Chapter Twenty Six

Dixie sleepily opened her eyes to see Nicky rolled up on an elbow, watching her. “Good morning,” he said softly and she smiled and stretched her arms above her head liked a satiated cat.

“Morning,” she said with a small, shy smile. “Hey. I’m still here.”

“Yup,” he said. “No rejection and definitely no lack of intimacy,” he said with a knowing look, referring to their sleep-interrupted night, as one or the other had awoken and then woke the other for another round of lovemaking.

“And look at you, trusting me to stay and what is that? Is that emotion on your face?” Dixie teased, putting to rest the fears they both carried but twenty four hours ago. She gently cupped his stubbled jaw in her hand, and he slid his lips over, kissing her palm tenderly.

“Yes, this is the ‘we better organize breakfast so I can go qualify on a full stomach instead of jumping your bones again’ emotion,” Nicky deadpanned, and Dixie laughed, then leaned over and kissed him swiftly on the lips.

“I like my bacon extra crispy, thanks,” she trilled, leaping out of bed and heading for his bathroom, the sound of his laughter in her ears.

**

“Why do you look like the cat that ate the canary?” Cade asked, glancing up from his clipboard with a worried expression until he caught sight of Dixie, unable to hide her smile from the world.

“Why do you look like death on a Triscuit?” Dixie shot back and Cade appeared to be so stressed out, he didn’t even crack a smile.

“I don’t know if we got it calibrated right,” Cade said worriedly, watching Nicky mount the bike and get ready for qualifying laps. “I don’t know if it’s going to get him on the front row or dump him on his ass in the first turn.”

“He’s going to be fine,” Dixie said soothingly. “I know he will.”

“How do you know?” Cade asked worriedly. “Did he say something about the bike?”

“No,” Dixie said, shaking her head. “I just… I just know. He’s going to be fine. His head is in the right place for the first time in a while.”

“Okay,” Cade said absently, before whirling around a few seconds later and leveling her with an inquisitive stare. “Hold the phone. Did you… did he… did you guys…”

Dixie affected a look of innocence and said nothing, though she had a fight a smile to do so.

“I take it Nicky had some… intense physical therapy in the wee hours of the morning, did he?” Cade said with a teasing leer.

Dixie burst out laughing, unable to contain herself. “Focus on your rider, Mr. Crew Chief Man, rather than my, um, methods.”

As the qualifying round got underway on the track, the garage did finally go silent but for the sound of the television commentators and the screaming engines as the riders wound around the track, picking up speed on every lap. Unlike qualifying in vehicular motorsports, in MotoGP everyone hit the track simultaneously, with timing of each rider being taken and then the starting line up determined from that at the very end of the session. Teams could hit the track for every minute of qualifying, or they could zip in and out of the pits, tweaking and testing until the very last second.

As the laps began counting down, though, even Dixie could see that Nicky was stupidly fast, passing more and more riders and riding with more and more confidence.

And riding focused, barely talking when he came in the pits before zooming away again, going faster and faster, the track and bike practically becoming one.

Other riders were having equal success – Lorenzo and Rossi in particular looked fast – but Dixie noted that Javier and De Puniet both seemed to be struggling, coming into the pits way too often for tweaks and changes. At one point, Javier even had a massive wobble coming out of turn five, which freaked Dixie out, so rare was it to see.

It wasn’t but two laps later, though, that the inevitable happened. Dixie was watching the Jumbotron, trying to track Nicky’s times when she saw the flashy bike of Javier jiggle, then absolutely low side into the track, slamming Javier shoulder-first into the asphalt. He skidded on his leathers for a good hundred yards before coming to rest on the grass.

Dixie’s breath caught in her throat and she felt her entire body tense, hoping he was okay, and breathing easier when he got up of his own accord and walked back towards the pits, obviously pissed off at the end of his day, such as it was.

Several minutes later, the qualifying round was declared closed and Nicky roared into the pits, a smile on his face as he high fived first Cade and then the rest of the crew. He stripped off his helmet and gloves, and seeing Dixie, pulled her into a sweaty hug and a quick, celebratory kiss.

“You looked damn good out there, cowboy,” she said happily and he grinned at her, looking adorably rumpled and windblown.

“You look damn good in here, trainer,” Nicky said, his voice low and sexy, making Dixie’s knees quake. “I think… I think I might have really injured myself out there,” he said, his voice still low and for her only. “I might need some very energetic, very naked physical therapy to feel better. For several hours,” he added as an afterthought and Dixie giggled, trying to keep a straight face since half the crew was watching them, wondering what they were saying to each other.

“You want to do hot yoga?” Dixie asked earnestly, trying to sound very serious.

“I want to,” he dropped his voice to a whisper in her ear now, “make love to you until you scream my name and claw my back and beg me for more. And then we’re going to do it again and again and again…”

Dixie slapped his shoulder playfully, her cheeks flushing red at his words, and he grinned at her, obviously pleased with her reaction.

Her expression changed, though, as a member of Javier’s team came striding into Nicky’s garage, his eyes focused on Dixie.

The 76 team puffed up a bit as an interloper stepped into their fray, gathering behind her as the man halted in front of her. “You are Dixie, yes?” the man asked, his thick Spanish accent obvious.

“I am, yes. And you are?”

“I am Claudio, from Javier’s team,” he said, giving her a slight bow.

“Is he okay?” Dixie asked with concern. “I saw his wreck in qualifying. It looked pretty bad.”

“He is hurt,” Claudio said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “So.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Dixie said. “But…”

“He asked for help. Only Dixie, he say. Please – you will come,” Claudio said, gesturing towards the garages at the other end of pit road.

Dixie swallowed, a mix of emotions swirling through her. Pride, obviously, that someone was requesting her specifically, confusion, as to why Javier would ask for her at all, still a bit of hurt for the way things ended up between them, and worry that Nicky would get all alpha male if she went to help a ex-, well, an ex-whatever he was.

But the bottom line was that Dixie couldn’t and wouldn’t let someone remain hurt if she could help, so she knew she was going to go.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” she said to Claudio. “Where is he?”

“In the first aid. He refused hospital, yes,” Claudio replied. “Thank you, miss.”

He strode away from the garage area, and Dixie turned to see Nicky watching her carefully.

She gestured with her head for him to follow her, and they threaded their way out of the throng of people and into a nearby deserted hallway. Nicky leaned up against the wall, trying to affect an air of nonchalance, but Dixie wasn’t buying it at all.

“Look,” Dixie said to begin, but Nicky cut her off.

“Hey, go,” he said easily, not looking concerned. “If he asked for you, well, then, you should absolutely go help the guy who unceremoniously dumped you and hurt you.”

Dixie narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t go all passive aggressive on me. He needs my help, I can help him. Period. I can’t stand by while someone hurt is suffering if there’s something I can do to help. Surely you understand that.”

“I do, but…” Nicky sighed. “Why does it have to be him?”

“Because today it was his unlucky day. If it was anyone else, would you care?”

“No.”

“Well, then.”

“But…”

Dixie sighed. “I know we’re… whatever we are now, but I’m still me, Nicky. And you should know me well enough to know that I need to help him, no matter what my past is with him.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t get to be pissed off and jealous about it,” Nicky said, though his tone was even and calm – and affected.

“True, but I’d hope you’d be mature enough to ditch those feelings in a few minutes and grow up.”

Nicky started at her, his expression hard. “Don’t push, Dixie.”

She tugged on her hair with aggravation. “Look, here’s the thing. I’m crazy about you. I think you’re crazy about me. But along with that is stuff we’re going to do to make the other one crazy. This is one of those things. But more importantly, you need to learn to trust me to make good decisions. I’m not interested in Javier – I’m not suddenly going to jump into his arms,” Dixie took a step closer, laying her hand right over Nicky’s heart. “I’m not her. I’m not Heather. You have nothing to worry about, other than what you’re going to cook me for dinner before that, um, hot yoga session we’re having later,” she said, pleased to see him crook a smile. “I’m not her. I’m Dixie. And you trust me.”

Nicky nodded, his eyes locked on hers, not saying a word.

Dixie turned to go until Nicky’s voice stopped her in her tracks. “I’m thinking spaghetti, because we better seriously carb up for the workout,” and she could hear the teasing in his voice.

“With meatballs, I hope,” she shot back over her shoulder, striding away.

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