Page 170 of Modern Romance December 2025 5-8

Lukas tried to ignore Katherine. Tried to ignore when she took hold of the spoon that had so nearly touched his lips, and ate his food. Tried to ignore her quiet moan and the way her eyes fluttered shut.

Tried and failed.

That sound, that expression was saved to his memory.

He forced himself to turn away and make another portion but all the while he could feel her eyes on him.

‘You make that look so effortless,’ she murmured, but he didn’t turn to look. Instead, he kept his eyes firmly on the contents of the saucepan.

‘What? Cooking?’

He heard no response, so he was forced to look at her, finding her eyes locked on to his hands. This was probably the longest they had ever interacted without sniping at each other.I wonder how long it will last.

‘Can’t you cook?’

Again, he got no response.

‘I’ll take that as a no, then.’

He stood where he was, the counter between them, and practically inhaled the bowl of food. Katherine had done the same.

‘Thank you, that was really good.’

Lukas could see how hard it was for her to pay him the compliment.

‘How do you know how to cook? I wouldn’t have pegged you for the type.’

Lukas’s heart constricted painfully. ‘My father was a cook. He taught me.’

He saw her eyes light up with curiosity. It made her look breathtaking and darkened his mood further because this was exactly what he hated. People learning something small about him and then hungering for more information that they had no business to know.

‘I thought your father was a mechanic.’

Lukas looked into his empty bowl. So much of the person he was was thanks to his father. His discipline, his skill. His preparedness. The reason he had extra provisions now was thanks to lessons his father had taught him. Know the risks and plan around them. ‘He was both. He worked two jobs to support my racing career. Three, if you count how hard he worked to get me sponsors.’ He chuffed. Anger curled in his stomach because the world already knew about his family. Neither he nor his father had had any privacy. ‘Why ask about him when you already know? When you and everyone like you already went digging around in my past for a bit of juicy gossip?’

He picked up his bowl and tossed it into the sink with a loud clang. His pulse rushed in his ears as he remembered stories about his parents’ divorce and his strained relationship with his mother being splashed around, forcing him to relive the agony of his family breaking apart. The fact that he was the reason they’d divorced in the first place. It was his fault, and he’d had to see it day after day for months.

He felt a hand grip his arm, making him turn around. Katherine’s cheeks were red. Her lips thin.

‘Don’t you dare act like a victim when you’re ruthless too.’ Her voice was pitched low.

He stepped closer to her. That crackle was back. As though whatever this was between them would generate bolts that would tear the very cabin apart. ‘What have I ever done that could even remotely be as unscrupulous as your actions?’ He fought so hard not to raise his voice. Not to let her get under his skin but she’d burrowed there already. Katherine was the itch he could never get rid off.

‘Are you joking right now?’ she asked incredulously.

He had no idea what she was on about.

‘You got me fired!’ she yelled.

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ There were a lot of media personalities Lukas didn’t like but he had never used his power to get anyone fired. Especially not Katherine. He had, however, secretly tried to help her. Not that he would ever tell her that. Katherine probably wouldn’t believe him if he did. And he certainly didn’t want her to think that heneededher to think better of him.

‘I don’t know what I’m talking about?’ She pushed him, hands on his chest. Her eyes glossy and bloodshot. ‘You told my producer you didn’t want to talk to me. Just me! It was a boys’ club! They were just looking for a reason to get rid of me, and you handed them one. And why? Because I’m a woman? You’re like all the other misogynists—just like your friend Roman—who want to keep the sport male-dominated, which issoincredibly hypocritical when your publicist is a woman. Or are you only happy to address the imbalance when it suits you?’

Lukas was shocked. First, Roman wasn’t his friend. Lukas tolerated him at best. And second, he remembered those words, but he’d said them to Dominic, right after the very sight of Katherine had rendered him speechless. Only after he’d said the words had he realised Katherine’s producer had heard him. He had even spoken to him, explained that it wasn’t Katherine’s fault. The producer had said it was fine.

Clearly it hadn’t been fine.

But that didn’t mean Lukas wasn’t angry. Angry that Katherine hadn’t come to him so they could clear the air. She hadn’t known him and had assumed the worst from the very start. A person could only think so ill of another if they were already willing to believe that of them.