On Top of the World [Max Verstappen - Book 3]

1

25th December 2023 ~ Monaco

"Merry Christmas!" I yell in Max's ear the second I wake up and realise what day it is. To my delight he physically jumps up, eyes wide and panicked before he realises what was yelled and who yelled it.

"Ellie, what time is it?" He moans as he looks at the window and sees the distinct lack of light coming through the curtains and I shrug innocently as we both sit up in the bed, grinning at him brightly through the darkness, the only light coming from the hallway through a crack under the door.

"I don't know...I just woke up!" I say excitedly as I look for my phone, squinting at the bright screen in the darkness. "6.22 am! That's after 6 am, this is totally acceptable!" I tell him as I switch on the bedside light without watching before he throws himself back onto the bed once more and covers his face with the duvet.

"Why the fuck did I agree to spend Christmas with a child," he whines to himself and I giggle as I get out of bed. Ever since I pointed out our age difference as he turned 26 he's referred to me as a child jokingly every time I do something energetically, which coming off the back of my season win has been pretty much everything.

After a two-week vacation with Max, Liv, Lando, Nick, Daniel and Heidi we all came back to Monaco and have been chilling here ever since. My birthday was spent celebrating on a huge yacht in the bay of Monaco where I got absolutely shitfaced off the booze and almost fell in the water but it was a night to remember with pretty much all of the drivers making it and a generally really good time had by all. At this point, Max and I were the worst kept secret on the grid but all of the drivers were careful not to talk about it to the press, realising and understanding why it was being kept on the down low and the press were yet to get any photos of Max and I being any more intimate than hugging, although they looked for it carefully and we had to stop ourselves a lot of the time.

The world was convinced we were dating, but they didn't know that we were.

"I don't know why you did but you did and you only have yourself to blame!" I tell him as I walk over to the curtains and open them, the sun is beginning to light up the streets of Monaco and is gently glittering over the water. I smile softly at the view, totally dumbfounded by it and not at all worried by the expense of it. Now that I had won the team a world championship my salary was boosted considerably from £5 million to £15 million, plus with all the bonuses I gained from last season I had earned around £18-19 million this season alone from the team - not including the sponsorship money I had, although I'm not quite sure how much it was in total I did know it was a lot.

All I did know for sure was that I could definitely afford this flat and my IndyCar team and that was all that really mattered.

I was bought out of my daydream as I looked at the water by the warmth of Max's arms snaking around my waist and pulling me back into his chest. I smiled at the scene in front of me and the perfection of the moment as I leaned my head against his chest, feeling him kiss the top of my head lightly before resting his head on top of mine, inspecting the view that I was with a smile on his face.

"I think it's because I love you," he mumbles and I nod my head.

"Must be," I say nonchalantly and feel him hug me almost painfully tightly. "I love you too," I relent after a few moments and he eases his grip once more as he bends down slightly to kiss my earlobe before journeying further down my neck with his lips. I lean my head to the side to give him better access as he uses one hand to draw the hair away.

"Maybe we bring this happy, happy Christmas in, in style," he says stumbling over his words and getting mildly confused as he pulls away from the good work he was doing in tempting me back to work and I see his reflection frowning confused at himself, seemingly not sure if he got it right or not.