Page 13 of The Duke's Virgin
“Miss Stacia.”
Paulo, quiet as a whisper, reappeared by my side.
“Wow. That was quick. Thank you.” I smiled at him and accepted the glass, gesturing toward the car. “Ah…would it be okay if I took a closer look?”
“Of course.” He checked his watch. “They won’t be moving onto the grid for another forty-five minutes. You have plenty of time to go look. Would you like me to come along and introduce you?”
“No. I don’t want to interfere or anything. I just want to get a closer look at the car. But thank you.”
He nodded and retreated. After taking a sip of wine, I made my way through the clutch of people until only ten or fifteen feet separated me from the car. There was excitement here, too, but it was muted, more focused on the machine and the race.
Adrenaline all but pulsed in the air as I studied everybody, taking them all in and deciding that most of the men were part of the crew. I’d seen a few races before on TV. Some of the people I’d been friendly with at Oxford had loved the Formula One series, and I’d seen enough to know that the pit crews were crazy fast with their hands and the drivers were crazy fast with the cars.
At the very edge of the throng, close to the fence, I watched two of the men in uniform as they stood near the car. One was bent in front of it, checking on something, while the other gestured off in the distance.
He’d be the driver, I decided. He wore the same colors as everybody else, but the design was markedly different.
The man bent over the car glanced up at him and nodded, then resumed his study.
My gaze went to him—or more specifically, to his ass.
Blood heated my cheeks even as I made a deliberate effort to redirect my focus, but ten seconds later, my eyes drifted back down. He straightened a moment later and half turned, looking at the driver, his hands braced on his hips.
My heart gave a hard bump against my ribs as I got a full look at his profile. If his tight, perfect butt had been a thing worth a few seconds of consideration, the full body look was worth much, much more. His hair was a warm, dark brown, but the sun picked up hints of red and gold, the kind of highlights and lowlights some of us women—and men, too, I guessed—paid pretty pennies for. Something aboutthisman made me think he wasn’t the sort to pay for highlights or anything more than a basic haircut, though.
A heavy growth of shadow darkened his chin. As I watched, he reached up to scratch at his jaw, and I found myself biting my lip, wishing I could do the same.
Since when had Ieverthought about doing something like dragging my nails down some guy’s stubbled jaw?
We’ll go with never for a thousand, Alex, I thought as an unfamiliar heat wound lazily through me.
He nodded at the man in front of him, then gestured to the car as he spoke, pausing to listen.
The other guy, the one I’d pegged as the driver, answered with a wide grin, hands moving animatedly.
Both of them laughed.
And the odd heat in my chest burst to spread throughout my entire body as the two of them turned toward the crowd.
Mr. Delicious glanced my way, and his gaze landed on me, then slid past as if I wasn’t even there.
I wasn’t surprised. Actually, I wasgrateful. As they walked by, I lifted the wine to my lips and guzzled half of it.
It wouldn’t do a damn thing to slow the rapid beat of my heart, but I was too hot and flustered to care.
Hell.
What had just happened?
Six
Luka
When she came walkingin with my friend Aeric, I noticed her. It was hardnotto take notice, if I was being honest.
Slimly built, her peaches-and-cream complexion was protected with a wide-brimmed hat while a long, flowing overshirt of some sort of sheer material dotted with a chaotic bloom of tropical flowers brushed loosely over a pair of white jeans, cropped at the knee. Strappy sandals did amazing things for her legs…especially her calves.
As she shifted to listen to somebody Aeric was talking to, I got a better look at her legs, the wind catching the flowery overshirt and tangling it around her figure, then blowing it away. Very, very nice legs, the calves sleekly muscled as if she spent a great deal of time walking.
