“If that’s what you want to believe, then I can’t stop you.”
There’s more silence, and I imagine him in his office with his feet kicked up on his desk.
“If that’s all…” I say. “I’ve gotta get to work.”
The creaking of his chair catches my attention, and I know I’m right in assuming he’s in his private office, away from the chaos likely ensuing down the hall.
“You just couldn’t handle it, could you?”
I make my way to the elevator. “Handle what?”
Risking my life even more than usual every single time I rev the engine, obeying a man’s ruling who would do anything to win? Like bend the rules and cheat his way to the top?
“You just couldn’t handle that I was in the spotlight for once, instead of you.”
I laugh, unable to stop it before it slips out. “Sure, Beau. That’sexactlythe reason I quit and came to Vanstone.”
I know my stepbrother well enough to know he doesn’t catch the sarcasm from my tone, and by the look of Tessa’s face at the other end of the hallway as she eavesdrops on my call, shedoesn’t either. But neither one of them are privy to the real reason.
One assumes I’m here to take over and run Vanstone into the ground, and the other assumes I’m just an attention-seeking asshole with a desire to cause a ruckus.
Turns out, they’re both wrong.
Chapter Nine
TESSA
I stand behindsome of our most trusted engineers, their concentration steadily on the computer monitors while mine remains on the large screen taking up the majority of the wall. Rome is silent, continuously pushing himself in the simulator.
I bite my tongue, wanting nothing more than to jump in on the action, but today is all about letting Rome get comfortable with our technology.
A curse flies from his mouth. “It’s too stiff over the bumps.”
I glance at the monitors, then back to the screen.
He’s braking early.
Another few times around the toughest chicane and I’m grabbing a headset and slipping it on my head. “Stop braking early.”
His growl, deep and gritty, flows through the headset. “What are you doing here, Princess? Get out.”
I roll my eyes. “Try brake bias two clicks forward on the next.”
He forces the next turn, and I raise a brow. This is definitely going to take some time.
“You’re not listening to me,” I say.
“Because you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
A choked laugh leaves me, and next thing I know, the sim is cut off, and Rome is disengaged.
I look at the other engineers. “Give us a minute.”
They happily oblige, and I can’t blame them. The tension from Rome alone is enough to send the hairs on my arms erect, and now that he’s glaring at me from across the room, he’s nothing but a tall, broad, dark shadow with tense shoulders.
“The fun is over,” he bites out. “I need to concentrate.”
I lean forward, pressing my hands on the table lined with monitors of various stats. “Are you saying I’m a distraction?”
