Chapter Twenty Three

Talk about all the old familiar places, Dixie thought, striding through the haulers around the infield in Sachsenring, dodging tire changers, publicity mavens and the press on her way to Nicky’s coach. Just because she missed a race or two didn’t mean the circus changed much. She and Jackie had take the same red eye flight from California the day after Cade’s call, and now Jackie was ensconced in Cade’s coach for a ‘summit meeting’, as Cade called it, and Dixie was on her way to confront her newly assigned client – again.

She was nervous, she admitted to herself, trying to still the butterflies in her stomach. She knew it would be weird to see him again, and yet, she was oddly excited.

And nervous.

And still a little pissed off, but…

She’d really try to just get past the awkwardness and just get to work on his muscles, because if what Cade said was true, Nicky was in a world of hurt – literally.

And he was still very much in the hunt for the championship, but from here until the end of the season, every single race counted.

Plus, in a few weeks, the circus would be back on American soil for two races – Laguna Seca and Indianapolis, and she wanted Nicky to be at his fighting weight to show the Americans why they should be proud to call him their rider.

She caught sight of Nicky’s coach and took a deep breath, blew it out slowly, and then rapped on the door three times.

“C’mon in, it’s open,” Nicky’s muffled voice called from within.

Dixie pulled open the door, stepped inside and ran up the stairs, then pulled the door shut behind her, shedding her jacket a few moments later.

Nicky emerged from the back of the coach with a towel in his hand and froze in place when he caught sight of Dixie standing by the door shifting from foot to foot.

“Hi,” he said, sounding surprised, pleased and a little nervous.

“Hi,” she echoed.

“Hi,” he repeated, and she had to bite back a small smile at that.

“Stellar conversational skills you have there, Gamble. No wonder Speed TV always wants to interview you,” she shot back and he bit back a smile of his own.

“They don’t usually show up uninvited,” he shot back, tossing the towel on a nearby chair and she shrugged.

“I was invited,” she countered.

Nicky sighed then, running his hand through his hair, making it stick up haphazardly, something that Dixie found adorable despite herself. “Cade. He called you, didn’t he?”

“Yes, and not just for a booty call on my assistant, though that was a part of the call,” Dixie said, cracking her knuckles one by one. “He said you’re hurting yourself, and that, I won’t stand for. If you’ve been fucking up all the work I’ve done on you these last few months, I’ll kick your ass myself.”

“Of that, I have no doubt,” Nicky said, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

Dixie shook her head and squared her shoulders, needing to clear the air before they started talking or working or flirting or whatever it was they were doing right now. “Look, I know back at the ranch…” she waved a hand around vaguely. “And then, you know…”

Nicky nodded, as though knowing exactly what she was saying.

“But you know, here… whatever. I think we should…”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re the boss,” Nicky said, sounding genuine. “In this, if nothing else.”

Dixie smiled a wicked smile then. “You know, just for that, I’m throwing in extra burpees,” and she laughed at his genuine groan.

“I knew there was a reason I didn’t miss you,” Nicky said, then immediately regretted his choice of words at her slightly wounded expression. “I mean… I don’t know what I mean,” he said, running that hand through his hair again. “I mean, I did miss you, just not burpee-ing for you. Or something,” he added, after a long pause.

“And again, Speed TV is really missing quite a gem here,” Dixie said lightly, though she was happy to hear that he had indeed missed her. “How about instead of having lots more awkward conversation and weird pauses, we just avoid all that and you just lie down on the bed so I can see what I’m working with here.”

Nicky hesitated for a brief moment, and then nodded, doing as he was told. Dixie gingerly tugged up the bottom of his track pant, cradling his ankle gently in the palm of her other hand. She could see the swelling and slight bruising, and didn’t like it one bit. She could also see some swelling in the muscle above it, and knew Cade had been exactly right. Nicky had been working much too hard – and in much too much the wrong way.

If only she hadn’t stormed out of the ranch, if only…. she could have taken care of this, of him, and kept him in great shape.

“Oh, Nicky…” she breathed, seeing him wince as she gently poked and prodded around the ankle, determining the extent of his new injury.

“It’s… it’s fine,” he said, his voice only slightly strained.

“It’s so not fine, but don’t worry. We’re going to fix this,” Dixie said, sounding confident. “As long as you do exactly what I say.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Nicky agreed, meaning it.

She could tell him to hopscotch on the moon and he’d find a way, he thought happily; that’s how glad he was to see Dixie Colson back in his life.

“You mean it?” Dixie asked, sounding uncertain at his eagerness.

Nicky took a deep breath then blew it out. “Look, we said some ugly stuff to each other, and it’s been eating me inside, and apparently, affecting my workout style, but I just wanna… I just wanna get past it and get better. If we can do that, if we can get past it, maybe we can… maybe we can get better too.” He flicked his eyes up the ceiling, feeling embarrassed at his outburst. “That probably sounds stupid, but…”

Dixie shook her head. “Probably sounds like a damn good idea,” she reassured him, and he met her eyes then, and Dixie noted a slight twinkle in them, a slight upwards twist to his mouth.

“Cool. I solemnly swear not to be an emotionless automaton if you solemnly swear not to be afraid of my rejecting you,” he intoned and she smiled despite herself.

“You’re a goober and a half, Nicky Gamble,” she said, trying not to laugh.

“Through and through, ma’am. Through and through. And by the way,” he added with a slight wince. “Ow.”

“Good,” Dixie said, sounded satisfied with herself. “That’s supposed to hurt.”

“How come?”

“To teach you a lesson not to work out without a trainer,” Dixie said with a straight face.

“Does it have to be you, or can it be any trainer?” Nicky shot back.

“Are the other trainers as cute as me?”

“No, ma’am,” he said seriously.

“Does my cuteness make you work harder?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Nicky intoned.

“Then yes, it has to be me,” Dixie shot back with a teasing grin.

“I can live with that,” Nicky said with a grin of his own.

Dixie couldn’t believe that the butterflies were still circling her stomach, this time because Nicky Gamble had smiled at her a couple of times and called her cute.

But if it meant getting away from the ugliness of that night at the ranch, she could live with the butterflies forever, if need’s be.

God, she was glad to be back at the circus, she thought happily, tugging down Nicky’s pant leg. “Okay, sport, get your sneakers on. We’re getting on top of this injury, right now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Nicky said, scrambling for his shoes, so glad Dixie was back, the fight was (almost) forgotten, and her sunny smile was already making him feel better.

At this rate, he’d do a thousand burpees for her if it meant she would stay and smile at him a while longer.

Jesus, he’d missed her.

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