Race to the Top: Book one in the Racing to Find Love series (10 page)

Erik lay, Anna asleep in his arms, feeling utterly relaxed.
What a night, he thought. It had been even better than he had dreamed, and he
had
dreamed of it often. When he had plunged inside Anna, he thought he would come
almost immediately. Her body had gripped him like they had been designed for
each other. The taste of her too…she had been exquisite. Better than all the
fine champagne in the world.

He thought back to his long list of previous sexual
encounters with women. They’d had nothing on this. They had been enjoyable, of
course, but this? This had been a whole different ballgame.

He craned his neck to look at Anna as she slept, naked, in
his arms. He loved her body, the full breasts and bottom making him feel
aroused again. But he let her sleep, her hair messed up and mascara around her
eyes.

He wasn’t sure how they’d ended up like this. He had just
been planning to say goodnight and go up to his room, and suddenly his tongue
was in Anna’s mouth, his arms circling around her. It was like he had totally
lost control of himself. He laughed silently at the thought of that – he was
one of the most in-control people around.

Anna stirred in his arms slightly, and he kissed her gently
on the forehead, taking pleasure in the smile that crossed her face. He hoped
she was dreaming about him.

He lay awake for a while, his mind drifting to the weekend
of racing. He thought of his parents
and
Anna being in the crowd,
willing him to win. He couldn’t lose and let them down, he just couldn’t.

***

Erik strapped on his helmet and headed to his car. It was
time for qualifying, and he
had
to beat Devlin. His teammate had been
more obnoxious than usual – perhaps because he had sensed Erik was in a good
mood. That seemed to make him angry, and he’d rounded on Erik, accusing him of
being underhand in their last race. Erik had just shook his head, walking away
and leaving Devlin standing there in a haze of fury and hurt pride. He wasn’t
going to let anything ruin this weekend for him, especially not Devlin Carter.

His practices had gone well, and Erik thought he was in an
excellent position. If he could just keep his head in the game, he would be
fine.

Anna had stayed over again last night, this time in his
room. She had joined him and his parents for dinner again – his mother had been
delighted and whisked him away at an opportune moment.

‘Is there something going on with you two, Erik?’ she had
hissed, clearly in some state of excitement.

Erik had smiled. It would be cruel, he thought, to lie.

‘Perhaps, Mama,’ he had said, laughing as she beamed at him.
When they got back to the table, his mother seized Anna’s hand, much to her
surprise. Erik was mortified, but his mother just clasped Anna’s hand, telling
her they were so glad to have met her.

Erik and Anna’s passion for each other seemed only to have
intensified overnight, and he allowed himself a smile under his helmet as he
recalled the previous night’s activities. They had taken more time with each
other, more time to explore each other’s bodies. He had loved every part of
hers, especially the bits she seemed embarrassed about. He found her soft
curves utterly delicious, and thought he had been missing a trick all these
years by only dating models.

He climbed into his car, noticing with pleasure that his
parents and Anna were already seated in the VIP section. He threw them a small
wave, and they all waved back. He hoped his mother wasn’t giving Anna the third
degree.

***

Pole position. Those words always sounded so sweet, and he
rolled them around his mouth. Devlin’s face had been a picture, but not as much
as Anna’s. When he’d got out of the car, she’d come running towards him. He
thought she was going to hug him for a minute but she seemed to check herself
and settled for a beaming grin.

‘You were amazing! Your mother and I couldn’t watch the last
bit, we had our hands over our eyes, but your dad was telling us exactly what
was happening.’

The last lap had been a very close-run thing, with just
hundredths of a second between him and Devlin.

Erik laughed, surprised by how nice it was to have someone
other than his parents rooting for him. It made the whole thing feel sweeter,
somehow.

‘I’ll get changed,’ he said, pulling off his helmet. ‘And
then I’ll come find you all and we can go get something to eat.’

As he spoke, Devlin appeared, looking irritated. Erik was in
such a good mood, he couldn’t resist baiting him.

‘You were close, Dev.’

Anna giggled and he saw Devlin look between the pair of
them, as if calculating something.

‘It’ll be closer tomorrow, when I get you off the start.’

Erik’s parents came over, and Devlin flashed them a winning
grin.

‘Mr and Mrs Jonasson, it’s so nice to see you again.’

There was a brief exchange of pleasantries, and Devlin
excused himself, with his customary wink at Anna as he left.

‘That boy is so full of himself.’ Erik’s mother shook her
head. ‘I’d love to have a word with his parents.’

Erik laughed. Not even a racing superstar was safe from his
mother’s wagging finger.

‘You had
sex?’
Jules screamed down the phone.

Anna laughed and held the receiver away from her ear. She
heard Dan shout in the background.

‘For God’s sake, Jules – the kids!’

‘Whoops, sorry!’ Jules said, not sounding sorry in the
slightest. ‘Tell me every little…or not so little…detail. Was it amazing? Are
you dating? Was it just sex?’

‘It was amazing,’ Anna said, dreamily. ‘It was everything I
imagined. I think we might be dating. At least, I hope so. I’ve met his
parents, and he was talking about me coming over to his when we get back from
Germany. He was going to go away to New York to see friends, but he’s cancelled
so he can see me.’

Jules squealed.

‘You
have
to bring him to dinner here, Anna. Dan
would go wild! And I really want to meet him.’

Anna hesitated.

‘Maybe,’ she said, ‘I’m not sure what our plans are.’

Jules knew her far too well.

‘Anna, if he’s put off that you have a normal family who
live in a normal house and do normal things, then he’s not the one for you, is
he?’

Anna knew she was right.

‘I know, I know,’ she said, ‘It’s just… I’m
so
not
his usual type, I know that. I’ve Googled and looked at pictures of previous
girlfriends. They’re all models, Jules, and I don’t mean that they’re just
attractive, they are literally models. What does he see in me?’

Jules tutted loudly.

‘What does he see in you? Let’s see: you’re gorgeous, you
have great curves, you are smart, funny, you are passionate about your writing,
you’re interesting.’

‘Well, when you put it like that…’ Anna said, laughing.

‘Just stop the pity party,’ Jules said. ‘He obviously wants
to be with you, so let him. And bring him for dinner!’

‘I’ll see,’ Anna said and the sisters hung up.

Anna checked her watch. She should
go to sleep. Erik had wanted her to come back to his room again but she had
refused.

‘You’ve got a big race tomorrow,’
she had said, admonishingly. ‘And I will not be held responsible for tiring you
out beforehand.’

He had complained but eventually
accepted that it was, perhaps, sensible. So off he’d gone, with just a
passionate kiss in the doorway of her hotel room. She was regretting it a bit
now, of course, and she toyed with phoning him and asking him to come down. But
she knew it was important he got a good night’s sleep – tomorrow would be
important. Closing her eyes, Anna eventually drifted off herself.

***

‘I can’t look, I can’t look!’ Anna
sat with her hands over her eyes.

‘He’s holding on,’ Erik’s dad said,
sounding grim. ‘But Devlin is really pushing.’

Erik’s mother looked like she was
about to faint.

‘He’s getting too close to him,
Alfred,’ she said, in a panicky voice.

‘It’s alright, Erik knows what he’s
doing. He won’t put himself in any danger,’ Alfred said, soothingly.

Anna sneaked a peek from behind her
hands. Devlin was right behind Erik, pulling out to try to overtake. But Erik
was blocking him at every opportunity, and the cars were coming so close they
were almost touching. The commentators were going wild on the TV above their
heads, and the mood in the garage was extremely tense.

Anna could hear Gary in the
background, swearing every time the cars came close.

‘Tell Devlin to back off,’ he
snarled at Devlin’s race engineer. ‘He’s going to cause an accident. If he
can’t get it done cleanly, then tell him not to do it all.’

From the body language of the
hapless race engineer, Anna thought it was evident that Devlin didn’t care, and
her heart was in her mouth as she watched the cars almost touching, at speeds
that would make her feel sick if she thought about them.

‘It’s the final lap,’ Alfred said.
‘He just needs to hang on for one more lap.’

Please be safe, please be safe, Anna
chanted to herself. She watched as the cars hurtled around the corner, Erik’s
car wobbling slightly. Oh god, please be safe, she prayed, and she could tell
his mother was thinking the same thing. She grabbed her hand and they sat there
together, gripping onto each other.

‘He’s done it,’ Alfred said, the
relief evident in his voice.

Anna and Erik’s mother shot each
other a relieved smile, too.

‘I wouldn’t like to be there when
those two have it out,’ Alfred said.

‘Are you out of your mind?’ Erik was furious and he was
right in Devlin’s face. ‘You are crazy, absolutely crazy.’

‘It’s called racing, Erik,’ Devlin spat, ‘Why don’t you try
it sometime?’

‘In case you hadn’t noticed, Devlin,’ Erik spat back, ‘I
won, so I think I know how to race.’

‘Come on guys, why don’t we chill out a bit.’ Felipe Gotteri
hovered in the background. Erik thought he must be starting to wish he’d come
fourth instead, to avoid being caught up in this scene.

‘Back off Gotteri, this is nothing to do with you,’ Devlin
said, pushing him out of the way.

‘Woah, woah , woah,’ Erik said. ‘You need to calm the fuck
down.’

‘Or what?’ sneered Devlin.

Erik was about to show him, when Gary entered the room and,
in a second, gauged what was going on.

‘Children,’ he thundered, striding over and standing between
them. ‘Just what the
hell
do you think you’re doing? Not only could one
of you have been hurt out there, but the cars could have been wrecked.’

Despite himself, Erik had to bite back a smile at Gary’s
priorities.

‘Hit the showers and get back to your hotels,’ Gary snapped.
‘We’ll discuss this later when you’ve both stopped throwing tantrums.’

Erik shot Devlin a filthy look and stomped from the room.

***

By the time he was back at the hotel,
Erik was feeling a lot calmer. Seeing his parents and Anna had taken the anger
out of him. Anna had waited until they were out of the sight of the hordes of
cameras and press, and then flung herself on him.

‘I’m so glad you’re ok,’ she said,
hugging him tightly.

He hugged her back, surprised by the
strength of her emotion.

‘I’m fine,’ he said. ‘I hope you and
my mother weren’t panicking.’

Anna looked abashed.

‘Maybe slightly,’ she said, and
threw up her hands. ‘How could we not? I thought that idiot Devlin was going to
kill you.’

Erik shook his head, but he had been
a bit worried at some points too. Devlin really seemed to be gunning for him,
and it wasn’t even that he was just trying to get past. It was like he was
almost trying to damage Erik’s car – and him – at some points of the race.
Surely not even Devlin would be that spiteful, though.

‘That’s racing,’ he said, shrugging,
eager to change the subject. ‘Hey, so I rearranged my flights and stuff. I
couldn’t get on the same one as you, but I’m arriving later tomorrow evening.
Probably too late for you to come over…’ he trailed off, questioningly.

Anna nodded sadly.

‘I have to work on Tuesday,’ she
said sounding glum.

‘What about Tuesday night?’ Erik
asked and was glad to see her perk up.

‘That would be good,’ she said,
nodding.

‘I’ll come pick you up from work,’
Erik said.

Anna stared at him and Erik thought
he’d said something wrong.

‘Or not…’ he said, confused.

‘No no,’ Anna said, ‘I’d love you
to. But a racing superstar turning up at my work?’

‘Well, if you’re ashamed of me…’
Erik said, teasingly, and Anna slapped him slightly on the arm.

‘Of course not,’ she said. ‘Quite
the opposite.’

Erik was happy to hear this and
smiled at her.

‘Well then,’ he said. ‘I’ll pick you
up. Don’t worry, I can be very friendly.’

‘I’m sure,’ Anna said, rolling her
eyes and earning herself a smack on the bottom.

***

Anna watched the clock hands move
slowly round. She was buzzing with a kind of nervous energy. Erik Jonasson was
going to pick her up outside work. She had told him to text when he was outside
and she would run down and get in the car; otherwise he would be ogled at by
her colleagues, especially…

‘Oh my God.’ Eleanor’s voice drifted
across to her and Anna looked up. Oh my God indeed. Erik was standing in the
doorway.

‘Is that?’ Eleanor hissed, sticking
her head over the partition between her and Anna’s desk.

Anna smiled, torn between
embarrassment and pride.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘That’s racing
driver extraordinaire, Erik Jonasson.’

‘He is
gorgeous¸’
Eleanor
said, gawping at Erik as Anna beckoned him over.

He
was
gorgeous. Even though
Anna had seen him less than 48 hours ago, her tummy flipped when she saw him.
She thought they could be together for 40 years and her tummy would still flip
when she saw him.

‘Erik, this is Eleanor,’ Anna said,
as Erik reached them.

‘Eleanor,’ Erik held out his hand
and Eleanor took it, speechless for once. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’

There was an awkward silence while
Eleanor tried to form words.

‘Er, she gets a bit excited around
celebrities,’ Anna said and Erik roared with laughter.

‘I’m hardly a celebrity,’ he said.
‘I just…what was it you said? Drive a car around in circles for too much
money?’

Anna beamed. She loved his sense of
humour and loved that he
got
hers and wasn’t offended by it.

‘I’m ready to go,’ she said, turning
to Eleanor. ‘See you tomorrow, Eleanor.’

Eleanor could only wave.

***

Erik’s house was incredible. Anna
knew it would be, but she still wasn’t prepared for its size and luxuriousness.
She felt like she should take her shoes off and definitely not drink any red
wine – it was a recipe for disaster. Erik brushed off her compliments, and not
for the first time, Anna felt he was a bit uncomfortable with some of the
excess that came with being a racing driver. He had no reason to be, she
thought. He’d spoken to her the other day about the charity work he did with
disadvantaged children, and they had discussed her writing an article to give
the charity a bit more promotion. Plus the kids would love their picture in a
magazine.

She’d brought a little overnight bag
and it sat in the hallway, looking completely out of place. I look out of place
too, Anna thought, sadly, and then thought of what Jules would say. Oh God,
Jules. She’d have to ask Erik if he wanted to go for dinner to Jules’ and
Dan’s. She felt miserable suddenly. Was she making a total fool of herself?
Playing at being a race driver’s girlfriend?

Something must have shown on her
face as Erik put his arm round her, looking concerned.

‘Are you ok?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ she said, forcing a smile. ‘I
have something to ask you, but feel free to say no.’

Erik nodded.

‘My sister and her husband are
desperate to meet you. They’ve invited us for dinner but I said I didn’t know
what your plans were and…’

‘That sounds great,’ Erik said, and
Anna blinked at him.

‘Really?’

Anna suddenly felt a lot better.

Erik smiled at her, nodding.

‘I’ve rearranged some stuff coming
up in the next few weeks so we’ll have some more time together. We have a lot
to explore, after all.’

Anna nodded. Yes they did, and she
took his hand as he led her into his bedroom.