Switchback

by S. W. Andersen

  Volden Research and Development. A division of Traxx Industries.

  “Why didn’t she tell me she worked for Traxx? Is this some ploy to get me to join your team? Did you know they had this?” Sierra asked, her anger beginning a slow boil. She was no one’s puppet. If this was an attempt at manipulating her, the doctor, and Blake Volden, would be severely sorry.

  Quick to exonerate herself of suspicion, Ronni answered honestly, “No. I’ve never heard anything about it. But I warned you about going gaga over a woman you know nothing about.”

  They climbed out of the car and made a slow track for the front door. Sierra’s thoughts flew a mile a minute, filled with questions and accusations. She stopped outside the front door. Her brow furrowed. Her heart teetered on the verge of breaking at the thought of being misled. Part of her wanted to give Kara the benefit of the doubt. Their evening had felt genuine, honest. Kara had even admired her need for independence, which had only made her crush harder on the doctor. But the other part of her, the hot-headed part, wanted nothing more than to march in there and give Dr. Davies a piece of her mind for leaving out such an important detail.

  Ronni gave her a once over and then pushed the door open. “What’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like they’re going to turn you into some mutant like Dead Pool.” She chuckled and slapped Sierra on the back. “Let’s go check it out.”

  A slow breath fell from Sierra’s lips, more an attempt to calm herself than one of surrender. With a fiery look in her eye, she strode up to the front desk, ready to hear Kara’s explanation. A caramel-skinned receptionist with pale green eyes greeted her with a predatory smile that made her uncomfortable.

  “Welcome to Volden research. I’m Christie. Do you have an appointment?”

  “Yes, with Doctor Davies. I’m participating in a project. I’m Sierra Cody.” Her fire fell away and now all she wanted was to escape the voracious eyes of the receptionist.

  “Of course.” Christie made no bones about her open appraisal. “I’ll page the doctor. Please, have a seat.” A provocative smile followed her words.

  “Ok, well um…” Sierra was used to being physically appreciated, but something about this felt all wrong. She slowly backed away, cautious not to send the wrong signal. “Thank you.” There was only one woman in this building she was interested in and it wasn’t Christie.

  As Sierra slid down into her seat making herself as small as possible, Ronni snickered at her dilemma. “Damn girl. You are some kinda sex magnet.”

  “Dammit, Ron! I can’t help the way I look,” came her retort, her voice hushed to avoid attention.

  “True, but you didn’t have to wear the skinny jeans and V-neck.”

  “That was for the doctor’s enjoyment, not the woman visually raping me with her crazy eyes.”

  “At least you wore your Converse sneaks. That girl’s eyes would explode if she saw what boots did for your ass.” Ronni had to rub it in.

  “Stop. You’re creeping me out.” Her body shivered, and it wasn’t the pleasurable kind she had experienced the other night with Kara.

  “No question she would like to do some research with you and she does not look vanilla. Just saying.” Ronni’s mischievous laugh filled the quiet room, earning an evil eye from Sierra.

  “I’m here for Kara, not some random roll in a workplace closet. And stop calling her vanilla,” Sierra fumed. “Besides, maybe someone less colorful is what I need in my life.”

  “If you kept the girls under wraps a bit more, you might be able to avoid some unwanted attention. They scream ‘look at me’ every time you walk into a room,” Ronni explained.

  “Noted.” Sierra sighed and slinked further down in her chair. “I wanted them to catch Kara’s eye.”

  “I have no doubt they will. Oh, speaking of vanilla, here she comes now. Damn, she even presses her lab coat. Let the fun begin. Wait. Does she even know what fun is? This is gonna be a long day,” Ronni teased while elbowing Sierra gently, oblivious to the wide smile on her best friend’s face as Dr. Davies appeared in the hall.

  There were definitely questions that needed answering, but the only thing occupying Sierra’s mind right was how amazing Kara looked in a form-fitting lab coat.

  Kara made a stealthy approach, shooting a quick glare at Christie, whose eyes were still burning a hole through Sierra to no avail. Sierra’s focus was solely on her. A warm smile formed on Kara’s thin, shapely lips as their eyes met. “Hello, Sierra.” She lingered for a moment before adding, “And Ronni, I don’t think we’ve officially met, but I’m glad you came.” Her greeting was professional and to the point.

  “Wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

  Sierra was familiar with the sarcasm of her best friend, but her using it on the woman she was desperate to get closer to grated her nerves. She shot Ronni a glare that said, “don’t be an ass,” which resulted in a smirk and a shrug. As usual, Ronni had found a way to rile her up, but Sierra needed her focus elsewhere.

  Looking up at the patiently waiting doctor, whose eyes shone with more interest in her than a research subject, a warmth filled her chest, swallowing up all of life’s little annoyances.

  “Care for a tour?” Kara asked, looking between the two friends. If she had noticed the friction between the two of them, she didn’t show it.

  “Please.” Sierra stood and moved toward Kara with a graceful sway of her hips, flashing a blinding smile that widened when the doctor’s eyes took a quick detour south. Mission accomplished. Sierra would even admit to feeling pleasure at the way Kara had been annoyed by Christie. Depending on the answer to one extremely important question, this could be an interesting day.

  Kara cleared her throat, regaining the professional composure reminiscent of their first meeting. “All right then…” she trailed off and led them away, but not before casting one last glare at the receptionist, who quickly righted herself and slung her eyes in the direction of her computer screen.

  As they strolled the long white halls, Kara chanced a quick glance at Sierra. “I’m glad you decided to do this.”

  “Me too. I hope it’s okay I brought Ronni along.”

  “No problem at all. You told me she was your best friend, so I sort of expected her to come with you,” Kara replied with a soft smile. “Over here.” She directed their attention to the right. “This is where they input all the data. They make charts and graphs, so we can easily compare the tests and their parameters.”

  They continued through the corridors, getting acquainted with the many facets of the facility. Research was only one piece of the pie. There was also a top-of-the-line training, rehab, and tech development. The doctor brought them to a stop outside a glass window. Inside, a couple of men wearing headsets played tennis without a ball. Their bodies were covered with colored stickers and wires.

  “So…this is crazy weird looking. What’s this all about?” Ronni inquired with curiosity.

  “Well, Ronni, this is one of the things Sierra will be doing.”

  “Whoa Doc, Sierra is no good at tennis. Believe me,” she scoffed.

  “Hey now, at least I’d look good in the outfit.” Sierra smiled and winked at Kara, loving the blush that raced into her cheeks. That was all the confirmation she needed to know her intended visual had hit its mark.

  Kara dropped her eyes to the floor. “I umm…didn’t mean that she would play tennis,” she chuckled lightly, regaining her poise. “She would be on a bike. The headsets are virtual reality simulators and the pads are sensors that read body movement, enabling us to measure reaction times to stimuli. We can also measure the accuracy and control of body positioning. Part of my platforms with Sierra will include spinal manipulations to measure how it affects her responses. I hope to track the differences between outcomes among various regions of manipulations within the same test.”

  Kara turned to face the women. “Well, that concludes our tour. Did you guys have lunch yet? We have a wonderful café.”

  “I don�
��t know about you guys, but I am famished,” Ronni exclaimed with Meryl Streep-like dramatics. “Any chance lunch is on the house for your tour guests?”

  “Ron! I can’t believe you. Please ignore her, Kara.” Sierra covered her embarrassment with a well-placed hand.

  Kara dismissed the comment. “Actually, Ronni, the food is free for employees and participants. I’ll make sure yours is taken care of, but maybe you’d like to join one of our studies?”

  “Well, Doc, that depends on how good the food is.”

  “It’s pretty good.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  Sierra and Kara chatted casually while Ronni enjoyed multiple servings of the free food. The mood was relaxed and comfortable and though Sierra wanted to ask deeper questions, she tried to keep it light. “You mentioned you also have a practice. How does that work? I mean, doing research here and seeing patients over there. Wherever there is,” Sierra queried, hoping to learn a bit more about the doctor.

  Kara clasped her hands together on the table top and took a deep breath. Her eyes grew large with barely restrained enthusiasm as she launched into an explanation. “My business partner, Nicole, and I co-own an office. We were friends long before we went to chiropractic college. After graduation, we decided to open an office together. She’s good at the business part, as well as an excellent doctor. I enjoy helping patients live a healthier life, but I’ve always been drawn more to finding out why things work as they do and the effect that our treatments have on patient function. I like seeing measurable differences and validating the work we do. So, I set up small test groups in our office.”

  After a quick pause for a sip of water, Kara continued, “That grew into treating high-level athletes and measuring changes in performance. I had been working on research grants when Mr. Volden came to recruit me. My scientific mind couldn’t say no, so we hired on an extra doc at the office and here I am. Besides, my work brings recognition not only to my profession, but also to our office, so it’s a win-win.”

  Sierra’s curiosity had been piqued. “Wow, okay. So, what exactly will you be studying in my project?”

  “Several things actually, but we’ll start with a baseline of reaction times and measure your efferent and afferent signals through a series of actions.” Kara’s eyes were bright and her hands animated, as she spoke about her work. “Each time, you’ll receive spinal manipulation and we’ll run you through the same tests to note the changes. Though we’re doing similar tests with different sports, we’re hoping to see that manipulating certain spinal levels will cause an increase or decrease with specific times and kinesthetic abilities….” She trailed off, realizing Sierra was staring at her in silence with a goofy grin fixed upon her face. Then there was Ronni, with her mouth agape and a healthy scoop of pudding frozen in mid-air.

  “Sorry, I tend to get excited about my work.”

  “No, Kara, it’s fine. Endearing, actually. I kinda like it when you ramble on with all those sexy medical words,” Sierra joked. The shy smile she received in return was exactly what she had hoped for, but she wasn’t prepared for the rush of warm tingles that rolled through her body in response.

  “That was intense. I don’t know what you said, Doc, but you got a big ole brain on ya.” Ronni shook her head and shoveled the spoonful of pudding into her mouth.

  The confident physician was uncomfortable with complements, blushing and ducking her head. Sierra found she rather enjoyed seeing that side of the woman and made a mental note to instigate such responses as often as possible. Even though she hadn’t asked her all-important question, she decided it would be impossible to not see Kara again. She was already too smitten.

  Clearing her throat, Sierra made her move. “So, um, I don’t know what you’re doing this weekend, but Saturday we’ll be taking our motorcycles out for a ride. We always have breakfast at this nice little diner called Viv’s before we head out. Why don’t you join us for breakfast? And you’re welcome to hop on the back of a bike if you’d like.”

  Ronni shot her a look. Sierra ignored her and said a silent thank you that Kara had been too lost in thought to notice.

  Kara smiled and stood to collect the plates. “Since there’s no race this weekend, I was planning on staying in town and getting things set up, so…breakfast sounds nice. Thank you.”

  They stared longer than necessary for the hundredth time in the last two hours, broken only by Ronni coughing. Sierra glared at her friend, who offered no apology for ruining the moment.

  “We should get you signed up and we can get started on your testing later in the week.” Kara nodded over her shoulder for the women to follow.

  “It’ll take about forty-five minutes or so to fill out the paperwork and consent forms. I’d like you to start Wednesday, if you could. Ronni, I think I may have something you’ll like as well. How about testing out some high tech virtual reality games while you wait?”

  “You’re not going to hook any electrodes to my brain, are you? I mean, that free lunch didn’t imply that I’m a lab rat now, did it?” She stepped back and wrapped her arms protectively around her waist.

  “Guess you didn’t read the fine print, huh?” Kara’s expression was unreadable and Ronni’s eyes grew wide. “No.” Kara relaxed and laughed. “Nothing like that. Part of this facility is involved with the gaming industry. They use data and biomechanics from our athletes to design more realistic gaming experiences. You can try them out and leave feedback while they’re in development.”

  “Whew! You had me there for a second.” Ronni blew out a sigh of relief, ignoring Sierra’s laughter. “Really? No strings?”

  “No strings.”

  “I’m in.” Ronni bounced with excitement. “When can I start?”

  “Head right through there and tell them I sent you. Sierra can come and get you when she’s done.”

  “Sweet, Doc. You may be vanilla, but you sure know how to treat a gal.” She gave Kara a friendly punch to the arm, then yanked the door open and rushed inside.

  “Um…thanks, I guess.”

  Laughing at Ronni’s exuberance, Sierra joked, “I don’t think you realize the trouble you just got yourself into. She’ll be here every day playing those games and eating the food.”

  Kara laughed heartily. “I know the way to a woman’s heart is through video games and good food.”

  “Yeah well, you do have a big ole brain, Doctor Davies.”

  “That I do. You ready?”

  “Yeah, but can I ask you something first? It’s kind of important.”

  “Of course. What is it?”

  “I’m happy to be your lab rat and all and I hope you can help me improve, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is some kind of an attempt to get me to join the Traxx team. I was a little upset you didn’t tell me you worked for them.” As the last words fell out, Sierra eyed Kara carefully.

  Turning to face Sierra fully and meeting her eye to eye, Kara said, “I apologize if you feel deceived in any way. Yes, I am employed by Traxx in a roundabout way, but what I do here has no bearing on your contract status. I’m allowed to work with you and in return, your data benefits us. We work with athletes from all sports, from all around the world.”

  Kara began walking again and Sierra followed alongside. “I just started here a few weeks ago and I’ve only worked the two races, so I’m not yet familiar with all the people or divisions of the company. I’m sorry if you felt betrayed. That was never my intention.” She glanced over and offered a soft, apologetic smile.

  Basking in the honesty of ocean green eyes that screamed for forgiveness, Sierra returned the smile and then sighed out, “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, I just…” Her head swiveled left and right before she continued, “I get tired of everyone trying to get me to choose a team. I choose my team. Money is great and all, and I do want to be the best, but I really just love to ride. Mountain biking is my passion and I don’t want anyone ruining that joy by having someone telling me what and wh
en to do things.”

  Having thoroughly vented, she took a deep breath and relaxed, followed by the realization that she had dumped everything on Kara, who had only meant to help. “Sorry for the rant.” She ducked her head. A tight, sheepish smile took shape.

  Kara’s hand slipped onto her arm. Her bare skin was warm and soothing, bringing Sierra an instant calm. The rider known to command rigid wooden trails to bend to her will was suddenly putty under the doctor’s gentle touch.

  “No need to apologize. It’s my mistake. You’d stated that plainly the other night, but I didn’t realize this might be a problem or I would’ve been more upfront.” Kara’s look of concern melted into a reassuring smile as she reached for the door. Holding it open for Sierra, she added, “This is my first time with a big company. I’m also used to being my own boss. Unfortunately, in research you need money to advance the science, so here I am.”

  “So, you pimped yourself out for science, huh?” Sierra’s left brow rose into a perfect arch as she fought to contain her smile.

  “Mmm yes,” Kara replied with a roll of her eyes and a cheeky grin that dimpled on the right. “And you’re my next John.”

  The reference effectively lost the battle for Sierra as her smile widened until it was all teeth. “I think you mean Jane,” Sierra corrected and then suggestively waggled her brows.

  They shared a laugh, followed by a comfortable silence, until Kara asked, “Are we okay?”

  “Perfect.”

  Kara nodded happily. “See you soon then?”

  Sierra walked through the open door, turned, and then flashed her most swoon-worthy smile as she replied, “Very soon, Doctor.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  With a hot green tea in hand and a certain woman on her mind, Kara moved slowly through the long winding halls toward her office and the growing piles of data awaiting her review. Dressed in her work attire of tan khakis and an embroidered navy polo, she felt at home, even though she was still getting accustomed to her new surroundings.