AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What’s it like traveling around the world? It must be nice seeing him all the time.”
I frowned a little. “I don’t see as much of him as I’d like, given he drives for a different team. During the race weekend, he’s involved with his team and I’m involved with mine. In reality, I only see him a couple of hours a day. His team is pretty flexible with me spending time in their pits, but I don’t abuse it. And that’s just race weekends. When he isn’t racing, he has to make public appearances, meetings with the team, sponsorship commitments. The list goes on and on.”
“Is the racing exciting?”
“Some races more than others.”
Blake Carlton suddenly popped into my head. I was still angry with him for suggesting I look up Dad. Why had he done that? But why had he done any of the things he had when it came to me? I’d never told anyone what had gone on in my hotel in Monaco, and suddenly I wanted to tell Elizabeth. I would have never been able to trust Jess with the information—she would have blabbed it to the world because Jess couldn’t keep a secret, but Elizabeth was great at keeping confidences.
Another reason they disliked each other. Elizabeth was loyal, and I could trust her with anything. Jess was fun, exciting, and completely irresponsible. How many times in our university days had they gotten into arguments about Jess gossiping or Elizabeth wanting to get back home early? They didn’t see eye to eye on anything, and it always annoyed Jess that I was also Team Go Home Early. Sometimes I thought Jess felt like she’d “won” now that England was my home base and I traveled even more than she did.
Looking back, I saw that I was the glue that had kept our threesome together. I was pretty sure Jess and Elizabeth hadn’t spoken a word to each other since we’d graduated. Which was probably for the best. It occurred to me that Jess might be invited to Danielle’s wedding. They’d often gotten along better than Jess and Elizabeth had.
“I want to tell you something I’ve never told anyone.” I lowered my voice even further. “If Devin knew, he would be furious.”
Elizabeth’s face softened in concern. “You know you can tell me anything.”
I made sure Devin was a safe distance away before I told my story. Elizabeth listened intently as I related the tale. Being able to tell someone lifted the weight I’d been carrying around.
“Do you think he’s telling you the truth? It sounds like he’s just trying to get you into bed.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him.” I shook my head. “He does like a conquest, like so many drivers. And I don’t believe that Devin is with me for my name. We really don’t get that much attention anymore, and he makes enough money to live out the rest of his years without ever having to work or have a care in the world. It just made me sick, the whole thing.”
Elizabeth sighed. “But here you are telling me all about it. So it is bothering you.”
I kicked at a few stray rocks on the pavement. “I guess so.”
“Hmm. Are you attracted to this Blake Carlton?”
Damn. She’d seen right through me. “A bit,” I admitted. “Maybe it’s because he’s handsome and dangerous, and maybe I see him as a bit of a father figure. That sounds so weird when I say it out loud.” I paused. “Maybe that’s the type of guy I like. Ugh. I’m a cliché.”
“You’re not a cliché! But you aren’t going to dump Devin for him, are you?”
“No, never,” I said vehemently.
We sat in silence, watching Devin tinker with her car. Finally, Elizabeth said, “I’m going to play the devil’s advocate here for a moment. Let’s say you find out that Devin has just been trying to further his career by cavorting with Marco Perez’s daughter.” I opened my mouth to protest, but she held her hand up. “No, listen. Just hypothetically, if that happened, would you dump him and open the door to Blake Carlton?”
“I don’t even want to think about this,” I muttered.
“Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think Devin’s motivation is to ride on the coattails of your name or help himself to your money. I don’t think he’d get a tattoo of your face if that were the case. But if—if, Luna—it were true, would you pursue Blake?”
I’d been trying not to think about these things. Yes, my father’s name carried weight in the racing world, and yes, I had inherited a lot of money. Those things had opened many doors to me, and an enterprising con artist could conceivably try to benefit from the caché and the cash. But I truly didn’t believe that was what Devin was after. For one thing, my inheritance was tied up in Team Perez. For another, I didn’t rest on my father’s laurels. I could have lived the life of a rich, jet-setting child of a famous man, but our parents had instilled in us the knowledge that wealth didn’t bring happiness. We needed to accomplish things or risk following the path of those who had let inherited money destroy them. That was why I’d worked so hard in university, why Rafe had started Team Perez. Why I’d sunk a huge chunk of my inheritance into that team. I didn’t think our work ethic would appeal to someone who just wanted our father’s reflected glory.
And as for Blake … while I might not believe his claims, I did believe his affection for me. I’d sensed it in the way he’d looked at me, the way his kiss had felt. I was still ashamed of how much I’d enjoyed it. And I’d do whatever it took for Devin to never find out about it.
Elizabeth was still waiting for an answer. “No, I love Devin. I would never pursue Blake,” I said decisively.
And I had to believe that.
ChapterFifteen
Devin
Enzo was hanging around a lot. He didn’t normally, preferring to chase after upcoming soccer stars, but he claimed he was courting one of the Knight drivers because “he was the next big thing.” I snickered at that. Not if this guy was driving with Knight, he wasn’t. But I supposed that was where an agent came in. Enzo was probably trying to woo him with a ride on another team. It better not have been my seat. I’d kill him.
So with Enzo in town, we met in his hotel room. He insisted it was “safer.” The man was really hung up about Luna being a Team Perez spy, but I wasn’t going to fight him. My agent was so cheap that he hadn’t arranged for a car for me to his hotel, which was off in some remote area of Montreal. Heaven forbid that Enzo spring for a five-star hotel near the action. Anything to save a few bucks.
“How is it going with the Knight driver?” I asked as he handed me a beer from the small fridge in his room. Beer he’d picked up; this place didn’t even have an honor bar.
