slow down | lando norris

fourteen.

Author's note: The second half of this chapter is filth. If that's something that makes you uncomfortable, do stop when you see the phrase 'forgive her father, she's about to sin.'

"I swear he doesn't get that drunk often." Out of all the things Lexi could apologize to a man for, she never thought her brother's intoxicated behavior would be one of them.

"Lexi, he threatened to break my wrists if I even breathed too close to you." A chill ran down his spine at the memory.

She laughed as she slipped her hand into his, giving it a light squeeze. "Don't worry, I won't let him break your wrists," she assured him. Whether he believed her or not was a different question.

Nicholas Hwang had decided to come barreling into Lexi's apartment at around midnight that night after the race, blackout drunk. It was clear to her that he was completely inebriated as soon as he sat down at the table with Lando, not even questioning why he was with her in the first place.

They had a whole debrief of the race before Nick went full brother bear mode for Lexi's sake. After he threatened to break Lando's wrists, she decided enough was enough and sent Lando home to save herself from further embarrassment. Nick only threatened men on behalf of Lexi when intoxicated, so she assured Lando that he didn't need to worry too much about the whole situation.

As expected, Nick woke up on the couch the next day with a raging kick drum in his head and no recollection of even arriving at Lexi's.

Following that entire situation, Lando decided that the two of them needed proper alone time, without the possibility of interruption from anyone in Lexi's social circles. He took the liberty to rearrange his plans so he could spend a day with her in Dubai, making things work with her busy schedule.

The two of them had spent the early afternoon sunbathing and taking a swim, courtesy of the private yacht he booked. Not that she was complaining, since she needed a tan and it would be criminal to not take advantage of the beautiful weather.

"We should do this more often," he grinned.

"Do what? Disregard our responsibilities and hide away on a private yacht?" Lexi enjoyed it just as much as she did, but it was a lapse of judgment on her part, considering she had two and a half hours of meetings starting at 4PM that she couldn't be late for.

"Okay, sounds a little less romantic when you put it that way," he laughed. "I mean going on dates where no one interrupts us."

Lexi nodded in agreement. The interruptions were of course her fault. To be fair, never in her life did she imagine that Nick would be such a menace in her romantic life like he had been for the last two weeks.

"Right, so does that mean no more yachts?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Didn't say that. Why would I deny an opportunity to see you in a bikini?" His eyes wandered over her figure as he spoke. She may have been wearing a dress to cover up, but the image of her in her red bikini was already etched into his brain.

"You're such a man," she sighed with her head shaking in disapproval.

"I'm your man," he corrected, letting his hand rest on her thigh.

"Always such a smooth talker, aren't you?" This time, she wasn't ashamed that her heart tripped at his words. Lando calling himself hers had a nice ring to it.

Once she was dropped off at her hotel, she went into businesswoman mode immediately. It was a full two hours of reviewing spreadsheets, presentations, and discussing strategy. Following that was an alignment meeting with all the other regional managers which had her attention wavering. This could have been an email.