Page 92 of Well Played

A couple of her guys see me coming and they turn, hollering into the trailer. Before I even get close, Charly’s jogging down the ramp and coming toward me. She looks nervous and I noticehow she’s twisting her hands together. She’s usually so calm that it ratchets up my anxiety.

Oh God. What if she is telling me she doesn’t want to try again?

I tamp that thought down, focusing on the fact that she’s been responding to messages all week. If she were breaking things off, wouldn’t she have just given me the cold shoulder?

“Robbie.” She tries to smile, but it looks more like a grimace than anything happy.

“You okay?” I reach toward her but drop my arm, not sure if she’d reject me or not.

“Yeah.” She shoves her hair behind her ears. “Just nervous.” With a wave of her hand, she gestures away from the haulers. “Would you walk with me?”

I nod and we fall into step next to each other. I shorten my stride so I don’t make her hustle after me and we walk in silence around the turns of the track until we get closer to the small grandstands on the front stretch.

By unspoken agreement, we head toward the seats and settle into the first row, facing out toward the deep red dirt of the track.

“I.” She starts and then seems to shake her nervous off. “I want to apologize for running away from you like I did after the accident.”

“You didn’t run.” I rush to defend her actions. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that she’d done the right thing in distancing herself from me. I would never let myself put her career at risk. Even if it broke my heart.

She lays a hand on my knee. “I did. The gossip scared me and it was the only thing I could think about.”

“You don’t have to apologize for something that wasn’t your fault.” I’m adamant because I don’t want her to feel guilty about this. I’ve never blamed her or thought ill of her.

“I’m sorry.”

She’s insistent. I lay my hand over hers where it still rests on my knee, giving it a light squeeze of reassurance.

She glances toward me and then away, and my stomach clenches when I see the sheen of tears in her eyes. “I’ve really missed you.” She whispers the words so low the wind almost carries them away.

“God, I’ve missed you too.” I want to pull her to me, kiss her, and reassure myself that we’re both on the same page, but I hold still, not wanting to do something she’s not ready for or might not welcome.

“Do you think you would ever trust me enough to try again?”

I wait for her to look at me before I say. “I’ve never not trusted you.” With a tug, I pull her toward me and our lips crash together. Her hands circle my neck and I lose myself in the feel of her. The sweet taste of her mouth and the unique scent that’s just Charly.

One of the track workers clangs against something behind us and we spring apart, both panting. For a few moments, we just stare at each other before her chest shakes.

For one horrifying second I think she’s about to cry, but then laughter spills from her throat and I laugh too.

“Where do we go from here?” I ask when we’ve finally settled down.

She stands and holds out her hand to me. “Well.” She pulls me up and I crowd close to her, slipping a hand around her back. “I’m going to do my best to beat Eddie tonight.”

“Oh, really.” I tease.

“Yes, really.”

We walk back around toward the pits and it feels like a weight’s lifted off my shoulders. “And what are you going to do if Eddie wins tonight?”

Her grin is wicked. “You’ll see.”

Eddie won last night,keeping us within two points of Charly and laying it all on the line for the second night at Red River.

After the race, we lingered at the haulers until it was time for us to drive back to our hotels. Which were, unfortunately, miles apart from each other. That didn’t stop us from video chatting long into the early hours of the morning.

I’m feeling the effects of the lack of sleep, but with our fall and winter break coming up, I tell myself I can always catch up on that later.

Just talking to Charly again settled the restless part of me that’s been eating at me since this summer.

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