Jesse's Soul (2) (3 page)

Jesse stared, stunned. After a long minute, he slowly nodded his head,
rendered speechless by her.

“So, what’s it going to be? You decide right now.”

He was still gaping at her, but during this whole speech she had given, he hadn’t noticed he was still holding her hand and his grip had gotten tighter.

“You and me together? Or do you like fifth place?”

The confident little shrug she gave him after the smack down she’d delivered could have come across as smug to some. It made his breath hitch.

Jesse stood stoc
k still, unable to tear his eyes away from Emery.

He could not figure out what had just hit him. He was mesmerized by her green eyes, and at the same time, he was completely taken
—and terrified by her personality. Eli and Molly were snickering behind him. Jesse could hear them, but couldn’t break the trance he’d slipped into in her presence.

Jesse was just making his way back to the surface. Having spent what felt like a lifetime dreaming of a girl he’d placed on a pedestal only to have his heart crushed, had almost destroyed him.

He had never been a player, didn’t sleep around, didn’t act the part of a celebrity athlete. His old soul really just longed for a connection—a connection that would last a lifetime. Traveling as he did for his career, Jesse had started to become disheartened that he might never find her.

Until seven months ago when Izzy had caught up with him, and he thought his prayers had been answered. His long-time high school crush had finally noticed him. He tried not to entertain the thought that it took the money and the fame to make it happen.

Back then, he had never made it past just being a crush. He had barely even spoken to her. The few sideways glances she graced him with in the hallways of their high school had been the extent of their relationship. After graduation, Jesse worked up the courage to call her a couple of times, only to find that the prom queen was always “out.”

Looking back, he had always wondered if he simply just wasn’t good enough.

He wasn’t from the wrong side of the tracks, just not the country club side. He’d been a cute guy in high school, maybe not what Izzy considered hot at the time, but not a frog. Jesse had been the quiet boy who missed a lot of school, but he didn’t have to worry about rumors because in their speck of a tiny town everyone knew he was a racer.

Even with his amateur career taking off at the time, he never
had the confidence to be cocky—he was just the “good guy.” Izzy’s circle never let her get close enough to find that out though. He wasn’t as low on the totem pole as the druggies that hung out behind the field house, but he wasn’t as supreme as a jock by any means. At least not in the eyes of their small Texas town where football was second only to God and Sunday service. He was an athlete that trained harder than any Friday night beer-drinking jock in the school, but no one knew him well enough to give a damn.

The reality of what Izzy had done to him months ago hit him square upside the head. So blinded by the bling and shine that she adorned herself with, Jesse hadn’t been able to see beneath the cold exterior fast enough to protect his gentle heart.

Hearing she just wanted one last fling before she said “I do” to Mr. Right was a shot to his soul. Letting him in on her little secret of wanting to fuck a celebrity, as she had so eloquently put it, left him reeling. She had blown in like a tornado. Jesse was still trying to pick up the shattered pieces of his ego, his heart, and what little faith he had left that real love even existed. Had the arrogant words not fallen from her own mouth, he never would have believed another human being could be so callous. After getting dressed, Izzy had pulled the rock out of the front pocket of her jeans, and as he lay in his bed covered by only a sheet, he watched her slip it back on her left finger.

He wasn’t meant to be a part of that world, but having been party to cheating, even without his knowledge, made him want to throw up. Knowing he had been so stupid left him feeling disconnected and depressed. Jesse hadn’t dated another woman since, hadn’t veered from the daily routine of working hard enough that he didn’t have time to remember he was hurt. Completely numb, he had shut down and shut himself off, determined to not get close enough to the flame to be burned again.

But now? With…Emery?

One look in that pair of deep green eyes had his soul thawing. One touch of her hand and Jesse felt like he could breathe for the first time in seven months. One bite of the electricity between them brought to life a hunger he was positive had been buried for good.

Emery paused several seconds in silence before she went on, apparently waiting on him to answer.

If he hadn’t been frozen in place, he would have immediately replied. But as it was, all the blood in his head had drained southward, and the few remaining brain cells he had left weren’t working well enough for a coherent conversation, let alone a witty comeback to the gauntlet she’d thrown down.

“Tick tock, Jesse. If I’m staying, I have about eight hours’ worth of work that I’m going to do to that bike before I put you on it to practice tomorrow. It’s already seven. I need to know now what the hell you want to do.”

He finally blinked and grasped for the breath he wasn’t aware he’d held in. “I’m in, Emery. I’m in.”

“All right. I need to borrow you for about thirty minutes, then you can go back to what you’re doing.”

“Um. Okay? Well, um, don’t you want me to introduce you to everyone? Maybe you could hang out here with me, I mean us,” he rushed out the fix for his slip in words, “and well, just hang out.
”

Jesse had gone from completely panicked about losing Shawn, to a bumbling, turned-on idiot in about three minutes flat. This had to be one of the best first impressions he’d ever made.

Crap.

So much for smooth. Instead he felt like the shy boy of his younger years, the awkward teen that rarely dared to make eye contact with a girl in school.

She looked at her dad. He could only guess for reassurance, possibly?

Turning back to him, she rolled her eyes. “
I’ll let you introduce everyone…if you’ll let go of my hand. But then I have to get to work.”

Jesse felt his face flame red instantly. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing through his nerves. All his friends stood up
, and he introduced them one by one. Molly stood waiting by Carter, but he could see her uncontrollable smile.

“And this is Carter and Molly Sterling. I’ve raced with Carter and Eli since we were kids. And Molly is in our opening ceremonies. She’s amazing. Wait till you see her this weekend.”

“I’ve seen you, Molly. You are awesome.” She shrugged at his silent question. “I flew in for the race in Houston last year to see Reid.”

“Isn’t he your dad?” Eli raised his eyebrow in confusion.

“Not here.” She shook her head. “Here, we just have the same last name.”

Jesse saw Reid roll his eyes and shake his head from behind her. It was
funny, but there was no way on earth Jesse would laugh.

“If you were in
Houston, how come I didn’t meet you?” Jesse’s head fell slightly to the side with his question as he tried to remember the day of that particular race.

“I wasn’t there to meet you.”

“Oh snap, Jess. You’re going to do just fine here, Emery.” Molly hugged her. “You let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“Thanks, Molly.” Emery quickly disengaged and rolled her shoulders. “Now, can I have a few minutes of your time?” she asked Jesse.

It wasn’t hard to see she felt awkward and out of place. A piece of him went out to her. “Yeah. Let me go get something from D’s motor home.”

He saw the confusion wash over her.

“Who’s D?”

Molly gave an embarrassed shake of her head, grinning. Moving closer to her, Jesse squeezed Molly into his side. “Molly is D, it’s her nickname. Can I go get my brownies?” he asked her sheepishly.
“I think I really need them.” He threw a nervous, but hopeful smile at Emery. “You like chocolate?”

Reid laughed out loud for the first time. “Son, you’ve just found one of her weaknesses, there. You might actually get her to like you.”

“D?” he asked, his fingers clasped together in front of his chest begging for help in keeping the chocolate coming.

“If you think I’m going to bake constantly, just so you can bribe her to like you, what the hell do I get in return?” Molly asked with her hand on her hip and one eyebrow raised.

He gave her a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek. “My undying gratitude.”

Wiping the excess spit off the side of her face, she protested, “Ew. You got slobber all over me, gross. And by the way, friend, it doesn’t mean as much if she knows you’re trying to buy her affection, and I’m the one supplying you with the chocolate,” Molly said through her stifled giggling as she wiped her hand off on his shirt.

He just grinned at her and continued to silently beg.

Molly shook her head. “You’re spoiled rotten, Cowboy.”

A tinge of embarrassment marked his cheeks. Normally, he would be quite proud to admit the fact she’d stated. Normally, he wasn’t standing in front of a woman he cared enough about, to be embarrassed. Shrugging, he tried to hold in his nervous chuckle.

“I know.”

“I’m heading to the rig. It was nice to meet you all,” Emery said with a quick wave and turned to walk away with her dad.

Eli feigned fear, the over-exaggerated shiver made Jesse smirk. “She’s scary.”

Jesse nodded his head in agreement.

Molly smiled knowingly
and then answered, “No Jesse…she’s the one!”

Jesse felt the force of Molly’s words like a two-ton truck. The air that left his lungs in a
swoosh
left his mouth gaping open.

Oh my God.

He watched her nod as he stood thunderstruck.

“Go get your brownies.”

Molly was right. He had felt it with every fiber of his being. He blinked once as he continued to stare at Molly’s smiling face.

Chapter T
wo

Jesse got up early Friday morning before anyone but Molly would be awake. He snickered to himself, knowing she was running the track.

Like a damn crazy person.

He headed to his semi so he could be there waiting, ready to work when Emery arrived. After spending a little bit of time with her last night, he realized she wasn’t as intimidating as she first seemed. Just very focused and driven
, traits he could both relate to and respect. And it didn’t hurt any that she was absolutely beautiful.

As he walked closer, he saw she was already there sitting outside the trailer in a chair, but her head was down, resting in her hand.

“Emery?” he whispered, once he was close enough to realize she was sound asleep.

Guilt set in as he squatted down in front of her and gently laid his hand on her thigh. The jeans she wore must have been well-loved. They were soft and thin enough to feel her heat through them.

“Emery, honey.”

She didn’t open her eyes, but rubbed her forehead, her voice quiet and exhausted, “Jesse, is that you? What time is it?”

“Six-thirty. Did you stay up all night?” Leftover mascara was smeared underneath her eyes, and at some point, she had pulled her hair up into a bun of some sorts, but over the course of the night, it had loosened to the point of almost falling out.

“You did, didn’t you?”

He had a pretty good feeling she’d curse him for saying so, but she looked as beautiful as she did when they’d met last night.

“I sat down at four-something. I must have fallen asleep.” She didn’t lift her head from her hand, but she opened her very tired eyes to look at him. “What are you doing up here so early, anyway?”

“I wanted to be here and ready when you got here. Apparently, that plan backfired, huh?”

He watched as she failed to stifle a yawn. “Honey, let’s get you to a bed. Where are you staying, with Reid?”

“Later. Do you know when you’re able to get on the track this morning?”

“Emery, honey, you need sleep.”

She rubbed both hands over her face, trying to wake herself up. “I’m fine. I just need some coffee.”

“You
need
a bed.”

“I
need
coffee. Please, Jesse, I’m fine.”

Her eyebrows were up in what he assumed was an attempt to open her eyes, but her eyelids hadn’t cooperated yet.

Feeling himself start to swell, Jesse looked down at his hand. He hadn’t noticed, but he had been unintentionally rubbing her thigh as they spoke—or argued—depending on how one wanted to look at it. Now, he was all sorts of uncomfortable. Standing quickly, he tried to casually adjust himself before she opened her eyes back up to catch him. The heat that had rushed through his system wasn’t dissipating fast enough. Even recalling elementary math facts wasn’t helping.

Jesse changed tactics.

“If you’re going to debate with me about needing sleep, then you’re coming with me.” He took her hands and pulled her up out of the chair.

“I’m not leaving, I’ve got—”

“Emery, stop. You’re taking a break…you’re coming with me. I’m taking you to my motorhome and I’m making you breakfast. I’ve got coffee and you need food.” Getting her upright, she stumbled. Grabbing her around the waist, he couldn’t help but notice how perfectly she fit his body, pressed side by side as they walked.

“I’m fine, Jesse. You don’t have t
o hang on to me. I can walk.”

Without acknowledging the point she had tried to make, he continued his hold as he guided her back toward the private area blocked
from the public where his motorhome was parked. Reaching up, he unlocked the door and then stepped aside for her to enter first.

“Oh, wow,” she said.

The astonishment was apparent in her tone and the matching wide eyes. Following her gaze, he quickly found the source.

Stepping inside, Emery toed the pile of dirty riding pants and jerseys left lying by the door out of her way. Motocross magazines covered the coffee table and one end of the couch. Forgotten empty water and Gatorade bottles sat here and there, and a small mountain of newspapers were strewn across
the small kitchen table. Otherwise, it could be considered at least halfway clean.

“Oh, crap. Sorry. I wasn’t expecting company.”

“It’s fine. I’m just teasing. It could be worse…you don’t have three feet of dirty dishes and old food lying out.”

“It’s clean, I promise. It’s just—”

“Jesse, relax.” She waved him off. “It’s only gear and magazines. It just struck me as funny this early in the morning.”

Jesse groaned to himself, mortified, as she began to stack the newspapers so she could sit at the small table. It was too late now. She’d witnessed the disaster zone, otherwise referred to as his home. “How strong do you like your coffee?”

“However you like it is fine. Do you happen to have cream and sugar?”

“I have sugar. I’ll run next door and get creamer…Mol will have it.”

“Oh, God no, Jesse, don’t wake them up. It’s fine, really.”

“Trust me, she’s up.”

“At six-thirty, for no reason?”

“She’s been up since at least four-thirty, if not a little earlier.”

“What the hell for?”

“She runs the track.”

“Oh my God. She’s an exercise freak, huh? I wondered how she stayed built like that. I noticed how beautiful she is, but she was so sweet and welcoming last night, I couldn’t help but like her.” Emery gave a barely there, half-asleep grin. “You’ll have to excuse me if I get a little envious of her.”

“I could see where other women could be jealous of Molly, but you’re beautiful, Emery. You have nothing to be jealous of.”

He looked over at her as he was opening the fridge and saw her roll her eyes at him.

“I’m serious. I think you’re beautiful. I love your eyes. Well, except when you roll them at me.” He chuckled as he caught her doing it again.

Everyone had little habits that made them unique. However, there was very little on the surface of Emery that he could define her by. From what he could tell, she was a strong and independent person, but other than her outside beauty and the constant eye-rolling, her cards were played so close Jesse couldn’t get past the poker face.

One thing was certain—
he wanted to know more.

She shook her head with an adamant warning. “Oh hell
no, we are so
not
going there,” she said yawning, as she rubbed her eyes and then left them shut.

Jesse felt a stab in his heart when Emery gave
up and laid her head in the crook of her arm on the table.

“I’m your mechanic,” she said, her words muffled into her arm. “You’re my rider. We can’t do boy-girl, Jesse. It won’t work.”

“I think you’d have to give it a shot before you say that. You haven’t even known me twenty-four hours yet. I might turn out to be a nice guy, Em.”

“You haven’t worked with me yet. I may turn out to be the
bitch
I’ve been told I am.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Talk to the guys in the trailer on Saturday night after the race.” She let out a halfhearted laugh. “They’ll all say it.”

“Race day is stressful. It is for all of us. That’s no reason to call someone a bitch.”

“Race day is stressful for the rest of you.” She looked up as he set the two plates of hot food on the table.

“I demand perfection of my team so it’s not stressful.” Her face went
serious. “Tools laid out in a certain order, parts in a certain order. Everything runs like I say. Most men can’t take being told what to do by a woman anyway, and when perfect order is demanded of them, they get a little pissy. Add to it the fact that I’m in a man’s world.” She shrugged her shoulders. “We have five mechanics on the team under me. We’ll have to replace two of them by May. Mark my words.”

Jesse frowned at her. He
’d never thought about it before, but he didn’t see what difference it made that she was a woman. During their conversation regarding the bike last night, it was plain to see she knew what she was doing. There wasn’t even an inkling of hesitation in his mind when it came to riding one of her bikes.

“Trust me.”

“You sound like you know from experience.”

Sliding the plate of food in front of her, it hit him. The first impression s
he had of him was just another “experience” she could add to the list of dealing with jackasses. Deflated and beating himself up, he headed for the door.

“I’ll be right back.” One foot resting
on the bottom of the two steps, he turned back to face her at the table. “Emery, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about what I said last night. I was upset and it was a knee-jerk response to the whole situation. I never meant to insinuate anything.” He paused, shaking his head. “Well...just…I’m sorry.”

Sheer exhaustion ma
de reading her face difficult. For a second it looked as if she was taken aback by his apology, or maybe it was the honesty it came with, but she waved it off.

“No apology necessary. We’re good, don’t worry.”

“Still…I think you’re great.” With his palm, he patted the door frame twice, then turned to step to the ground below.

Holding the powdered creamer up to show her, he tried to mask the sullen mood he’d fallen into. The grin he wore was forced, but she was tired enough
that hopefully she wouldn’t notice the change.

“Told ya.”

Jesse poured them each a cup of coffee, then sat down to eat, noticing she’d waited for him before she started. It was something simple that she would probably attribute to good manners, but it still touched him.

“So, where were we? Oh, so you think you’ll have to fire two guys
...really?”

“I don’t think. I know. I’ve worked on pro teams before.”

Closing his mouth around the forkful of food, he started to chew while he waited her out for more information. Keeping eye contact with her, he hoped she understood how intrigued he was to know more.

“I ran Riley’s bike.”

Thank God he had swallowed his food because his jaw fell open. “You were Riley’s mechanic? But he’s been retired for what, two or three years, right? You couldn’t have been very old when you started.”

“There were several mechanics on that team. I was in charge of Riley’s and then pitched in on the others when it got stressful. The manager figured out I was as good as Riley had told them, which went over really well with the rest of the men.” She snickered with a bite of food in her mouth and finished chewing. “Yeah, men don’t like me telling them what to do now...imagine what it was like when I was
eighteen
.” She let out a deep breath with an ornery smile on her face. “They were really happy men.”

Jesse could tell she took a little too much enjoyment in their misery, which for some reason, he got a kick out of. “But eighteen?”

“I started working on his bikes seriously when I was about twelve. From the time I was about fourteen or fifteen, Riley only let me touch his bikes. Dad or grandpa were there, but after a while, they knew I didn’t need the help. He went to Loretta Lynn’s seven times, which you of all people know how important that one particular race is. You do well at that Amateur National, and the right people start to talk about you. Win it, and you can write your own story. I took him through the last three of those trips and on up after he signed pro. We were a package deal.”

In awe, Jesse’s for
k stopped halfway to his mouth. “You knew how to take care of a bike when you were twelve? That’s freaking crazy. But when he went pro, what about the factory? They let an eighteen-year-old girl run his bike? I find that impossible to believe. Not that I don’t think you’re capable, just that they would even give you the chance. Wow, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound so surprised, it’s just…wow, I’ve just never heard of such a thing.”

“Like I said, we were a package deal. He didn’t give them a choice. The first factory wouldn’t accept me, so he passed. The second factory learned from their mistake.” She tipped her chin. “Everyone wanted him.”

“So how do you know so much about bikes?”

“Because, I’m a
Kincaid
, Jesse.”

He raised his eyebrow at her so she continued.

“The name means something on my side of motocross.”

“I know it does, but how’d you learn?”

“Generational. My grandpa raced stock cars, my dad raced motocross, and then Riley raced. When we were little and dad was still traveling as a pro, most of the time we stayed with my grandparents so grandpa could keep Riley racing back on the little 50’s. It didn’t matter if I was with dad or grandpa, I was in a shop. They taught Riley because they both believe you don’t ride something you can’t fix yourself, and they taught me because I was an extra set of hands. You teach a kid to ride a bike at four or five, why not teach me to work on them? And I was never a ‘play with dolls’ kind of girl. It felt normal to have a wrench in my hand. Then they figured out it came natural to me and I caught on very quickly.