29. Budapest, Hungary

29

Budapest, Hungary

“If I don’t get something to eat, I’m going to pass out,” Violet groaned as they hurried into the hospitality center. The morning had been grueling for both of them, but they’d finally stolen five minutes to grab lunch before the afternoon’s race.

Mira surveyed the picked-over remains of the lunch service and sighed with disappointment. “Looks like all that’s left is the vegetable curry and it’s getting crusty.”

“I don’t care.” Violet seized a plate and heaped a spoonful of congealed curry onto it. “I just need to eat. So what are you doing for the break?”

Mira dumped a pile of lukewarm curry on her plate. “Back to Essex with my dad, I guess.” The midseason break was just around the corner, after the race at Silverstone. FIA rules dictated that no one could work, so it was a forced vacation of sorts.

“You should come to Thailand with me,” Violet said as they found seats at a table.

“Why are you going to Thailand?”

Violet smirked. “I’m renting a bungalow on the beach; drinks are cheap as fuck, and hot boys will teach you to windsurf. That’s why I’m going to Thailand. Seriously, you should come.”

“I don’t know …”

“C’mon, Mira, you need a vacation more than anyone I know.” Violet paused, eyeing her. “And you desperately need to get laid.”

“Um.”

Violet hiked her eyebrows. “Unless you’ve been getting some and you’re holding out on me?”

Her scoff of laughter sounded completely unbelievable to her own ears, but Violet just shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

The pathetic truth was, she was hesitating because she didn’t know what Will was doing for the break. Would she see him at all? Would he even want to see her? Maybe he’d made plans he hadn’t shared with her. Maybe he was going to see someone else. He hadn’t said a word about seeing her over the break. They hadn’t exactly declared themselves exclusive, or declared themselves anything other than a secret.

She’d just wanted a little time to figure things out. But in the few weeks they’d been doing this, she didn’t feel like she’d figured out anything at all. Their nights together had been amazing. She wouldn’t give them up for the world. But was that all they were? Hookups? Were they even “dating” when they didn’t go on “dates,” or even out together in public?

Ugh, when had she started to care so much? Annoyed with herself, she dug back into her cold curry.

“Mira, do you have a minute?” Her father appeared behind them, laying a hand on her shoulder. This was, of course, the other part of the problem. She couldn’t imagine her father’s face if she should ever tell him.

She jumped to her feet. “Sure, Dad, what do you need?”

“It’s a bit of an unpleasant task, to be honest.”

“Those are my specialty.”

“There’s a young lady working for Rally Fuel who is apparently an old friend of Will’s.” He coughed and raised an eyebrow, which explained exactly what sort of old friend she was. Dread knotted in Mira’s chest, but she schooled her face into disinterestedness. “One of the pit crew heard her saying she was heading over to his motor home to say hello. I’d rather he not have that sort of … erm, distraction just before his race, if you know what I mean.”

“So you want me to go accidentally interrupt them?” Her voice sounded remarkably steady, considering the pit in her stomach.

“Exactly. Can you come up with an excuse?”

“I’ll think of something.”

“Thank you, Mira.”

“No problem.”

The track was buzzing with race day energy, but Mira ignored it all as she made her way to Will’s motor home. Stupid motor homes. It was a coveted Lennox perk—they traveled personal motor homes for the drivers to every European race. But right now all that meant to her was that Will had a private place at the track where no one could see what he got up to.

What was she about to walk in on? Maybe it was just an old friend saying hi. But she suspected Will didn’t have that kind of old friends from his past.

At the base of the stairs, she paused, staring at his door, straining for any sound, any suspicious thumps or banging or moaning. There was nothing, but that didn’t mean anything. He had a couch in there.

Furious, she shook herself out of her stupor. She was being crazy. This was Will . He’d never treat her that way. Right?

Stomping up the shallow steps, she rapped briskly on the door.

“Come in,” he called from inside, no flustered stumbling, no hesitation.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped inside. Will was leaning casually against the bar. The girl—woman—sat in one of the armchairs, sipping a beer. They were both laughing about something.

“Mira,” Will said, giving her a heart-stopping smile as she came in. “This is Roza. I knew her back in my first season. We were just catching up.”

Mira cast a quick, appraising glance at Roza. She was beautiful, tall and built, with long dark hair and blue eyes. She smiled at Mira, open and welcoming, and raised a hand to wave. “Hi.”

“Roza, this is Miranda. She’s the principal’s assistant.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Mira said, feeling foolish because it was clear she hadn’t interrupted anything. And now she felt doubly foolish, because in her haste to get over here and bust in on Will’s suspected tryst, she hadn’t come up with a good reason for her interruption. “Paul needs to see you. Ah … emergency team meeting.” Internally, she winced. Emergency team meeting? That was the best she could come up with?

Will’s lips twitched as he suppressed a smile. “Oh. Emergency team meeting. Sounds very important.”

“It is. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no, it’s okay.” Roza stood, unfolding her long legs. Her smooth voice carried a hint of a Hungarian accent. “I need to go. I just wanted to say hi and wish you luck before the race.”

Will smiled at her. “Nice to see you again, Roza. And congratulations.”

“Thanks!” She gave him a brilliant smile as she swept her hair back over her shoulder. It was then that Mira noticed the flash of a very large diamond ring on her hand. Roza leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek, then smiled again at Mira and headed to the door.

“Sziasztok!” she said brightly to both of them and then she was gone.

In the silence following her departure, Mira kept her eyes on the door, too embarrassed to face Will.

“Emergency team meeting?” he finally asked.

“Oh, shut up.”

He burst into laughter, nearly doubling over from it. “Seriously? Emergency team meeting?”

“I know, jeez,” she said, heat rushing to her cheeks. “My dad sent me over here to interrupt you and your guest, and I was so distracted by the fact that you had a gorgeous woman in your motor home that I forgot to come up with a decent excuse for interrupting you.”

Will sobered. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”

Relief rushed through her. Of course he wouldn’t. “I didn’t know … I mean, we’ve never talked about that—”

He reached for her hand, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. “I wouldn’t,” he said again.

She smiled weakly at him. “I know that now.”

He shifted in discomfort, and ran his hand over the back of his neck. “Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, Roza and I did have a very short thing. Ages ago. But she came by to tell me she’s engaged to Andres Basilio. He’s an old friend from my junior driving days.”

“Yeah, I noticed the ring.”

“So what did Paul think he was sending you over here to interrupt?”

Mira smirked. “He was just worried your guest might ‘distract’ you before the race.” She air-quoted the word.

Will’s smile returned, broad and predatory. Those dark blue eyes flashed. He shoved off the bar and advanced on her. “Then he shouldn’t have sent you over. Because now I’m definitely distracted.”

WILL BACKED MIRA UP until she was pressed to the door. Reaching for her hips, he dipped his head to the side, kissing down the side of her neck.

It honestly had not occurred to him what having Roza in his motor home would look like to her until Mira stumbled in so flustered and on edge. The idea that she might have been jealous, possessive even, was doing something to him, making him feel his own kind of possessive. God knew he felt jealous every time he saw her goofing around with Omar, chatting with Ian, joking with Dom. She didn’t notice how they all looked at her, but he did. She was free to talk to anybody she wanted; he just wished they all knew she was with him when she did.

“Mmm, I love distractions like this.” He slid his hands under her shirt and up over her rib cage to cup her breasts. His dick sprang immediately to attention, and he pressed himself against her hip seeking some friction and relief.

“Me, too,” she whispered.

He nipped at the corner of her jaw, then soothed the spot with his tongue.

“Dad’s really going to be mad if I’m the one distracting you before a race.”

“Then please don’t tell him,” he said into the hollow between her breasts. Suddenly he was desperate for release, desperate to sink himself inside her.

She ran her fingers through his hair in that way he loved. He closed his mouth over her nipple, tonguing her through her bra, and she sighed, her head falling back and making a soft thump against the door.

“Seriously, though, Will.” She tugged gently on his hair. “There isn’t time. You have to go race.”

He groaned and pressed his head into her chest. “I know. I hate it, but I know.” As much as he wanted to strip her bare, pull her to the floor, and fuck her hard, it was going to have to wait. Someone was going to be along any minute to call him to the track.

Her fingers stroked through his hair again. “Well …”

He straightened up to look at her. “Yeah?”

She stared up at him for a moment, biting her lip, contemplating something. Whatever it was, he was game, as long as it involved her and his dick.

Suddenly she reached for him, spinning him around until he was the one pressed up against the door. “You have to be quiet,” she said. “And quick.”

“What …?”

Then she dropped to her knees in front of him.

Oh.

Oh. She was going to … His dick grew impossibly harder and sweat broke out across his forehead just imagining it.

“Mira …”

But he couldn’t remember what he was going to say as she started working the fly of his race suit open. It was so tight, and there were his fucking Nomex long underwear to get through, too. She’d never manage to get him out. He reached down, brushing her fingers out of the way. Reaching through the layers, he grasped his swollen dick, and freed himself.

Then she pushed his hand out of the way and closed her fingers around him.

He looked down at her. Blond curls, bare shoulders, parted lips, and the head of his cock right there in front of her. Fucking hell. “I can’t believe you’re going to—”

“Shhh,” she admonished. “Remember, quiet and quick.”

Then she slid him into her mouth. He immediately let out a loud guttural groan. She pulled off and glared up at him.

“Okay, okay,” he panted. “Quiet. Just please don’t stop.” Please don’t ever stop.

“And quick.”

He let out a strangled laugh. “That won’t be a problem.” He was so close to exploding already. This was going to take no time at all.

When she took him back into her mouth, he hissed through his teeth and pressed his fists to the door, grinding his teeth to hold back the groan building in his chest. Her mouth was soft and wet and warm and he was so hard, pulsing against her tongue with every stroke.

“So good,” he whispered. Tentatively he reached for her head, his fingers tangling in her curls. “Can I …?”

She hummed her assent, the sound vibrating right through him, amping up the pleasure. He wanted to grip her hair and thrust, but he held back, gently guiding her up and down his shaft, desperately trying to hold still. But as the pressure built in his gut, he couldn’t hold back anymore. His hips began moving in time with her strokes, and his fingers tightened in her hair of their own accord.

“I’m close …” he warned her, panting.

She answered by taking him deep and sucking hard. That was all it took. His orgasm exploded through him, pleasure racing through him, leaving him spent and shaking.

He tipped his head back against the door, dragging air into his lungs, dimly aware of her tucking him back in and closing up his drive suit.

“Goddamn,” he muttered when she finally rose to her feet.

She put a hand behind his neck and pushed herself up on tiptoe until she could whisper in his ear. “Now go win me that race and return the favor tonight.”

His mind immediately went to work, imagining all the shit he wanted to do to her when he finally had her back in his bed. He caught her around the waist and hauled her up against him. “I will wreck you tonight,” he promised her.