and praying for the patience to not kill him. “Dad, please just stop. I’m fine. When’s practice?”

“George said he’d let him on at twelve-thirty, just because of you.” He raised his eyebrow at Emery. “Nice change of subject, but this conversation isn’t over.”

“It never is,” she smarted back and pretended to glance down at her watch. She knew how much time she had, but she needed the next twenty-five minutes to hurry up. She was still tired, but more than anything, she was tired of her father’s need to be constantly looking over her shoulder.

~

Reid and Emery stood together in the dirt on the entrance end of the track watching Jesse. They didn’t have unlimited time to spend. They’d been given special access, thanks to George, but the dozers were chomping at the bit to put the finishing touches on
the track and smooth out the lines Jesse was laying down. A few vendor signs still needed to be hung around the stadium, and the pyro guys were waiting to finish setting up. Emery checked her watch again, wanting to squeak out every last minute George said they could have.

She pointed a few things out to her dad as Jesse went through the whoops section and over jumps, but mainly she studied Jesse and listened to the bike. The results she was seeing made the all-nighter with the bike well worth it. Watching the ma
n riding wasn’t a hardship, either. Too bad she wasn’t interested.

Or, couldn’t be interested in him, to be more accurate.

Her grandpa had always told her things worked out the way they were supposed to. Well, how in the hell did her having to work with a gorgeous and available man who was seemingly interested in her fit that old saying? Because right now, it seemed like she had done something to royally piss off that karma bitch—and the bitch was having the last laugh. Emery let out a frustrated breath as the smoking-hot man rode toward her.

God, this hurts so damned much.

Taking in a shallow breath, she pushed the past back where it belonged and felt the wall around her to make sure it was still intact. Jesse went high on the berm sending chunks of dirt their way.

“Shithead,” she muttered.

Emery could have screamed at the top of her lungs, he still wouldn’t have heard her, but she felt better calling him a name anyway. It hadn’t been hard enough to really roost them, he was just being playful. Another pang hit her. After three more laps, Emery signaled that it was time, and Jesse came off the track, pulled off his goggles, and hung them from his handlebars. Still straddling the bike, he turned to her. “What did you do to my bike?”

“You mean my bike?”

“Fine. Our bike.”

Emery raised her eyebrow at him. “Okay, our bike…I fixed it.”

Reid smiled at Jesse. “What’d I tell you, Jess?”

“You said she was the best in the business.”

Jesse smiled, and even with his helmet on, she could see it reach his eyes. In just the little time she’d spent around him, she knew his mouth would have a crooked grin on it and he’d look hot and adorable at the same time. She turned around and started walking out of the stadium, ignoring both men.

“So really, Em, what did you do?” he asked as he slipped off the bike and began pushing it off the track.

“Frost, there are about seven or eight hours’ worth of changes I made to that bike. Is it running better or not?” He didn’t answer so she glanced over at him pushing the bike. “Well?”

The devilish smirk he pinned her with was one of promises. The kind she couldn’t accept, but her pulse didn’t seem to be on the same page.

“Yeah, Em, it’s perfect.”

Reid nudged his daughter. “Don’t look so smug.”

Swallowing hard, she grabbed the humor her dad threw her like a lifeline. Breaking his eye contact, Emery threw up a shoulder. “Sorry. It gets hard being this good.”

“Oh, lord, girl. Let’s not forget who taught you everything you know.”

“Yeah…grandpa.” She grinned at her dad’s open mouth.

“Grandpa, my Irish ass. Me. I taught you everything you know.” He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close. “Everything, girl, and don’t you forget that.”

Back on concrete, the bike rolled a lot easier. Maneuvering it through the maze of rigs, Jesse watched where he was going, but he paid close attention to the father-daughter duo. Glancing their way every few seconds, it warmed his heart to see her and her dad laughing and joking around. In that brief moment with her father, she had let her guard down, and Jesse got a glimpse of the real woman. The sparkle in her green eyes shone brighter than anything he’d ever seen, and the dimples made her…perfect.

“Now who’s being smug?” she joked back.