‘You’ve travelled and worked long hours this week. It’s Hearnshawe’s responsibility to ensure you get home safe—’ He broke off, realising it was the wrong thing to say.
She stiffened, outraged and independent to the end. ‘I’m not and never will beyourresponsibility.’
Chapter Four
North Hamptonshire, England
NO ONE SAID ANYTHING. There were no whispers, no sly looks. No one seemed toknow. Yet, every day Lily expected to be dragged off the factory floor on some trumped-up pretext and summarily dismissed. Just because he’d agreed to her stipulations at the time, didn’t mean he’d stick to his word. People backtracked; theybetrayed. Her parents, the people she ought to have been able to rely on more than anyone, had taught her that. In brutally ejecting her from the family, they’d destroyed her ability to trust anyone. And if Massimo Hearnshawe was ruthless enough to lock his own grandfather out of his office, he would definitely think nothing of dismissing her.
All she could do was keep her head down and hope Shane had enough integrity to give her a decent reference when the worst happened. And the really tragic thing was she was still naive enough to hope it might not. She’d gotten to work early, stayed late, studied in the evening to further upskill. Many of the technical crew had engineering degrees and she quietly wanted to prove herself as capable as all of them. Mostly, she needed to distract herself. But there was no ignoring the ripple of awareness as everyone’s spine literally straightened late on Tuesday afternoon. Lily looked up, instantly wary. Massimo was making one of his rare appearances on the factory floor. She’d seen him here only once in the three months she’d been at Hearnshawe and even that had been from a distance. But today he walked right to her end of the room. Lily gripped her ratchet tightly, fearing butterfingers and fighting brainlessness.
‘Shane?’ Massimo called the chief mechanic over to join his entourage of engineers.
Too tense to breathe, Lily hoped she was hidden by the tool trolley, but she could see him. With his imposing height and haughty demeanour, he was in full CEO mode—impeccable suit, perfect tie, polished shoes. The contrast of his dark hair and his bright blue eyes was striking, as was that angular, clean-shaven jaw. He exuded authority, was better-looking than she’d dared not remember. But if he was aware of her, he didn’t show it. He seemed engrossed in conversation with Shane as those engineers waited.
Consciously trying to regulate her breathing, trying to halt the flood of blood to her face, she forced herself to get back to work. Why was he here? Was this finally it—the moment of her total mortification? Her skin felt heat-rash prickly and she kept her head down. It was ten minutes of agony in which she got precisely nothing done. Finally, he moved off with that coterie of sycophants. Then Shane walked over to her.
‘You’ll be on the travel team for Belgium, Austria and Italy, followed by Singapore the week later,’ he said. ‘That okay?’
‘Of course,’ Lily squeaked, stunned. Why was he telling her this now?
Glancing beyond him she saw Massimo still too near, ostensibly talking to an engineer. The sight extinguished her flash of excitement. Had he told Shane to take her? To give her the best opportunities becausehewas afraid she was going to cause trouble in some way? Because that wasn’t okay. For her to gain an advantage because she’d slept with him would beworsethan losing her job.
She looked back at Shane, needing to test the horrible theory. ‘Any chance for pit crew?’
It would be the peak of her career to perform the screamingly fast tyre changes. She’d mentioned it to Shane before and knew he saw her stature as a hindrance.
The chief mechanic hesitated. ‘Keep working on strength. I know your speed is good.’
Notgiving her everything, then. Reassured, she rallied. She would prove herself to Shane eventually. She would focus on her future, not that mistake in the dark; maybe the worst wasn’t going to happen after all.
The four races Shane had listed meant she faced seven weeks of intensity before the mid-season break. As Massimo didn’t travel toeveryrace—not with all the companies he had to run—she might avoid him for much of that time. That prospect ought to be good, but as he left the factory she felt shockingly bereft.
She needed to get over herself—needed to stop wishing for something she’d never really had—because she still had to get throughthisweekend. It was their home race and Massimo would definitely be in attendance at that one. Fortunately, so would everyone else from the factory. There would be so many green team shirts and caps Lily could disappear into an amorphous mass of minions.
The next morning she went straight to the track to begin the pack-in with the rest of the garage crew. Less than an hour’s drive from Hearnshawe headquarters, this circuit was where she’d worked in the junior karting leagues. She walked through the visitor centre on her way to the pit lane, studying the old honour boards on the way. Hearnshawe’s history was entwined with the circuit, too. Fifteen years ago one young driver had dominated every year through the junior grades.M. Hearnshawewas listed six times as the winner before his name just disappeared. Lily, like everyone, knew that on a rainy afternoon Massimo’s parents had died in a road accident not far from this very track. It was the year Massimo had vanished from the racing scene, only to emerge a decade later ousting his grandfather with that swift, savage coup. There’d been howls of disapproval over his vicious disrespect, but Massimo had defied all doubters and dragged Hearnshawe forward. He’d employed fresh talent and sourced serious investors, enabling rapid technological development. After years in the doldrums, Hearnshawe Racing was flying up the table in P1 Global. Conrad was consistently achieving podiums, and Emiliano’s youth and innate talent had drawn millions of new fans. Which meant even more sales across the entire company brand—the licensed products were exceptionally popular, while their general auto sales were now stratospheric. While he’d improved every division within the conglomerate, Lily suspected Hearnshawe Racing was Massimo’s true passion. Given his love of winning, she was surprised that he’d stopped driving entirely. Maybe he’d been ruthlessly fixated on gaining control of the company. He certainly had it now—he could get rid of her with a blink. That he hadn’t still stunned her.
Despite the reassuring selection for the travel crew, Lily kept her head down throughout the weekend. Massimo would be in the suite, so she kept well away from there. During the race she held her breath as Emiliano and Conrad carved through the field, clawing back places after a disappointing qualifying result. The crowd roared, screaming for British success. Emiliano placed fifth while Conrad hit the podium in third. Swept along with her colleagues, Lily raced to watch the podium celebrations. Her willpower reduced in the excitement of success, she risked a glance towards the VIP section. She was so short, she figured no one would notice her looking the wrong way. While Massimo was so tall he was visible despite standing at the back, keeping his customary distance from the crowds.
He was looking directly at her. Not just looking, he waslockedon her. Steely and solemn and heart-squeezingly heated. The noise, the people, the whole damned world, faded. Lily’s smile froze as fragments of memory flickered and intense emotion surged. In the dark she’d focused ontouch—relishing his hot, rough strength. His raw masculinity had roused something deeply primal in her. She’d tried telling herself that she’d fantasised it into something more than it really was—that it hadn’t beenthatgreat—but in onlylookingat him now, lost in the brilliance of his blue eyes, her bones melted and her resistance evaporated. She was pinned in place, unable to break the invisible chains just his attention wrought around her. Worse, she couldn’t help wistfully aching formore. His scrutiny didn’t ease, his gaze didn’t waver, he didn’t move as for a blistering mad moment she was certain his thoughts mirrored hers. It never, ever could happen but she was trapped in an endless spell of searing longing.
‘Amazing, right, Lils?’
One of the mechanics clapped her on the back, knocking her off balance. She stumbled, glancing down to keep her footing, and when she looked back to Massimo, he was gone.
Belgium
Massimo flew in last minute. He told himself he didn’t want to miss Emiliano’s first podium, and given his cousin’s upwards trajectory, the chance of that happening at the Belgian race seemed likely. But that wasn’tentirelywhy.
The social media team had worked a discreet miracle, flooding Emiliano’s feed and seeding other accounts with enough content to bury that short clip of his interaction with the unidentified female. Massimo had checked Lily’s online status personally. While all employees had a contractual stipulation not to bring the team into disrepute, Hearnshawe Racing employeescouldhave a public social media account. The comms team even provided a roadmap with ideas and advice. But like Massimo, Lily Jones had neither private nor public social media accounts. She had no online presence at all. That fact had frustrated his weak moment of online stalking, but he’d found out further information in other ways. He now knew she worked long hours. He also knew this diligence had been her habit from the start so he couldn’t flatter himself that her extra hours were in the hopes she might see him. Like everyone in the team, like him, she simply gave her all to the job.
Initially, he’d been glad Shane had given her a permanent place on the travel team. It meant he could work at headquarters without fear of bumping into her for all those away days. He’d tried not to look for her every time he walked through the factory in the past couple of weeks—which had been far more than was customary and necessary. He tried to ignore the random reasons his brain conjured to send him into the Belgian pit lane now. Because it wasn’t his brain, it was hisgroindirecting him. Basic lust. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t forget those moments on the plane. Worse, the brief moment they’d had at the British race meant she now haunted him even more. He’d stood at the back and watched her sparkle as she’d celebrated Conrad’s result with her colleagues. Then to his immense pleasure, she’d looked forhim—because there was no other reason for her to glanceawayfrom the podium. But she’d caught him watching her and completely frozen. He’d felt guilty as fuck because he was quite sure what he’d wanted was written all over his face. And she’d been paralysed.
It was four weeks since that flight from Canada; surely, she was no longer worried she would suffer any ramifications because of what had happened between them. The only ramifications were impactinghim. He felt the distance from her like a physical agony—it was as if he had the freaking flu. Frankly, he was furious about it.
But his last-minute arrival in Belgium had unforeseen repercussions. He’d forgotten Princess Celine—the highly photogenic social media darling and minor royalty from a nearby principality—was one of their VIP guests. Massimo couldn’t decline her request for him to take her on a tour of their pit lane spot an hour before the race. He would stick to Emiliano’s side of the garage, not risk an encounter with the lovely, forbidden Lily.
Unfortunately, Lily was the first person they saw, and Princess Celine was fascinated to discover a female mechanic on the floor. She swept towards her before Massimo could say anything. Surely, Lily wouldn’t mind; there were so many damned witnesses it wasn’t as if he was about to try anything inappropriate. He couldn’t resist the chance to see her from a little fewer than her wretched fifteen-foot requirement.
