Page 16

16

EMMETT

I ’m not sure how the woman knew that the way to my heart was homemade pasta sauce like my mom used to make and still does on occasion when she comes to visit, but something in me broke last night.

Because spending more time with Heidi is not what I need. In fact, in a perfect world, it needs to be the opposite.

So I’m not sure why every single decision I’ve been making has led me closer and closer to her.

“You ready to go?” I ask as I close my front door. When I finally get a look at her, I stop short, nearly tumbling over.

Heidi wears a pair of short black shorts and a black sports bra, her long hair up in a high ponytail. She’s illuminated by the garage lights, and my jaw just about drops.

It makes sense. It’s about 6 in the morning and it’s already scorching. Even I’m in as little as possible, and when I shake myself out of my trance, it occurs to me that she may be equally shocked as her eyes make their way up my legs. Eventually, our eyes meet.

But today it’s Heidi who breaks the silence with a smirk. “Like what you see, Gardner?”

My face heats, but I can’t help but smile. “I feel like I should be asking the same.”

“Could you possibly find shorter shorts?” she asks with a laugh.

I could. But my five-inch inseam shorts are probably the absolute shortest I can possibly go, and even these are in danger of my thighs ripping them.

I shrug. “It’s hot.”

“You look good, Emmett. You ready?”

We start down the road at a brisk jog, and it’s only a couple minutes in before I realize that Heidi is nearly out of breath.

“Breathe through your nose, Heidi,” I say, nearly out of breath myself. Sure, my position is demanding, but I’m not a damn running back.

I may not be a lineman, but I’m still a big guy whose position requires a certain amount of mass. A kind of mass that makes it a little hard to maintain a run for long distances.

“I—” she struggles to get the words out. “I am—bre—breathing through m—my nose,” she tells me.

“You aren’t.” I come to a stop, watching as she barrels past me before slowing. Turning, she gulps air as she walks toward me, coming to a stop. Hands on her knees, Heidi heaves. “What did you do the other day when you went for a run?”

“I walked,” she croaks.

“Hey,” I stand in front of her, resting my hands on her shoulders as I lean down. “Take a deep breath and then breathe through your nose.”

Heidi’s head tips up toward mine, her eyes wild.

“You’re okay,” I assure her. “Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth.”

Her breathing starts to slow little by little, and her eyes close as she inhales through her nose, exhaling through her mouth slowly.

“You’re okay,” I say again, squatting lower in front of her. “Hands on my shoulders, Heid.” She does as she’s told. “Breath with me,” I tell her, my fingers tipping her chin so she’s looking right down at me.

I take a dramatic breath in through my nose, out through my mouth, and she follows suit.

“There you go, keep going,” I praise.

Her face is red, her hand shaking slightly, but when she stabilizes, she sits there for a beat longer before nodding and standing up straight.

“I’m sorry,” she says, turning. “That was embarrassing.”

I shake my head, standing as I follow her down the road further from my house. “We don’t have to keep going,” I assure her.

“No, clearly I need to keep going. Even if we just walk a little while.”

I nod, falling into step beside her.

“It also wasn’t as hot yesterday,” she tells me, and she’s right. Today is a scorcher, and I can just image how dead we’re all going to be later during practice.

“The conditions were a lot better yesterday,” I mention, and she glances at me from the side, a small smile on her lips.

“Thank you for making me feel better.”

“You shouldn’t be feeling bad about it. You’re just starting to run again. It’s totally fine.”

A comfortable silence settles over us, and after about ten more minutes of walking, we both decide to turn around just as the sky lights up in the most brilliant sunrise.

“Well,” Heidi’s lips curve into a sly smile, “We had our sunset. Looks like we have our first sunrise.”

“Will there be more?” I ask before I can stop myself.

“You want more?”

“Yes.” You’re supposed to be saying no, I remind myself.

But it’s no use. Whatever spell this woman put on me has altered my brain chemistry, making me want more and more of her time.

Making me want to be her friend .

But caring about someone that deeply scares the shit out of me.

We walk in silence and as we get to the house, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and I can see Juniper looking out the front window. She knows we went for a walk, and I have faith that she’s held the house down for the few minutes she was up.

Instead of going in through the front door, I open the garage, checking on things like I tend to in the mornings.

“Holy crap,” Heidi whispers behind me.

“She’s pretty isn’t she?” I ask with a smile.

Heidi grins at me, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip as she looks around the room with curiosity. “I feel like I don’t know you at all.”

I lean back against my work bench, burying my hands in my shorts. “I feel like that has always been the point.”

“Why?”

I shrug, my jaw ticking. “When you let people in, you have more to lose. I feel like you out of anyone understands that too.”

She nods grimly. “Yeah, I do.”

She walks along the car, her finger trailing over the black paint. “Is this your distraction?” she asks, looking over her shoulder at me. I watch her eyes search mine for a moment.

I don’t think before I answer. “For now.”

Because if my heart had its way, I’m looking at my new one.