Page 13 of Fast & Reckless
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He gave her a bored look. “Your accent, love. It’s a bit of a dead giveaway.”
“I was born in London, actually. Dual citizenship. But yes, I spent most of my time in LA. Yours gives you away, too, you know.”
Now it was his turn to bristle. “Gives away what?”
“Where’d you go to school? Eton? Or maybe Winchester or Harrow?”
Color tinted the tops of his remarkable cheekbones. She wouldn’t call it a blush, exactly. It was more like his emotions betrayed him and laid a temporary claim to his face against his will.
“Harrow,” he said, after a minute. “How—”
“I said I lived in the States most of the time, not all of it.”
“Right. You spent enough time with your dad to pick out public school accents and fall in love with racing. Continue.”
“That’s it. I like racing.”
“You haven’t missed a single simulator session.”
“Okay,” she conceded. “Iloveracing.”
“So?”
“So, what?”
“What happened? Seems the old-timers at Lennox know you from when you were a kid, but nobody’s seen you in years. Where have you been?”
She shrugged dismissively to hide her discomfort and glanced out the window. “I was in college, then I was working.”
“Where’d you go to college? Working where?”
Oh my god, he just wouldn’t quit. “UCLA, business major, summa cum laude. Junior assistant at a payroll company. See? Nothing worth talking about.”
That payroll job had been like purgatory. She was organized and efficient by nature, so the work was easy, but when her old boss told her she had a great future with the company, she’d wanted to cry, imagining spending the next thirty years there. It seemed like divine providence when she’d heard about Pen’s leave a week later. She’d been desperate to escape, but escaping to Formula One was like a dream come true. And if coming back here also meant facing her nightmare? Well, every dream had a price.
“And this is the first time you’ve been back to England since you were a kid? Why? I mean, ifIloved Formula One andmydad happened to be principal of one of the top teams in the sport, I’d have a hard time staying away.”
Staying away for seven years had been nothing short of awful. But she wasn’t about to share the reasons for her exile with him, no matter how hard he tried to weasel it out of her.
“I missed it,” she said evenly, in a tone of voice that invited no further questions. Of course, Will was not a person who respected boundaries.
“Not very much, apparently, since you never came back.”
“Hey,” she said, rounding on him. “Let’s talk about how a rich kid from Harrow ends up in Formula One. That’s a storyI’dlike to hear.”
He blinked, his dark blue eyes turning wary. “Lots of kids love racing. Lucky for me, I had the talent to do something about it.” He was the one to look away this time, squirming and fixing his attention on the dull winter countryside sliding by outside. “Until I fucked up, anyway.”
“I’ve heard.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, pretty much everyone has at this point. Just so you know, I’m not that guy anymore.”
“Good, because my dad took a big chance on you, and I’m glad to hear you’re not a rich boy who’s going to blow that chance at the first opportunity.”
He looked back at her, all traces of humor gone. “I appreciate what he’s doing, bringing me back like this. I wouldn’t do that to Paul. Despite what you might think of me, Mira, I’m not that much of a jerk.”
Now that she knew him a little better, she didn’t think he was a jerk anymore. A little arrogant maybe, but he wasn’t malicious. He was determined to succeed, that was obvious. And in that one way, she understood him completely.
