Page 44 of Lights Out (Love in the Paddock #1)

Caleb’s lips brush against the top of my left shoulder. “There. I’ve kissed another one. Or ten.”

I smile. It’s early on Wednesday morning, and I’m curled up into him, my back flush with his chest. Caleb’s warm skin is against mine, and it feels so good to be snuggled up like this.

His arm is snaked around my stomach, and his lips are determined to find and kiss every freckle on the tops of my shoulders as warm sunlight streams into my room.

I feel worshipped. Adored. Beautiful.

And with every brush of his lips on my freckles, I’m falling in love with him.

“I don’t want to leave this bed.”

“Then don’t do it,” he says, his teeth playfully grazing the side of my neck.

I run my hand over his arm. “We need to get up at some point.”

“Why?” he asks, kissing another part of my shoulder.

I chuckle. “Erm, we have no food here. I don’t even have coffee.”

“Hmm. That is a big problem.”

“Right? I can’t function without it. And you need your latte with soy milk.”

“You remembered,” he says with amazement.

“I remember lots of things about you,” I say, stroking his forearm. “Even when I was determined not to date you, I remembered every little thing.”

I feel him smiling into my skin, and warmth spreads through me because of it.

“I told you I’d win you over,” he says.

I can now picture his lips pulled up into a smug smile, and it makes me grin. “Go on, take your victory lap,” I tease.

He chuckles at that.

“But I do need coffee,” I insist.

“I’ll order some,” he murmurs into my skin. “Damn. You still smell so good.”

“Do I smell like fried chicken?”

A burst of laughter escapes his lips, and I revel in how it rolls through my body. “ What? ”

“I wondered if I smelled like Box O’ Chix. The scent of fried foods hung in the air in that place.”

“No, you don’t. But if you did? I wouldn’t care.”

I roll around so I’m facing him. “Liar.”

“Not lying.”

“LYING!” I say, flicking him on the forehead.

Now he’s laughing again, and I am, too. He moves his hands to my waist, and even though we had sex twice last night and once this morning, I could go again whenever he puts his hands on me like this.

“You smell sweet,” he says, brushing his lips against mine. “Nothing like a two-piece with chips.”

I grin at him, and he drags his thumbs across my hip bones.

“We do have to get up, though. Not just to get breakfast and coffee, but I have to go shopping. I need to buy some things for this space because it looks like a hotel room. And don’t you have to go train your neck or something?”

I’ve seen videos of Caleb doing neck training on social media.

Drivers have to build up their neck strength to withstand the g-forces of racing, which can make their heads feel five times the actual weight with their helmets on.

Caleb does this several ways, but the one that looks the most intense is when a harness is attached to his head, and his trainer pulls on it while he has to withstand it. It looks painful, but it’s necessary.

“How did you know it’s neck day?” he asks.

“Is it?” I ask eagerly.

“You have a kink about my neck,” he says, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.

I feel my face grow hot.

“Oh, you so have a kink about my neck,” Caleb teases.

“F1 drivers have amazing necks,” I manage.

“But what about my neck?”

“Oh? You don’t want my thoughts on Mason’s neck? Or Xavier’s? Wait, what about Adrien? I can share my thoughts on his neck,” I offer helpfully.

He scowls. “ No. ”

I giggle. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t ask because I have only studied your neck in depth. Your neck,” I say, lifting one hand and skimming my fingertips over his perfectly corded muscles, “is perfect. In fact, I might just call it absolutely beautiful .”

He flashes me a smile. “That was absolutely beautiful” is what Caleb says on the team radio after he wins a race.

“Hopefully you will hear that in Montreal,” he says, suddenly looking determined.

“I can’t wait to hear it,” I say, moving my hand so I can touch his jaw, which is now shaded with black stubble.

Hmm. This is also hot. When I think about his stubble and his neck muscles, I think I’ve changed my mind about getting up.

“I can order some coffee and breakfast if you’ll go downstairs to get it when it’s delivered,” Caleb says. “Just one less chance for me to be spotted if you retrieve it.”

“Okay.”

He gives me a kiss on the bridge of my nose before flicking back the duvet and getting up.

I marvel at his naked body, and from the smile twitching on the corners of his mouth, he knows I’m staring at him.

Caleb gets up, gathers up his clothing, and heads to the bathroom.

I get up and go to my closet, retrieving a pair of jeans and a slightly cropped black T-shirt.

As soon as Caleb is out of the bathroom, dressed in his clothes from last night, I step inside and take my turn to get ready.

When I come out, he is sitting on my bed, scrolling through his phone.

“What do you want? There’s a little breakfast cafe around the corner that has coffee and stuff.”

I sit down next to him, and as soon as I do, his hand skims over the top of my thigh. Like it’s instinctive to Caleb that if I’m next to him, he has to touch me.

I like this about him. Along with about a million other things.

“Is there anything you can eat?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says, moving his hand to my back and sliding it up underneath my T-shirt, as if he needs contact with my skin. “I can have the avocado toast with poached eggs. What do you want?”

The sensation of his rough, warm hand moving over my bare skin is very distracting.

And glorious.

I refocus my attention on his phone, reading the menu he has pulled up on his screen. “I think I’ll have the yogurt granola bowl.”

“And a hazelnut mocha latte?” he asks. “You’re not the only one who remembers things.”

My heart does a flip-flop inside my chest. “That sounds good. Thank you.”

Caleb nods. He removes his hand from my back and places an online order.

“What name do you use for your order?” I ask, curious.

He furrows his brow. “Usually Caleb for things that are delivered. Why?”

“I thought you might have a code name. Hadleigh and I had a code name when we talked about you in public.”

Caleb’s eyes sparkle at this. “What’s my code name?”

“Maxwell.”

Now he looks completely confused. “Erm … okay. But why Maxwell?”

“Well, Hadleigh suggested George, because Wikipedia said that’s your middle name. Is that right?”

“Yeah. It’s George.”

“Good to know. Anyway, I teased Hadleigh about the accuracy of Wikipedia, so I said your middle name was probably something like Maxwell, so we used that. I’ll let her know we can call you George.”

He shakes his head in a mixture of bewilderment and amusement.

“Come on. You’re intrigued because I’m different,” I say.

“I’m more than intrigued. I’m invested. Because you’re you. ”

My breath catches in my throat, but Caleb speaks again before I can say anything. “I need to think of how I’m going to leave after breakfast. It’s neck day, you know.” He winks at me.

And suddenly I have ideas about licking his neck again.

“It’s probably busiest downstairs now as people leave for work,” Caleb says, oblivious to the sexy thoughts rolling around in my head. “I can have Catherine come over and pick me up. Maybe we should have her come up so she and I can walk out together, like we were visiting the same person.”

I bite my lip. We’re going to have to be so planned and so careful. Especially on race weekends, when we’re surrounded by my coworkers, the media, and fans who know everything and everyone in the world of F1 racing.

A little bit of anxiety pools in my stomach. I’m not used to having to hide things or sneak around. For someone who is a rules follower, who did everything by the book to get the opportunities at Total Access Total Sports and the Miami Grand Prix, this is hard. I don’t like it.

But as I look at Caleb, and remember his thoughts on this, I know he’s right.

I have to be protected while we build this relationship. And he has to be protected, too.

“Shit. I’m going to have to give Catherine a pay raise,” he says, running his hand over his jaw. He glances over at me. “She didn’t exactly sign on to run interference for me and my new girlfriend.”

As much as I want to squeal that he just called me his girlfriend, my reporter instincts kick in and take over. “Not that you aren’t amazing and the best boss in the world, but why does Catherine work as your assistant? Did she ever mention wanting a different role with Collings Motors?”

“Catherine has always wanted to work on the F1 side of the family business,” Caleb says slowly.

“She has a degree in digital media. That’s what she should be doing.

Creating and directing digital media content for us.

She’s super smart and knows how to predict trends and is up on all the latest platforms. But she’s not doing that for two reasons.

One, the position is already filled. Although the person doing it is okay, they aren’t killing it.

Catherine would be an improvement. I’m not saying that as her brother, but as someone who knows her work.

But the second reason is because of nepotism.

She can’t come in and take over a job just because she’s a Collings. ”

“No, she can’t,” I say.

“She’s biding her time for an opportunity, in any kind of communications,” Caleb explains, reaching for my hand and running his thumb over my knuckles. “But at least working for me, she gets to travel, keep learning the business, and nobody is going to say anything about her being my assistant.”

“It’s hard to be patient while waiting for that chance. I was so eager for mine, and I didn’t wait nearly as long as other people I know.”

“That’s because you are insanely talented,” Caleb declares.

“I had some help making my dreams come true,” I say, squeezing his hand in mine. “You got me here, Caleb.”