Page 73 of Not So Fast
“Seems like we’re more than friends. My tongue is down your throat.”
“I don’t suppose I can get away with saying it’s because you’re British and everyone knows the English are notoriously horny? Make it a cultural thing?”
“I’m no expert on public relations, but my gut says that won’t work. I think honesty is the best policy. I say we come clean. We have to.”
Mia couldn’t see her way through this. Everything in her gut was telling her the podcast was toast. Should she have come out with the truth earlier? Or maybe she should’ve just stayed away from Xander entirely? The mere thought made her stomach sour. She didn’t regret Xander. How could she? They’d fallen in love. That alone was a dream come true.
“Look, I understand how you’re feeling,” Xander said. “You’re trying to save the success you built.”
Mia so appreciated his kind words and understanding, but it wasn’t enough to stem the tide of frustration raging in her body.
“I’m not sure you can completely understand this because you’re a driver and I’m not. And you’re a man and I’m a woman. But Formula One is a very male-dominated space and it’s going to be way too easy for everyone to dismiss me as someone who didn’t care about the sport but was just looking to get her hooks into a driver.”
“I hadn’t thought about it that way. Probably because I know it’s not the truth.”
She turned on her bar stool and peered into his amazingeyes. “A lot of people aren’t going to give me the benefit of the doubt.”
“I support you in whatever you need to do to get out of this. Okay?”
Mia scanned his face, wondering how the fuck she managed to get so lucky. “Thank you. That means a lot.”
He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Finish your tea. We don’t want you to miss your flight.”
Mia’s phone beeped with a text and she reluctantly looked at it. The message was from her aunt.
Good for you! It must be genetic.
“Everything okay?” Xander asked.
“Yeah. Just another voice that isn’t being very helpful right now.”
* * *
Xander drove Mia to Heathrow in near silence. Today should have been bittersweet but ultimately wonderful—they’d say their teary goodbye in the wake of his showing at Silverstone. They’d see each other in only a few days, in Austin. They loved each other. Did anything else matter?
He wanted to say no, but he hadn’t planned on bloody Reginald Huff putting them on the front page ofThe Daily Reflection. He’d tried to play it off back at the house, but the reality was this was a very big deal. He’d had several panicked texts from Isabel. He was to head for an emergency team PR meeting right after he dropped Mia at the airport.
As he pulled into the secret rich person garage and zipped up to the curb, Xander reached over and patted Mia’s leg. “I’ve booked someone to help you with your bags. And you won’t have to go inside to check them. They’ll handle that.”At least he could do that much for her. Everything else about being involved with him made her life so messy.
He looked over and watched as a single tear leaked from the corner of Mia’s eye. She was so sweet. So kind. So heartbreakingly amazing. And she was about to get on a plane, fly away from him. WouldI love yoube enough to hold them together when it felt like things were falling apart? Good God, he hoped so.
“Thank you,” she croaked as the dam broke and the tears really started to fall.
Xander killed the engine and unhooked his seat belt. “Come here.”
Mia freed herself from her own seat belt and wrapped her arms around him. How he wished there was some simple way for her to climb over the center console of an Aston Martin.
“I don’t even know how to say thank you,” she sobbed. “It’s been…so…amazing.”
He tightened his hold. Clearly, she was beyond stressed. And possibly not thinking straight. He had a pretty good idea now of how her brain worked and he feared she was about to spiral. He wanted to keep things as simple and optimistic as possible.
“I’m going to see you in Austin when I get there on Thursday. It’s only three days.”
“I know. But until then I have to deal with the whole world losing its mind. The photos were just the match thrown on the powder keg.”
He loosened his grip and rubbed the side of her face with his thumb, swiping away the tears. Looking at her now reminded him of what it had felt like to look down and see her gazing up at him while he stood on that podium yesterday. Inthat unbelievable moment, her mere presence made everything better. He had to find a way to make something better for her.
“Talk to me.”
