Page 107 of Downforce

Max’s chuckle meets my ears at the same time he pulls up next to my go-kart. The sparkle in his eyes pulls at something low inside of the pit of my stomach. I can’t handle the images that flutter through my mind, so I wag my head and declare myself the winner.

“We still have one more race,” he says dryly, although there’s a smile still playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Do we even have to try for a third time, though?” I ask. “We know who’s going to come out on top.”

He wordlessly lifts an eyebrow, and I roll my eyes.

“If you’re too afraid to go again⁠—”

“Bite your tongue,” I insist. “Afraid. Ha! Leon,” I call.

“Let’s get ready to rumble!” he says in a mock announcer tone.

Energy thrums through me as if I’m a gladiator gearing up for competition. If I’d put my competitiveness to the side and used my reasoning skills, I would’ve recognized that I had no shot of winning this race.

And that it was probably Max going easy on me which allowed me to win the second race. If I’d realized this, it might’ve allowed me to put my ego to the side and just have seen this for the fun, cutesy date night event that it was, but I’m a Townsend and we don’t like losing.

Which is why my ego ends up becoming bruised and battered halfway through the race when Max easily pulls ahead of me. This time I don’t glance over at him out of fear of seeing how seamlessly he’s able to navigate his go-kart.

I will not be losing this race. While I’m not necessarily proud of my next decision, I go with it, nonetheless. Deciding that I’m not above subterfuge, on the next straightaway I step on the acceleration, drawing my go-kart in line with Max’s. He maintains his speed, but I have to fight just to stay even with him.

I keep my eyes on the track ahead but also slightly jerk my steering wheel to the right at the same time we come up on our next turn. The movement makes my kart crash into Max’s. The impact causes my tires to skid, and a screech pushes its way up and out of my throat. For extra flare, I throw one of my hands up.

“Annalise!” Max calls, his voice muffled behind the helmet.

I suppress the twinge of guilt that coils around my stomach at the fear in his voice. I’m in the heat of the moment and the only thing on my mind is winning.

“Are you alright?” he calls.

“Ha! Sucker,” I yell back, and then gun the acceleration, speeding ahead while he’s slowed down to check on me. I hear his yelled ‘what’ from behind me as I race to the finish line … this time finishing a near go-kart length ahead of his.

“Winner!” I declare myself as I cross the line.

“Now that was cheating,” he says, sounding breathless as he lifts the helmet off of his head.

I become momentarily distracted by the way his wavy hair sticks out, ruffled from the helmet, and his cheeks are flushed red. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what it is about Max in this state—face red from exertion and concentration—that does it for me but it does.

“Cheating?” I gather myself enough to press an affronted hand to my chest. “I would ne⁠—”

“Right,” he says sharply with narrowed eyes.

I have to fight the giggle that bubbles up inside of my chest.

“She distracted me,” Max says to Leon, who stands next to my car.

Glancing over, I grin at the bewildered expression on Leon’s face. He’s clearly a fan of Max’s and doesn’t want to tell his real-life racing hero that he’s just lost a simple go-karting race.

That’s okay, I’ll do it for him.

“Distracted?” I ask, voice innocent. “Sounds like you weren’t focused to me. Which is a shame for a two time go-kart world champion and all.” I shrug casually. “Looks like you’ve lost your touch.”

I hop out of my go-kart, nearly stumbling with the effort it takes to suppress my laughter.

“She is the winner,” Leon tells Max mournfully.

“Ridiculous,” he mutters, which causes me to lose my composure.

“We will have a rematch,” he says minutes later as we exit the complex housing the racing track.