Page 65 of Heartbreaker

“Yeah. There’s always a big party after for the sponsors and VIPs. Everyone will be there—drivers, owners, etcetera.”

“Hmm. Sounds... interesting,” she says, not impressed, and it makes me smile. Other women would be excited to be around the glitz and glam, but not my Lana.

“It’s a bore, but Demi said you need to mingle as much as you can. You’ll have plenty of people to try to interrogate. It’s going to be weird, though, going back as a spectator,” I say.

“Have you been back since…?” I shake my head before she has to finish the sentence. I haven’t been back to Indy since I was suspended, partly because of embarrassment, and partly because I’m afraid it might impact me negatively. With Lana, though, I’m hoping I can keep the negative emotions at bay.

“No, this will be my first race since I was suspended.” Something changes on her face, turning to regret and guilt.

“We can find another way, Rome. Really. I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to.” She bites her lip, and I lift a hand, tugging it out from between her teeth with my thumb, then gently rubbing over the bruised flesh.

“Lana, I want to end this. It’s been haunting me for too long. Plus, it will be fun to show you a bit more of my life.” I smile, pushing hair behind her shoulder. “The last time was pretty memorable.”

“Mmm,” she hums, her lips tipping up. “So I’m the girlfriend who is going to clean up your image, huh?” Now it’s my turn to feel guilty, remembering how it came out all wrong earlier. I shake my head quickly, sliding my hand up the back of her neck into her hair to pull her closer.

“No. You’re the gorgeous girlfriend I’m desperate to show off,” I say, pressing my lips to hers. “You’re the intelligent, fascinating, wildly talented girlfriend who I desperately want to rub in the face of every asshole who will be there so they can drool over you with utter jealousy, knowing they’ll never get a taste.” I shift back a bit to catch a glimpse at her face and catch the slightly dazed look in her eyes. “When I spoke earlier, it came out wrong. I’m not with you to clean up my image. I just meant that showing up to something I wouldn’t normally want to go to alone would be strange, but if it seemed like it was part of my already existing campaign to prove to the board that I’m reformed, it wouldn’t seem too out of character.” She shakes her head, placing her hand on my cheek.

“I didn’t think you had an ulterior motive, Rome. Not at all. Plus, even if that was the case, I have no leg to stand on,” she says, her eyes dimming a bit. I furrow my brow and push her hair back behind her ears.

“What do you mean?”

“Our entire relationship, I’ve been lying to you, keeping some of the most important information hidden for weeks. It would be normal to be annoyed by that, to hold it against me even just a little.” I lift her chin, forcing her to look up at me.

“Okay, let’s get this straight once and for all: I don’t hold you having to keep things from me against you. It’s out of your control. It’s not like you were hiding anything to deceive me, or…” Her head tips as if to say, well, kind of, but I shake my head, running my thumb over her full bottom lip. “It’s not the same, and you know it. I don’t hold it against you. It’s a part of your job, and you have contracts in place that make it hard to talk about everything.” I learned today that even for assignments that are long over, Lana won’t always be able to tell me all the details. I quickly realized that if she stays in this line of work, it will always be between us. “If I had to do something for my job, if I had to take an interview or fly off for a race, you wouldn’t hold it against me, right? Hell, you were willing to keep our relationship a secret so that it wouldn’t impact my image.”

“That’s different,” she says.

“No, it’s not. It just feels different because you’re the one in the hot seat. You’d do it for me. It’s not any different the other way around.” She looks at me for long moments before her shoulders drop, her face softens, and a breath leaves her lips.

“So you don’t hate me for lying to you?” she asks, her voice soft and nervous. She’s gorgeous always, but this is my favorite version of Lana—when she’s soft, open, and honest. And now, for the first time, it seems her guard is completely down. I’ve gotten close a few times, but never had her like this, fully free.

“That’s been weighing on you, hasn’t it?” I ask, pushing her hair back. The towel is holding on by the tiniest fold above her breasts, but I’m happy for it right now. We need to have this conversation without any distractions.

“I mean… a little.” I turn her toward me, cupping her face in my hands.

“Did you get into this with the intention of flirting with me and convincing me to fall for your charms to pull out my deepest, darkest secrets?”

“You know, we have a Maven who does that,” she says with a grin. “Her name is Josie, and we call her the maneater.” My eyes widen with that, and she laughs. “She’s very cool and super hot and can convince a man to give her his banking info by fluttering her lashes. It’s wild to watch.” I blink, a bit unsettled by that fact, but she laughs and shakes her head. “But no, flirting has never been my personal skill. I’m just good at… blending in. That’s my specialty.”

“Oh, Lana, baby, you could never blend in,” I murmur. “But what I meant is, if you got involved with me as a part of your mission, we might need to have a different conversation. But that’s not the case, right?” She shakes her head quickly and confidently.

“No, not at all. In fact, I tried to avoid you for a bit, to keep my distance, because I didn’t want to blur that line.”

“Because you were so terribly attracted to me?” I ask with a cocky smile that always makes her grin. She rolls her eyes but smiles all the same.

“Something like that.”

“So, who knows about this, about the Mavens?” She lifts a shoulder and shakes her head.

“No one, really.” I furrow my brows in surprise.

“No one? What about your brothers?”

“No, god. They’d never be able to keep their traps shut about it. They think I worked a remote job doing online customer service.”

“You? Customer service? You’d be terrible at that.” Her eyes narrow, a playfulness entering and telling me we’re finally past the heavy stuff. My hands shift, sliding up her thigh, ending right where the towel does.

“Excuse me, I would be great at customer service. I am a people pleaser after all.” I let out a loud laugh.