“That’s a fair assessment.” He nodded. “I’ve been a single guy on a professional motocross circuit for a while now. I have a corporate sponsor who pays a lot of money to keep us all happy, I suppose. But it’s exactly what it looks like. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“I’m not going to judge you, Brett,” I assured him. “I mean, I don’t really have a good leg to stand on considering that I’ve dated all of one person in my whole life. Who am I to tell anyone how to live their life?”
“I literally only have one good leg to stand on.” He patted his knee. “But for the record, I think I’m ready for a change. That, those girls, they’re all kind of the same. It gets kind of boring to be honest.”
“Oh, because I’m so exciting,” I said under my breath.
“Seriously?” He placed his hand on my arm, letting me know he’d heard full well what I’d said. “You are exciting. I actually want to get to know you. Them,” he said nodding toward the television and the two girls hanging on his character’s arms, “If I wasn’t on a bike they wouldn’t look at me twice. They aren’t worth the effort.” Looking into his eyes, I believed what he was saying. Well, except for the not looking at him part. He was wrong. You couldn’t not look at him. I did believe that he wanted to get to know me, and not the me that everyone else thought they knew. I just wasn’t entirely sure why.
“Good to know.” I had to admit his words were comforting. I’d said I wouldn’t judge him, but his past did have me thinking about what it would be like to be with someone like Brett. It was far too soon for me to think about it, but the thought was there nonetheless. Could I date someone who had women throwing themselves at him? How did my sister do it? Nora seemed happy with Reid, so there was no reason to believe that I couldn’t be. There I was getting far too ahead of myself again.
Brett winked at me and rested his weight on my side. “A guy who’s been with too many and a girl who’s been with too few. This could get interesting.”
I swallowed hard. “That it could.”
* * *
The rest of our night together continued in the same vein. Light and fun. Just what I was looking for, and judging from Brett’s attentiveness toward me, him too.
“I don’t think we need to go out for a fancy dinner,” I told him. “I’m good with pizza.” He’d been suggesting date ideas for the last twenty minutes, insisting that he take me out somewhere proper the next time we hung out.
“Fine,” he huffed. “But for real, how about a movie or something?”
Spiderman. The last movie I’d seen with Jamie flashed in my head. Only a week before he’d shipped off for basic training. I swallowed back the guilt that seemed to rear its ugly head when I thought about Jamie while I was with Brett. I had to stop letting everything I did remind me of Jamie. It had become a habit and as much as I wanted his memory to live on, it was keeping me from being present.
“I’m getting real sick and tired of beating all Hoyt’s high scores on X-Box.” Brett ran his hand down my arm and I reminded myself that I wasn’t doing anything wrong.
“I don’t know,” I said, thinking about everything I had to do. “I’m swamped with classwork this week, plus I need to put in a shift at the hospital.”
“You do realize that you’re not getting paid to work at the hospital, right?”
“It counts as experience on my resume,” I argued. “Not all payment is in the form of money.”
“False. Money is better.” He laughed, obviously amused with himself. “Nothing is more important,” he added, facetiously.
“You’re terrible.” I laughed.
“I’m only kidding,” he assured. “But seriously. Money is kind of awesome.”
I shook my head but couldn’t help but smile at his smirk.
“I want to take you out and repay you for helping me out,” he dropped the playfulness from his voice. “I know you didn’t sign up for all of this.” He motioned to his injured leg. I had actually signed up for it. Reid had to leave for work and my sister wanted to go with him. With Brett staying behind in Halstead to receive treatment from Dr. Forlani, there was no one else to help him out so I volunteered. Like I said, I like to keep busy. And, well, he’s pretty to look at.
“Are you planning on paying me to take you to movie?” I teased. Brett hadn’t been released to drive yet, so if he wanted to go somewhere he had to get a ride. Believe it or not, taxis had yet to become a thing in my small Midwestern town.
“I hadn’t,” he paused, “but I will let you get the large popcorn. Maybe some M&M’s if you play your cards right.”
“Oh my,” I said. “You really know how to treat a lady.” I shook my head. A movie did sound fun, but it also sounded like an official date. Especially if he was buying. That didn’t exactly fit with the casual arrangement we’d just agreed to earlier.
“You know it, sweetheart,” he said with a wink.
You can do this. You can date a guy. Casually. That’s all this is. Killing time while he’s stuck here.
“Come on, Georgia,” he pleaded. “You need to have a little fun once in a while too.”
“Okay. It’s a date then, I guess,” I agreed as he walked me to the front door. Three hours had passed in what seemed like three minutes. I didn’t see the harm in us continuing whatever it was we started on a date.
“For real? You’re sure?” He slipped his hand around mine. He tugged slightly, and I turned to face him. His action, much like the one in the car, was small, but I felt my pulse speed up as he looked down at me. “A real date?”
“A real date,” I agreed with a slight nod. “You’re right. It wouldn’t kill me to have a little fun.” That giddy feeling was coming over me again and I did my best to not look like a fool standing there grinning.
“I’ll try to keep the fun having to a minimum,” he joked. “Night, Georgia.”
“Goodnight, Brett.” We both reached for the doorknob at the same time and our bodies nearly collided. His face was just inches from mine, and I watched as he wet his lips with a quick slip of his tongue. His hand drifted slowly down my arm and back up to my shoulder while he closed the distance between us. The anticipation of knowing exactly what he was going to do had my stomach fluttering with feelings I hadn’t experienced in a long time.
I was frozen in place as I watched him move. His eyes remained on mine, silently asking if I wanted him to continue. I did. I inhaled the clean male scent of him and leaned toward him, letting my eyes fall shut.
Brett Sallinger, the bad boy of motocross, the one they said could not be tamed, kissed my lips softly, sweetly, and it felt… incredible.
“Come on, buddy,” Will, my physical therapist, said as I pressed my legs out as far as I could. Using the weight machine had been my idea. I wasn’t scheduled to introduce equipment to my therapy until week four, but I was feeling capable. Ever since Georgia Bennett let me kiss her perfect lips, I’d felt invincible. The ache in my muscles said it was definitely working. My knee was only slightly throbbing. I could handle it. I couldn’t afford to be lax with the rehab, not if I wanted to get back on my bike soon. I’d managed ten reps, and judging by the look on Will’s face he was pleased with my progress. “Nice.”
“Felt good,” I said as he locked the plate in place and gave my legs a much-needed rest. “And you said five,” I chuckled.
“Yeah, well, I knew you’d go hard,” he teased. Along with Dr. Forlani, Will seemed to know what he was talking about. I felt stronger after each session with him, and it didn’t hurt that he was a former athlete as well. He knew exactly what it meant to need to be on the track, or field¸ in his case. In our brief time together, we’d shared war stories. Just like I’d been forced off my bike, Will had been forced to give up baseball. From what he had told me, he was slated to hit the big leagues as a starting pitcher when his shoulder gave out.