Page 39 of Racing Hearts
He laughed, so deep and genuine that it startled me. Pushing off the wall, he gave me a wink as he headed for the door. Silence engulfed the room as he exited, his chuckling fading as he made his way down the hallway.
Chapter Seventeen
Georgia
“So, Luca, rumor has it that F1’s most eligible bachelor is no longer single,” Josh, theHome Stretchhost, said slyly. After opening with a nice bio about Luca, his history of karting, and his entry into Formula 1, it was clearly time for the juicier details to unravel. Shifting uncomfortably in my seat next to Henri, I watched as Luca leaned into the microphone. Josh wiggled his eyebrows seductively, prompting laughter from the audience.
My brother gently elbowed my side, a reminder to drop the scowl.
“You heard that rumor, too,” Luca grinned, “I mean, can you blame me? With a smile that gorgeous and talent that enormous, it was pretty easy to see that Georgia is someone special.” The audience erupted into a symphony of oohs and ahhs, which Luca played into with a flick of his hand.
“I’m sure it wasn’t easy getting her brother’s approval, even if he is your teammate?” Josh gestured to Henri in the audience, who simply waved back with a crafty grin.
“Well, I was basically Georgia’s biggest fan from the day she signed her F1 contract. I did my best to drop hints to Henri, but after preseason, I finally mustered up the courage to ask her out. My teammate sort of joked that if I hurt his sister, he’d be sure to ram his car into mine—but I told him not to worry, Georgia would undeniably beat him to it. She is the faster Dubois after all.” Henri scoffed, his arms crossed in annoyance, much to the audience’s amusement.
Good grief, I thought to myself.Had they practiced this?
“You know, I have to say, we were all kinds of shocked when we saw those photos of you two after her race win in Barcelona. Not to be rude, but we didn’t think you could pull such a lovely lady like Georgia.” A subtle insult if I’d ever heard one.
Just ask the real question, Josh, I mused to myself.How did Georgia Dubois manage to bag dashing playboy Luca Rossi?
If only they knew the truth.
“What? You saying she’s out of my league?” Luca pretended to feign shock, an effort no one else in the crowd attempted to do. “You know, Josh, I was as surprised as you were. You see, the rest of the world sees her as this quiet racer who only has eyes for winning, everything else be damned. But the Georgia I know? It couldn’t be further from the truth.” My eyes flickered to the various exits as I contemplated which one provided the easiest escape in case I started to melt with embarrassment.
“Oh?” Josh motioned for Luca to continue. Charm oozed from Luca, and it was clear the audience around me was desperately hanging on to his every word. That was the thing about Luca, he really did have this uncanny ability to captivate your attention.
He leaned in closer to Josh. “Did you know Georgia loves to paint? I’m always telling her she needs to share her artwork with the fans.”
My cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, but to my surprise, I heard a few whispers of surprise behind me.
“Georgia is incredibly talented, and I keep telling her she needs to share some of her artwork during the next Grand Prix.” A silent dare from Luca.
Josh pointed at me, wagging his finger. “Well, then you’ll just have to make sure we get a glimpse next race!” Luca looked awfully smug as he winked at me on stage.
I offered a polite wave and the most neutral smile I could muster, something between “I love this man” and “I hope a rogue camera light falls on him.”
“Now, Luca, let’s talk about Miami. It was like you already knew she wasn’t feeling well. Fans have speculated that the teams put a radio for you to chat inside the cars. Any truth to that?”
“Are they having a laugh?” I muttered, earning me yet another nudge from Henri. As if Valkyrie would allow me the extra weight so I could chat to my boyfriend. Who did he think this team was run by, middle school girls? The engineers weren’t about to add inrelationship radios. Luca shifted in his seat, trying to hide a bewildered smile.
“No, no, I don’t need anyone hearing me chatter to myself throughout the race. I think I’d be deemed insane.” His face slowly turned more serious, gaze fixed on his twiddling thumbs.
Henri leaned over, whispering, “Did you ever ask him why?”
“No.” A pathetic answer, because it was all I’d wanted to do since Miami.
Henri furrowed his brow, unimpressed with my response. To be honest, I wasn’t impressed with myself either. The cowardly part of me wasn’t sure I wanted to know how Luca had figured it out, because I knew it would force the even bigger question: what else had Luca noticed about me when I wasn’t paying attention?
But there was no avoiding the question now. Luca paused, his eyes flicking up like he was replaying something in his mind.
“When Georgia gets a podium finish, she immediately jumps out of the car, a huge smile on her face. Both of her arms go flying into the air, and she does this silly ‘window washing’ dance. It’s very adorable. When she didn’t hop out of the car and start doing her dance, I just knew something was wrong.”
The room went silent, just the soft rustle of jackets and shifting legs in the audience.
“If there’s something I know for certain about the Dubois siblings, it’s that they’re the first to congratulate each other. It doesn’t matter who’s won.”
The audience swooned all around me, but I didn’t move. Couldn’t move, shocked by Luca’s admission. Had he really noticed that about me? Thinking back to each race, I replayed all of the podiums in my head, thought back to each celebration.
