‘Nice of you to join us,’ she sniped.
‘I’m perfectly on time,’ he said, adjusting the cuff of his jacket. It was thick and bulky. Not in any way sexy. Not chosen for the cameras. He looked utterly comfortable in it. Warm. Yet she had to fight off shivers as the wind bit through her jacket. Had to look impeccable for the cameras.
Are you some incredible beauty? Because you’re not getting on camera if you aren’t.
Words from her university lecturer, the man who had given her the incredible reference that led to her job at VelociTV, who had promised to never hide the unspoken side of being a media personality. His words had made her go home and look at herself in the mirror, and make an effort to look good every moment of every day. Because it didn’t matter how much she knew, no one would give her the time of day if she wasn’t also a pretty face. If she didn’t have a beach-ready body throughout the year.
So seeing Lukas’s warm jacket turned that knot in her stomach into a ball of fire.
‘And yet I could find it in me to get here a few minutes early.’
‘That’s your job, not mine.’ His grey eyes looked almost bored. He hadn’t uncrossed his arms. Had barely spoken to the people around him. Katherine had to be ‘on’ at all times. Keep that bubbly, media personality up around everyone she worked with. It was exhausting. But men like Lukas…they got to be grouchy and ill-tempered, and people would find an excuse for his behaviour. She hated it.
Hated him.
‘And what is your job, Lukas? Certainly not racing. Not currently, at least.’ She took great pleasure in the way his eyes narrowed. In the frown on his face. Her pulse galloped as he stalked towards her, knowing she had gotten under his skin. But nothing she said could even remotely make up for the fact that he had gotten her fired. That he had nearly destroyed her and her father’s dream.
‘You must be enjoying this immensely,’ he said through his teeth in his hard accent. ‘This is exactly what you wanted. It’s right there in your little articles. “Lukas Jäger Is Done.” Well, I’m not.’ He stood right in front of her, making her look up into the grey eyes that looked so at home in the icy surroundings.
‘I report the truth, Lukas. If you don’t like it, maybe you need to look at yourself for a solution.’
‘Kat!’
Whatever Lukas was about to say died as they both looked at one of the production assistants, who waved her over. She didn’t bother excusing herself from him. She owed him no politeness. She simply walked away.
But she felt him follow behind. She fought off another shiver.
‘Stupid jacket,’ she mumbled.
‘We’re ready to go,’ the production assistant informed her. Soon a transmitter that her lavalier mic plugged into was hidden in her clothes, sound checks were done and they were making their way to the track. Another production assistant was waiting for her and Lukas there, holding their helmets.
‘Given how slow you’ve been this year, you should be able to manage the course easily enough. Though your edge seems to be pretty dead at this point, so we could end up in a snowbank.’ Was antagonising the man who was about to drive her in a high-powered car on ice a wise move? Probably not, but Katherine had a need to make him as irritated as his presence made her even if she knew deep down that he wasn’t slow. That he was as competitive as he had always been.
‘You would love that, wouldn’t you?’ Lukas replied, snatching the helmet out of the hands of the innocent bystander, who was undeserving of his bad mood. ‘After all, vultures are only happy when there’s death.’
‘How dare you?’
‘You wanted me to face truths, maybe you should heed your own advice.’ He rounded the car, helmet in hand. Katherine could feel the burn in her cheeks, but had to force the outrage down because there was a countdown in her ear. And just like that she plastered a smile on her face.
She noticed Lukas staring at her. Shaking his head in disgust. Whatever. She was here to do a job, and she would be the professional.
She placed the helmet on her head, but couldn’t get the belt fastened. It wasn’t a side release buckle clip as she had been expecting but rather a double D-ring and without a mirror she just couldn’t figure it out with her gloved hands. She could bend down to have a look in the side mirror of the car but that would be a terrible angle and with so little good light, every frame had to be perfect.
And that’s when she felt a hand on her shoulder. As if it burned straight through her jacket and singed her skin. She looked up to find Lukas, who grit his teeth before his lips relaxed into a small smile.
‘It took me a while to get the hang of these while wearing gloves,’ he said.
He was helping her. Why? ‘It takes some practice,’ she heard herself say.
He smirked. ‘And I have plenty.’ He reached past her to open the door, allowing her to catch a whiff of his cologne. It made her feel warm. Conjured images of a fireplace and a goblet of cognac.
She grinned, remembering they were on camera and every movement was being recorded. ‘What a gentleman.’
‘I hope you don’t have a weak heart,’ he teased when he climbed into the driver’s side.
‘Oh, don’t you worry. It’s perfectly steady.’ That was a lie. It was pounding. Whether from anger or the shock of his one-eighty, her heart was anything but steady.
‘We’ll see about that.’ There was a twinkle in his eye just as he started the car that roared to life. ‘Ready?’
