Jesse's Soul (2) (35 page)

The emotions running over his friend and boss’s face elicited a second beat of sweat to hurry behind the first.

“Son, I won’t keep you in suspense.” Reid got up. Jesse followed suit only to be grabbed and taken into a tight bear hug. “Yes, you can marry her. I’m so happy for you two.” Reid patted his back hard as Jesse took a deep breath. “You’re acting all nervous, boy, what’d you think I’d say, no or something?”

Jesse shook his head. “No. But still, it’s like I’m taking your baby.”

“Yeah, but she’s happy, and I know you’ll take care of her, so that’s okay.”

“That I will do. I promise you, friend.”

A full inning played out on the TV before either spoke again, except to cheer or cuss the TV. At a commercial break, Reid snorted. “Oh, and Jess.”

Jesse saw the older man’s face turn wickedly ornery. He knew from experience that whatever was coming was going to be funny as all hell, but totally vicious. Since he was the only other one in the room, the target was obvious. With a raised eyebrow, Jesse waited.

“Em told me why Ally was coming to see you race. What’s that like? You know…seeing her with a rider?”

He was good. He’d give the man credit, he hadn’t seen that one coming.

His tongue was in his cheek, trying like hell not to laugh. “Well played, Kincaid. Well played.”

“Oh, I think it’s pretty damn funny myself, seeings t
he shoe’s on the other foot, so to speak.” Reid slapped his own thigh as he started to laugh.

He had nothing. Reid was right. The man had to stand by and watch his only daughter chased
, by him—a rider. He could only sit there with his lips pursed, trying not to add to Reid’s satisfaction by laughing.

“You’re real funny…for an old guy.”

The smirk on Reid’s face told him that he was enjoying Jesse’s embarrassment and stress over Ally a little too much. He flipped Reid off, only to have his boss laugh so hard tears were streaming down his face and he started to choke on the swig of beer he had just taken.

“Ha.” Jesse pointed at him. “That’s what you get old man. Karma.”

“Boys. Behave.”

Jesse and Reid both turned to see Emery behind them, standing in her thick, light blue bathrobe, her hair in wet waves, and her hands on her hips. Jesse blew her a kiss
, and she shook her head, turning away. But not before he saw the pride on her face.

~

When he was younger, Jesse never gave that much thought to
time
. It was one of those things older people talked about, time flying and disappearing in the blink of an eye. But there he was, walking his bike back from the track toward their designated spot in the pits, the love of his life beside him and thinking just that.

The season had been the best and the worst of his life. Emery had fallen into his life, his racing had never been better, to which he credited her, but those first couple of months, fighting to win her over
, and then fighting to keep her, both with her health and her stubborn streak, had changed him. Those days seemed to drag on and on, now looking back, those months had passed by quicker than one lap around a dirt track.

He had always strived to be a good person, mature and respectable, even though he’d be
en a paid professional athlete starting at a young age. Jesse, Eli and Carter had always joked that they’d grown up rolling down the highway. It was true. They’d hit all the major milestones of their late teens and early twenties while traveling. Now he knew age was nothing when it came to being grown up. It was how a person handled that thing called
life
that proved everything.

The night she’d first laid it all out for him, and when he held her unconscious in his arms with her head bleeding, then when he sat in a doctor’s offic
e with her tucked under his arm, and when he’d fought with his entire being to keep her from walking away—those were the things that had changed his life. Those moments made him feel like a different man. He could win every championship out there, it would still never compare to winning Emery’s heart and soul.

Jesse set the bike on the stand after qualifying and took off his gloves as Emery was putting hers on. Glancing over at him, she had a wistful look across her face.

“I have to tell you, these last couple of races, I am really missing my brother.”

“I know. I’d gotten used to him being around on the weekends too. He’s a neat guy.”

“Yeah, Riley’s a great guy, but he’s also a great mechanic. I got spoiled with him around.”

“It just means you’re feeling better, which is all I care about.” Still careful about public displays of affection in front of her team, even after all the weeks that had turned to months together, and with the championship race just hours away, Jesse only leaned in to kiss her cheek.

However, he allowed himself to linger there, smelling her perfume. Using her to help keep himself calm, keeping his mind on her instead of the race. Backward to everyone else in the racing world, but it worked for him. The races he’d done really well in were the ones where she’d been on his mind instead of the pressure of needing to win. It was her instead of the factory that he concentrated on, it was her instead of the podium that he pictured. It was her that allowed him to block out everything and just ride. And when he was able to
just ride
—he won.

“I love you, Em,” he whispered, stroking her opposite cheek with his thumb.

Emery looked up to him with her soft smile and mouthed the words back to him.

Jesse pulled up a chair close to his bike so he could chat with her while she was changing the oil, making last minute changes based on what she saw on the track, and adding more gas for the night’s upcoming race. It had become their routine. He rode with her watching his every lap, then brought the bike back to her in the pits and sat close by as she worked on it. Then together they ended up on the podium week after week.

“I can’t believe what a difference a few weeks makes. You’re really perking up, baby. You’ve got color back in your cheeks, and I’ve noticed you don’t have near as many dizzy spells.”

“Yeah, I’m getting there. I think by the end of the summer, I may even be back to normal.” Emery snickered to herself. “Scary thought for you, huh, honey? I owe your mom everything, Jesse. She was the one who figured out what the damn doctors couldn’t.”

Emery looked up from the bike, a tiny smear of oil on her cheek and winked. “Well…and you, Jesse.” Even with the noise of the other men and bikes, she lowered her voice. “You saved my life.”

Jesse leaned forward in his chair, closer to her on her stool. Smiling, he lovingly wiped the oil off her face with his thumb. “Honey, I think we saved each other’s lives. I needed you way more than you’ll ever know. I love you more than anything.” He leaned in to kiss just the corner of her lips. Emery smiled and went back to what she was doing. Jesse sat back in his chair, putting his feet up on her tool table, his legs crossed at the ankles. “Hey, Em, we really need to decide on the cabinet
s. Oh, and the lighting.”

At first Emery had trouble making decisions on what she, in her mind kept thinking of, as
his
house. But Jesse had finally broken down all her walls and washed away all her insecurities. Now the two of them had fun with it. It would be a whole lot easier to build a house when they were there to walk through it and see the progress in person, but James and Karen had taken on that burden for all three houses. James designed all three, so he knew the structures intimately, and he worked with the contractors to have them all completed by the end of the season, or as close to it as possible.

Plus, when he called needing decisions, he asked the right questions so they understood what he was saying, and the work had continued efficiently. Karen had taken to being their photographer, constantly sending updated pictures to their emails. Now Jesse and Emery, Molly and Carter, and Eli spent hours meeting up in the pits, comparing pictures and asking opinions of each other and the group around them about bathtubs, paint colors, and any other decisions that needed to be made. The three houses had become a group project, and everyone was excited to see them completed in person.

“Cabinet color? That’s huge, Jesse. I mean, it’s the kitchen, we’ll probably spend most of our time there. I don’t know. What were you thinking?”

“I’m thinking we’ll spend
way more time in the bedroom.” He winked, seeing the pink on her cheeks. “But I love Karen’s kitchen, and I love your kitchen at your dad’s house, they’re both darker. I’d have to say I’d go with the cherry.”

“I guess it’s big and open enough, it won’t feel closed in and dark in there.”

“Oh, no, not at all. Plus that whole one wall will be windows, don’t forget. And it’s all open to the family room, just one huge room really, so it’ll be all right.”

“Yeah. It’s just hard to picture it without actually being in it.”

“Well, how about I tell you I made a decision without you.”

“Cool. What’s that?”

“Your oven.”

That got her attention, and her head cocked to the side and she pinned him with a warning stare. “Jesse?”

He grinned proudly of himself, then wiggled his eyebrows. “Yep.”

“
No
.”

“Sorry. Already got it and cabinets are adjusted to accommodate it. Just need to pick a stain.”

“Jesse, I was teasing.”

Her desperation was cute, and his grin widened. “I wasn’t.”

“It’s a freaking
Wolf
.”

“Yep.”

“That isn’t necessary. You call James and fix this, right now.”

“Nope.” He shook his head smiling.

It was just one of the things she threw out one night in bed when they were discussing dream options for the house weeks ago. But he’d remembered it and wanted it for her.

“You love to cook, you’re good at it, and we’ll have family in and out of there all the time.” Jesse leaned forward so the other guys couldn’t hear their future plans. “Plus, Em, when the school gets going and I retire, we’ll probably end up
having kids stay with us pretty frequently.”

Emery smiled
, and it melted his heart to make her happy.

“Thank you, Jesse. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know, Em, but I love you.”

“I hope the school takes off.”

She had gotten involved with the planning and was just as excited as the rest of their friends, each of them designing elements into their homes for future houseguests. But Jesse and Emery had devoted the entire basement level of their house to kids, with three bedrooms and two full baths. The rooms were all off the main space where the TV would go, along with Wii and Xbox, and still had space enough to have a pool table, a foosball table, and various other things for the teens to do while away from home.

These boys and girls would be
their kids
, and he planned on letting her spoil them as much as she wanted. When they talked about the house while lying in bed at night, the kids’ area was what they both get the most excited about.

The two leaned in closely to each other, but were still sitting. Jesse could see the light in her eyes as they talked. He winked at her and was just about to lean in and discreetly kiss her again, when they heard Lance call her name. Emery stifled a giggle and turned to the lites rider as Jesse squeezed her thigh.

She listened for a second. “Be right there.”

Emery walked to Lance’s bike at the end of the row. Lance had really taken to Nick and trusted him, but always seemed to have the need to run big changes past Emery. Jesse smiled to himself, watching her head nod as she looked between Lance and Nick, then pointing out something on the throttle. She grinned and
nodded her head, then patted Lance on the arm.

With no warning at all, and in front of the entire team, Lance grabbed her by the upper arms, pulled her close, and kissed her. Jesse’s eyes were as round as plates with his jaw on the ground. Emery stood motionless as Lance’s sanity snapped back into place.

“Oh my God, Emery. Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” Lance’s breathing made his panic apparent. “I’m so sorry.” Then with the apology desperately said once more, he took off.

Neither jealousy nor possessiveness piqued in Jesse, and when Emery glanced his direction, he gave her a cringed, sympathetic smile. She closed her eyes, dropped her head, and hollered Lance’s name. She opened her eyes, pointed at the rest of the men watching the whole scene play out, and she warned them not to say one word.

“Lance, come here.” She headed off in the direction he’d headed to look for him. “Lance, I feel better, but I’m sure as hell not running after you. Come back.”

With the trailer door open, Reid stepped down the steps and over to Jesse. “What’s going on?” He looked behind him. “Why’s she yelling at Lance?”

“She’s not yelling at him, she’s yelling for him.”

“And?”

Jesse shook his head, feeling heat spread across his face for Lance’s predicament. “She was talking to him and Nick about his bike and, out of nowhere, he just planted one on her.”