Reserved the pitstop ser.., p.5
Reserved (The Pitstop Series Book 6), page 5
“Let me,” he offers, but I smack his hand away and bring the chair to the office myself. “You look beautiful,” Lincoln says when he joins me in the big room.
His compliment takes me by surprise, but I don’t respond.
“Come on, talk to me, butterfly. Don’t you want to make a mean comment or throw an insult my way? Isn’t that the greatest part of your day?” His words cause a low, involuntary chuckle to leave me.
“I’m at work, Linc. Unlike you, I’m capable of being professional,” I reply while cleaning up some of Gillian’s paperwork. It allows me to distract myself from the excitement bubbling in my chest.
Adrian is going to be here soon.
“Ah, there is the mean comment. Thank God, I was starting to think you weren’t feeling well,” he says as he sinks down on one of the chairs I brought.
I roll my eyes and turn around to hide my smile. Why am I in such a good mood around Lincoln? Some of the usual anger I feel toward him has somehow lifted, but not enough to make me forgive him, not even remotely close.
“Actually, I’m feeling great, Linc, despite your presence,” I say and spin around to see Adrian Romana standing in the door frame.
His eyes widen as soon as they lock onto mine, and I try to hide my smile by pulling part of my bottom lip between my teeth. He looks very handsome in his blue dress shirt and black jeans. His blonde hair sits in waves on his head, and his lips, the bottom one a bit bigger than the upper one, are pinker than the last time I saw them.
Adrian is smiling now as he takes a step toward me.
“It’s you,” he states, an expression of awe on his face. “Did you know we’d see each other again?” Adrian asks, and I beam up at him.
He remembers me…
“Wait, how do you two know each other?” Lincoln says, trying to interrupt my moment with the gorgeous Monegasque.
“I didn’t. I only found out a few days ago,” I reply, focusing solely on Adrian, whose attention hasn’t drifted from my face once since he came into the room.
I like capturing his gaze because, when he directs it at me, my heart races. Shivers run down my spine when he smirks at me.
“Well, a deal is a deal,” he points out and extends his hand for me to shake. “Hi, I’m Adrian,” he says, so I slide my hand into his.
Electricity shoots through me from my fingertips all the way down to my toes. Every cell in my body bursts to life as if they’ve all been dormant until this very second. Until I got to touch Adrian Romana.
For a moment, I forget to answer, making a blush settle on my cheeks.
“Hi, I’m Nevaeh,” I blurt out, my words too quick and breathless to come across in the cool, unaffected way I wish they would.
“Nevaeh. That’s ‘heaven’ spelled backward, isn’t it?” Not a lot of people pick up on that, and I’m surprised Adrian did this quickly. I smile at him with a nod.
Lincoln stands up, capturing my attention.
“Yes, it is, now back off, Romana,” he growls, his fingers curling into fists.
Adrian cocks an unimpressed brow as he studies the irrational man who is trying, and failing, to intimidate him. I can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous Lincoln looks, especially next to the taller, older F1 driver.
Both their heads turn in my direction, and I cover my mouth.
“I’m sorry, but what was that?” I ask, making Adrian turn away from Lincoln to hide his own smile. Lincoln shoots daggers my way, but I merely go back to cleaning up Gillian’s paperwork to get my heart to stop hammering so hard in my chest.
The moment is interrupted by Gabriel Biancheri and Kyle Hughes entering the room. The World Champion introduces himself politely and so does the second Grenzenlos driver. I offer for them to sit down when my phone starts ringing. Gillian’s name flashes on my screen, sending a bad feeling through me.
“Hello?” I step away from all four drivers to get some privacy.
Eyes burn my backside. I try to ignore them, convinced they’re either Adrian’s or Lincoln's. They could also both be staring at me, but I have other things to worry about right now.
“Nevaeh, I’m going to be a bit late for the meeting. Please start it without me.” Anxiety immediately floods my chest. Sensing my distress from his demand, he goes on, “Just introduce yourself, ask them some questions. You’ll be fine.” Gillian hangs up on me before I’m allowed to respond.
Perfect.
My feet bring me back over to where all four men are sitting. Kyle is reading something on his phone, and Gabriel is texting someone who is making him grin from ear to ear. I bet it’s Valentina Romana. They’ve been dating for a while now, and from what they’ve said in interviews, they’re quite happy.
“Um, I apologize, but Mr. Fender will be a bit late,” I start and decide to sit down in the chair next to Gillian’s. Lincoln watches me like a hawk while Adrian’s gaze shifts between me and the floor.
“No problem. We’re not in a rush,” Adrian replies to make me feel better, and I let out a small laugh I don’t mean.
I’m too nervous.
“Why don’t you introduce yourself? I mean, that’s what the meeting is for anyway, right?” Adrian suggests and leans forward to ensure I only look at him.
I could kiss him for giving me a place to start, for distracting me from the way my hands are shaking from anxiety.
“Okay, well, my name is Nevaeh Fuchs, I’m German, and I’ve been at Griffin Sports for two days now.”
“And you like photography,” Adrian adds, causing my heart to flutter. I nod with a small grin. “Well, it’s a pleasure, Nevaeh. We never get to meet journalists and reporters beforehand, especially ones who are as beautiful as you,” he says, and my breathing hitches.
Heat rushes into my cheeks at his flirtatiousness. I can’t help but flash him a smile.
“Seriously, Romana, watch yourself,” Lincoln growls, jealousy dripping from his lips. What the fuck is wrong with him? At this point, he’s just embarrassing himself with this territorial shit.
“You need to calm down, Nash,” Adrian warns. “You’re acting like a child.” I couldn’t agree more.
“Ah, I see. You’re still pissed because I got the seat at Grenzenlos that you weren’t good enough for all those years ago,” Lincoln replies.
I didn’t know Adrian had been a candidate for a Grenzenlos seat in the past, but it’s unsurprising. He’s one of the best drivers I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. Papa met Adrian’s grandfather and father a few years before their passing, and he always told me what great racers they were in their times.
It must be in their genes.
“Says the guy whose daddy is best friends with my father, the team principal of the Grenzenlos team,” I blurt out, causing all of their eyes to go wide.
Adrian snickers and leans forward in the chair to run his hands over his face. Gabriel bites down on the inside of his cheek to hide his amusement, and Kyle pulls his thin lips into a straight line. Lincoln, on the other hand, is boiling from anger. If I look closely enough, I’m sure I could see steam coming out of his ears.
“Can I talk to you in private for a moment?” Lincoln says with a husky, rough voice, letting me know he’s more upset with me than he’s ever been.
“Mr. Fender is counting on me to—” I’m cut off by Gillian hurrying into the room.
“I’m here. I apologize for being late, gentlemen,” he says and turns to me. “Nevaeh, you may take a moment to speak with Mr. Nash in private,” Gillian adds, and I want to ask him why the hell he’s doing this to me, but, of course, he doesn’t know my history with the Formula One driver.
Lincoln gets up and waits for me to walk past him before following closely behind.
I decide to lead him into one of the empty conference rooms.
He moves past me while I hold the door open for him. None of the walls are made of glass as they would be in most conference rooms, which means we have complete privacy.
My heart is beating even faster now, and guilt is slowly creeping in as I think about what just happened, but Lincoln’s words make me more mad than anything else.
“Do you feel good now?” is the first thing he asks.
I close the door and lean against it, watching the angry man figure out what to do with himself.
“You humiliated me in there,” he points out, but I stay quiet. “Why won’t you speak to me?” Lincoln runs his fingers through his hair and then leans against the table in the middle of the room.
“Because you’re a hypocrite. You were practically pissing on me to mark your goddamn territory, and I didn’t react the way you are about my saying something everyone knows,” I say, and he narrows his eyes at me.
“It’s not the same, and you know it. You just undermined my ability as a racer. You basically called me a nepotism baby,” he replies, rolling up the sleeves of his black button-up before running a hand down the length of his face.
“You acted as if I was your fucking property, Lincoln.” My voice is so calm, I’m convinced it irritates him.
“You’re the fucking hypocrite, Nevs, do you know that?” Lincoln lets out a dry laugh and then a groan of frustration. “You can’t forgive me for something stupid I said, but here you are, using your words to hurt me.” This makes my heart drop. No matter how much I dislike him right now, I don’t want to hurt him.
“You don’t care enough about me to be offended by what I say,” I defend, and he closes the distance between us until his hot, uneven breath is on my skin.
“You don’t think I care?” Linc asks and lowers his mouth so his lips are almost touching mine. “Your opinion matters to me. Your words affect me. Now, tell me, what makes you think I don’t care about you because I sure as hell never gave you that idea,” he explains as his hands lift to each side of my face and press against the door, caging me between them.
I don’t like this at all. There was a time when I adored his proximity, but that time has long passed. Now, I just want to push him away.
“Do I have to remind you how angry I am with you?” I ask, and he grins for the first time since I made that comment in Gillian’s office.
“No, but you might have to remind yourself because I can tell how badly you want me.”
I place my hand on his chest before pushing him back to create space between us.
“You’re out of your mind if you think anything will ever happen between us. I loathe you,” I spit the last three words and open the door to get back to the other drivers.
Chapter 9
Adrian
Nevaeh walks back into the office with a fake smile on her lips, and Lincoln trails in right behind her. Her cheeks are flushed and his breathing is uneven, but I don’t think anything happened between them except fighting. He looks way too unhappy, and, from what I’ve gathered so far, he seems to have feelings for Nevaeh.
If he’d kissed her, he’d look happier.
There is really no need for jealousy to flood me at the thought, but I think that’s what the strange, uncomfortable feeling lingering in my chest is. Jealousy. Not jealous of Lincoln, but jealous that he got her attention.
I sure as fuck am not jealous of the possessive asshole next to me.
I could treat Nevaeh a lot better than he could.
Wait, what the fuck?
“Alright, now that we’re all here, let’s get started,” Gillian Fender says, but my eyes keep slipping to where Nevaeh is sitting with a notepad on her lap and a pen between her fingers.
She’s chewing on her bottom lip, her hair falling like curtains to frame each side of her face. She’s so breathtaking. And I love the way she didn’t let Lincoln act like an alpha male asshole around me without putting him in his place. There is so much fire inside of her, so much passion, I can’t help but wonder if she loves as strongly as she despises.
“This season, we’re planning on focusing all our resources on—”
Gillian keeps talking, but I’m too mesmerized by Nevaeh to listen.
Freckles are dusting the bridge of her nose and cheeks that I didn’t notice before. Her eyes are a warm shade of brown—I think it’s called honey brown. She’s got long legs with thick thighs to die for and wide hips I can’t help but imagine digging my hands into to guide her against me. I have a thing for thick women, always have, and Nevaeh is the kind of curvy that I could spend my days worshiping until I’ve had enough. Because eventually I would get enough of her and move on.
Yes, I would.
Yes, I would.
Yes, I would.
I repeat the same mantra over and over until I’m at least a little convinced the words will stick. Because they need to stick.
I’m not fucking equipped to deal with… feelings.
“Mr. Romana, does that sound good to you?” Gillian asks, and I shift my head to bring my gaze to him.
Nevaeh is blushing beside her boss, staring down at her notepad with the sweetest smile. It fades as soon as Lincoln shifts beside me, catching Nevaeh’s attention. Her smile turns into the most vicious glare, making me bite back my own grin because damn. I like both of the sides she’s showing. I like the no-bullshit side and I like the shy-because-I’m-looking-at-her side.
“Yeah, sounds perfect,” I reply, having no idea what the fuck I just agreed to with Gillian. Gabriel grins next to me, clearly seeing the way Nevaeh keeps distracting me.
I very subtly kick him as I lift my leg to place my ankle on my knee, waiting for this meeting to finally be over so I can talk to Nevaeh.
Gillian keeps talking, so I do my best to look anywhere but at Nevaeh, but it’s like trying to overtake during a race where you only have three tires and the car in front of you runs on magic fuel.
It’s impossible.
So, I look. Again and again, until this god-forsaken meeting is finally done. I stand up along with Gabriel, Kyle, and Lincoln. Nevaeh and Gillian stand too, but I don’t get the chance to have a moment alone with my mysterious woman before she’s out of the door and on her way somewhere. I’ve never seen a person in such a rush before, but I’m assuming she doesn’t want to deal with Lincoln again.
Understandable.
Unfortunately for me, Lincoln takes that as an invitation to approach me instead.
“Stay the hell away from Nevaeh,” he says as we make our way outside the building. Gabriel is on the phone with Val, and Kyle could not be bothered less by all of Lincoln’s drama.
“Last time I checked, you’re not my boss, rookie, so I don’t have to do what you tell me to,” I reply, casually crossing my arms in front of my chest and looking straight ahead at the elevator doors. A smile tries to fight its way onto my lips, but I manage to bite it back.
“I’m not a fucking rookie, Romana. I was racing last year already.” The annoyance in his voice only amuses me more.
“Were you? I didn’t notice. Probably because you were always at the back of the grid and I was winning races.”
It’s a dick thing to say, but I’ve had enough of this little boy acting like he’s the king of the world. He’s only three years younger than me, but the twenty-one-year-old is certainly not acting his age either.
“Well, that’s about to change, isn’t it? Grenzenlos will be stronger than Velocità Rossa this year, and I’ll wipe the floor with you in no time.” A yawn slips past my lips as he speaks, but once he’s done, I place a hand on his shoulder and give it a reassuring squeeze.
“Sure you will,” I say, stepping out of the elevator as soon as the words have left me. Gabriel falls in step beside me, grinning as he tells Val what I just said. He does it in French too, making sure Lincoln won’t hear my teammate making fun of him.
“Val says you shouldn’t provoke Lincoln unless you want his daddy to snitch on you to the FIA.” I burst into laughter so loud, Lincoln shoots me a glare while Kyle leads him outside, mumbling something about it not being worth it.
It really isn’t worth it, but I can’t deny that it isn’t at least a little fun to fuck with people who deserve it.
Nevaeh is her own person. If she wants me to stay away, I’ll stay away, but not because of the little rookie telling me to. It’ll be because she wants me to, and no one else.
Chapter 10
Nevaeh
Thursday night is bowling night whenever Papa is home for the holidays. Mama and I are on one team while Papa and Nova are on the other. Since my injury, I’ve been too scared to do any heavy lifting or extreme exercise with my right arm, which is why Mama and I are at a great disadvantage. I’m too scared to throw properly.
Lucky for us, however, Nova is extremely uncoordinated. Years of bowling have not improved her skill, and I chuckle every single time her bowling ball lands in the gutter. It happens more often than it should, but it doesn’t stop her from having the best time.
We’re head-to-head in our first game. Papa picks up his sparkling-purple bowling ball and squats low with it to analyze which angle is best. Mama and Nova burst into laughter while I grin and look around the bowling alley.
My eyes drift to the entrance just in time to notice Adrian, Gabriel, and Valentina walk in. My heart stutters at the sight of him, not entirely sure if I'm imagining it or if he’s really here. It can’t be that he and I somehow keep meeting unless…
Well, I don’t really believe in fate, so what the hell is it?
The couple is holding hands and smiling at each other as Adrian arranges for shoes and a lane. If he didn’t look so damn attractive in that long black coat and matching beanie, I’d manage to look away before he catches me staring. But he does, so I ogle him until his gaze meets mine, and I awkwardly turn my head as heat rushes into my face.
“Why are you so red?” Nova asks, and I lift my hands to my cheeks. My skin is on fire, which means she’s right. I am red in the face.
“It’s hot in here,” I lie and remove my sweater to sell it.
My sister’s eye twitches as she half closes it, a sign that she doesn’t believe a single word falling from my lips. Her inquiring gaze would usually make me confess, but, conveniently enough, it’s my turn to bowl.
