Page 41 of Faster

Chapter Thirty

Micaela didn’t feel at all relaxed even though she’d lounged on the deck of Liam’s yacht for three days straight after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

If she was racing in any other series, she would have been done with her season by now.

Unfortunately, and fortunately, there were ten races to go before the winners would be crowned.

On the one hand, there were still enough races for her to win the driver’s championship.

On the other hand, she was more tired than she’d ever been in her life.

And she didn’t feel like she had much privacy anymore.

Back when her father had raced, there were paparazzi and scandals, but there weren’t Instagram accounts and content creators parsing news articles and candid photos so that there was a full breakdown of everything she did or wore from her outfit of the day to her skin-care products.

It made her feel like she was on the edge of people finding out she was fucking her boss.

Liam acted like he didn’t care whether people found out.

She even had an inkling that he would be relieved.

They went back and forth about how much they cared about the world knowing they were together.

After she’d won the Hungarian Grand Prix, she’d wanted nothing more than to kiss him on camera.

The urge had been almost impossible to resist. She’d dreamed about it on the plane on the way home.

She’d been with members of the team, and they’d made fun of her when she’d said his name in her sleep.

At that point, Liam had been so jumpy that he didn’t even hug her after the win.

He patted her on the shoulder. But then there had been an article on a motorsports website that speculated that there was discord within the team because of Liam’s lack of enthusiasm.

Liam’s office had to make a statement saying something about how she’d been overheated, and he hadn’t wanted to crowd her.

It was all such utter bullshit, and she hadn’t wanted to live with it any longer. They either had to break up or go public.

But then—on the day they’d boarded Liam’s yacht—a fan had taken pictures of them boarding the boat. Luckily, Paola and Brent had also been boarding along with them, so no one had posited the theory that Micaela and Liam were vacationing together, alone.

Oh yeah, and they were on the verge of being caught out by her ex and Liam’s son.

Liam didn’t seem to care whether Brent saw the way he looked at her.

He’d been groping her in the pantry when Paola had walked in to find some crisps.

The other woman’s eyes had grown to the size of saucers, and she’d walked right back out.

Even a super yacht was tiny when you were sneaking around with your boyfriend.

Paola came on deck with a large Turkish towel and spread it out next to Micaela. She lay down and opened up a book. At first, she didn’t say anything, which relieved Micaela. Maybe she wouldn’t mention that she’d seen Liam with his hand down the back of her shorts the night before.

Micaela turned on the audiobook she’d been listening to, thinking she could possibly spend a quiet afternoon and pretend her situation wasn’t as precarious as it was.

“You need to be more careful,” Paola said, and Micaela’s blood turned to ice.

The other woman was going to bring it up—she was too savvy not to—but there had been a shred of hope that they could just enjoy a peaceful vacation where no one mentioned anything going on right in front of their faces.

“You’re going to burn if you stay out here much longer. ”

Micaela sat up and put on the large white linen shirt she’d taken from Liam’s closet to cover up.

Paola was right. Micaela was fairly pale and close to getting pink.

She added a straw hat, not sure if the heat in her face was from the embarrassment of thinking Paola was going to mention her affair with Liam or a developing sunburn.

She wasn’t sure which she’d prefer at this point.

But it was stupid that they weren’t going to talk about this. Paola’s whole job was covering the team’s ass when shenanigans occurred. She actually should know what was going on with Liam.

“I’m sleeping with Liam. I’ve been sleeping with him for a while—since after my first win.”

Paola said nothing at first. She just settled farther into the plush deck chair and pulled her sunglasses down over her face.

Micaela didn’t dare look at her, so she trained her gaze on the coastline.

They were anchored off the coast of Tuscany, in the Ligurian Sea.

She’d tagged along on countless of her father’s vacations with countless girlfriends, so she’d probably seen this precise landscape a thousand times.

Funny how she’d never really appreciated it until she’d seen it from the deck of Liam’s boat.

“No shit,” Paola finally responded. “I figured as much when you were making out in the galley. You should really be careful about that too.”

Micaela finally turned to her friend. She didn’t look upset with Micaela. “Does Brent know?”

She’d figured out something was going on between Brent and Paola after Silverstone, and there was also the fact that they were vacationing together. All signs pointed to romance. “You’re sleeping with him. And you work together.”

She didn’t know why she was defending herself by needling Paola.

It was plainly childish, but she didn’t want to feel like she was doing something wrong.

She was tired of sneaking around, and yet terrified of being found out.

The only time she found any real peace was when Liam’s mouth found hers, and they got lost in each other.

But they were never in sync when it came to coming out and telling people they were together.

“He’s not my boss. And he’s not my ex-boyfriend’s dad.” Paola was right to point those things out, but they stung a bit when said aloud. “How did this even happen? He’s not harassing you, is he?”

“Only when I ask him to,” Micaela said, and Paola gave her a sharp look. “I was the one who pushed it. None of the HR rules were broken.”

“You’re breaking them now by keeping this a secret.” Her efficient friend had likely broken out her highlighter pen and employee handbook before she’d even kissed Brent. So, she would know. “Is it worth it?”

Micaela couldn’t answer that at the moment. When she was with Liam, everything else fell away. She shed all of her insecurities and worries, and she could simply be in the moment with him. There was nothing to be afraid of, and no one who could hurt her. She felt safe and cared for.

When she was away from him, she felt like she was missing a piece of herself.

Everything she feared came roaring back into her mind if he was out of her sight.

That couldn’t be healthy, could it? This was probably just lust or infatuation, and they were running the risk of their entire lives blowing up, just for a few minutes of pleasure when they could grab it.

“I don’t know.” She couldn’t see into the future to know whether this would all work out or destroy everything they’d both worked their entire lives for.

“Then, you have to break it off.” Paola shook her head, and her long locks brushed her sun-burnished skin. Micaela had never seen her so relaxed, but she was still worried. All because of Micaela’s twisted infatuation. “Too many people could get hurt.”

“Are you worried about me? Or just your new boyfriend?” Micaela knew that wasn’t fair, but it was a bit hypocritical to tell Micaela who she shouldn’t be sleeping with at the moment.

Paola sat up and took off her sunglasses.

Her dark brown eyes seemed to have sparks coming off them.

“I’m worried about everyone involved. If you don’t figure out what you want, you know the press is going to find out eventually.

And then, everything goes out of your control.

It goes out of Liam’s control. A board of directors and public sentiment will decide your fate.

And that’s not you, Micaela. I haven’t known you your whole life, but I know that you’re a woman who makes her own destiny.

You wouldn’t be in contention to win a championship if you weren’t.

But maybe I’m wrong, and you want to throw it all away to be that girl. ”

“Who’s ‘that girl’?”

“The girl who could have been great. The girl who could have been a legend.”

Micaela had wondered herself if she truly wanted to be a great driver or if she just wanted to prove she could be as great as her dad.

But the only other time she felt free from the rest of the world’s expectations of her was when she was in the car, on the track.

She’d loved racing before she’d realized it was the only way she could get her father’s attention or approval.

She’d learned on the track that she could equal or best everyone.

It had given her confidence in a world that tried to take it away from women and girls at every turn.

Liam understood that about her, and he’d taken her on as a driver anyway.

And he wasn’t a man who yielded to mere lust and infatuation.

He had more integrity than that. Integrity that Micaela had picked at and tested, as though he was an opponent whose tires were badly degraded. She’d worn him down.

He’d been the first man to truly see her and want her. He’d taken huge risks to be with her—both as a driver and as a lover. Risks he wouldn’t take if what they had wasn’t real.

And she felt more than lust for him. What she’d felt for Brent was attraction mixed with familiarity. What she felt for Liam was so much more—she was in love with him.

“I don’t think it’s as simple as breaking up with him.” Micaela hugged her knees to her chest. “I—care about him way too much to do that.”