Page 130 of First in Line

“Isn’t it supposedly a nice track? Intense laps, nice elevations, lots of overtaking opportunities…”

“You know your shit,” he mumbles approvingly, kissing the slope of my neck. “But this is nicer than any track I’ve ever raced, princess.” He nudges me with his hips, making me feel his softening length.

I pull away, dislodging us, and turn around to face him. “I’d love for you to stay,” I explain. “But I have to go to work tomorrow. I have a meeting with potential clients, and then I have to be on a construction site in the afternoon.”

“I’ll go spend the day with my parents then. They’ll be thrilled to see me.”

“On Saturday, I have errands to run. And on Sunday, there’s my friend’s birthday in Denver, remember? The one that’s been in the works for months.”

“Didn’t you say it was kind of a joint birthday?”

“It is.”

“Then you’re allowed to invite whoever you want. You can bring me along.”

The suggestion causes my jaw to drop with surprise. “You want to meet my friends?”

“Didn’t you say… Cynthia, was it?… was a big fan of mine? Wouldn’t she love having me as a special guest? You wouldn’t even have to bring a gift.”

I offer him a blank look and say, “You’re not that much of a gift to humanity, Hot Wheels.”

“Now you’re trying to hurt my feelings, princess.”

“Would you really want to meet my friends?” I insist after a few seconds.

“Yes. Unless I’m still your dirty little secret.”

“You were never adirtysecret. More like acomplicatedsecret.”

I consider his offer for a moment, eyes lost somewhere on his tattooed chest. The whole time I do, it’s like he can’t stop himself from touching me—brushing away the thin strands that stick to my temples, caressing the curve of my cheekbone with the pad of his thumb, following the humid path a drop of sweat left down my neck…

I met some of his friends. Spent a few days on a yacht with them. It would only be fair if I returned the favor. I didn’t want anyone to know about us when we were only fooling around, but we’re giving it a real chance now, aren’t we? They’ll have to meet him eventually.

It’s also my birthday, kind of, so he’s right. I can bring whoever I want. And it’s not like we have to tell them we’re together right away. I can just explain he’s an ex who was in town, and Cynthia’s fondness for him encouraged me to bring him along.

“I understand if you’d rather I didn’t come on Sunday,” he says softly when I haven’t decided after a while. “I’ll visit my parents again or patiently wait for you to return.”

“Won’t you get into trouble if word spreads that you’ve been hanging out with us instead of racing?”

“Not really. The recovery plan my physiotherapist came up with is a few days of rest, then on Monday, we’ll start exercises to get me ready for Silverstone in two weeks. So, I’m allowed to do whatever I want until Monday.”

Another few beats go by, and when I meet his eyes again, I’ve made my decision. “Okay, you can come. But you have to let me control the narrative.”

He tries—and fails—to hide how happy this makes him. Yes, letting him meet my friends is a big step. It’s probably too soon for that. But I’ll already be seeing so little of him with the season, I can’t allow myself to pass on such opportunities.

“What do you want us to say?” he asks.

“They already know that we went to high school together. So we can tell them we met there and dated for a while. But I don’t think I want them to know we were married. Not yet.”

“Right. That makes sense.”

“So, we’ll tell them you’ve come as a friend. They’ll probably guess what’s going on, but as long as we don’t make it official, they shouldn’t make a fuss about it. I don’t want us to become the center of attention on Cynthia’s day.”

“And your joint birthday.”

“Right.”

“All that sounds perfectly reasonable. But are you sure you can keep your hands off all this, princess?”