Taryn grinned and straddled the bike. She settled back and placed her feet on the pedals, making sure her legs were angled perfectly before she rocked the bike off its center stand and onto both tires. She put both feet flat on the floor and rocked from side to side to reacquaint herself with its weight.
“Are you sure you want to test this bike on the globe?” Andi asked, the concern evident in her expression.
Taryn nodded. “It’s not like I’ve never ridden it before, is it? I’ve been using the Pulsar over the Triple R back at the ranch between the shows.”
Andi tilted her head. “Yeah, but there’s a difference between razzing around the tracks with no one watching and putting it in the double globe.”
Taryn looked at Andi and frowned. “I don’t understand your reluctance. This is what we do. Testing out the limits of the bike in the most extreme environment we’re going to put it in is how we’ve always operated.” She grinned and turned the engine. “Is Bernice Sexpot making you soft?”
Andi punched Taryn’s shoulder hard enough that Taryn grasped the handlebars to steady the bike. “Don’t be an ass…and a hypocrite.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Taryn asked and gently twisted the throttle.
“You and the sexy doc. You made all that noise about not wanting to stay in one place so long, and you’ve settled right into a new reality nice and easy. Am I right?” Andi and Gwen fist-bumped.
“Being in love isn’t so bad, Tar,” Gwen said as she crouched down to inspect something on the back tire.
“First, I’m not in love, thanks, Gwen. Cassie and I are just having a lot of fun and even more sex—”
“Thatwould be the definition of being in love if you’re lucky enough,” Gwen said. “Ask Fig. If we don’t have sex at least every other day, she starts asking me if I’ve fallen out of love with her.”
Taryn didn’t know what to do with that piece of philosophy, and she wasn’t about to start asking a twenty-eight-year-old about their sex life. “And just because I’m not complaining about it doesn’t mean that I’m happy about staying in this neon-infested desert for more than a few days.”
Andi grinned widely and shook her head slowly. “The fact that you’ve just reacted that strongly tells us a very different story to the one your words are trying to give us.”
Taryn revved the engine instead of responding. Maybe she was protesting a touch too much.
“See?” Andi and Gwen laughed. “There’s no shame in changing your mindset.”
“A damn fine woman will do that for you,” Gwen said.
Andi nodded. “Amen to that.”
“So Bernice is the pillion passenger you were hoping she was?” Taryn asked, happy to turn the focus on Andi’s blossoming relationship.
Andi’s wide smile and the way her face softened gave Taryn the answer without words. She’d never seen Andi like this, so she had nothing to compare it against, but it was clear something had definitely changed for her. In her own way, Andi had loved many women in the time Taryn had known her, but this looked likelovelove. It was something Taryn hadn’t felt either, but she’d seen enough movies to know what it wassupposedto look like: wistful, faraway gazing; softly spoken sweet nothings; and a general marshmallow appearance where once had been a stone wall.
“I think so.” Andi shifted on her feet and kicked at the glossy concrete surface of the stadium. “Maybe it’s too early to say it out loud—I don’t want to jinx it.”
Taryn tried to disguise her grin at Andi’s body language. Seeing her like this was so alien. “Do you know if she feels the same?”
Andi snorted. “Are you kidding? Like I’m going to outright ask if she’s in love with me.”
Taryn slapped the bike’s fuel tank. “Ha! You are in love then?”
Gwen moved closer to Andi and draped her arm over her shoulder. “Do you want some advice, boss?”
Andi groaned. “Do I have a choice?”
“No. You don’t,” Taryn said before Gwen could respond.
Gwen removed her arm from Andi’s shoulder and gave Taryn a look that might’ve been intimidating if she was another foot taller. “I don’t have to share my thoughts with you, no. But it might save you some unnecessary pain.”
“Fine. Let’s hear it,” Andi said.
“My advice is, don’t play games and don’t waste time.” Gwen waved her wrench with each word then crossed her arms.
Taryn chuckled but couldn’t agree more with Gwen’s sentiments, particularly the second one. The earlier you learned that time was finite and precious, the more fulfilling life could be. “You’re not even thirty yet; do you get to lecture someone approaching a half century on this ball of dust about the importance of time?”
