Page 46 of Modern Romance May 2026 Books 1-4
‘You mean with a socket and wrench?’
Lily felt her customary twin hits of pride and rebellion. Everyone always sounded surprised. Shelikedbeing a little unexpected, never wanted to be pigeonholed. So maybe she wasn’t completely dissimilar to her law-breaking family.
‘Is it so hard to believe?’ she murmured.
‘No, I just thought you were a courier. Why are you flying cargo? Isn’t P1 Global all private jets and billion-dollar boats?’
‘As well as super-fast cars?’ She smiled in the darkness.
She’d assumed he’d be the strong, silent type but it seemed this gorgeously ripped guy wanted to talk to her with that low, husky voice for a while. Just the sound of him melted her cold, tired muscles.
‘Not for the general employees,’ she said.
Sometimes the teams chartered passenger planes to get crew to the farther-away races such as Sydney and Singapore, but mostly it was straight commercial. She honestly couldn’t believe she might go to so many incredible countries. She never would have had the chance without this job.
‘They don’t treat you well?’ Her ex-services hot courier asked. ‘Is the prestige only for the main players?’
The glamour element of P1 Global was so far from Lily’s realm of experience it was laughable. From the ridiculously good-looking drivers and their model girlfriends, to the musicians who pushed their agents to headline the post-race shows, to the celebrities visiting the pit and posing on the grid, even thepoliticians… That side of it was an elite, frankly alien, existence to hers.
Behind that scene it was hard work. Everyone on the team pushed to achieve. Only the finest of margins separated the top teams. Hundredths, even thousandths, of a second could make the difference between champagne celebrations or no points at all. And points meant money, development, speed. She adored the hard work and the lifestyle—the circus-like travel requirement, the prospect of being away for almost half the weeks in the year, was perfect for her.
‘I’m treated amazingly well,’ she replied. ‘It’s long hours but I have the chance to work on the fastest car in the world. P1 Global is the pinnacle of any mechanic’s career.’
She felt rather than saw him nod.
‘But you don’t fly with the team?’
‘Not this time.’ She’d requested her own arrangements and had a contact in the cargo world. She’d just had to let the team director know the details. She liked the darkness and the peace and not being squished in with a couple hundred other people. But she couldn’t resist engaging with her fellow passenger. ‘I’m guessing you don’t follow P1?’
‘Well, it’s just fast traffic going in circles, right?’ he mocked lightly. ‘Rich guys in their flash toys that they can’t even take on the road.’
He sounded like her brothers. She’d had this argument many times with them. ‘Yeah,’ she sighed playfully. ‘Lotsof men withlotsof money.’
‘Sothat’sthe real attraction?’ he drawled.
Points off for being patronising. ‘No, the real attraction is the smell of burning rubber and the sound of screeching tires fighting for grip.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Fully,’ she said firmly. ‘It’ssogood. It’s hot and loud and fast.Everysense struggles to keep up with the input—sight, sound, smell. If you blink you miss them fly past. It’s pure adrenaline. The technology is mind-blowing. Then there are the fans—the roar of that crowd is insane. Go to a race weekend, then you’ll understand.’
‘So you’ve always been into it?’
‘I was basically born in a garage. Cars are the family business.’
‘In P1 Global?’
‘No.’ She was hardly legacy elite like the billionaire family team she worked for. ‘Just a small local garage.’ She fudged the truth.
‘They must be incredibly proud of you.’
She sighed. A normal, nice, loving family might be proud, but her family was neither normal nor loving. ‘Unfortunately, you can’t always please family.’
‘No matter what you do?’ he added lightly. ‘Yeah, I hear you.’
Because he’d experienced the same?
‘Sucks, doesn’t it?’ she murmured. ‘Can’t change them, though.’
