‘So, goodnight?’ I whisper.
‘Goodnight,’ he whispers back.
I wait to hear if he moves away from the door but there’s nothing but the chirp and buzz of cicadas from outside the villa.
I know he’s still there. I might not be able to see him, but I can practically feel his presence behind the wood keeping us apart. I can hear his breathing in rhythm with mine. I press my hand against the door and wonder if he’s doing the same.
‘Just so you know,’ I whisper, ‘I really want to kiss you right now. I know all the reasons why we shouldn’t and you’re rightabout all of them. But I still want to.’
I hold my breath.
Do I imagine it or does he say, ‘Me too?
I wait, but he doesn’t say anything else. I drop my shoulders in resignation, which makes my head thud dully against the door.
‘What was that?’ comes his whisper, sharper now.
‘Just my head,’ I reply.
I hear him stifle a laugh.
‘It’s not funny,’ I murmur.
‘If you say so,’ comes his response, as well as a little snort. There’s nothing like the need to be quiet to make everything even funnier.
‘I’m going now,’ I say.
‘Okay.’ A pause. ‘Goodnight, Jo.’
I go to move when I feel a sudden pulse of cool air as he yanks open his door and I turn to meet him. He presses his mouth against mine and lets out the tiniest grumbling sigh, which is the biggest fucking turn-on. He’s shirtless, his nipples a dusty shade of pink and very erect. He’s so beautiful. It should be illegal.
I run my hands up and down his back while we devour each other hungrily. His fists ball up my T-shirt as he pulls me close and possesses my mouth with his. It’s fierce and fiery and everything I’ve dreamed of. I grab his ass and press him against me so he can feel just how hard I am. I’m not thinking– there are no thoughts, only actions and reactions. Only mouths and tongues and hands and bodies.
Anyone could come out and catch us, which only makes it more thrilling. I groan into his mouth. It’s louder than I intended and the sound bounces down the tiled hallway.
We break apart, panting. I’m so fucking hard. I ache for him. I want to feel his mouth around my cock, sucking and licking and swallowing. Did I think that, or say it out loud? My pulse is pounding so hard in my ears that I’m not sure.
But then, just as suddenly as he appeared, Caleb is gone and the door is closed in my face.
Fuck.
ChapterSixteen
Caleb
For the first time in more than five years, we are in France for a Grand Prix.
I wish I could say that the lead-up has been productive, except that’s not the case. It’s been heavily overrun with filming for the documentary series.
The handful of race engineers who are being featured in this episode sit around in the documentary crew’s motor home, waiting to be told what to do. This isn’t a good use of my time. We need to be studying the track– which my driver has never driven– and practising on the simulator to get data to feed into the model, but here we are.
At least I have the company of both Cole and Ash. Cole is doing a whole piece about being the race engineer for the legend that is Kian Walker. I feel like there are going to be a lot of tears while watching that bit.
Ash kicks back in his chair. ‘How am I already this tired on a Wednesday of race week?’ He says between yawns.
Naturally, we yawn, too, which leads to the three of us laughing at each other.
‘Honestly, I feel exhausted. A cameraman followed me and Johannes on a run yesterday morning.’ It was the most frustrating and pointless run we’ve ever completed, considering we had to keep stopping so they could set up each shot. We even re-took a section because Johannes stumbled on a loose rock. I’d have kept it in for comedic relief.
