Page 109 of Kiss & Collide
Violet watched from the back of the crowd as he ran down the track toward them, all unconscious grace and barely contained energy. She wanted to remember every inch of him in this moment, high on his triumph, his eyes bright with adrenaline, his smile glowing. Even though he still had pressure marks from his helmet on his cheekbones and his hair was a sweaty wreck, she’d never seen anything more beautiful.
He reached the pit crew and launched himself at them, laughing when they lifted him up and dragged him over the barricades. The pit crew chanted his name as they passed him over their heads, and finally deposited him on the other side, right in front of her.
“Hi,” he said, his smile wide and his dark eyes glowing.
“Hi.”
“Thank you, Violet. This … I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me.”
She shook her head. “I just made you a star. This? Today? You did this all by yourself. You’re a champion.”
“And you gave me the chance to be one. I love you. So much I can hardly stand it.”
“You are …” She shook her head, unable to find the words. Then she forgot all about words and simply flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him as tightly to her body as she could. Her fingers curled into the roughcanvas of his race suit, and she buried her face into the crook of his neck, pressing a kiss to his sweat-slicked skin.
“I love you, too,” she whispered.
She felt him chuckle and he dipped his head so he could whisper in her ear. “So I just had to win a Grand Prix to get you to fall in love with me, huh? Why didn’t I do this sooner?”
She pulled back enough to look up at him and reached up to take his face in her hands. This face, this man, who’d become so unbearably precious to her. She was so, so grateful that he hadn’t given up on her, that he’d given her time to catch up to him.
“I was already in love with you, Chase. I have been for ages. I just didn’t realize it.”
The smile on his face grew impossibly wider, and the expression in his eyes softened.
“You’d better go. There’s a podium and a first-place trophy with your name on it.”
He ducked his head and pressed his lips to hers. “I’ve already got the best prize.”
43Five months later Sakhir, Bahrain
As twilight descended across the desert and the stadium lights came on, flooding the track in bright white light, Chase attached his HANS device to his helmet.
“Let’s go.” Leon clapped him on the shoulder.
He started rattling off a laundry list of things the engineers wanted feedback on tonight, the first race of the season. Chase half listened while he scanned the cluster of Pinnacle staffers at the back of the garage. His mom and dad were there, chatting with Imogen, and beside them he spotted Violet, a vision in a fitted dark red suit. She was talking to Carter Hammond, pointing out different things in the garage so he’d understand everything he was seeing.
Carter nodded along, eyes sharp, expression focused. Since he’d committed to ownership, he’d proved to be a quick study, learning the ins and outs of high-end motorsport engineering and aerodynamics in a remarkably short span of time. He and Rabia had been having lengthy phone calls nearly every day during the offseason.
But now they were back for the new season, with a new team principal and a brand-new, fuckingawesomecar. Testing lastweek had been good, but Rabia was never satisfied with good. The factory had worked day and night since then on a list of improvements, and qualifying yesterday had been fucking fantastic. His starting position tonight, fourth, had thrown down a gauntlet. Pinnacle was back, and this year, they were in it to win it.
He took a second to run his fingers down the elegant sweeping side of the car, the surface glittering like graphite in the stadium lights. There were more sponsor logos than open paint.
“You ready?” Leon asked.
“As I’ll ever be.”
He looked back at Violet. This time she was watching him and when their eyes met, a slow, sexy smile curled her blood-red lips. She couldn’t really see his expression under his helmet, but he winked at her just the same. She touched a finger to her bottom lip, the little gesture she made when she was thinking about him, but one or the both of them was busy with work.
He felt the touch of that finger on his own bottom lip and he smiled. He had a good feeling about tonight, this car, and the rest of the season, but no matter how it worked out, he hadher, and in the end, that was all that really mattered.
Turning his attention back to the job, he climbed into the cockpit and slid down until he was settled in his custom seat. A couple of guys from the crew reached in to tighten his straps. There were a few more bits of business to get through, adjustments to be made, and words of wisdom from Leon.
“Okay, out for your reconnaissance laps,” Rabia said over headset. “Let’s see how she does.”
“She’s gonna kick ass, Rabia, because you built me a brilliant car.”
Rabia laughed. “She’s only as good as her driver.”
