Page 25 of Racing Heat

“Feeling tight?” I ask her.

She just shrugs, amusement dancing in her eyes. “I thought you could use a bit of a break.”

“Thanks.” I breath in through my nose and out of my mouth to try and level the heavy breaths that are coming out of my mouth. Running distances is all about controlling your breathing. Once you get that done, the rest is just a mental game, telling yourself you can when your legs think they can’t. Or at least that’s what an old teammate said when I told him I wanted to start running.

She winks at me. “How’s your hip? Does the running bother it?”

“Sometimes,” I admit. “But it’s nice to be able to be active again. And playing the pickup games in the park is great too.”

“Oh, you play pickup soccer? I didn’t realize that.”

“I thought I shared that with you.” I shrug and we start to run again.

“Does that bother your injury?”

“Why are you so concerned about what hurts me?” I steal a glance in her direction, but she’s focusing on the road ahead. I stumble a bit, and she snickers.

“You might want to keep your eyes on the road ahead. You never know when the boardwalk will sneak up on you like that.”

“Touché.”

We run in silence again, and I glance down at my watch to see that we’re closing in on a mile and a half. She’ll want to turn around soon, and then this run will be over. Based on the pace we’re setting; it looks like it will be less than thirty minutes.

Cassie pulls on my arm and directs me to run around a flower bed, and I know it’s time to run back to the cars. We round the planter and head back the way we came. Our run will be over soon.

Out of nowhere, Cassie taps my arm and yells, “Tag, you’re it!” She takes off sprinting.

She’s probably the fastest one on the Blaze. I watch her stride away from me, making it look effortless. I’ve got to at least try to put some effort into it. I pump my legs faster and faster, but she’s already gone. And it’s not just the head start she got when I was admiring her. Nope, the girl runs like lightning.

Cassie is waiting for me when I get back to our starting point. She’s retrieved her water bottle from the Jeep and is spraying some of it into her mouth. My mind conjures up all of these dirty images of her spraying the water on herself like she’s in a dirty eighties music video. But I quickly snap out of them when I approach her.

It’s too late, though. She’s already caught me staring.

“What?” she asks me.

“Nothing.” I don’t want to admit to her that I’m a pervy man who was just ogling her and thinking dirty thoughts.

“Want some water?” she asks, holding the bottle out to me.

For a second, I think of turning that water bottle in her direction and spraying her. I think of taking her brown hair out of her ponytail and letting it flow over her shoulders. I think of how I’d like to hold on to the back of that ponytail and force her head back, exposing her neck.

My thoughts stop when she snaps her fingers in front of me.

“Where did you just go?” she asks me. “Are you feeling okay? Overdo it or something?”

I can tell she’s genuinely concerned about me, and I feel like an ass and a pervert for just staring at her like she’s a piece of meat. If she only knew what was going through my head right now; she’d think I was sick.

“Jase?” Cassie takes a step in my direction.

“Sorry. It’s just hot out here.”

“Take the water.” She holds it out to me again.

I take it this time. “Thank you.” Making sure not to put my mouth on the bottle, I squirt it into my mouth.

“Wait here. I’ll be right back.” Cassie jogs over to her Jeep and pulls out a Tupperware container. She comes back, pops the lid off, and holds the container out for me.

It’s oranges. This girl is so sweet.