Page 144 of Full Throttle

They had time.

“Okay.” Juliette squeezed his hand. “Lead the way.”

Dominic carved through the crowd. They’d made it to the steps when Juliette spotted a small figure; she wore Toro Significa clothes, her blond hair sorted into pink-ribboned plaits. Very familiar plaits.

“Hey!” Juliette called.

She untangled herself from Dominic, hurrying toward the young girl. Tiggy, if she recalled correctly; they’d met before the opening race in Bahrain. She squatted down, ignoring the frantic gesturing from a man in a headset.

“I remember you,” she said.

Tiggy’s eyes were wide. “You do?”

She gave a solemn nod. “I always remember my competition.”

“You did really good today,” Tiggy said, sucking on her sleeve. “I knew you’d win. Even though Dad said you wouldn’t.”

Three percent odds, Juliette thought, and she couldn’t help but smile. “I have an idea. How would you like to come get my trophy with me?”

The girl’s eyes widened. “Really?”

She looked up. “If your mum’s okay with it.”

In retrospect, she probably should have asked first. Not to mention cleared it with their security team. Tiggy’s mother raised her hands, looking torn between amusement and astonishment. “I mean, if you’re sure you want her.”

Tiggy bounced up and down. “Can I really go?”

“Really,” Juliette said firmly.

Tiggy beamed, taking her hand as they ascended the podium. The English national anthem blared through the speakers, thrumming through her bones. The roaring crowd was a blur of faces. Cap and Baz. Her family. Cameras flashed. Fireworks exploded.

Tiggy waved manically, flexing her fingers as if her hand was cramping but she didn’t want to stop, and a lump rose in Juliette’s throat. She’d done that once too. Stood in front of the mirror with her green plastic hairbrush, hoisting it above her head like a trophy. And here she was. About to hoist the real thing.

How did she get so lucky?

She glanced at Dominic. He held out a champagne bottle, and their hands grazed, sending hot tingles down her spine. As if he could read her thoughts, Dominic’s lips moved, forming words that only she could see.

We make our own luck.

Juliette tipped her head back, watching the fireworks explode like golden paint thrown at the night’s inky canvas. Champagne tears slid down her cheeks, salty-sweet.

Yeah, she thought. We sure did.

Chapter 46

Better than Gold

Three weeks later

Where the bloody hell was she?

Juliette jogged down the empty corridor, peeking in various rooms. Recording studio, offices, a gym, cocktail bar, another gym…No sign of her, which was unusual. The Toro Significa headquarters weren’t that big; Juliette ought to have run into her by now. Especially since they had a meeting planned.

She paused by the trophy cabinet. The trophy on the middle shelf looked freshly polished, and her name was engraved into the gold. She raised a hand to the glass cabinet, then paused as the crinkle of a crisp packet caught her attention.

She poked her head into the nearest office. “Hamish.” Her race engineer was typing on a computer, nodding along to the heavy metal blaring out of his earphones, and she waved her hands. “Hamish.”

Hamish took out an earbud. “Disappointing.”