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Car, Serena. Focus.
‘So what did you think? Of my car?’ A sudden swoop of nervy fireflies initiated a frenzy behind her ribs.
‘She’s much like the woman who designed her. A fiery bolt of lightning.’
Okay, then. A few happiness bugs decided to join the midriff party. ‘She handles well?’
‘Unbe-frickin-lievebly. She pulls more G’s than a space shuttle. Her curves are divine and she worships the tarmac. She’s a dream, Serena. You’ve done an amazing job.’
The world vanished behind her eyelids as she tried to calm the internal flurry and take a breath. All the hard work, the late nights, the testing and retesting over and over, and still she waited for her dad to tell her she’d done well. But the admiration and respect in Finn’s gaze, from a man who’d driven the greatest cars in the world, was even better.
Oh, who was she kidding? It was awesome. She felt like flying. Having a real girly moment and jumping and whooping. Which was just silly.
‘Good. I’m glad.’
Finn leaned towards her and Serena was lured by his sheer magnetism. She drew forward until his husky breath tickled her ear.
‘You can squeal if you want to, baby, I won’t tell anyone.’
She jerked backwards. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
That fever-pitch-inducing smile widened and one solitary indentation kissed his cheek. Despicable, infuriating, gorgeous man.
‘So how did this happen, anyway? My dad said—’
‘We had it out last night. Talked long enough for him to see sense.’
From nowhere a great thick lump swelled in her throat.
Oh, honestly, he had to stop doing stuff like this. Because every time he did, another teeny slice of her heart tore free and vaulted into his hand. Serena couldn’t recall the last time someone had pushed for what she wanted. Even Tom had tended to side with their dad.
‘You’ll soon learn,’ he began, his voice teasing and darkly sensual, ‘that it’s always best to leave business down to the men, Serena.’
The blissful feeling vanished. ‘You only say that stuff to pee me off.’
A devilish glint entered his eyes...
‘When I tell you my condition you’ll be even more so.’
‘I don’t like that look.’ A little bit shrewd. A whole lot devious.
‘You have to attend the Silverstone Ball tonight. That’s the deal.’
There it went. In point five of a second. ‘It’ being her stomach, hitting ground level with a sickening thud.
‘No way. You know that’s not my scene.’
Black-tie extravaganza to kick off the weekend of racing with VIP clientele and the usual coterie, sipping champagne, dressed up to the nines in...? No.
Just no!
‘Hold up there, handsome. Your condition? What do you need me there for?’
Never mind the dresses and the shoes and the dancing and the mind-numbing chit-chat, if he thought she was suffering that soiree only to watch him portray Lothario he had another think coming!
‘Your car needs to be unveiled and it’s the perfect venue. You have to be there. This is your big moment. You need to revel in it, enjoy it. Come on, Serena, I dare you.’
‘Ooh. Low, Finn, real low.’ The beast knew exactly how to get a rise out of her.
Huffing out a breath, she stared unseeingly at her car while a war raged inside her. As far as big moments went this was pretty huge.
She chose her words carefully. ‘On my own?’
If he was taking a woman she wanted to know so she could prepare herself. It was crucifying, waiting for him to choose a new starlet.
True, she’d been batting away the sneaking suspicion that he’d already done so for days. What with the odd phone calls he refused to answer in front of her. The ones that made his jaw set to granite as his gaze locked on the screen before he glanced at her with something close to remorse.
If not a woman, who else?
Then again, she doubted he’d had the time to wield his charm elsewhere. More often than not they were together. Which brought on a whole new set of problems. Because while she liked having him as a friend—a pretty cool friend, as it turned out, who’d sneaked her into the premiere of the latest action flick last night—it was getting harder and harder to keep her hands off him.
All in all, since Montreal her sanity was slowly being fed through a shredder.
‘You’ll hardly be on your own, Serena. The entire team is going and you’ll be walking in there with me.’ He gave her a wink that made her feel dizzy. ‘I get first dance.’
Oh. Well, then. Those fireflies started doing an Irish jig. He was taking her, not some flashy starlet. He was going to dance with her, not the latest paddock beauty. As friends, of course. Unless he’d changed his mind...
