Gregurich was a local guy that had tampered with my best friend’s bike. Beau was a spoiled trust fund asshole used to getting his way and he wanted revenge against Reid Travers for stealing his girl. A girl who, in my opinion, never even belonged to him. Beau’s opinion was clearly not the same. The faulty fuel lines were meant to put his one-time high school and current rival in the hospital—or worse. But his plan failed because I was the one on that bike, in mid-air, when it gave out.

So here I was.

I was trying really hard to be thankful that I was alive and all, but I had a lot of time to think while I was sidelined from my career. That slimy little bastard was going to get what was coming to him and I was going to make sure of it. Knowing that he was still walking free after tampering with Reid’s bike was a tough pill to swallow. I would have been equally as mad if Reid had been the one to end up on the operating table. You don’t mess with a man’s bike, just like you don’t mess with his girl. Reid and Nora may have gone about things in a way that pissed off Gregurich, but I didn’t blame them for what happened. There was only one person that I was directing my anger at these days.

Focus on your recovery. I reminded myself daily that I had more important things to worry about. I wanted to get back on my bike. Reid’s bike might have been headed for the scrap heap, but mine was still in one piece. According to my mechanic, Beau hadn’t touched my pride and joy. I needed to get back to my career as soon as possible. The one I’d given all my blood, sweat and tears to. Well, not tears. I’m not a little bitch that sits around crying. I was Brett Sallinger, freestyle motocross god. All around badass. Good thing this accident hadn’t messed with my confidence. That would have been a damn shame.

“Ready to go?” A female voice called out gently.

Speaking of things I wanted to focus all my attention on.

The sweet little blond waiting for me in the lobby with a smile on her face was none other than Georgia Bennett. My most favorite thing in Halstead, the sleepy little town that I’d come to three months ago with the Travers boys. Reid had big plans when he asked me to come back to his hometown with him and his brother, Hoyt. Plans that had started out as one thing and quickly turned into winning back his high school sweetheart, Nora, Georgia’s big sister.

As pissed as I was about how I’d ended up on the shit end of the Reid/Nora/Beau love triangle, I was grateful that I’d met the girl standing in front of me. Beautiful, funny, and not a damn bit interested in anything I had to say, which hadn’t stopped me from trying to make her smile. Each and every time I was around her, I became more and more intrigued. Luckily, my persistence had started to wear her down. We had struck up a friendship and while I was in town I was going to make the best of it.

For now, Georgia was playing nursemaid to an injured athlete, but every minute we spent together had me thinking there could be more between us. Even if she was adamant about denying it.

I’d caught her staring at me on more than one occasion. She might have tried to play innocent, but I knew when a girl was looking at me with more than friendship on the brain. I was just the guy to help her find her inner wild child, even if she didn’t know it yet. Just the thought alone was enough to drive me insane. I’d never met anyone like her—all good and pure and never crossing the line. A line that I knew she’d enjoy if she would just let herself.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, hobbling over to where she was waiting. My knee was still pretty stiff, but I refused to use the crutches any more than I already had. The brace was enough to keep me from falling on my ass, but I’d use the opportunity to touch her whenever I could. Georgia’s cheeks blushed pink as I took her arm and tucked it through mine like I needed her for support. She was extremely sexy with rosy cheeks. “Want to get something to eat?” I asked.

I’d taken up residence in an old cabin out on Reid’s property for the time being—it was a small place on a big patch of flat Midwestern land that butted up to the timber. It was peaceful and secluded and just what someone needs when they are trying to keep their focus channeled on recovery. Well, recovery and trying to figure out how to get my nurse, and chauffeur, to give me the time of day.

Georgia had volunteered to check in on me and made sure I made it to the doctor’s and physical therapy appointments. As much as I appreciated the time we spent together, I’d been trying to get more of it. Between nursing school, volunteering at the hospital, and hauling me around, Georgia Bennett ran herself pretty thin.

“I could eat,” she agreed, tucking a piece of her shoulder length hair behind her ear. “It will have to be quick though,” she added looking at her watch. “I’ve got a class at two.”

“Okay.” I’d take it. Honestly, I was bored out of my mind on the days I didn’t see her. Sitting around by myself was not good for my morale. When I wasn’t focusing on PT or getting to know Georgia better, I was second-guessing my abilities to make a comeback. What if I wasn’t as strong and resilient as I pretended to be? What if I could never ride again? Or at least not the way I used to?

“Okay,” she echoed sweetly when she caught me staring off. Worrying about my recovery wasn’t something that I should even be doing. I was going to get back on my bike. My real concern needed to be what exactly I was going to do when my flirting with Georgia finally paid off.

I’d never really been a take-a-girl-out-on-dates kind of guy—not that this was a date. She had shut me down more times than I could count, so for the time being I was content with us just being “friends,” or whatever she had convinced herself that we were. But it did seem like she was becoming more receptive to my flirting the more time we spent together. Hell, she’d even flirted back a few times. I couldn’t help but wonder if she looked forward to the time we spent together as much as I did. Or if she missed me or even thought about me when I wasn’t around the way that I did.

I knew a little bit about her relationship history from talking to Reid, but we’d yet to reach a place where I felt comfortable asking her about her fiancé. Reid told me that he had been killed overseas during his short military career. I didn’t tend to let my emotions run too high, but my heart broke when I thought about such a pretty young girl having her whole life thrown off track by such a tragedy. I also had no idea how to bring that up in conversation, or if she’d even want to discuss it with a guy she barely knew. So I’d wait. I’d wait until she wanted to tell me about him. Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn’t. I wasn’t about to push her to pour her heart out. Deep and meaningful wasn’t really my thing. Casual and fun was more like it.

Besides, I wasn’t really looking forward to the conversation where I told her that most of the things she’d probably heard about me were true. I’d never had a girlfriend. Twenty-four years on this earth and I’d never been able to commit myself to anything other than my dirt bike. Not that I wanted Georgia to be my girlfriend. I just wanted to be around her. I wanted to know her. To know what made her smile and laugh and what made her mad and if she ever lost her temper. In short, I wanted to know what made her tick. And, I definitely wanted to sleep with her.

As much as humanly possible before I had to head back to my real life on the motocross circuit.

I studied her while we walked together. She was gorgeous. Petite, but curvy in all the right spots. She was one of those rare women that truly never needed an ounce of makeup. She had big blue eyes that made a man forget what he was thinking and the prettiest pink lips I’d ever seen. The kind of lips that I suspected had a mind of their own. That is, if I could just get her to let go of a little bit of that control she held onto so tightly. To say that Georgia was wound tight was an understatement. But I liked a challenge. Hell, I lived for a challenge.