Page 5 of Downforce

“Anton,” I say, looking up at him.

And gasp.

He’s removed the space between us, now standing so close to me his cologne slips into my breath.

“Oui?” he murmurs, piercing blue eyes capturing mine. “You want me?”

My heart rockets up into my throat, and a tight, hot ribbon curls deep in my core.

Yes. I do.

“What?” I whisper, stunned at the perfidious thought.

His gaze drops to my lips, and a wave of concentrated lust—a physical response I’ve never felt in my life—rushes throughme. “You said my name,” he says, lifting his attention to my face again. “You want me, no? I am here.”

Heart thumping, body…burning, I take a step back. If I don’t, I might take a stepforwardand press my body to his.

“I want…” I stop. Swallow. Lick my lips. I’m so unsettled my Yorkshire accent—normally curbed by years of education in a private girls’ school—slips free.

Anton’s nostrils flare, and a strange tension darkens his face.

“I want to apologise,” I finish, accent reined in, even if my unexpected and thoroughly disquieting lust isn’t. If I had no impulse control, I’d have my hands buried in his hair and my lips in possession of his by now.

But thankfully, impulse control is one of my super-powers.

Don’t you mean, alas?

Spine snapping straight, I take another step back, lifting my chin.

No. I do not.

Do I?

“Pour quoi?” he asks, blue eyes refusing to let me go. Why does his voice sound like aural sex?

Frowning, I shake my head. “I don’t speak French.”

I do. A little bit. But I’m so shaken by my bewildering response to him I don’t catch what he says.

A small smile curls the corners of his lips, and oh wow, I’m in trouble.

His smile…his voice…his eyes… I’ve seen him interviewed and read everything about him before I even joined Equis. I know he’s considered one of the sexiest men in Formula One. But being in his presence… How was I not prepared for the sheer sensual force of the man?

His gaze drops to my mouth again for a fleeting moment. “Why areyouapologizing tome?” he says in English.

“For…” I lick my lips before I can stop myself, and the sound he makes, a low, carnal groan, awakes something equally raw inside me. I’m not just in trouble here; I’m in dire straits.

Our stares clash again, and my heart hammers into wild flight. He’s looking at me like he wants to…to…

Fuck my brains out?

“For my unprofessional behaviour,” I finish on a shaky breath.

He draws his head closer to mine. “Do you want to experience truly unprofessional behaviour, chérie?” He pulls in a slow, shaky breath. “With your permission, I can make that?—”

“Charlie?” Sergio’s voice cuts between us and, cheeks aflame, I jolt away from Anton.

His jaw bunches and something unreadable passes across his face.

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