Jesse's Soul (2) (12 page)

Standing, Jesse gently pulled her to her feet. Emery could tell he was afraid she’d probably pass out on him. He didn’t move. The warm arm around her waist kept her steady against his even warmer body. She would’ve liked to have said it wasn’t necessary. Honestly, she would
’ve liked to have pulled him even closer.

Instead, she stepped away.

“Hey, Dad, I had two mechanics approach me tonight about the open spot.”

“I know. I sent them your way.”

“I will not hire someone away from another team mid-season. I just…no. I won’t do it. Did they give you contact info?”

Reid nodded.

“Can you do me a favor and email them and have them send resumes, but feel free to tell them I won’t look at them until after Vegas. I don’t have a whole lot of respect for a person who would want to jump ship and leave their team in a lurch like that.”

“But, Em”—Jesse grinned—“I know this is none of my business, but it sounds like there are guys out there waiting for the chance to work with the two of you. They might be perfectly happy on their team, but they just saw the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Emery rolled her eyes and tried not to blush at the compliment.

In reality, she knew what other mechanics thought about her, not only her current guys, but throughout the industry, past and present. In this case, she could not care less, the truth didn’t hurt her. Emery knew she was hell on wheels, hard to please, hard to work for, a tad on the neurotic side and basically accepted nothing less than one hundred percent and then expected more.

But she was a winner.

The deep-seated need to live up to her last name and to keep her family’s reputation in the sport, nothing short of becoming legendary, drove her with a fire most people didn’t have. In all sports, nothing mattered at the end of the day except the win-loss ratio. Losing didn’t make a legend and legends weren’t losers.

Doing her best to keep her Irish temper in check was a regular challenge, but she had an Irish heart that was full of compassion. Riders were her world, feeling every win, every loss, every scare, close call, adrenaline rush, and every bit of excitement they did. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for any of the riders she worked with and, from what she could tell, they knew it. If others around became collateral damage at times, well so be it. She knew what she was doing. They could either help or move the hell out of the way.

“You think you’re just so smart, huh?”

Jesse moved toward the trailer doors and held his hand out for hers. “Yep.” He winked. “I am. Come on, honey, let’s go get your work done.”

She stood still, looking him in the eye for several seconds. She glanced down at the hand he held out, then back to his eyes, and drew in a deep breath. Her eyes darted between the two, hesitation lingered because she knew his gesture was nowhere near as simple as it appeared. Jesse didn’t even bother to hide the shit-eatin
g grin that came across his face.

That ass.

It was one of those
he knew she knew
situations. Emery wasn’t born yesterday, and Jesse was easy to read. The man was as transparent as glass. He was in on her internal war, and it was obvious he could tell she was really struggling to keep some distance between them. Twenty-four hours ago, she would have rolled her eyes by now and walked past him, probably smarting off to him on the way, or telling him
no, that’s personal
. But now, judging by his smile, he could tell she was starting to cave, just an inch, and maybe even starting to like him, just a little.

He leaned against the door frame and kept one hand, outstretched and waiting. “Come on, Em,” he teased, the lopsided cocky grin making him all the m
ore appealing, “it won’t kill you to hold my hand.”

The man was so sexy it should have been illegal to look like that. She couldn’t think straight. She wasn’t sure how much of that was from exhaustion and how much was from the sin in
riding pants baiting her.

Emery cringed when she heard her dad’s laughter in the background, her cheeks instantaneously flamed.

“You butt.” She walked past his outstretched hand toward the doors, throwing an elbow at his hand on the way. “Sorry, buddy, you just blew it.”

“That’s all right. I got your smile instead. Dimples and all.” He wiggled his eyebrows in an apparent victory in his mind.

Damn dimples
.

She rolled her eyes and pursed her lips as she tried to make her smile disappear, well aware that her scrunched up face made her look like an unrepentant kindergartener. Jesse finding humor at her expense made her want to smack him, but him being able to find her brand of humor funny made her want to take that hand he was still holding out and pull him close and never let go.

Jesse reached out and stopped her. “Hey, just a second before we go out with the other guys, I wanted to tell you something.”

She tipped her face up to meet his gaze. The laughter that crinkled the corners of his eyes and mouth vanished. His whole demeanor went
deadpan, and she froze. Without a trace of emotion on his face, Emery couldn’t decipher what direction he was turning.

He’s done.

In that split-second, hatred swept through, burning her from the inside out. That was Collin. Telling herself that Jesse wasn’t Collin pushed the thought away enough to focus on the man in front of her, but not far enough that she didn’t berate herself. She was never that girl before. Worrying about what a guy thought or if he cared. She’d been too self-confident to ever have thoughts like that cross her mind. She hated Collin for making her that way. Yeah, she recovered, but it was that knee-jerk response that was now part of her.

Stilling her mind, she waited for his words.

“What you did earlier tonight for Lance, that was amazing. I’m so impressed with how you handled the whole thing. And I really appreciate it, too. He’s a good kid, and he’s still scared. He’s young, it’s his first time away from home, and to be in this type of stressful environment…well, thank you. I know you have a fan for life—he’s already told several of the other lites boys about it.”

Hoping the sound of the air leaving her wasn’t discernible, she mumbled the first thing that came to mind. “It was nothing.”

“It was everything.”

“Really, Jesse. It was nothing.”

“Emery, I’ve worked with your dad for over four years. He’s the reason I’ve stayed on this team. I was brought up the same way, with the same work ethic and values. He treats our mechanics and riders like family, and we work together to win races. Not all managers do that. You did the same thing tonight, and it was a big deal. You are the best mechanic I’ve ever met, and you could have come in here this weekend and been hell on wheels with an attitude problem a mile wide because you know you’re that good. But you’re your father’s daughter, and you’ve been taught how to work on bikes and how treat people. Why do you think those other boys want to work for you? It’s not just because you know what you’re doing. It’s because you were right—the Kincaid name means something. Tonight just proved it again.”

She gave him a sheepish smile, touched, but embarrassed by the attention, and looked over at her dad. She could see his eyes glistening from a couple of tears, his Irish emotion getting the best of him.

She turned back to Jesse. “Thank you. But we are a team, a family. That’s just the way we do things around here, huh, Dad?”

“That’s right, Em. And Jesse’s right about tonight. Your grandpa is going to be very proud of you, young lady.”

That made her smile again. “All right, Jesse, let’s see if we can’t teach you how I keep my tools.”

She started to open the doors, but paused and looked up at the man who was getting harder and harder to keep at arm’s length. “Thank you.” Her voice grew quieter. “That was very sweet, what you said about my family.”

Jesse put his hand behind her neck and gave her the sweetest smile. “I meant every word, Emery.” Then he leaned in and kissed her forehead.

Her eyes closed
, and her stomach dropped almost as fast as her heart. The man could set her on fire with the lightest of touches. It burned so bad. Every touch, every innocent kiss he laid on her, hurt so bad she wanted to cry. Any woman in her right mind could see he was interested in her. She wasn’t stupid. No, she was the exact opposite. She was being smart. She was protecting them both. She had to. He deserved that.

Chapter S
ix

Staring off into space wasn’t something Emery normally allowed herself to do. Over the last couple of years, that had been a dangerous thing and a quick way to end up in fetal position scared to death, or more accurately, about death.

A combination of the tranquil scenery around the southern
California track and the fatigue she couldn’t shake had her fighting to keep her eyes open. The weather was beautiful and with the warm sun shining down on them, she was about to lose that fight. Emery pretended, at least to herself, that it was necessary that she stand there checking out the track and the conditions of it for Jesse’s sake. She had wandered roughly fifteen feet away from her workspace, and she needed to get back, however, her feet remained planted by the fence surrounding the private track.

The south side was tree
lined and the gentle slope of the hill made it easy to see over the property for what seemed like miles. A light breeze blew through, and she brushed her bangs out of her eyes. She stacked her arms on the railing and rested her chin on top, breathing in the fabric softener from the sleeves of her favorite sweatshirt. Feeling Jesse before she ever heard him, Emery stood back up. Without needing to turn around to see if he was close, she spoke.

“I haven’t ever been to this track before. It’s really pretty here. I like all the trees. I bet during the spring it’s gorgeous.” Emery continued to look out over the horizon. It was so peaceful. It reminded her of home.

“You’re a sucker for a pretty landscape, huh, Em?”

She shrugged. “Yeah.”

Emery hadn’t really ever thought about it, but yeah, she was. She didn’t like the busy city rush. She liked to move at a slower pace. She was a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl, and although she wouldn’t tell Jesse just yet, she too owned several pairs of boots. Growing up in Oklahoma, a girl had to. Sort of like heels in New York City and bikinis in Hawaii.

Jesse closed the distance between them and pressed a palm to her lower back. “You’d love the piece of land I bought from James.”

Sparks shot down her arms and legs at the contact. Panic made her legs move, turning around with a half-smile, she froze seeing his bare chest. Every defined cut was a mere inch away, so close she could kiss his skin without hardly moving. Gasping, she blinked and swiftly made her way back to the safety of her workspace, and then his words struck her. Looking down at her table she’d temporarily set her most used tools on, she busied herself as Jesse once again came to her. Not knowing what to do with that statement, Emery changed the subject.

“It’s really nice of all these people to let you use their private tracks to practice in between cities.”

“Yeah, I don’t know how Reid comes up with them all, but we always have several we can stop at on our way. I know most teams make their riders fly back and forth between the private factory facilities and the races, but I think your dad’s way works better. It’s not so hectic, and using different tracks forces us to focus and read the terrain. Which, for me, makes me a better rider. Anybody can memorize one track…this is harder. It’s difficult not getting to go home much, but we all agree, we’d rather win races.”

“Your practice bike is ready. I’m building your race bike this morning, so just let me know if you need something.”

Hearing the snaps, she peeked over. He finished buckling his boots and stood up to grab his jersey. She had tried everything she could do to not look at him—again. Tried not to take in the smooth honey color of his skin, the chiseled muscles across his chest and down his abs, the muscled
V
disappearing into the waistband of his riding pants.

Suddenly, she realized she had been staring instead. She mentally smacked herself.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Talk about obvious. She sucked in a breath and whipped her head back to the table with her tools, silently beating herself up for giving him such an advantage.

“I saw that,” Jesse teased, grinning ear to ear.

Of course you did.

“What?” She kept her head down, playing it cool.

He closed the gap she’d intentionally put between them.

“You. You were staring.”

Emery could hear the laughter in his voice.

“No
, I wasn’t.” Her head shot up with her eyebrow raised, ready to defend herself, until she saw the look on his face. Half cocky, half smiling, and all sexy. As a result, she immediately turned ten shades of pink.

“You’re cute.”
He winked.

The man had the audacity to run his finger down the bridge of her nose and lightly tap the end.

Now who’s being cute?

If he didn’t quit looking at her with those fuck-me eyes, she was going to self-combust. The sw
eet and cute of his gestures were dangerous because the want in his eyes was almost hidden from her. Almost.

“Oh, go put your clothes on,” Emery fired back.

She tried to act like she was in control of the situation when all she really wanted to do was go to him and run her hands over him. Place kisses across his chest and up his neck while making her way to the most perfect lips she’d ever seen. Not too full, but not so thin-lined he looked like a grumpy old man. And she’d bet her last dollar that he kissed like he meant it, not some skittish teenage virgin.

She wanted to run her fingertips over the shadow he kept neatly trimmed along his jaw, wanted to feel that roughness across her skin as he kissed his way down her neck and—she caught herself and forced an end to the mental imagery that left her trying not to squirm in place. At least not in front of him.

How in control is that?

She had died.

That had to be the explanation for all of this. She had died and this was hell. The hurting and pain—check. A man she couldn’t have—check. So horny she’d die. Yep. It was the only explanation.

“Yes, ma’am.” Jesse tipped his chin, the smart retort pushing another button.

Oh God.
He was still talking. She hadn’t died, but fuck, she was still horny. No…fuck—yes, fuck—that was what she needed to do.

“Oh, shut up and get out of my way. Go practice, I’m busy.”

“Uh-huh.” He chuckled.

Emery knew he was trying to get the best of her. The problem was it was working.
She was flustered and red faced. On top of it all, she was so out of sorts she couldn’t even come up with classic comebacks. Her brother would disown her for that alone. With Jesse so close and only half-dressed, her daydreams were getting hotter by the minute. A mile past indecent and verging on the edge of erotic.

“Oh. My. God. You’re driving me to drink. Go. You’re in my way.”

“Whatcha gonna do about it, Em?”

He didn’t want to know.

She cocked her head to the side and put her hand on her hip. In her other hand she held a wrench. Bouncing the tool in her hand in time with the tapping of her foot, she narrowed her gaze.

“I have tools. Don’t make me start throwing them at you,” she said with a sneer.

“Threats, huh, Em?” he said, still taunting her.

“Go away.”

No, stay…
She was hurting in all the right places. That damn lopsided, cocky, charming grin of his. Those damn light brown eyes that had golden specks in them. The whole damn man had her squirming—not from nerves.

Ugh
.

It was the whole damn man all right. He was getting to her.

Emery tried to wrap her mind around that. Did she want Jesse? He was funny and charming.
J. Crew
beautiful. He liked to joke and have fun, but she respected him as a professional as well. He understood her career choice, understood the travel and dedication she needed to give to her team.

Collin hadn’t. Collin had talked about wanting her to quit and stay home with him once they found a house and moved in together. She had been so young and naïve at the time, she would’ve done it. Emery thought that she was in love then. Now she didn’t know what
real love was anymore, although she was pretty sure real love didn’t leave you alone in a hospital bed.

The last couple of years had aged her, made her more skeptical of the world and people around her. She had lost the innocence of youth and that feeling that the world was hers and she could do whatever she wanted. Now her views were much harsher.

Frankly, time was short.

She let out a slow breath as she dragged her gaze
over Jesse’s body. The riding pants he had on were still unzipped, waiting for him to tuck his jersey in, riding low enough she could see the waistband of the black compression shorts he had on underneath. His muscles flexed as he moved to the table and grabbed it. Emery narrowed her eyes, transfixed on the man. She forgot all about the banter they had going.

He slipped the jersey over his head and caught her looking at him again for
what felt like the tenth time.

Damn that man.

She turned in a hurry so he couldn’t see her face. A curse of the Irish, she could feel the heat on her face, felt it over her neck and down her chest.

When he walked up behind her, all the teasing was gone. The air between them crackled, the electricity arcing between them. He whispered near her ear, “I’ll be back.”

She stood still as a nervous energy spread through her, touching every nerve ending in her body.

“Then…I’ll take the jersey back off for you.” His voice was low and gravelly. If she wasn’t mistaken, it sounded like a whole lot like desire.

Emery felt his breath on her skin. She didn’t mean for the shiver that went down her spine to be obvious, but she wasn’t stupid, she knew he saw it. He probably felt it he was so close. On instinct
, she tried to elbow him in the stomach, but he was ready for it and caught her arm. His touch burned her skin, even through her sweatshirt. And she sure as hell didn’t mean for him to hear her suck in her breath—it was just automatic with him so close.

“Get.” Even in her own ears, the direction she attempted to bark out sounded weak.

“Like I said…I’ll be back.” He leaned in and kissed her shoulder. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Emery waited for him to ride onto the track before she even bothered to attempt to catch her breath. There had been several kisses like that. Not on the lips, but a shoulder, her forehead, a cheek. Every time it left her system in a frenzy.

This war raging inside her was wearing her out. Her head was screwed on tight. It was her damn body that was betraying her. And her poor heart was left wide open in the middle of the two. What pissed her off more than anything was that she was so transparent to Jesse. He could read her like a book. He knew just how far to push to hear the shallow, jagged breaths or the sudden intake of air with his physical contact.

He knew she was trying desperately to keep him in a corner labeled professional, but he kept stepping over the lines she’d drawn. Just far enough to cause her to fight herself, but not so far that she’d have a reason to fight him. No, he wasn’t going to give her any excuse that she could grasp and hold against him.

The man was a genius. His smiles, squeezes, winks, and kisses were on purpose, damn it. Pushing her to want more. More of something she could never have. And that wasn’t fair.

She eyed the phone in her hand. She hadn’t done something like this since high school, years ago. She hurried and dialed before she could talk herself out of it.

“Hey, Mol. You busy?” Without meaning to, Emery had become close to Molly, and right now she needed her.

“Emery, hi hon. We were just talking about you. How’s it going?”

Immediately she was skeptical. “Eh…whose ‘we’ there, friend? And just what were you talking about? I’m almost afraid to ask.”

“Nothing bad, I promise. Carter just mentioned that Jess texted him last night. Sounds like he’s made up his mind and you’re the one he wants.”

Molly’s voice was full of mirth. She knew Molly was a winner in the love at first sight game, and she believed in fairytales and happily-ever-after, but that stuff didn’t happen to Emery. Not that she was jealous or begrudged her friend, but Emery was just realistic when it came to relationships, life, and her definition of love.

“Guys actually talk about stuff like that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess sometimes. He filled Carter and Eli in on the hurricane we call Izzy, but I know it was just the highlights. Jess has mentioned stuff to me here and there that he didn’t tell Carter. I don’t know, something tells me this is different, what he feels for you is special and he’s nervous.”

“That makes two of us. Oh, Mol. It’s been two weeks, and being together from sunrise to sunset is more than I can take.”

“Being gorgeous and competitive is a dangerous combination when it comes to men. Doesn’t make it easy, does it?”

“You’re telling me. He was getting ready to go practice, and oh my God, Molly, he’s freaking beautiful.”

“I know what you’re going to say…he was taunting you by walking around with no jersey on, huh? But knowing you, you didn’t look, did you?”

“He caught me staring,
multiple times,” she answered, hesitantly then squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the teasing. It never came.