‘I’m sure you have plenty of questions, Ms Ward, but I think they can wait just a little longer.’ Scott’s clasped hands were placed on the table. A man so used to power that he had no problem telling her to be quiet. Because that was exactly what that sentence meant.
‘Why don’t you tell us what happened in Finland?’ Robert suggested. Was he here just to be a buffer? To smooth over anything Scott might say to her?
Katherine had already rehearsed the story she would tell everyone. She knew it would come up again and again. Everyone was interested in Lukas and now people were interested in her too, but she didn’t want the world to know about their tender moments. How they’d confided in each other about their mothers or just how much their careers meant to them because their fathers believed in them so much.
She told them everything but did well to leave out the intimate parts of her and Lukas’s snowbound week. The parts that made her ache.
She noticed a look pass between the three of them. She was reaching the end of her patience. Whatever was going on was obviously linked to her adventure in Lapland; she had no idea what, but she was going to demand some answers. Just then the door opened and in walked Dominic Wilson, Lukas’s manager, Erin Walker, his publicist and right behind them, there he was. Lukas in jeans, boots and a leather jacket. His eyes landed on her the moment he walked into the room and it was like all the air had been sucked out and at the same time she took her first real breath since they had gone their separate ways.
Was that really only yesterday?
He didn’t stop looking at her even when Robert and Scott shook his hand. He didn’t stop looking at her when he sat opposite her. An entire conference table between them but she wanted to crawl over the top of it to sit on his lap and kiss him. To hell with their agreement and everyone who was watching.
And she could see the heat fill his silver eyes when he read her thoughts.
Finally, he tore his gaze from hers and she saw it settle on Scott. The heat replaced by something icy. ‘It’s obvious you all have been planning something, so I suggest we get to the point.’
Katherine smiled inwardly. Lukas wasn’t bound by the same behavioural expectations she was. He couldn’t be fired for not showing the reverence someone like Scott expected. She wanted to mouth a thank you at him but instead sat quite still, waiting for all this secrecy to end.
‘I think Robert should start,’ Scott said and all eyes turned to the man sitting next to her.
He cleared his throat. ‘Right. As we all know, there was some speculation about what happened to you both in Lapland. You were both on the news daily because there was no information about your well-being,’ he said, glancing between her and Lukas. ‘What we didn’t expect was the level of speculation about the relationship between you two.’
Katherine got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Surely this wasn’t heading where she thought it was.
‘The public seemed largely to think that you two were an item or were going to be one and the level of interest that has generated can’t be ignored.’
‘Speak plainly,’ Lukas ordered. His voice was growing lower. His brow furrowing.
Robert pulled some papers out of a folder in front of him that Katherine hadn’t quite noticed before and handed them to everyone around the table. ‘This is the increase in traffic to the Aero TV site since you two went viral.’
‘We have seen similar impressions on Lukas’s socials,’ Erin added, and Lukas shot her a look that would have anyone shrinking. Katherine saw the apprehension on Erin’s face but she pushed on. ‘Here are some analytics on the Lukat hashtag.’
Katherine accepted the page from her but the words and infographics were blurring into one.
‘This is why we’ve asked you two to be here today,’ Jennifer said. She seemed as confident as always but, for the first time that day, Robert appeared nervous. ‘This kind of attention is too great to ignore, so we think it would be best for you both to play into the rumours.’
This had gone exactly where Katherine feared.
‘What?’ Lukas growled.
There was no way Lukas was going to agree. She hadn’t told anyone how they had connected, and she knew Lukas wouldn’t have either. This was their secret. Something they had in private surrounded by a wall of snow. She didn’t want to put themselves on display. Especially after they’d agreed on an end no matter how much her body and heart craved more.
Scott leaned forwards, placing his palm face down on the table, expecting everyone to give him their attention and everyone respectfully had, but Lukas looked at him with defiance.
He stared unwaveringly at the man and crossed his arms. Katherine couldn’t imagine being more attracted to him than she was right now.
‘No one is asking the world of either of you,’ Scott said. ‘You are both public figures. All that is expected is that you two pose as a couple for the next month and a half, which will bring us up roughly to the launch dates for next season’s Alpha One cars. We will announce your break-up, and we’ll have enough added interest to carry through testing and the season opener.’
‘Entirely benefitting you,’ Lukas sneered.
‘It benefits everyone at this table.’
Lukas shook his head. His expression bored but Katherine knew better than that. He would be hating the very idea. His skin would be crawling. ‘Absolutely not.’
‘Lukas—’ Robert started but Lukas cut him off.
‘I will not have my private life splashed about the media like some performance,’ Lukas spat. ‘You are all entitled to my time on the track but away from it, none of you has any right to anything from me. This whole idea is ridiculous.’
