Page 13 of Kiss & Collide (Racing Hearts #2)

Silverstone, England

V iolet stopped in the middle of the paddock when she saw the name lighting up her phone.

“Sylvie! Hi. Thanks for getting back to me so fast.”

“Hi, Violet. So this pitch you sent me. I’m intrigued.”

Sylvie was an editor at GQ , and Violet wanted her to write a profile on Chase. It would put him on the map in a global way.

“I’m telling you, he oozes charisma. You’ll love him.”

Sylvie chuckled. “I’m looking at his pictures. You weren’t exaggerating. He’s gorgeous.”

“And there’s the racing angle. A lot to work with here.”

“I agree, but no one outside of racing will have heard of him. I’m just not sure he’s enough to build a profile around. Not yet, anyway. He needs to be recognizable.”

Not what she wanted to hear, but she could work with it. “I just got off the phone with Vanity Fair. He’s booked for a photo shoot with them in two weeks.”

“ Vanity Fair ? Really?”

“Well, not just him,” she conceded. “A photo spread of notable young Americans.” She’d had to call in every favor anyone ever owed her, and hustle her ass off, and it still wasn’t enough until she’d managed to get his photo in front of the editor at exactly the right moment.

Nobody might know who Chase Navarro was—yet—but he was beautiful and American and an athlete.

And when the baseball player they’d already booked had to pull out at the last minute, it had been enough to get him in the door.

Honestly, it was more luck than hustle on her part, but she wasn’t going to let anyone know that.

“If he’s dropping in Vanity Fair , that might change the landscape with my bosses. Let me see what I can do.”

“I’ll send you a highlights reel of some of his racing and media appearances. Trust me, once they get a look at him, they’ll say yes.”

“Let’s hope so. I’d love to make the piece happen. In the meantime, do what you can to get his name out there.”

“Believe me, that’s all I do.”

She ended the call with Sylvie and pressed the corner of her phone against her chin as she considered her options. Chase needed to be recognizable. Outside of racing.

Chase needed a girlfriend, a famous one. She’d had the idea before. It could be a model or an actor or a pop singer. Someone who got an entirely different kind of media coverage. Someone eager for a little exposure.

If she were being honest with herself, it would be good for her, too.

She rarely hooked up with anyone more than once, but this thing with Chase was becoming a little habitual.

And the effect he had on her was becoming a little …

unexpected. At the after-party in Austria, she’d been staring after him like a starry-eyed teenager, which was not her vibe at all .

She kept telling herself it was just all the great sex. But even so, seeing him with someone else, even if it was fake, would be a helpful reminder of that.

“Violet! Just who I was looking for!”

She spun around to see Reece advancing on her through the crowded paddock, Imogen hurrying in his wake. Her stomach sank. Reece literally never brought good news with him.

“I was just headed up to—”

He slung an arm around her shoulders and turned her around. “Walk with me.”

She suppressed a shudder. “What can I do for you, Reece?”

“Now I heard that guy is here today. From that TV show? You know the one? Seems like that’s the perfect person for me to do a big interview with. Why don’t we track him down and set something up?”

“That is … a really interest—”

“Oh! I know!” Reece’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Let’s have him come to the garage during the race. He can watch me call all the shots.”

Imogen was watching her with terrified eyes as Violet scrambled for a way to subvert disaster. The entire staff of Pinnacle conspired to keep Reece from ever calling the shots, especially during the race. And for Reece to play pretend strategy for the media? Absolutely not.

“You know,” she said, reaching into the depths of her mind to come up with literally anything else for him to do, “as intriguing as all that sounds, I’m afraid we need you somewhere else today.

The … the, um, director of marketing from Versa Communications is here and we really need you to work your magic.

Can you meet him at hospitality? Show him a good time, talk us up, you know, that sort of thing. ”

Reece visibly puffed up with pride. “You know, at Hammond Holdings, my dad always sends me in for stuff like this. It’s kind of my specialty. Dad calls me his secret weapon.”

Violet was absolutely sure Carter Hammond had never called him any such thing, but whatever.

“I can totally see that,” she said instead.

“At least half the deals Hammond has locked down were due to me.” He waved a hand dismissively. “All those negotiations in the boardroom, all those numbers, it doesn’t matter half as much as having a drink with someone.”

“Absolutely.” Sure, million-dollar corporate mergers had nothing to do with numbers and paperwork. It was all down to Reece Hammond spouting bullshit over scotch in the lounge. Honestly, what would it be like to walk through life with just half of his unearned confidence?

“Thank god we have you here at the helm. So can I count on you today? To entertain our very important friends from Versa?”

“Leave it to me.”

Reece strode off in the direction of the hospitality center as Violet and Imogen both exhaled in relief.

“That was a close one,” Imogen said.

“I’ll have to send a gift basket or a really expensive bottle of scotch to Versa tomorrow as an apology, but at least Reece is sorted for the day.”

She turned to Imogen. “I was actually about to come looking for you. I need a favor.”

Imogen hooked her hair behind her ears. “What do you need?”

After a month of watching Imogen operate, Violet had revised her initial opinion of her. Yes, she was timid, but she was smart . She’d become quite adept at figuring out what was needed in the organization and then convincing Reece it was his idea to do it. And she hadn’t cried once in two weeks.

“I need a tiny peek at Oscar Davies’s personnel file,” Violet said.

“His personnel file? Why?”

“I’m just looking to see if …” She scrambled to come up with a believable reason why the head of PR would need to see a staff member’s personnel file.

“Oh, I suppose you need to know about the investigation,” Imogen said knowingly.

Investigation?

Imogen leaned closer.

“I’m not sure because it happened before I started. But Richard said it was good that the whole thing was just a misunderstanding, because otherwise the press coverage would have been really bad. I suppose that’s why you need to see it. Because of the press.”

Violet blinked. “Yes. Yes, that’s exactly why I need to see it. I need to know what I’m dealing with so I can get out in front of it, if need be. Can you help me out?”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“You’re the best, Imogen.”

Okay, Reece was sorted for the day, and Imogen was on the Oscar case.

She checked the time on her phone. If she hurried, she could get to the garage and tell Chase about the Vanity Fair shoot before the race.

As she headed in that direction, she told herself this fluttery feeling in her stomach was all due to scoring VF .

She was excited about her job . These flutters had absolutely nothing to do with seeing Chase.