Page 35 of Crash Course Omega
“You’re pretty cute, you know that?” she says as she squeezes my hands.
I don’t know how long we stayed there for, just holding each other, watching each other, our scents blending as our chestsrose and fell together. It’s like time has stopped, and I’m finally standing where I want to be after so many years.
“Will you come again?” I ask her, worrying that I’ve blown it with the coffee fiasco.
But she just grins. “You’ll be here at four, yeah?”
“I’m here every night, all night. Just come whenever you want.”
“When do you sleep?” she asks.
“When the season’s over and we've done the best we can do.”
She bites her lip, looking like she wants to say more. Instead, she just says, “I’ll see you soon, okay?” as she adjusts my jacket around her shoulders.
She gives it another sniff, sending me a smirk before she spins on one foot and sashays away.
I watch her go, her ass swaying in the bright light of the hangar and I realize we never actually said out loud that we were scent matches.
Everest
Eight hours later, and it’s hard to believe that Harmony is the same woman I was sitting with in the garage.
I’m in exactly the same spot, and she's twenty feet away, surrounded by her co-stars, the director, a few of Grace’s larger sponsors, and Jaxx, who's grinning away at her as she chats and laughs with everyone.
All that gentleness and vulnerability I’d seen before has been wiped away and replaced with an excited and vibrant woman who lives for the spotlight.
It’s so interesting to watch the way she handles the group of people and how easily she jumps between conversations,smoothly answers questions, and expertly moves away from topics she doesn’t want to talk about.
As I watch her, I wish I had that kind of skill. But then I also wonder how many people have seen the Harmony that I saw this morning?
The group is waiting for Jacob to arrive to start the introduction. The press will come later for the big reveal of her new car, designed especially to show off at the Texas circuit.
And then we’ll leave the car in the US and hopefully our team will never have to work on something so intensely pink ever again.
I jump back as I suddenly realize that Jaxx is staring straight at me. I can’t tell what his expression means, but from the way he throws me a wink, it feels like he knows something. Something I don’t want anyone else to know.
“Do they have to do that here?” Maddock grumbles as he steps in beside me, glaring straight at her.
Everyone knows they used to be close, but I guess he holds a grudge against her for leaving racing, as well. I’m not the best at reading facial expressions, but anger is easy.
“They are holding the photoshoot here. Where else would they do it?” I ask.
He glances at me from the corner of his eyes before shrugging.
“Fine, but can’t they see people have real work to do?”
“Why do I think that anywhere they held the photoshoot would annoy you?” I reply.
“Fair point,” he sighs, folding his arms to keep watching them.
I still need to make some final adjustments before Maddock can take the car out tomorrow for the free practice runs, where he and Jaxx can test their cars on the track before the qualifying races on Saturday.
But Maddock just keeps standing there, silently staring. And not in the comfortable way that Harmony did.
His presence is so strong I actually step away from him and pretend to investigate the nose of the car.
Maddock and I have been friends since I joined the Grace team. I don’t really consider most people friends, but Maddock is easy to get along with, except for the fact that he doesn’t always take care of his car. Though he usually comes to apologize for any damage afterwards.
