“Alright, no need to be snippy.” She paused. “You mind shutting that door whilst we wait? You’re letting all the hot air in.”
I slammed the car door, and all the hustle and bustle faded away, muted behind the tinted glass. I released a heavy sigh.
“It’s nice and quiet in here, isn’t it?” Bianca said, her voice taking on a softer timbre that I had never heard from her before. “I hate all the noise and the rushing about. The quiet of the team car is one of my favourite places.”
I smiled. “Then that’s something we have in common. When I was working with Invicta, I always travelled to and from races alone. It’s a bit different at F2 level, the budgets are much tighter, and the teams are smaller, so I guess it’s easier to arrange it that way, but—”
“I love to travel alone too,” Bianca interrupted. “Harold was always happy for me to arrange my own travel, so I rarely joined the rest of the team until now.”
“Ah, if I’d known I would have allowed it,” I said, gazing out of the window at the rest of the team gathered around chatting. “I get it. I’d like nothing better than to just sit with my own company, but as team principal it’s expected of me to club in with everyone else.”
“Fuck what’s expected of you.”
I faltered, turning to look at Bianca. She still held her phone in her hand, but her attention was fixed on me.
“I assume that’s your mantra in life?” I teased with a grin, my pulse quickening when Bianca returned it.
“You betcha,” she replied. “Is it that obvious?”
“I mean, you’re not subtle,” I chuckled. This was probably the first civil, pleasant conversation I’d had with Bianca, and it surprised me how much I was enjoying our back and forth. When she wasn’t a ball of fury, Rossi could be quite charming. That combined with her heart–stopping good looks was dangerous.
I cleared my throat. “Look, let’s just go. I’m not sure what’s happened to Harrington, but I’m beat and am looking forward to unwinding in the hotel before the craziness starts. She’ll have to meet us—”
The door beside me flew open, bright light spearing in and the heat of the sun hit us like a wall. I glanced up, surprised to see Sophia.
“God, I’m so sorry,” she gasped, pink and sweaty. “I went for a quick toilet break and my minder took us to the wrong exit. I got back here as quickly as I could.”
“That’s quite alright,” I replied, surprising even myself with howdisappointedI was not to be alone with Bianca any longer. I didn’t have time to consider it though, before my mind turned tothe next potential pitfall. I slid across the leather seats, making room for Sophia by bringing myself closer to Bianca. As our bodies touched, completely innocently, my thoughts were awash with the images I’d seen on Rossi’s Instagram. I now knew the shapely thigh pressed against my own was tanned and toned beneath the denim jeans she wore. I fought for distraction, busying myself with my seatbelt as we settled into the back of the car.
The driver took off with a vigour that surprised us all and we toppled against one another, each muttering apologies and sharing sheepish grins. We turned sharply out onto a large freeway, and I jostled into Sophia.
“Oh, god, sorry!” she squeaked.
“No, no – it’s my fault,” I laughed. “Apparently, our driver is in a rush.”
I righted myself, taking a deep breath. Had anything ever been so awkward? I vowed to myself to never travel with Bianca and Sophia again. It wasn’t appropriate for me to be squashed between them like this, though my lizard brain wasn’t objecting.
I watched Bianca out of my peripheral vision. She’d turned her attention back to her phone. She crossed one long leg over the other and a moment later I practically leapt off the seat as she touched the edge of her foot against my shin. I sat frozen in place, palms sweaty. The back of this car wasn’t exactly spacious, perhaps she didn’t even realise– Bianca’s foot stroked itself further up my leg. Nope. Shedefinitelyknew what she was doing.
I was torn. The larger part of me was screaming that this was all manner of inappropriate – she was my employee and much too young for me… Yet with each pass of her foot against my leg, I was finding it difficult to remember why I shouldn’t be allowing it. I was shamelessly enjoying her touch and against my better judgement, I inched my legs a little wider apart, under theguise of getting comfortable. Still watching Rossi, I saw a small smirk creep onto her face though she quickly masked it with cool indifference.
God, I wanted todo something, anything, but my hands were tied, and Bianca knew it. I couldn’t risk returning her interest in front of Sophia, which left me at the mercy of Rossi. I already knew that was not a great place to be. I ran a hand over my mouth and Bianca squirmed beside me. What was her plan here? She was making her signals blatantly clear to me, and I felt guilty that I was keen to explore just how far she was willing to go.
There was an unusual mix of emotions swirling within me. I was excited and flattered that a young, beautiful woman such as Bianca would show interest in me, and yet I was also tense and filled with dread. Not only did we have company, though thankfully Sophia was distracted taking in the sights through her window, but it had also crossed my mind that this could be some sort of trap. If Rossi got me embroiled in some kind of sex scandal, I’d be out on my arse, that was certain. This was a real mess. I sighed heavily and ran a hand through my hair.
I felt Bianca’s attention flicker to me, and I took the opportunity to meet her gaze. She brazenly held my eye contact whilst continuing to stroke her foot up my leg. The motion was akin to the kind of sweeping stroke that I could imagine would beexceedinglypleasurable on another part of my body and I didn’t doubt that was by design. I hated to admit it was working.
Without words, I frowned at Bianca, silently asking her what she was playing at. She answered me by running her eyes up and down me, long, dark eyelashes fluttering. So, she found me attractive? Good, because I feared I was swiftly developing a serious attraction to her. I shot her a half smile before looking back at Sophia. The blonde was still staring out of her window, and holding my breath, I dropped my hand down betweenBianca and I, ghosting the backs of my index and middle finger along the outside of her denim–clad thigh.
This time it was Bianca’s turn to be blindsided. I felt her tense up beside me, her foot halting its distracting stroking. I barely resisted a grin.
Two can play at this game, gorgeous.
God, I wished I had decided to drive on without Sophia earlier. Bianca and I could have been alone right now, and I tortured myself with thoughts of how we could have passed the time.
Bianca gazed up at me with a heated expression and when she took her bottom lip between her teeth, I felt my body beginning to respond to her. I cleared my throat and ripped my eyes away hurriedly. Subtle touching was one thing, springing a hard–on was quite another. I needed to get a grip on my self–control and quickly.
The car turned off the freeway and slowed as it crept down the busy Vegas strip. It was crawling with people, busier than it usually was with the upcoming Grand Prix. I spotted fans wearing team shirts and hats amongst the crowds as we passed by. We were almost at the hotel now – I’d booked the three of us, plus the senior team members who followed behind in a second team car, rooms at the Wynn. Sophia squealed excitedly beside me as the car passed by the large fountain displays of the Bellagio hotel that were often shown on TV.
