Rocco sat tapping his foot, waiting impatiently for Dario and Celeste to show up so they could go to dinner.
He was agitated. Because of that photo. That damn photo. If Nico Angelini hadn’t pulled that stunt, her hair never would have gotten caught in his zipper, and there wouldn’t be a photo.
Ping.
He groaned.
Another comment he’d been tagged in.
Who was he kidding? It was his own damn fault. If he hadn’t called her over and then sat down, all the rest of it wouldn’t have happened.
What the hell had he been thinking?
Ping.
He hadn’t been.
Thinking.
It was that stupid dream only without the white T-shirt and the jelly doughnut. Is that what had driven him to do it?
He stood up and began pacing.
This would never do.
The first race was only a few weeks away. He needed to focus, find his way back up on that podium. Even though there was bigger competition for him—drivers like Ian Anker and Leo Clarke—in some ways she was more dangerous. Not to his reaching the podium or earning a championship. But to his pride. At least Anker and Clarke were on different teams, driving different cars. The car might account for a loss.But she’d be driving a car built by the same engineers and mechanics that built the car he was driving. If she beat him in a race, what would that say about him as a driver?
Ping.
He muted his phone and slammed it on the table.
She was messing with his head. And not just his head, he thought, when he recalled the way she smelled.
Was it perfume? Or her?
If she just hadn’t— She could have remained standing, and then he would have been forced to get up out of that chair. But she didn’t. Why didn’t she?
Dario walked in.
Rocco turned to him. “Who the hell took those photos when Nico Angelini pulled that stunt with the coffee? Does Celeste know? Do you?”
Dario shook his head. “I was too busy ogling the pastries in the pink boxes, and Celeste was too busy ogling the ones in the aprons.”
Rocco laughed. Sometimes he really hated Dario for getting him to laugh when he wanted so badly not to.
He sighed. “Have you seen the photo?”
Dario grinned. “Which one? There was quite a selection.”
“I’m talking aboutthephoto.”
“What do you mean,thephoto?”
“If you have to ask, then you haven’t seen it. It’s gone viral.”
“Okay, so I haven’t seen it. Why are you asking me about it?”
“Never mind. It’s not important.”
