Page 30 of Midnight Racers

“You cut a heck of a lot of time off your last test session,” Declan said, slapping me on the shoulder.

“How did it feel out there?” Jordan asked.

“Great. Whatever Charlotte did to the engine makes her really open up on the straights.” I grinned because nothing could spoil my mood right now. Not even my asshole Dad whose wife left another message on my phone.

I scanned the sea of faces to find the woman who’d worked on this car night after night with me. She eventually emerged from the garage with Megan. A few weeks ago, I believed Megan was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She paled in comparison to the woman beside her and that caused a major problem in my life that I didn’t need.

Her eyes met mine and I willed myself to look away, but I was fucking lost right now. Only Jordan stepped in front of me I would have still been standing here like an idiot.

“I’ll get the other car off the low loader,” Joshua shouted. “Let’s take her out for a spin.” His grin was full of excitement like the rest of us.

The IndyCar circuit had been a pipe dream for everyone on this team that was now becoming a reality. Even more so now that I was starting to really understand the dynamics of it with Charlotte’s help.

The thought of racing it reminded me of Christmas morning, when I used to race down the stairs to see what Santa had left me under the Christmas tree. There was part of us that never grew up, and that black Honda currently being rolled off the truck activated that inner child.

“Have you done any work on it?” Jordan asked.

“Yeah,” I replied while our team pushed it toward the pit. “Charlotte had studied the engines and worked on a team before going into the family firm.”

Jordan nodded. “Her mum Victoria is very proud of her and her achievements. She always worried that something would happen that her dad wouldn’t be able to control. It was why she got me to help write her contract a few years ago.”

That sparked my interest, as he never mentioned her before sending me herrésumé. “So, you’ve been watching over her?” I asked.

“God no. I was asked to assist in writing a contract to protect the daughter of a colleague. We hadn’t even considered setting up a team back then, we probably hadn’t even met.” Jordan shrugged. “I guess sometimes karma goes into business with fate and the results are more than a little confusing.”

That was one way of summing it up.

Charlotte made her way through the crowd of guys to the car that was currently being set up. “I need to see how she corners. We aren’t getting her race ready, so take her fast and slow around that corner over there.” She pointed to the bend I noticed her standing near earlier. “That way, I can see her suspension.”

I saluted and her lips twitched. “Anything else?” No one had told me how to drive before.

“Yeah, you talk too much when you’re supposed to be concentrating on the circuit. Listen to the car and not the people creating background noise. There were a few times in the last test your engine was screaming. It’ll shave a few seconds off if you can anticipate her needs.”

My eyebrows shot up and Jordan covered his mouth because the fucker was laughing. I’d never had a woman tell me that I needed to anticipate her needs before. Was she being serious?

Her blue eyes locked with mine and there wasn’t a hint of amusement in them. Fuck my life, she was being deadly serious. She basically just accused me of being selfish in bed. Technically, she had been talking about a car, but in reality, it felt personal.

Now I had performance anxiety.

Taking a deep breath, I went to slide into the driver’s seat.

“This car is an extension of you,” Charlotte said. “In my old team, the head engineer used to make the drivers go round and round and round the track until they bonded with the car. You need to feel the car in every part of your body because you are sitting in the heart of her.”

Her intensity was either sexy as hell or terrifying teacher, and I couldn’t decide which.

I settled myself into the car, pulling the straps into place and Charlotte crouched beside the car. “This isn’t about speed. Today we need to see how she runs out there. This is baseline tests.” She stood and stared down at me before turning that hypnotic sapphire blue gaze to the others. “No speaking unless it’s necessary. Every single person in this team needs to know the sound of this car intimately. If we don’t know its regular heartbeat, how can we ever tell if there’s a problem?”

She took her position at the barrier I had seen her earlier, Megan following her. Fuck, she was sexy when she was riled up and lecturing. Every man standing here was watching her in either shock or awe.

She would be a hellcat in bed, leaving scratches and bitemarks on you. My dick would probably fly the white flag of surrender afterward but it would be worth it.

“Let’s go,” I snapped, pulling my helmet into place.

Declan’s voice sounded in my ear. “Testing audio equipment.”

Joshua replied. “All systems ready.”

That was my cue, so I started the engine and sat for a few moments to let the vibration of the car soak into me. Grandpa used to say something about “feeling” if his car was off, so I assumed that Charlotte meant the same thing.

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