Page 24 of Fast & Reckless
Will gave her a long deadpan look. Mira met his gaze, determined not to be the first to look away.
“I don’t believe you. Okay, in every city you’re doing one fun thing. With me.”
Yeah, there was no way that was happening, and the reason why was probably still lurking out there in the lobby.
“I’m not sure—”
He held up a finger. “Think of it this way. If I’m hanging out with you, I’m less likely to be getting up to trouble elsewhere, right?”
She thought briefly about the kind of trouble Will had been prone to—hot girls by the score. If letting him drag her through a bunch of tourist traps in foreign countries would keep him clear of that kind of trouble, maybe it was worth it.
“Okay,” she conceded. “If I have time. Ifyouhave time.” She was pretty sure he’d get so busy he’d never even remember their conversation. In fact, she was counting on it.
He chuckled. “I’m holding you to that. And believe me, Mira, I have time for you.”
13
Melbourne, Australia
Mira glanced down at the name lit up on her phone screen and groaned.
“Hi, Penelope!” she answered with enthusiasm she didn’t feel, as she approached the Lennox mobile office. Pen was still several weeks out from having the baby and going absolutely stir-crazy in bed, so Mira got one of these phone calls nearly every day. Some days, like today, they were an interruption she didn’t want or need.
Penelope skipped the niceties and launched straight into a monologue of concerns. “Now the thing you must be aware of in Melbourne is that it’s a street track, and that can lead to a whole host of new issues—”
Mira hummed her acknowledgment at various points in Pen’s rapid-fire stream of directions, wedging her phone under her chin so she could retrieve her notepad from between the stacks of folders she was carrying. There was no place to spread out and work here. When they were back in Europe, they’d have their custom-built portable Lennox offices, masterpieces of modular design and overnight construction. Butit was too far to transport them to Australia, so they were stuck with the pop-up facilities the venue provided. At least the weather was nice.
After Bahrain, she thought maybe—just maybe—she was getting the hang of things. Setup was a sort of organized chaos, but the Lennox team was seasoned, and it pretty much went off without a problem. The jump to Melbourne, the second race of the season, was proving to be a different beast altogether.
First, there had been the car adjustments. Aerodynamics wanted to rework a body part, Mechanics wanted to overhaul the fuel injector … between the two, everyone had worked around the clock to get it done in time to load into the containers being flown to Melbourne.
Second, Melbourne involved flying all the personnel and equipment to the literal far side of the world. Even though there were people to handle all of it, emergencies arose and she was the one expected to solve them. Keeping track of it all had been a mammoth undertaking.
“Now the next thing,” Penelope continued, not having paused once. “I’m still getting calendar reminders and I’ve noticed we’re almost to the deadline for signing off on the contract with Hintabi for next year’s brake assembly. Paulhasgone over the contract, hasn’t he?”
Mira suppressed a groan. “Legal sent it to him last week for notes but he hasn’t sent it back yet.”
“Then you have to get it from him! Remember—”
“Yes, I know. Every issue big and small! I’m on it, Penelope! I’ll take care of it right now. Get some rest!”
She ended the call before Penelope could add a dozen more things to her to-do list, and hurried to track down her father and get the contract signed off on.
Inside the office, the air buzzed with the low-key chatter of half a dozen engineers and strategists discussing the day’s qualifying results. Her father was on the far side of the room, standing in front of a bank of monitors. She tapped him on the shoulder. “Sorry to interrupt, Dad, but have you had a chance to go over Hintabi’s contract?”
“Ah, right. You need that from me, don’t you? Can we—”
Just then the door banged open and Harry hurried in, with Will right on his heels.
“We’ve a problem, Paul. The front brake duct on Will’s car is done.”
