Page 9 of Racing Heat (The Forbidden Heat #2)

~JASE~

Running has become one of the highlights of my day. I know she’s supposed to be resting, but she’s running on her days off and keeping herself in tip-top shape. It’s great to see her outside and away from her friends. It’s just her, me, and the road.

I stretch my muscles while I wait for her yellow Jeep to show up. It appears in the distance, and my heart picks up at the sight of her. It’s like I thought of her, and she manifested. I kind of love that idea.

She pulls into the spot next to my Audi and hops out.

The doors are gone. Apparently, she has no plans of putting them back on.

Even though I’ve heard the teammates tell her on more than one occasion that it’s a hazard.

They asked her what she’d do if she were in an accident, but she shrugged it off.

I can’t help myself. I tease her about it when she approaches, her bright running gear in place. This time it’s bright pink shorts with a black tank top. I love it.

“Are you worried I would lose you in a blur of speed if you weren’t wearing bright colors?” I tease her.

“Ha-ha, very funny. I like the bright colors,” she counters. “They put me in a good mood.”

“I hope so. When you get in an accident and are seriously hurt because your doors aren’t on, you’ll need that good mood.”

“Oh, fuck off. The jokes about the lack of doors are getting old.” Her smile is so big that it lights up her eyes.

I like to think she saves some of those big smiles for me. It’s idiotic to hope, but nonetheless, I do.

“Yeah, well, I’ll remember to say I told you so.”

“You and everyone else.” She grabs her leg and pulls it toward her ass, and the muscles in her leg flex. She’s got some of the strongest legs I’ve ever seen. She makes a great midfielder because of it.

“Are you about ready to run?” I ask her, changing the subject.

“You’ve stretched for all of two minutes. Are you sure you don’t need a bit more time? Because I do,” she says.

“Sure, I can keep stretching.” I make my way through some more stretches while she does the same. We don’t say a word to each other, but the silence is comfortable.

“Are you ready?” she finally asks me.

“Yeah, I am.” Truth be told, I was ready a few minutes ago, but I didn’t want to break her rhythm.

“How far today?” she asks me.

“Well, again, you’re running on a rest day, so I feel like we should keep this to a cool three miles,” I tease.

“We’ve been over this. I need it to keep myself sane. So yeah, let’s go with three. I love that you call it a cool three miles. Makes me think of you as a real runner.”

“I may not have run a lot of the field, but I am a real runner. I just happened to fall in love with running after I stopped being a goalie.”

She nods and we start out with a slow jog as a warmup.

“I’m impressed, though. I could never get Hendrix out here to run with me like this.”

I chuckle. “Don’t I know it. I have to seriously threaten her when it’s time for her to run the beep test.” The beep test is when they make players run between two lines that are about twenty yards apart, keeping pace with beeps that get faster and faster as the test goes on.

“What do you threaten her with?”

“More miles,” I say like it’s obvious, and I’m rewarded with a laugh. I love the sound of her laugh. It’s got a cute singsong quality to it. “But I also tell her that if she does well, I’ll buy her lunch. It usually works pretty well.”

“We soccer players are easily motivated by food.”

“You sure are.”

We run in silence for a bit. She’s the one setting the pace.

Her stride lengthens and her pace picks up.

I wonder if she’s testing me to see if I’m able to keep up with her.

I don’t want to let her down, so I work hard.

I’m breathing harder than she is. She slows down, then stops at a bench and begins stretching her quads.

“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.

“I think the sugar may help you focus a bit,” she tells me. “I know bananas would be better for your legs, but I think the sugar will be helpful.”

“Thanks.” I take two slices, pull the rinds from the fruit, and suck the oranges down.

“Better?” she asks me when I’ve finished.

“Yeah. I guess I overdid it a bit.”

I feel like an ass. I’ve been running with her for over a week now and I’ve probably slowed her down. Now I’ve made her walk the last of her run when she should have had no break in her stride.

“What’s wrong?” Cassie asks.

“Huh?” I look over at her, not sure what she’s referring to. Or if somehow she’s a mind reader who’s managed to hear my private thoughts.

“Your face fell there for a moment. There was something there.” She shifts her feet like maybe she said something she shouldn’t have.

“Actually, I was just thinking how embarrassing this is for me,” I admit sheepishly.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been holding you back. You’re a faster runner than I’m letting you be, and now I just made you walk.”

“Ah, I don’t mind. You’re forgetting I’m getting these miles in despite what the coaches would want me to be doing. I don’t mind walking with you, Jase. I don’t even mind running with you. It’s nice. I’ve actually stupidly been looking forward to seeing you in the mornings.”

“Why do you say stupidly?” I ask.

“Well, because you’re one of our coaches. It’s not really appropriate.” She shrugs like it’s obvious.

I nod. “Yeah, I know. But that hasn’t really stopped either one of us, huh?”

“Which is why I said stupidly.”

“I don’t have a lot of friends here,” I admit, which I haven’t really told anyone. Not even my family back in Manchester.

“Really?” Her eyes widen and I think there might be another word on the tip of her tongue, but she closes her mouth and smiles at me.

I shrug. “I mean, there’s August and Danny. Then pickup soccer. But I don’t really talk much to those guys other than to pass them the ball. Nate has a family. Andie isn’t that friendly. So yeah, no one really to talk to. Talking to you is nice. I like it.”

I feel like an ass for saying that to her. Like I’m guilting her into talking to me when we see each other on runs. Or like I just made her feel sorry for me and now she thinks I’m pathetic.

Cassie sighs. “I get it. I’m not really ever alone because of living over at the apartments with the team.

It’s kind of like college. But with Mac having Danny, she’s not around as much as she used to be.

Hendrix keeps to herself. And Amelia is so shy and quiet.

So, I get it. Plus, I like running with you too.

It’s not just a way to keep me from going crazy.

It’s nice to talk with you while running. ”

“Even though I hold you back?” I tease her.

“Even then.”

We stare at each other awkwardly for a beat. I have an overwhelming urge to touch her, but I don’t.

“I should go,” I say quietly. At first, I’m not sure if she heard me. She’s still just standing there.

Finally, she says, “Yeah, I guess we better go.”

I nod and walk slowly back to my car. Once I’m in the Audi, I look over at her one last time, and she’s still standing there where I left her. I wave lamely. She waves back and heads to her Jeep.

I turn the Audi over, but nothing happens. I try again and again. Still, nothing happens. Only the sad sound of a car about to turn over and let the engine roar to life. But that’s not what happens.

I exit the car and call to her. “Cassie!”

She leans out of the Jeep, beaming at me.

“I need help again,” I call out. “My car won’t start.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll rescue you. Again!” Hopping out of her Jeep, she comes over to me. “What do you want to do?”