Page 14 of Fast-Track Fiancé

‘Are you challenging me, cariña?’

‘Of course, you would see it that way. Your reputation precedes you on such a scale it borders upon a cult. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to see if any of it is true or if it’s just more of your...spin.’

‘You believe that I’ve hired women to stalk me and break into my hotel rooms on purpose?’

‘No.’ She paused, thoughtful for a moment. ‘But I believe you do nothing to discourage it. If this were a real relationship, I would never have a moment’s peace.’

‘If this were a real relationship, I’d make sure you only felt peace. You’d be so relaxed you’d practically float from my bed, out into the world.’ He let his voice drop to a murmur as he fought not to step closer.

Her pupils dilated, a slight blush appearing high on her cheeks. She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it and looked meekly away as they were called to rejoin the party for more photos. Tristan felt a thrum of satisfaction rush through him. His little cat might play tough, but she wasn’t unaffected by him. Not at all.

CHAPTER SIX

TRISTAN WAS NOT present at the Belgian Premio events the following weekend, nor did he show up for Apollo Accardi’s first official training sessions in their Monaco headquarters over the week that followed. Nina threw herself into her own training, determined to finish out her last stint as second driver in Barcelona with her head held high.

Her agent had contacted her this morning with the news that representatives from Accardi Autosport were seeking a new driver for next year’s season now that their long-time champion was retiring. She’d hesitated but told them to put her name out there. When her deal with Tristan was concluded, she’d be out of contract at the end of this season after all, so she needed to keep her options open.

But the guilt weighed heavily on her mind as her team smiled and joked while they gathered at the marina to travel from Monte Carlo to Barcelona. They’d been treated to a night on a Velamar superyacht, likely courtesy of their main sponsor as a thank-you for their fantastic result in Italy. Of course, the vessel they were directed to was the largest one in the bay, a world-famous superyacht design that she remembered was called La Sirinetta II, but a different name was pasted on the bow of this one.

The Falco Experience.

Tristan appeared on the welcome deck dressed casually in a pair of tan linen trousers and an open-collared polo shirt. He greeted each of the team by name, leaving her for last as everyone else hustled to get on board and find their room for the night. The ship was huge and had more than enough bedrooms for them all, but, still, she was amazed that he’d so easily decided to open up his precious vessel to them all. It wasn’t usual for the team owner and drivers to travel along with the mechanics and administrative staff, but then again not much about Tristan’s ownership had been traditional so far.

The team was awash with excitement as they were greeted with fruity cocktails and canapés while Tristan played gracious host. After he greeted her with little more than a quick peck on her cheek and then instructed her to continue on to her guests, Nina quickly realised that he intended to keep the distance between them.

It shouldn’t have bothered her that he’d become so distant again after their night of flirtation in Milan. She’d all but dared him to seduce her after all, hadn’t she? Sure, she’d tried to pass it off as casual flirtation but she knew better than anyone that she was utterly terrible at lying. She’d thought about being seduced by Tristan Falco more times in the past three weeks than she’d ever dare to admit. Thinking of him had become some kind of sickness, affecting her focus on the track and infiltrating her very steamy dreams at night like a constant itch that she was forbidden to scratch.

She’d always hated being told that things were forbidden. It was rather like placing a giant flashing button within her reach emblazoned with bright letters that commanded: Do Not Touch—even though she was a dedicated rule follower by nature, all she wanted to do was touch it.

She knew that when he’d first proposed this deal, he’d said it would be safer for them both to keep their arrangement platonic behind closed doors. But deep down, she didn’t truly believe that was the reason he’d shown no sign of wanting more once the cameras panned away and it was just the two of them. Apart from the fact that she was a driver on the team he owned, she knew that aesthetically she was miles away from the kind of women she’d seen draped on his arms at that event in Paris. She wasn’t tall or willowy, she didn’t laugh prettily at his jokes and compliment him on his charms.

Once again...she was too much.

Determined not to allow him to see how self-conscious that realisation made her feel, she focused on chatting with her team and smiled when Astrid Lewis appeared to greet her. Astrid’s appearance at social events had become more and more rare lately. Her son, Luca, was an expert in everything Elite One and had never missed a single race until he’d started school last autumn. Nina had spent some time with them in their home in London before the season started and discovered that Luca had been diagnosed with autism. This had stunned her because of how often in the past Astrid had compared her sensitive, serious little boy to Nina herself. Nina had always felt a deep connection to Luca, and knowing more details about how he experienced the world only made her love him more.

But when Astrid had gently suggested that Nina perhaps should look into the experiences of some late identified autistic adults she’d found online, the moment had become a little awkward between them. It had played heavily on her mind since, but she shook off the memory and embraced her friend.

‘Please tell me you’re not here to add to my schedule,’ Nina asked quickly. Every time Astrid approached her with an eerily calm look in place it usually accompanied bad news of some sort.

‘Tristan said he told you about the Falco Diamonds centenary campaign that was in the works?’

Nina fought the urge to groan. ‘Yes, I remember.’

‘The actual campaign will be shot in Buenos Aires next month, but the PR team wanted to go ahead and do some tests while you’re at your photo shoot in Barcelona this week.’

Nina frowned, remembering that she was scheduled to shoot as a cover model for a magazine. ‘Do they want to do this at the same time as the shoot?’

‘That’s up to you, I would say perhaps all together might suit better with how much energy these things take from you. But here’s the thing... The magazine got wind of all of this and now they want to include recent events in the narrative. More specifically, they want to involve Tristan.’

As if summoned by his name, Tristan appeared at Nina’s side with two flutes of champagne in hand and offered her one. ‘Who wishes to involve me and in what?’

Astrid quickly went through the proposed feature from a prominent sports and fitness magazine that had shown interest in featuring women in motorsport and using Nina as their cover star.

‘This all sounds excellent, but I don’t see why I would be needed.’ Tristan frowned. ‘Unless you mean they wish to use some Falco pieces as part of the shoot?’

‘I definitely want us to include Falco Diamonds in some way, to really emphasise that connection between the two brands. I think it’s a great idea to push a united image for people to see. We also need to find a suitable location on short notice. But what I really wanted to ask was... They wanted to see if you’d consider taking the photos yourself, Tristan,’ Astrid said.

‘Absolutely not.’ Tristan’s face tightened. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint there. But the location and the diamonds, I can arrange. I’ve been meaning to check in on my uncle’s estate while we’re here anyway. He left it to me, rather than my cousin, Victor. My uncle was more like a father to me, and I think he knew I’d preserve it just as he wanted. He had a classic car collection that would work well as a backdrop.’

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