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Mason lifts his head so he can look down at me, his eyes heavy and his lips swollen from our crushing kisses. He traces his fingertips reverently along my cheekbones. The slope of my nose. My chin and then my lips. As if he’s mapping all of my facial features and committing them to memory.

“I was right,” he says, his voice low. “I knew there would be no getting you out of my system if I kissed you.”

I feel as if sunshine has filled my body, warming me, lighting me up, and making my pulse leap with joy. I know from his words, from the tone of his voice, from the way he’s staring at me with a mixture of wonder and desire, that this kiss is not going to be the only one we share.

That this is only the beginning.

“I want to keep kissing you, but we should talk about a few things before we do anything else,” Mason says. “And no, you’re not going to be a one-time hookup for me, so let go of that fantasy right now.”

I put my hand on his chest, feeling the wall of muscle underneath his shirt, and his hand captures mine, holding it to his heart. “Mason, if you’re going to kiss me like that, then a one-time hookup with you is the last thing I would want.”

“Oh? So you want more hookups?” he teases.

“No. I want more of you,” I declare boldly.

His eyes search mine for something I can’t quite pinpoint. “Let’s talk for a minute,” he says.

I’m about to tease him about talking when I catch sight of my phone on the tripod. Still recording.

“Oh my God!” I cry, my heart pounding as I step out of his embrace. “We recorded ourselves!” I rush over to turn it off, then take my phone off the tripod stand.

“Are you sure you want to delete that? It could be our first sexy video,” Mason quips.

I laugh. “I don’t need to get this hacked or accidentally send it to someone,” I say as I hit delete, then scroll through my phone to make sure the video is indeed gone. “Can you imagine if I sent that to Caleb by mistake? Oh my God, I would die!”

I look up to see that Mason’s face has shifted to one of worry as soon as I mentioned my brother’s name.

I move over to the bed and sit down, putting my phone down next to me. “Come here,” I say, reaching out my hand to him. Mason gives me his hand, and I thread my fingers through his, squeezing it to reassure him. He sits down next to me on the bed.

“What do you want, Catherine?” he asks softly, his thumb dragging over the top of my knuckles. “Please be honest.”

I look down at his thumb moving so carefully across my knuckles, then lift my gaze to his face. I don’t know what it is about Mason, but I feel this deep trust with him. I was honest with him about my family. About my shifting career ideas. And now I’m going to be honest with him about this.

“I want you,” I say simply. “Not Mason the F1 driver. That’s a part of you. When you kissed me, I was kissing Mason. Just Mason. That’s who I want to see. Spend time with. See where this can go, if that’s what you want to do. But you have to be honest with me. That’s all I ask. I know you don’t date and you usually do hook up—”

Mason’s mouth is on mine, stopping my speech with a gentle kiss upon my lips. He lifts his hand to my face, caressing it gently. “You’re right. I do prefer a hookup. But not with you.”

He puts his hand underneath my hair, cradling the back of my head and tangling his fingers in it. “I’ve been aware of you since you started working for Caleb this year,” he confesses. “Hell, every straight man in the paddock has noticed you, Catherine. You’re gorgeous.”

I stare into his face, his beautifully expressive face, and he continues. “So yes, I thought you were hot, but you’re Catherine Collings. I’m Mason Clark. Two people on the same team. I’m also your brother’s teammate. Your grandfather owns my contract. So I didn’t think of it. I couldn’t think of it. But you got under my skin. I started noticing more things about you. How I loved hearing you laugh. Seeing you scowl at something stupid, which causes an adorable crease in the bridge of your nose. I looked forward to talking to you in the motorhome and after meetings. I could smell your perfume when you weren’t there. Then, when we had dinner on Sunday night, I knew it was over for me. I couldn’t deny this anymore. I won’t. Something in my gut is telling me—despite all the red flags here—to risk it. To risk everything I have at Collings Motors for a chance with you. And I can’t ignore a feeling this strong. I’ve always followed my instincts. I ignored them for a long time with you. But I don’t want to ignore it anymore.”

“Mason, I’ve had all those same feelings. I was just so scared to act on them. In my head, I know this is something I shouldn’t do. Like you said, you drive for my grandfather. He loathes tabloid coverage of the sport, and after what happened with Mum and Lars …” My voice trails off, thinking of how much he would hate this.

“I know,” he agrees.

“If we date and then it doesn’t work out, we’re in the same paddock. The same garage. It could be not only complicated, but messy.”

Mason squeezes my hand. “I know,” he repeats.

“There’s Caleb,” I say, continuing to tick off all the reasons why entertaining this is a very bad, bad idea.

“Your brother is not my biggest fan.”

“Are you his biggest fan?”

Mason chuckles and draws me closer. “No,” he says, dropping a kiss on the bridge of my nose.

“I know all of this. I know all the reasons this could be a disaster, but I still want to date you,” I say, finally speaking the truth out loud.