“Racing,” I replied with a grin. “Believe me, the air is blue around the pit wall during some races.”
“Hm, I suppose I wouldn’t know seeing as I’m always on the opposite end of that radio, hm?” she replied.
“Exactly.” I took another sip of champagne, handing the bottle back to Bianca. I watched her, admiring her beautiful profile as she tipped the bottle up to her lips once again. It occurred to me suddenly that I couldn’t give less of a shit about star gazing, but I was more than happy to stare at Bianca all night long. Perhaps Iwaspassionate about something other than racing after all.
We passed an hour or more chatting easily, tongues becoming looser and looser as the champagne flowed. I learnt that Bianca was of Italian descent but had moved with her family to the UK when she was only three years old. She had no siblings, which is just as well as she promised she would have eaten them aliveif she’d had to have competed for attention as a kid.ThatI completely believed.
I shared a little of my family life too, delighting at how enthralled Bianca seemed to be to hear all about it. I told her about my much older sister and my ageing parents who’d had me well into their forties. I relived my youth, how car mad I’d always been and how excited my petrolhead father had been to finally have someone to share his passion with. I’d had grand ideas of becoming a racing driver myself when I was younger, but it turned out my talents lay elsewhere. I talked about my career with Invicta and how I’d landed the gig with McLaren after Harold, and Bianca opened up about how hurt she’d been to discover the ex–team principal’s betrayal. As we drained the last dregs of the champagne bottle, conversation turned to another, more exciting aspect of our lives.
“So, what happened with your stunner of an ex–girlfriend?” Bianca asked, taking me by surprise. “What was her name… Emily?”
“Amélie,” I replied, grinning. “Have you beenresearchingme, Rossi?”
“I tried. Your social media is the most boring thing I’ve seen in my entire life. Other than basic wiki info and an article about the French underwear model girlfriend, I found nothing.”
“She wasn’t an underwear model,” I laughed. “That would be such a cliché. Give me some credit.”
“Whatever. What happened? Was that your last serious relationship?”
I cocked a brow. “Why do you want to know? I thought this was a casual thing? Does it matter?”
Bianca’s face fell, realising her questioning was betraying her interest in me. She looked away with a shrug. “I was just curious. I like to know what I’m getting into, even if itiscasual, but if you don’t want to tell me, then I—”
“Yes,” I sighed. “Amélie was my last relationship. I haven’t been with anyone else since.”
Bianca gazed at me, her eyes filled with sympathy. “It was a bad break up then? You took it hard?” When I laughed, she faltered.
“No, not especially. Amélie was always so aloof and standoffish. At first, I’d viewed it as a bit of a challenge, but after three years I realised she wasn’t just playing hard to get. She really was as uninteresting and vapid as she made herself out to be, even underneath it all. She decided she wanted to focus on her career, and I agreed, so we went our separate ways. Honestly, since then I’ve been too busy to worry about it.”
“Oh.” Bianca paused. “But aren’t you, like, super horny by now? I’d be foaming at the mouth if I had been two years without sex.”
It was no surprise to me to learn Bianca was as insatiable as she claimed. She had pursued me hard since the moment we met. The Italian was young, passionate and absolutely gorgeous – I doubted she was short of offers.
“I won’t lie and say I don’t miss it, but I’ve been busy.” I shrugged. “And to be quite honest, I’d long since grown indifferent with Amélie. She was such a fucking pillow princess. I was glad not to have that stress in my life anymore and wasn’t in a rush to replace it.”
There was a moment of silence, and I glanced at Bianca, surprised to see her frowning with confusion. “What’s a pillow princess?”
I laughed. “Y’know, the kind of woman who just lies there and makes the man do all the hard work. In Amélie’s case it was also accompanied with complete silence and a face like a smacked arse.”
At that Bianca threw her head back with a giggle. “Maybe you just weren’t any good?” she teased.
I locked eyes with her. “Well, I guess you can let me know later, hm?” I cleared my throat, hastily changing the subject. “What about you? Surely you’ve got a line around the block waiting to take you out?”
Bianca shrugged. “I do alright. I’m so busy with work and jetting off around the world all the time, I’m not really interested in settling down. I wonder if maybe one day I will meet someone who inspires those feelings in me, but right now I’m all about having fun and living my best life.”
“I don’t blame you. Don’t tie yourself down. Like you said, maybe you’ll change your mind with age. It’s surprising how much changes as you get older, you know,” I replied. I had intended to be serious and empathetic, but Bianca smirked.
“God, you sound like such an old man,” she sniggered.
“Is thirty–six old? I didn’t think it was, but being around you makes me wonder.”
“As long as everything is still in working order, you’re good.” Bianca held up her index finger, straightening it out before miming it wilting away. I knew exactly what she was getting at, and I laughed aloud.
“Thatworks just fine, thank you, little witch!” I shoved her playfully and Bianca yelped, slipping down off the edge of the pool and into the water.
“Oh my god!”she screeched, swiping her dark hair from her face as her head emerged from beneath the water.
I was laughing too hard to speak and scrambled to get to my feet as Bianca swam towards me. I wasn’t quick enough, and she grabbed my calf, tugging me down into the water with her. I put up a valiant fight to remain on the edge, but the champagne and too much laughter got the better of me. I dropped down beneath the surface of the water, pushing back up against the tiled wall of the pool.
