Page 3 of Fast & Reckless
The unmistakable joy in his eyes made her weak with relief. Her smile was genuine as she raised a hand in greeting. “Hi, Harry.”
Harry scooted out from behind the car with surprising speed and agility for a man his age. “Come let me get a look at you, girl.” He seized her by the shoulders, his eyes skating over her face. “All grown-up now, aren’t you? Give us a hug, then.”
He folded her into a firm embrace, and her eyes pricked with tears. She hadn’t known how much Harry’s warm welcome would matter to her until now.
“It’s really good to see you again, Harry. So how’s the car this year?”
His eyes lit up with enthusiasm, but as he opened his mouth to reply, a voice cut across the hum of the pit lane.
“Harry, what the hell! Are your engineers fucking idiots?”
Harry’s eyes shot heavenward, and he let out a long-suffering sigh.
Mira turned to look in the direction of the voice and stifled a gasp. The first car had just come off the track and its driver was descending on them like an approaching thunderstorm.
Her eyes registered many things all at once. He was taller than she expected. And hotter—oh …sohot. His blue race suit was unzipped to the waist, the sleeves tied around his hips, revealing a thin white Nomex undershirt that hugged every inch of his upper body. His tousled dark hair—nearly black—looked far too good for having just been flattened under a helmet, and his thick dark brows were furrowed in anger.
But his eyes … his eyes were absolutely electric. She could tell they were bright blue even at a distance, and the intensity of his gaze gave her chills even when it wasn’t directed at her. And then there were his cheekbones, his jawline, his chin … bone structure that beautiful should be illegal, especially when combined with the long legs and the broad shoulders and the tapered waist, and …god.
She dropped her eyes, embarrassed to realize that her face was hot and her body had gone all fluttery. No nono. She was absolutelynotallowed to feel this white-hot flare of attraction just minutes into her first day, and certainly not for a driver, of all people. Maybe he was just some test driver, someone she’d encounter once, then never see again—
“Problem, Will?” Harry said as he approached, and Mira’s heart sank.
Will. He was Will Hawley, Lennox’s new driver.
Which meant he was about to become a very prominent part of her work life.
Well, that extremely inconvenient blast of physical attraction was going straight into a trunk, padlocked, and dumpedinto the depths of the ocean, because there wasno way. Not ever. He was one thousand percent off-limits for a million different reasons.
To keep her eyes away from him, she flipped to a page of notes at the front of her notepad, everything she’d hurriedly compiled about the team on her flight over. Will Hawley was almost as new here as she was. Lennox had planned to keep both of last season’s drivers, but then Phillipe Deschamps injured his shoulder. He’d had surgery during the offseason, but his recovery hadn’t gone well. Just a few weeks ago he announced that he was retiring, and the hunt for his replacement began.
There had been loads of media speculation about who would be chosen, and everybody went bananas when they announced they were signing Will Hawley. The sport seemed pretty divided on him. Half thought he had more raw talent than anybody who’d ever gotten behind the wheel. The other half thought he was a hot mess whose off-track bullshit canceled out any promise he might have.
Either way, though, he was danger. The words were written all over that gorgeous face in big capital letters. And if there was one thing Mira was good at these days, it was steering clear of anything dangerous.
2
When Will stormed into the garage bay, it was clear he was interrupting something. For one, Harry was hugging some woman, which was weird all on its own. Harry was not a hugger. Violet from PR was hovering just behind them, smiling. Also weird. Nothing made Violet smile, except maybe pulling the wings off flies. Well, whatever he’d walked in on could wait. He was there to drive and if he couldn’t do that, they were all fucked.
“Excuse me, but could you please try caring about your fucking jobs for a moment?” Will snapped. With a sigh, Harry met his gaze. “We have a problem. A big fucking problem. That isnotthe car I had in the simulator.”
Harry pressed his lips together and put his hands in his pockets, turning to face Will fully. “I know.”
Will blinked, his brain trying to catch up. Was this a joke? He’d been practicing for weeks, memorizing everyinchof the car, and Harry just … forgot to tell him it would be changing? Renewed anger flushed through his chest. “Youknow? This is intentional? What kind of bullshit is this? You put me in one car in the simulator and I get something completely differentout on the track? How the fuck am I supposed to be ready for Bahrain if this is the bullshit I’m going to have to deal with? When are you going to get around to building the car I’ve been testing in the sim?”
“Can’t be helped, Will. We’ve got a lot to do to get the cars ready for Bahrain, and that’s how we have to allocate the resources. Decision’s come from the top.”
The team principal, then. This was his decision.
“That son of a bitch,” Will growled.
Behind Harry, Violet sniggered and glanced at that new woman Harry had inexplicablyhugged, who was ducking her head to smother her own smirk. He shot a look at her, trying to figure out who she was and what he was missing. Blond hair pulled back into a high ponytail, black wool coat, black trousers, sensible black heels … some new office worker, maybe? Lennox was a big organization. He certainly didn’t know everybody yet. But why was she here in the pit, hugging Harry?
Just then, her eyes lifted to his and he blinked in surprise. She was prettier than he’d first registered, with a face like one of those Disney Princesses—high cheekbones, a nose just shy of being pert, and lush lips—and eyes that dominated her face. Large and dark green, fringed by thick, feathery lashes, with arched eyebrows several shades darker than her hair.Verypretty. And much younger than that office drone outfit let on. Early twenties, he’d guess.
He very much wanted to know what this girl looked like when she wasn’t on duty. With that blond hair let loose and a whole lot less clothing, maybe. A different sort of heat rushed through him, the kind he usually reserved for off the track. But he was in the middle of a serious work problem, so that was, unfortunately, going to have to wait.
“Look, Will, it can’t be helped,” Harry said, snapping him back to the present. “It’s going to be Matteo’s specs for a little while.”
