Page 26 of Away We Go

He fastens my arms more tightly around his body, and I sigh.

Okay, I think it may be more exhilarating being on this little scooter just for two.

“How was that?”

We pull to a stop on the starting grid and I unclench my hands from their spot, holding onto him. It had been a blissful twenty minutes.

“Amazing.” I shake my hands out and step off the scooter, away from the warmth of his body. “Thank you.”

“Did you have fun?” His eyebrows are raised like he really wants to hear the answer. Like he’s invested in my enjoyment.

I beam a smile up at him. “I had so much fun! Do you think we can do it again? I mean, at another track?”

His eyes trace my face, dissecting my features one by one. “Yes.” He puts the tip of his forefinger into the divot in my cheek—andpoof—my ability to breathe is gone. “I think, Cherry, that dimple could get me to do just about anything for you.”

I gasp as he winks at me, turning back to his scooter and zooming away into the distance.

“Well, well, well. Wasn’t that adorable?”

Serena strolls up beside me as I stare after Nicky’s disappearing back, my dimple tingling from the attention he’d just given it.

“What?” I ask. I’m distracted and not able to deal with her brand of subtle sarcasm.

“This.” She shoves her phone in my face and I blink from where Nicky is now long gone, focusing on the screen in front of me.

“Oh.”

There, in HD clarity, is a photo she must have just taken. The sky has lost its pinkish colour and is a bright blue in the background, framing the two people lost in their own world as they scoot along the Suzuka Circuit. In the photo, Nicky is standing up tall and in control, one of his hands on the handlebars, the other holding on to mine. And me? I am pressed against him so tightly there’s not a sliver of daylight between our bodies. If I didn’t know the two people in this picture—that it was me andNicky—I’d swear I was witnessing a moment between two lovers.

“It was fun,” I tell her, my voice wobbly and filled with lies.

That was more than just fun. That was…something.

“Fun, hey?” Her raised eyebrow is doing all the talking, and I choose to ignore it. Sometimes a picture tells a thousand stories. This time, it’s not telling the whole story. That it was just a scoot between two old friends.

Right?

“Yes, fun. Nicky offered to take me around the track so I could get some photos, and Iaccepted.”

She sticks out her hand and gestures to my phone with a gimme motion. “Let me see.”

My cheeks burn as I realise, I’d been so lost in the ride, in being with Nicky, I’d forgotten to take a photo. Any photos. Which is literally my job. My entire reason for being here.

“Just like I thought.” Serena smirks at me and I give her a gentle shove in response.

“I’m off to take some photos,” I tell her, marching with purpose in no particular direction.

Her laughter follows me. “You do that.”

I wave her away and head towards the best light just beyond the pitlane. So far today I’d wasted the pink skies and the early morning dewiness all in favour of the world’s greatest twenty-minute scoot. Now it’s time to focus on what I’m getting paid for.

And that’s not falling in love with Nicolai Dimitrios. No matter how easy it would be.

CHAPTER 7

Cherry

The Australian national anthem plays out for the third weekend in a row, and my chest just about explodes with pride as I sing along at the top of my lungs.

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