by Paige Steele
We enjoy our night watching movies, sharing stories of us growing up. Listening to her talk about Kenna and her, which made me laugh pretty hard. Those two may be half-sisters but they are close. And by the end of the night the two bottles of wine we brought out are finished and just about all the food we bought is at least sampled.
The smell of coffee wakes me up and forces me out of bed. Thank God we decided to set the timer on the maker last night. I drag my ass to the kitchen, half-awake. Hopefully this will help me function today. I’m supposed to help Kenna and Ansley get things organized for all of us to travel, one week from today. Having to leave a day earlier than normal is causing Cooper to panic. He has already called his mother and instructed her to come back. It’s getting quite comical to watch him in action. Talk about overprotective.
I see Josie emerge from her room with her arms above her head as she stretches.
“I don’t think I needed those four glasses of wine.”
“Tell me about it. I have to remember, either I need to keep drinking or stop after just a couple. Because I’m convinced that stopping somewhere in the middle gives me a bigger headache,” I answer back.
“Yeah, what the hell? My head is pounding.”
“Here.” I hand her a cup of coffee and slide a bottle water and Tylenol toward her.
“From now on, we definitely keep drinking. If I’m going to feel like shit, then it’s going to be worth it.”
After we spend the next hour laughing and complaining about our headaches, the Tylenol starts to kick in, so I jump in the shower before heading over to Ansley and Cooper’s place. I arrive shortly after eleven to find Kenna already there, snuggling Ryder. Ansley has papers spread out on the kitchen counter. They explain where everyone is flying out from, when they will be arriving at the hotel, what time we all need to be at our photoshoots, then from there, where each girl will be before, during, and after the race, and finally when everyone flies back out. She’s almost so organized it’s sick. Each girl’s name is written at the top of their packet and she took the time to highlight them. There’s extra copies for both Kenna and I, since we are going to be the ones keeping everything running smoothly.
Before saying goodbye, I give Ansley a long hug and Ryder a kiss on his tiny cheek, as well as whispering in his ear, reminding him that I am his favorite aunt. Which only makes Kenna yell from the living room, “Don’t listen to her, Ryder.”
Pulling up in front of Jesse’s place, I see his truck is already here. I know he spent the morning riding at the practice track, so I am guessing he’s probably trying to relax. I knock once but when he doesn’t answer, I try the handle. Walking in, I don’t see him so I go on a search. I hear what sounds like a moan and a grunt. The hair on my arms stands up. What the hell is going on?
I am about to freak the hell out, when I realized where the sound was coming from. Peeking my head in the doorway to his gym has me stopping dead in my tracks. I allow myself to take in the sight in front of me, as I watch him in the mirrors. His earbuds are in and he’s concentrating so much on what he is doing, that he doesn’t even notice me watching his every move.
Lord have mercy on me…this man is fit. The black shorts that he has on are set so perfectly low that it’s making my mouth water, just looking at him. I stare at the sweat dripping down his bare chest. The drops make their way around each and every indent of his six-pack. It’s like a maze as they drizzle down.
The front of his hair falls forward as he reaches up to hit the button to slow down the treadmill. Taking the towel off the bar in front of him, he wipes down his face, closes his eyes and lets out a long breath. I think I could stand here all day and watch this show. It’s better than anything I’ve ever seen on TV. As he begins to running again, I decide I need water as my mouth is suddenly dry.
I notice the small fridge right inside the door, so I slowly move to open it. I don’t want to disturb him, so I try not to make a sound, not that he can really hear me with his music going in his ears.
As I’m bending over to grab one, I hear the clearing of his throat, thinking he still hasn’t noticed me, I continue to move slow and quietly until I hear his voice.
“Now that is one fine ass.”
I giggle at his comment as I stand up, “I’d say the sight before me is pretty fine, too.”
He continues his run as he smirks at me. “How long have you been here, Cupcake?”
“Long enough that it caused my mouth to go dry, so I needed some water,” I say, holding up the bottle that I have in my hand.
“Haha, is that so?”
“Duh, there’s a mirror in front of you. Look at yourself. You have a body of a god.”
“A god, huh?” The smirk that was on his face is now replaced with a wide smile.
I walk in between the mirror and the treadmill. “How about we play a little game?”
“What did you have in mind, Cupcake?” His breathing increases as he picks up his pace.
“How much longer do you need to run on that?” I say, pointing to the machine.
“Three miles.”
“And how long does it normally take you to run a mile?”
“About nine minutes. Why?”
“I was thinking I could remove one item of clothing for every second you cut off your time.”
“So the faster I go, more likely you are to be naked by the time I finish?”
“Well, depends…how fast can you run? As you shed time off your mile, I’ll shed clothes off my body.”
He picks up his pace as he hits the button for the mat to move faster. I lean back against the mirror, smack dab in front of him. After a few minutes, I hear him say, “Start stripping, Cupcake,” with a look of mischief in his eyes, “eight and half.”
I slowly start to remove the lightweight, zip up hoodie I have on, to reveal a white, formfitting t-shirt. I reach for the hem, inching it up, then drop it back down. I hear a growl leave his throat and I just smile back at him.
“Two miles down in sixteen minutes…take it off.”
I remove my shorts and decide to tease just a bit more as I spin in a circle.
“Really?”
“What, is there a problem?”
He doesn’t say a thing with his mouth, but the heat in his eyes as he stares at my attire has me knowing exactly what he’s thinking…every dirty thought possible.
I notice his hand go up and click the button before he says, “Remove it.”
Doing as I’m told, my shirt goes to the floor, next to my shorts and hoodie. So here I stand in just my pale pink undies and bra. He watches me, taking the same towel as before, he begins wiping the sweat from his face all over again. His eyes never leave mine as he continues down his neck, chest, and onto his stomach. I swallow hard before I say anything.
“Now what shall we do?”
“Well, I need a shower, so I guess you do too,” he says, as he gets off the machine and comes directly to me.
“I do, huh?”
“You do.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because you’re just as hot and sweaty as I am.”
He comes close enough that I can feel the heat coming from his body.
“I don’t believe I am. In fact, I’m actually very comfortable in this outfit.” I place my hands on my hips and smile at him.
“Nah, I say you’re pretty hot, too.” He picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder, and walks out the door. “You know, stripping in front of me, while I’m trying to get my workout in, is not very nice. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to get a rise out of me.”
“You could say that,” I giggle.
“Teasing isn’t nice, Cupcake.”
“Teasing? Me? Nope. Never.” He lets out a chuckle as he continues to the shower off his bedroom.
I started kissing his back as my hands roam over it, making their way down to the waistband of his shorts. I slip my fingers inside it, dragging them around to his ribcage. It’s as fa
r as I can go with them, while in this position, so I start running my palms up his sides only to scrape my nails back down.
“Watch what you start…I suggest you stop your teasing, sweet thing, or two can play this game.” There is a husky sound to his voice.
“You should know me by now, Mister, I don’t take orders often. Hell, I barely take suggestions well.”
That gains me a round of laughter as he walks through the bathroom door. Not letting me down, he walks over and opens the glass door, shutting it behind us; he reaches forward and turns on the water. It hits me directly in the ass and I squeal.
“That’s freaking cold.”
“It’ll warm up in a minute.”
“You are still in your shorts and I’m still wearing these,” I say, as I try to point to my butt.
“Good point, we should probably do something about that.”
Bringing his left hand up as his right stays under my butt, holding me in place, he slips all four fingers on the outside of my undies and hooks his thumb around the one-inch lace band. Next thing I know, they are on the floor in the shower. He kicks them to the corner then slowly slides me down his body, while he unhooks my bra with one swift motion. Rubbing his hand up my spine, he laces his fingers through the back of my hair.
His mouth collides with mine and the rest they say is history.
JESSE
When we wake up on Wednesday morning, I roll over, stretching out my arm to find my Cupcake already out of bed. We fly out today to head to Daytona. It’s going to be busy the next few days for us. I’ve got a couple promo shoots to go to, one for Yamaha and the other for the banner to announce the Supercross finals. There will be posters made so the riders can sign and hand them out, as well as huge display ones that will be hung in stores.
The smell of bacon drags my ass up and downstairs. As I round the corner into the kitchen, I see Maddie standing with her back to me in front of the stove, in nothing but one of my t-shirts that lands about mid-thigh on her. Her hair is up on top of her head in a crazy mess, and she’s swaying her hips to the music she has playing.
“Something smells good.”
“I knew bacon would get you up.”
“That’s not the only thing that gets me up,” I say against the back of her neck before I place a tender kiss to it. Grabbing a piece of bacon, I head over to pour a cup of coffee.
“Go sit, Mister.”
Maddie places the pile of bacon, eggs, and pancakes on the table, in between our two plates, before grabbing the juice from the fridge. I watch her, smiling like a little boy. She truly makes me happy, and I’m finding myself falling head over heels in love with her. Then without thinking I blurt out my thoughts.
“Maddie, I think you should move in here with me.”
“What, so I can cook you breakfast every morning?” She giggles as she sits down.
“Well of course that,” I say smirking, before I turn a bit more serious. “But actually, because I want you here with me all the time. I love eating my meals with you, taking showers with you,” I wiggle my eyebrows at her, “going to bed with you, taking another shower with you, and waking up with you, for us to do it all over again. Say you’ll move in with me.”
“I don’t know, Jesse.” She looks down at her plate before looking back into my eyes. I can see doubt there.
“Why are you doubting us? I would never do what that asshole did to you. Maddie you know I truly care about you. I’m in this with you for as long as you’ll have me.” I stand up and squat down in front of her, taking her hands in mine.
“Jesse…”
“Maddie, this probably isn’t the right time to tell you, but I’m falling in love with you. You’ve always been special to me, but now that you’re mine…all mine, I want you with me all the time. My day is brighter when I get to wake up next to you. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
“Are you sure it’s not the bacon talking? I know I make a mean pancake.” I know what she’s doing and I won’t let her play this off. I bring her hands to my mouth and place my lips to the back of each of them, before I make sure she completely understands where I see us going.
“Cupcake, you can cook for me anytime you want. I love everything you make but I want more than just your cooking. I want you from morning ‘til night, from the start of my day to when I shut off my lights and crawl into bed. I only want you. Please say you’ll take the next step with me by moving in.”
Unlocking her hands from mine, she reaches up and holds the sides of my face in her palms.
“Yes, Jesse Anderson, I’ll move in with you.” Leaning forward she kisses my lips.
Our kiss deepens before I pull back slightly. “As much as I’d love to celebrate with you, we have a plane to catch, so we need to eat this food, take a shower, and get to the airport.”
I stand and make my way back to my chair. As we start eating, I can see the wheels turning in her mind.
“What are you thinking?”
“I was going to ask you not to say anything to anyone yet.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well, I want to tell Josie myself, I don’t want to blind side her. Even though she’s been expecting it, I know that it’s still not fun losing a roommate.”
“You going to tell her this weekend?”
“Yeah, I will.”
“Then when we come back, we move you in.”
“Yes.”
I can’t help the smile that is spread across my face as we finish our breakfast, shower together, and ride to the airport. Our flight was spent with Maddie snuggled up against me and my arm around her. The check in at the hotel went smoothly, after making our way to our room, we both change into our required outfits for the photoshoots that we’ll be doing in just about an hour. I can’t help myself but to stare at what is in front of me…Maddie in a tight leather bustier, with a matching short skirt, black stockings, and of course those ‘take me to bed’ boots. Lord, help me. The thoughts in my head are not PG, that’s for sure.
“Hey, sexy.” She leans into me, placing her hands on my chest as she brings her lips to mine.
“If you are going to walk around like that, we might not make it to the track today.”
“You’re not looking so bad yourself.”
“Yeah, it’s tough throwing on a pair a jeans and my team’s shirt on,” I say, chuckling at her.
Kenna, Josie, and Maddie head out front of the stadium to shoot out there, while I’m with a couple other riders and five other, Hyped Energy Drink girls under their tent, which is positioned in the center of the track.
The last hour has been spent with us taking shots with and without our bikes and the girls all around us. We are told that the last session is going to be in front of the starting line gate, with us guys standing with a girl in between each of us. The photographer wants the girls to lean into us, while we stand straight faced in a stance that shows we mean business on the track. With our feet shoulder width apart, we all put our race faces on and let the girls do their thing.
There are a couple jokes cracked by the photographer that he wouldn’t want to piss off any of us on or off the track. We are just about done when we are told we need to reshoot the last shot. While getting back into our same positions, the girl to my right trips on a cord and I lean forward to catch her. Her hands land on my biceps as her chest falls against mine. My hands grip her waist trying to steady her. She looks up at me embarrassed and I can’t help but smile.
“You, okay?”
“I am, thank you. I feel like an idiot.”
“Don’t worry about it. It happens everyone at some point, right?”
“Yeah, you say that but when has it happened to you?” She laughs back as she straightens the skirt she’s wearing.
“Oh, believe me, it’s happened.”
We both laugh together before we realize that she’s still leaning up against me and my hands are still on her. The photographer places us in the positions he wants us in
, then gets behind the camera. We are done in twenty minutes, now it’s time to find Maddie and get out of here.
I look around and she’s nowhere to be found. I look out in front of the stadium first then go through the pit area before returning to the track. I shoot her a text, letting her know I’ve finished up and am ready to head to the hotel for a late lunch. I hear nothing back. I think it’s odd that she’s not around. Next I reach out to Kenna and she texts me back that Maddie is at the hotel with her and Josie. I decide to shoot her yet another text.
Me: Hey, Cupcake! I’m heading back to the hotel now.
And nothing.
Me: What’s going on, Maddie?
Okay, maybe her phone is dead? I don’t get it, we were fine just hours ago. Once I get back to the hotel, I go on a hunt to find the girl that seems to be ignoring me. Heading up to our room, I slip the card in the slot until the green light is on, walking in only to find the place empty and that includes her belongings. What the hell is going on?
Walking out of our suite, my mission is to find her and figure this shit out. I can’t think of what could have happened from this morning until now. As I go through the door at the hotel restaurant, I quickly glance around and find she’s not here either. I see Ryan and Cooper, so I walk in their direction to see if they’ve seen the girls.
“Hey, guys.”
“Hey, Jes, what’s going on?” Cooper asks.
“That’s what I’d like to know. Have you see the girls?”
“Last I knew they were up in Josie’s room,” Ryan replies.
“What’s her room number?”
“2121. Why?” Ryan answers.
“Because I need to fucking talk to Maddie,” I say, as I start to walk away. I’m frustrated as hell. It’s probably a good thing I’m not racing tomorrow or I’d be screwed. I’m not in the right frame of mind to be going full throttle.
I walk directly to the elevators and hit the up button. Come hell or high water, she is going to talk to me. I need to…no; I want to know what the hell happened that has her running away from me. Because I just don’t fucking get it.
The doors open and I make my way down the long hallway. Standing outside the doorway, I knock several times in a row.
