A smile spread slowly across my face. There she was.
Still, she wasn’t flirting. No smirk. No sass beyond that sharp tongue of hers. She was trying to shut me down.
“You’re so grumpy when you repress our sexual tension,” I offered cheerfully.
She stopped walking. Whirled to face me. “Matteo.”
“Nicola.”
“Not now.”
I leaned in a little, voice dropping just enough to make her blink. “You’re going to have to stop saying my name like that, Princess. People might start thinking you like the way it tastes.”
Before she could throw something at me—clipboard, radio, small fire extinguisher—I heard my niece’s tiny squeal and my attention immediately pivoted to the little hurricane.
“Zio!”
A blur of blonde curls and red Moretti Racing gear barreled toward me. I crouched and scooped her up effortlessly, tossing her into the air as she giggled. Gianna was by far my favorite person to exist in the world, close second being my sister Luciawho walked up just as Gia curled into me, hugging me with her little arms.
“Look at you! You’re a proper team mascot now!”
Lucia strolled up behind her, sunglasses perched on her head, wrist with a collection of friendship bracelets, and one of my team shirts fashioned in a cut-off way with a skirt—very Lucia.
“Figured we should make an entrance.”
“Mission accomplished.” Lucia had been on the road with us for a bit now; I didn’t fully expect her to agree to my idea this last summer when I asked her and Gia to join us for the rest of the season. But watching my sister wither and lose her spark after she had been through hell and back was my own personal hell. I would do anything in my power to keep a smile on her face, to help keep her from that dark place from three years ago after she left her dirt bag ex. It had taken some time, but since she came here with me and my best mate Alexander who raced for Belen’s Formula One team, she seemed to be finding herself again. She and Nicola actually hit it off right away, much to my own delight because Nicola was around us more and more these days. My eyes gravitated toward Nicola as she muttered an excuse to my sister and slid out of the moment like she was never here at all. She disappeared behind the hospitality curtain, leaving my sister with a frown.
“She okay?” Lucia asked quietly, watching her go.
“No idea,” I answered, plastering on another smile for Gia’s benefit. Lucia gave me a look, one only a younger sister can give, the ‘I know you’re fucking lying’ look. I just shrugged and refocused on Gianna who started telling me about how after the race we were all getting ice cream. I tried to focus on my family, I really did, but then I saw it, out of the corner of my eye.
Carlos talking to Nicola.
And not just talking—leaning in close, probably telling her something about his villa in Barcelona or how stunning she looked in navy.
And she was laughing.
Not polite. Not fake.
The kind that reached the corner of her eyes.
I felt the sudden urge to stomp over there, to rip something in half, it was like I’d been possessed.
Get it together,I told myself, shifting Gia on my hip. Carlos was my teammate. And Nicola was not mine.
Not my anything.
Except last weekend she was mine in every way that counted. And now she was letting him stand that close? I’d never been the jealous type, but something about Nicola made me lose all sense of sanity.
Carlos said something else, and she touched his arm.
Fuck this.
I sat Gia down gently, crouching to kiss her forehead. “I need to go get ready but cheer extra loud for me, okay G?”
She nodded seriously. “Oh-tay! Good luck Zio!”
“Hey, I saw your old manager is Theo’s manager now?” my sister asked. I tried to hide the grimace. My old manager, Matt, was the worst. Besides being a bad manager, he was petty and constantly doing things for his own gain. Happy to throw me to the sharks to get a payday. I hoped it was different for Theo. Alexander had asked Anna if she could double as mine after I fired Matt with no notice when I found out he was leaking my location to the tabloids.
