Page 80 of Rear View
My entire body warmed, and the answer came easy as I trailed a finger along the arm of the couch. “Yeah, Dad, I like him.” I liked him a lot.
Chapter Nineteen
Ryah
“Three right into two left long, one fifty,” Alec said, his voice carrying through my bulky headphones at the Emerald Cove Circuit the next morning.
Earl and the rest of the team stood huddled around a series of monitors, closer to the opening. The one they had me and Sheila in front of was off to the side, and out of the way, which was fine by me. I’d watched Xavier’s races before, but being there in person, the crispness in the air, sounds and scents of the engines, and that palpable, excited energy, added a whole other layer to it—one that had my heart pumping overtime.
His car drifted, kicking up snow in a wide, high arc. It coated the trees and the spectators there.
Cameras were everywhere—between him and Alec, on the dash, angled at their faces, on the hood of the car, at every turn and straightaway. There wasn’t a second missed.
“One left, short,” Alec said.
“What’s he saying?” I asked.
“They’re directions,” Sheila replied. “The smaller the number, the sharper the turn.”
They were so calm. Steady. Xavier’s eyes were focused, locked on the terrain ahead of him. The trust between the two—their lives were in each other’s hands. Literally. Alec to guide, Xavier to control.
The screen showed their speed at 186 kph, and the sight of it had my pulse thrashing in my ears. One wrong move. Just one.
My eyes were wide when they found Sheila’s. “How do you do this?”
She shook her head. “Barely.”
A single day I’d been there and my knees were already weak. I didn’t know how I’d last the weekend.
“Last stage for today,” Sheila said, hands gripping her legs.
My gaze flicked to the time on the leaderboard and my heart leaped into my throat. They led the clock by 3.3 seconds. If they just held…
“Hey, dude,” Yara yelled. “Crews only. You can’t be back here.”
My head snapped that way. A man dressed in all black stood about thirty feet to my right. His hood was drawn, his face obscured, but the vibe he gave off…
I froze, breath seizing in my lungs. “That’s creepy,” I said, my voice tight.
Sheila waved it off. “People try to sneak into these places all the time. The fans can be a little, ugh…unruly.” She laughed. “For the most part, they’re harmless.”
The guy shoved his hands in his pockets and pivoted away, fading into the distance.
Swallowing hard, I turned back to the screen.
Xavier snapped the shifter forward, accelerating. The speedometer ticked up to 197 kph as they closed in on the end.
Oh, God. My hand landed over my chest. Sheila grabbed my wrist. Xavier hit an incline at the end and the car went airborne. They did a flying finish, crossing the line a full five seconds under the others.
Sheila and I tore off our headphones and jumped, our shrieks lost against the roar of the team. They still had the second leg the next day, but they were in the lead.They were in the lead!
A short while later, their car rumbled up. Xavier and Alec climbed out while Yara and the rest of their crew rushed them. Hands thumped their backs and helmets. Trina scurried over in her shiny red heels and threw her arms around Xavier’s neck. My stomach dropped until he straightened and peeled them off, stepping around her. When he flipped up his visor, those arctic eyes searched the Parc Ferme until they locked on me.
He cut through the crowd, and I bounced in place while he closed the distance between us. Pulling off his helmet, he set it aside, his hair a sexy mess as he offered me a sideways grin. Bending, he hooked an arm under my ass and lifted, pressing me to his side.
I squeaked as I wrapped my legs around his waist and gripped the high collar of his racing suit. A blush burned my cheeks when I tucked my face into the curve of his throat. “You killed it out there!”
His mouth found my ear, his voice low and sincere when he asked, “Yeah?”
