After a particularly brutal family gathering, Cecilia finds herself in desperate need of a long term partner.
After one too many crazy nights out Nicholas finds his manager breathing down his neck to settle down.
What will happen when the two meet a...
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"Nicholas, I cannot keep cleaning up these messes," My agent, Drew, told me.
"Isn't this what I pay you for?" I asked.
Drew huffed. "Your sponsor signed on for a wholesome, competitive, team playing driver. Not a playboy-"
"No, they signed on for a winning driver, and that is what I am delivering.
Drew frowned. "Your performance is starting to plateau, between that and your reputation everything is on the line. Your contract with Cardwell is going to be reviewed after this year to see if it's being extended or not, you need to get your act together."
I rolled my eyes, but he might have a point. I am a race car driver in the Formula 1 circuit. Me and my partner Liam race on behalf of Cardwell. Carwell supplied the cars, engineers, hotels, sponsorship deals, and everything that we could possibly need, as well as multimillion dollar salaries, provided that Cardwell was the top name in racing. Not to toot my own horn, but I was quite good. Even as a rookie I had a raw desire. Don Cardwell saw it and put me on his team, but as Drew said, my contract was up after this season, and I really needed it to be renewed. There was literally no better team to be a part of, and I did not want to fuck this up.
"I'll work on a solution," I told Drew as I tried to escape this irresponsibility conversation.
"I have a solution," Drew said matter of factly.
"Oh yeah?" I said.
"Yep," Drew agreed. "What is the way to balance-out a playboy reputation? A reputation that you cannot commit and that you just fuck around all the time?"
"What?" I asked impatiently. I was tired because it had been a long day of training. The first race of the season was in two weeks, and I needed to be at the top of my game.
"You need to get a girlfriend," Drew told me. "A serious one, one that fans will see you with and say 'aww look at those two, look at how steady and strong their relationship is'."
"I would be very surprised if anyone said those words," I told him.
"Ha. ha," he said sarcastically. "Well I'm the one with solutions and you are the one causing problems. I have worked as a manager for Cardwell's for a long time, and this is historically proven the best solution. After your contract is renewed you can go back to as many groupies as you like. Just one year of what looks like total commitment, and then when your contract is renewed you can break it off and go back to your man-whore ways."
I sighed deeply, "I'll think about it."
"You don't need to think about it," Drew told me. "You need to act on it.
"Yeah yeah," I dismissed him. I got out of the chair. And walked toward the door to the conference room.
"You are by far my hardest client!" Drew called after me.
"I'm only getting Cardwell's money's worth," I called back.
I heard Drew snort as the door closed behind me. I felt a dampener come over my mood as I left the building and got into my car. I felt like I was mourning the death of my free days. I needed to go out and have one last crazy night, and then I would take Drew's advice... probably.
I wasn't very familiar with Barcelona, I am originally from Brazil, but Cardwell's headquarters were here and I had learned a bit about the area in the past few years. I drove toward a dive bar that I stopped in on my last trip here. It was the only place where nobody was trying to sneak photos of me the whole time. There were never any paparazzi here.
As I walked into the bar called Luca's, I remembered why there were never any paparazzi here. Because this place was an actual dive bar, with sticky floors, old music, and one guy running around behind the bar. This was definitely not a place to let your eyes leave your wallet for so much as a second.
I walked in and I took a seat at the far end of the bar. The man behind the bar came over and asked what I wanted to drink. I ordered a beer, and I scoped out the scene. It was very busy, I suppose it was a Friday night after all. I drank my beer in solitude, and I was about to give up on trying any of the girls here, until a gorgeous woman walked into the door.
She couldn't have been more than 5' 5' without those heels on. She had silky looking raven hair and lips that looked positively fuckable. Her eyes were dark green and she looked a little overdressed for this dive. As I scanned her outfit, a white dress and white heels, I noticed her assets, which were impressive, for lack of a better word. She had slightly tanned skin, and she seemed to know that bartender. They were very engaged in a conversation.
When their conversation ended, I watched as her eyes snagged on me. I watched as she sized up my rings, my hair, and then my chest. When she finally looked back at me, I met her stunning eyes unwaveringly. She looked away quickly and her attention was caught again by the bartender. I knew this was my time to act. I walked up behind her, without touching her I whispered in her ear "I saw you looking at me." She stiffened at the sound of my voice, but she didn't recoil.
"You don't know what you are talking about," she told me. She focused in front of us, but I knew that she could still feel my 6' 3" frame behind her.
"Don't I?" I challenged her. I let my lips come close to my neck and I watched as her breaths became shallower. She didn't respond, but that didn't deter me.
"Let me buy you a drink," I said.
"I just got a drink," she told me as she lifted the glass to show me. I had just seen her order the drink, but this was the most classic line at a bar, what else was I supposed to do.
"Then let me pay for it," I offered.
"If you insist," she shrugged. Nobody ever turned down free liquor.
I waved the bartender down and I said, "I'll have one of whatever she's having, and put her drink on my tab."
There was a quick wordless conversation between the bartender and the girl before he answered me. "Sure thing," he said with a nod. Quickly he returned with another, of whatever she had ordered.
I held my drink up to hers, "To..."
"Forgetting," she finished. She clinked my glass against hers.
It was like this girl was reading my mind. "I will drink that."
