Shedeserved better.
‘No.’
‘Damn it, Jennifer!’
Katherine hung up. She couldn’t speak. She sank into the couch cushions and covered her face with her trembling hands. Lukas was going to hate her. All this contentment they’d found would be lost.
She had to find a way to get out ahead of it and the only way to do that was to talk to Lukas. After all, he knew what their dynamic was like. He knew she didn’t hate him anymore. If she could get him to see reason, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
She had to try. She couldn’t lose him.
Lukas stood out on the balcony attached to his bedroom, leaning on the glass balustrade, watching the sun sink lower towards the sparkling horizon. Katherine had been gone awhile, but he understood how important her career was to her. Just how much her need to be successful stemmed from a need to be seen by her family. And while he was still struggling with the fact that her career required so much publicity, that it was in itself so invasive, he also wanted to be with her. For now, she was in his bed.
Even once she left and all the Christmas decorations were packed away, he would still leave that snowflake out. It was the only way he would never lose her, because he would never lose the memory.
One way or another he was determined that he would start the new season in the paddock. And Katherine would undoubtedly be there. How would it feel to see her? How would it feel when he got out of the car with adrenaline still pumping and emotions running high, then had to be interviewed by her?
You don’t know that you’ll be in a car.
He still had to face the fact that he was currently without a drive, but they were all working towards that goal.
You still haven’t turned down the team principal offer.
He hadn’t and he wasn’t sure why, when he belonged behind the wheel. It was what he’d always wanted. What his father had wanted. Being a racer made him worth something. But Katherine had also made some valid points when he told her about Vortex’s offer. Points that he had been thinking about.
‘Lukas?’
He turned around to find Katherine standing in the middle of his bedroom, clutching her phone in both hands. There was something about the way she awkwardly shifted her weight from foot to foot. The way she looked off to the side as if she was avoiding his gaze.
He immediately went on high alert. Something was wrong.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked. She opened and closed her mouth but no sound escaped. ‘Come here, Katherine.’ He held his hand out to her and to his relief she walked towards him. When she was close enough, he put an arm around her waist, the other caressing her cheek as he placed a small kiss on her forehead.
‘Whatever is wrong, we can fix it.’ He would do nearly anything for her.
‘Something has happened.’ She swallowed hard. He could tell she was trying not to let her eyes well up. He never wanted to see her cry.
‘Take your time.’
‘Please hear me out before you say or do anything. Can you promise me? Please?’
‘Of course.’
She nodded, pressed her lips together then said, ‘Before we went to Lapland, before I even knew about Lapland actually, I had to write a feature on you for Aero’s site.’
The words had irritation flooding through his system because anything involving media attention was never good for him. And if Katherine had written something before, they were trapped together, it was definitely going to be bad. But he couldn’t respond as he usually did because it was his Katherine standing before him. Not the woman he’d hated, who’d hated him in return. So, fighting as hard as he could, he suppressed his irritation enough to respond calmly. ‘And it’s coming out now.’
He didn’t like the idea, but if he had given it any thought he would have realised that she must have tons of work submitted that would only be published now. The truth was that he hadn’t thought about it, because he was so lost in her. Another tendril of annoyance rose to the surface as he realised that fact, but he pushed it back too.
Stay calm. You don’t know what she’s going to say. It could be easily fixed.
‘We’ve moved past the hate, Katherine, and if it’s anything like what you’ve written before I’ve already seen it all.’
But she shook her head. ‘No, you haven’t,’ she said gruffly. ‘I called Jennifer after the helicopter ride and asked her to kill this article. She said she would.’
‘But she hasn’t.’
‘No, she hasn’t.’
