by Joanne Rock
She had no idea what he was about to suggest, but she was very worried she might say yes. She was a full-time trainer at a local university’s athletic department, so she didn’t technically need the Flames gig. But she cared about her reputation in the industry and wouldn’t want to compromise it by making an unwise step with Javier. Still, maybe spending more time with him would give her the insight she needed to understand why he wanted to play with fire all the time.
She just hoped they wouldn’t both end up getting burned.
“I assure you, I still know how to have fun.” She folded her arms to insert a barrier between them, wishing he had a shirt on.
A severe overbite might have helped, too.
“Then how do you feel about kite surfing?”
2
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU talked me into this.” Lisa strapped on her life vest while Javier checked the lines on her kite’s safety harness.
They had pulled into the parking lot at Montrose Beach about an hour ago, and were almost ready for a trial run. The wind was blowing in from just the right direction off Lake Michigan. Other kite boarders were already out on the water, surfing across the waves and catching big air on the major power generated by the traction kites. The sport was similar to windsurfing, but required less wind to generate speed. The gear could easily lift a rider out of the water twenty to thirty feet, a fact which had started to make Javier a little wary.
It was one thing for him to dive headfirst into adrenaline spiking sports. But was it wrong to coerce his sexy new trainer into something that had the potential to be dangerous? He’d already alerted the lifeguards that she was a newbie and they’d given her a special colored streamer for her rigging to help them keep track of her out in the water. Still…he planned to make sure she stayed safe.
“You think you were surprised?” Satisfied that her equipment was ready to roll, he turned his attention to his own. “You could have knocked me over with a feather. It’s a rare woman who turns down drinks in favor of kite surfing.”
He couldn’t deny he’d been thrilled at the time. Before he’d fully recalled how dangerous the sport could be for people who weren’t trained. All the more reason to take good care of her.
She didn’t look nervous, however. After quizzing him thoroughly on all her equipment, she’d watched a few other fans of the sport on the water and had told him she was ready to be suited up for her first attempt. Now, her eyes glowed with excitement, her cheeks flushed from wind and anticipation as she tested the directional lines that controlled the kite.
“I haven’t done anything like this in a long time.” She dipped her toes in the sand while her eyes followed the progress of some show-off doing flips and riding his board all the way into the beach—a trick that would get his access card pulled if he wasn’t careful. The kites had too much power to be used safely so close to the shore full of people. “I forgot how much I liked the rush.”
“A woman after my own heart.” Strangely, the sentiment freaked him out when he would have expected the discovery to make him all the more attracted to her. Sure, it was cool to have something in common with the hot, hard-nosed trainer. But she inspired a protective streak he couldn’t ever recall feeling on a first date.
“You don’t know the half of it,” she confessed. “But I’m committed to enjoying the thrill while being safe at the same time. I’m no adrenaline junkie.”
Javier wasn’t so sure. He’d never met anyone with the same adventurous impulses as him and the knot in his gut made him think he never should have suggested this.
“Let me know if you still feel that way after your first jump.” Tugging his board closer to the water, he dragged his safety rigging and his kite behind him. “You ready for a quick lesson?”
Lisa nodded, more eager than she would have ever admitted.
She watched Javier as he took her through the basics of getting the kite in the air even though her fingers twitched on her lines with the need to jump right in and try it herself. Who would have thought she’d end up being drawn in by Javier’s adrenaline seeking when she’d planned on helping him find ways to stifle those impulses?
Still, she fully believed she stood a better chance of understanding Javier’s need to live on the edge if she ventured deeper into his world, and this day together seemed like a positive first step as long as she could keep a lid on the attraction simmering inside her. Seeing him in a pair of board shorts was enough to make a lesser woman hyperventilate. As it was, she sank deeper into the chilly water whenever he touched her to help douse the fire his fingers could ignite with the sparest of strokes.
Listening to Javier’s careful instructions about handling the board and steering the kite, she had to admit he appeared more cautious than she’d been led to believe. He could have boarded out to open water to dazzle her with tricks like the hotshot downwind from them. But he’d taken extra care to be sure she knew what she was doing. And from the counseling she’d received once upon a time, she knew that was a good thing. He placed value on life, unlike the way she used to be.
Willing aside the memories that dark thought inspired, Lisa forced herself into the present, a moment that unexpectedly offered some closure on her long-ago risk taking. Sure, she’d spent years ignoring her daredevil impulses to ensure she had conquered those tendencies. But Javier’s invitation had given her a chance to reconcile her old love of high-octane activities with her new, wiser outlook.
“I think I need to just give it a go,” she called to him, tugging her equipment deeper into the surf. “I’ll be careful.”
With remembered skills from surfing, she found it simple enough to get on the board. The trickier part was managing the kite. She fell off a handful of times, dousing herself in Lake Michigan. But seeing the way other enthusiasts managed their lines and took advantage of the wind to cruise along the waves kept her inspired.
“You’ve got it!” Javier shouted as she finally made it to her feet with the kite in full bloom at the same time.
Her heart lifted in her chest, soaring along with the double foil nylon that pulled on her harness. And pulled.
And wrenched her into the air.
“Aiyeee!” She squealed like a kid on a roller coaster, loving the sensation of the huge kite tugging her up. Her arms burned with the effort to hold on and steer the bar to control where she went. But Mother Nature was no sissy and Lisa quickly realized she had her hands full.
Tucking her knees tight to her chest, she tried to remain as aerodynamic as possible. Even as she soared high above the water, she recognized what a good idea this had been for her. There was a time when she would have maxed out a big air moment for all it was worth, attempting spins or flips to outdo everyone else on the beach. Not now.
Not ever again.
Relief settled over her along with a joyous contentment that she hadn’t realized was missing in her life. And she knew just who to thank for it.
JAVIER’S HEART PLUMMETED faster than Lisa’s kite.
His throat thick with fear, he imagined a landing that could do extreme damage, knowing he could never reach her in time. Ripping off his safety lines, he detached himself from every piece of gear, not caring if it floated to Canada and back. His arms knifed through the choppy water toward her so he could at least be closer when her board hit the surface.
He would get booted from the beach for getting so close to a kite surfer in flight, but he didn’t care since he’d never be able to engage in this sport again if his stupid idea led to her getting hurt.
“Lisa,” he shouted up at her, wishing he’d given her more instructions, praying she’d protect herself instead of trying to hold on to that stupid kite.
But as he watched her descent slow, he realized she might have more control of the apparatus than he’d given her credit for. Somehow, the plummet had turned into floating. The nylon kite was moving to catch a slower cross wind, remaining full, but cutting Lisa’s speed. Javier waited there, treading water as he watched
her board touch the lake, her whole body weight tugging the kite hard to slow herself down. Long, graceful muscles in her arms flexed as she moved, her trainer’s body a godsend in the battle with the powerful wind.
Just as Javier realized she would live through the landing and he’d been out of his mind with fear for no reason, he spotted the megawatt grin on her face.
And just like that, his worry morphed to anger, the strong emotions spilling over to his mouth unchecked.
“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” He reached for her board, steering her toward him before his heart exploded from the strain she’d put it under for the last minute and a half. He felt like he’d just run a marathon, his blood pumping so hard he could feel the vessels jolt behind his eyes.
“I have no idea!” She sounded excited, triumphant. Oblivious to the scare she’d given him. Her flushed face and bright eyes gave him a hint of what she might look after a night in his bed. “Do you believe I got that high? I’ve never experienced anything like that.”
A few other surfers nearby shouted words of encouragement to her, the streamer from her kite telling people that a newbie had pulled off that sweet landing after the heart-stopping heights she’d reached. Lisa thanked them with breathless enthusiasm as her kite fell into the water behind her. Javier unhooked her lines, needing to return her to dry land before her antics gave him a coronary.
Before her throaty laugh and drenched bikini had him ignoring all the team rules to take her back to his place for a night she wouldn’t soon forget.
“We’d better get back to shore before we get booted off the beach.” He pulled her on the board, grabbing his gear from a nearby surfer who’d seen his stuff floating out to sea and held on to it for him.
“Did we do anything wrong?” She slipped off her kite board and tried to take it from him, but he held fast to the equipment, unwilling to let her loose in the lake again.
Besides, if he kept his hands full of gear, he couldn’t reach for her.
“Hell, yes.” He looked toward the lifeguard stand, but they didn’t seem to be giving the pair of them unwanted attention. “They’re strict about making sure newbies are well supervised. You probably gave the staff bigger heart attacks than you gave me. Then I added to the in-fractions by getting too close to you in flight since I was convinced you were going to crash land.”
“Oh.” She sounded deflated and he half regretted the gruffness in his voice.
But damn it, he still hadn’t recovered from the scare.
“Besides, no sense pushing your luck twice in one day.” He hauled the heavy kites out of the water as they reached the beach and noticed she’d fallen behind.
Actually, as he turned to look for her, he noticed that she’d stopped short at the water’s edge, her body dripping wet. She looked like she’d just stepped out of a poster on a teenage kid’s wall. Except for the ticked-off expression on her face. Her pin-up’s body would turn any guy’s head, but he liked to think her bold and ballsy approach to life was something he alone could fully appreciate.
He wondered what it would be like to drag her down to the sand and wrestle around with her, vying physically with the same energy they sparred verbally. Hell, he’d gladly let her be on top for the chance to touch her…
“You’ve got to be kidding.” She shook her head as she continued her forward progress, wringing out her hair with one hand and swiping the other across her face to help dry off. “You’re telling me not to push my luck? You, who is rumored to have jumped cars on your motorcycle?”
He shook his head to clear it of the image of her wet body astride his.
“I was wearing a helmet that time,” he pointed out through gritted teeth.
“You, who once busted your minor league contract by entering a snow motocross event.”
“That contract must have been written by a tenth grader it was so damn muddled—”
“And you’re the same someone who insists on playing football in a public park every weekend so your coach has no choice but to—”
“Wait a minute.” He released all the gear in a pile on the sand and reached for his T-shirt. “I see what you’re getting at, and you can’t possibly compare that to the scare you just gave me. Playing a pickup game with my nieces and nephews on Sunday isn’t the same risk level to me as pulling up thirty feet out of the water was for you just now.”
As it was, his pulse still hadn’t leveled out. He’d seen her, in his mind’s eye, hitting the water wrong or losing control of the board and being hit by that. Or she could have gotten tangled in her safety line, breaking a limb or worse—
He launched for her, wrapping his arms around her without conscious thought. Next thing he knew he was holding her tight against him and breathing in the scent of her wet hair.
“I didn’t think about how much that might have freaked you out.” Her words were small and far away since he had her locked to his chest.
He loosened his hold just a little, his heart rate finally slowing a fraction now that he had the proof of her well-being in his arms.
“You scared the living hell out of me, lady.” He didn’t care they were on a crowded beach where people might recognize him. Photograph him.
“Don’t you think that’s how people in your life must feel all the time?”
It took him a moment to mentally process what she was suggesting. He was so rooted in his own outlook that he had a hard time shutting off that part of his brain enough to consider what it felt like for others to watch him take insane chances.
Damn.
He’d been so convinced he needed to live on the edge to experience every moment and savor the gift of being alive. The gift stolen from his brother, who’d deserved to be married and surrounded by a half dozen kids by now. For years, Javier had been trying to live the dream for both of them.
But was he really doing that? Or was he thumbing his nose at an incredible blessing by risking his life—and at the very least, his career—by seeking new thrills at every turn?
Staring at his brutally honest new trainer, Javier couldn’t decide. Feeling like the ground had just fallen out beneath him, he knew he needed to retreat fast.
“I’ve got to get home.”
3
LISA HOPED JAVIER WOULD BE happy to see her.
She’d driven to Cincinnati to speak with him after his game, tired of him canceling their sessions and then using a spate of road games as a way to not see her after what had happened the week before. It hadn’t been difficult to find out where the team was staying even though she’d officially quit her duties to the Chicago Flames that morning. She’d hated letting her friend down, but after another restless night’s sleep, she’d decided she couldn’t harbor feelings for a client, and it had become obvious to her that’s what was happening with Javier.
She never would have guessed that such a brief relationship—a relationship that had never even gotten physical—could have such severe consequences for her heart.
But after experiencing Javier’s spontaneity and zest for living firsthand, Lisa knew he’d filled a need she’d ignored for too long. He’d pushed her to be daring, and she’d needed that after denying something fundamental in her character. Even though he’d been upset with her at the beach, she’d seen that he’d only been worried. Something she should have simply assuaged instead of challenging him to look at his own daredevil tendencies.
They could be good for each other in so many ways, and she’d blown it by making their date about issues she should have let him resolve on his own.
Now, seated in the hotel lobby on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, close to the stadium where the Cincinnati team played, Lisa waited for Javier to return for the night. She hadn’t gotten to town in time to see him play, so she’d opted to head straight to the hotel afterward. The players didn’t have a curfew even though they had another game the next day, but she’d left a message on Javier’s phone earlier that she was in town and wanted to see him.
>
Would he continue his silence and not show up? She’d been hurt by his retreat and she didn’t know how she’d handle a rebuff. The man had dominated her thoughts, dreams, fantasies every minute since she’d last seen him.
A commotion around the front doors distracted her. A handful of people backed into the hotel, holding microphones and cameras all pointed toward a subject who had yet to walk in the door.
Her stomach tightened, knowing who would be the object of this much media attention at an otherwise quiet Kentucky hotel.
“…and I’ve been friends with Brody Davis ever since.” Javier’s voice reached her ears before she saw him.
Reporters hung on his word as he retold the story of his truce with the Boston Aces’ catcher after an on-field dispute.
Javier wore his street clothes now, but his polished appearance in an expensive suit and starched white shirt open at the collar made Lisa wonder if he had plans for the night. Was she intruding?
She debated turning on her heel before he saw her. What if she’d misread all those undercurrents of attraction she thought were there?
“So you have no hard feelings toward Brody Davis even though he took the first swing that night in Boston?” a young reporter asked Javier as the throng moved deeper into the hotel, the newsman’s lips curled with skepticism.
“Davis plays the game the same way I do, and I respect that,” Javier told a nearby camera, clearly sensing the opportunity to provide a good sound bite. “He doesn’t leave anything on the field.”
Pushing out of the crowd, Javier seemed to ignore the next round of questions as he shouldered his way toward the lobby. Toward her.
Nervous anticipation made her heart fluttery and she couldn’t decide if it was her “fight or flight” response kicking in—or good old-fashioned sexual chemistry.
As those sea-glass-green eyes locked on hers, however, all confusion dissipated. The urge to launch herself in his arms was so strong it took every ounce of will she possessed to not act on it.