to learn how to ride. My father gave up in disgust after the first couple of days. He thought I’d never be able to do it.”
“So you taught yourself, in other words?”
“Yes. I suppose I did.” Though it had cost her cuts and bruises.
“That doesn’t sound like someone who sucks. That sounds like someone who’s determined.”
She shifted on her bike, uncomfortable with the way he was looking at her. With what looked like respect. Weird, since she wasn’t that amazing.
Christie fiddled with her gloves so she didn’t have to look at him. “Well, I wanted to prove him wrong.”
“And you did.”
“I sprained my wrist in the process but yeah, I did.”
She could feel his gaze resting on her so she toyed some more, not wanting to meet it.
Eventually he looked away and said, “I’m going to go fast down here. It’s quite steep, though, so just go at your own pace. I’ll meet you at the bottom.”
She let out a breath and watched him start off down the hill, riding fast. There were several curves and dips in the trail, engineered for those with a bit of skill to do jumps on, and Joseph rode over them with ease, handling the bike like it was part of him, the bloody show-off. He made it look so easy.
Just like her brother.
That sounds like someone who’s determined.
Christie gripped her handlebars. No, she’d never been very good at this kind of thing. She’d failed at ballet, at gym, at soccer. And of course not forgetting the one Zumba class Marisa had dragged her along to. The one where she’d nearly broken the nose of the woman she’d been next to with her elbow…
But what she did have was a hell of a lot of determination.
She grinned. And before she could second-guess herself, she pushed off with her foot. Hard.
Then there was nothing but wind on her hot face, the ground moving fast beneath her wheels, and the track in front of her. Christie whooped as adrenaline burst through her. This was fantastic. She didn’t even have to do anything, only look out for tree roots and other riders. Amazing.
Toward the end, she even got up enough energy to pedal a bit so she could go faster, the trees whipping by on either side of her.
Who’d have thought she’d enjoy this? Who’d have thought it would make her feel so free?
At the bottom of the hill she saw Joseph waiting for her, watching her progress, and she couldn’t resist showing off, steering her bike off a tiny jump and managing a bit of air in the process.
As she reached him, she pulled the bike into a sliding skid to stop, her rear tire kicking up pine needles and dirt.
And promptly fell off her bike.
“Christie?” Joseph leaned over her. He was wearing sunglasses and she couldn’t see his eyes, but she heard the concern in his voice. “Are you okay?”
“Oh my God,” Christie panted from her position on the forest floor. She was covered in dirt and pine needles and she had a long scrape on her leg from the pedal, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care that she’d fallen off her bike in front of the gorgeous man she was sleeping with. That she’d kind of made an ass of herself. Somehow that didn’t matter at all. “That was amazing. Can we do it again?”
…
Joseph didn’t think he’d forget the image as long as he lived. Of Christie flying down the hill on her bike, cheeks pink, hair streaming out behind her, screaming and whooping all the way to the bottom.
Her whole face was suffused with light, with excitement. And as she began to brush the dirt and pine needles from her pants, she began to laugh. “Typical, huh? I don’t fall off on the way down, not even when I did that jump. Oh no, I fell off at the end. After the bloody bike had stopped, for God’s sake!” She patted her arm where the music player was still firmly attached, looking satisfied. “On the upside, I think you could safely say I beta tested the hell out of that.”
She was so passionate. And determined. And brave. And when she got that look in her eyes, he just didn’t know what to do with himself. What to do with the feeling inside him. The little bubble of warmth that had swelled at the sight of her careering down the hill then caught just behind his heart.
So he went over to her,