“He saw Hazel,” I said, but that wasn’t the truth and we all knew it.
I feigned ignorance while butterflies danced in my stomach. I gladly turned my attention to the stage as the champagne chaos began.
Champagne exploded, the winners drenching each other, the crowd shrieking as the spray flew. Hazel giggled, reaching for a streamer that drifted past.
Selene appeared at my elbow, clipboard still in hand but softer around the eyes than I’d ever seen her. “Best-dressed in the paddock,” she said, nodding at Hazel’s kit. “And you, Violet. Love the team spirit.”
I stared at her. “A few weeks ago, you’d have thrown me out for wearing this.”
She shrugged. “People can change. Or maybe you’re just hard to ignore.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or a warning.
After the ceremony, the team swarmed him, carrying him toward the garage. In the crush, he ended up right in front of us, champagne dripping from his hair.
“Look who’s here!” a mechanic bellowed, clapping Griffin on the back. “The good luck charms!”
The team put him down and he reached for Hazel, his eyes soft. “Look at you in your race gear. Starting her early, are we?”
“She insisted,” I said, my voice steady despite the tremor inside me.
He grinned, scooping her up and bouncing her as if the cameras didn’t exist. He kissed the top of her head, voice dropping conspiratorially.
“Told you I’d win, Hazelnut. Daddy doesn’t lose when his best girl’s in the crowd.” His eyes slid to me, smug as hell.
I rolled my eyes, unable to help the smile tugging at my lips.
He winked, lowering Hazel so she could gnaw on his medal. “She deserves a little showboating. First race in team kit and I win. She’s a proper talisman now.”
“She’s going to expect a trophy every time she puts this on,” I muttered, trying to be annoyed but failing.
His gaze dropped to my lips for half a second and he took a step closer to me, ducking his head. “The t-shirt suits you.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
“Too late.” His breath ghosted across my skin, voice pitched low and filthy. “I’m fucking you in that tonight.”
Before I could fire back any sort of response, Liam crashed into us, arms wide and shouting, totally oblivious to the gauntlet Griffin had just thrown at my feet,
“That was unreal, mate! You see the look on Stefano’s face when you took him? Beautiful!” He caught Hazel’s hand, shaking it solemnly. “Photo time! Get in, everyone!”
Without warning, Griffin’s arm looped around my waist, pulling me into the crush of mechanics and engineers, everyone crowding in for the cameras.
“No, no. I’m okay.” I twisted out of his grip, scooping Hazel back and slipping to the edge of the group.
Griffin didn’t argue, just nodded and smiled for the photographers.
I hovered on the periphery, watching the team close ranks around their champion. It felt like belonging and exile all at once, but I couldn’t risk us being photographed with him and then Julian losing his mind. We were already tempting fate.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
GRIFFIN
The hotel suite was quiet when I slipped in dead on my feet a little after 7 PM. Podium celebrations, the press conference, a drawn-out debrief, and dinner with the team had wrung every last drop of adrenaline from my system. The victory high had dissolved into a bone-deep exhaustion that left me buzzing and empty all at once.
All I wanted was to hold my daughter, and collapse into bed with Violet, and forget the relentless, noisy world existed for a few hours.
The door clicked shut behind me and I kicked off my shoes, leaving them by the door. I started tugging at the buttons of my team polo but paused, frowning at the suite. Something was wrong.
