Never Again

Chapter 41: Unexpected

He didn't know what to answer so he just gave her an angry glare and muttered some curse words under his breath. However the smirk on her face made his heart melt and his eyes were drawn to her pink lips, this wasn't working at all.

'I have to discuss some things with Rocky now and if you could come by later to talk about some changes on the car?' she said.

He already had forgotten about the car and was thinking about other things he would like to do, none of which were safe to share with anyone else. Him kissing her right here in the garage was one of those things and it took him a lot of effort to take in what she had said.

'Yes?' she tried to get an answer out of him.

'Of course,' he finally managed to say. Why did she have to look so adorable right now? 'Tell Rocky that I'll be there shortly, first I have to change into something less sweaty,' he grinned. He hated the feeling of everything sticking to his body and he was desperate to take a shower. He watched her going back to Rocky and thought he was lucky to have her on his team.

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Qualifying was disappointing after such a promising weekend, Seb could only manage to get third on the grid and Mark was even further down in seventh. Somehow they had gone the wrong way in setup and Seb was angry that he was out qualified by Maldonado. It appeared that Maldonado was known for crashing a lot and also for not driving very consistently, so being out qualified by him felt as an embarrassment to anyone. The happy Seb from this morning had disappeared and he stomped off to his private room without speaking to anyone when he got out of the car. The whole situation made for a long day for Keira as they had to find out what had gone wrong since this morning. There was a lot of data to go through and they decided on some changes with the mechanics after spotting a few things in the telemetry. In the end Seb had cooled down enough to give his feedback and at the end of the day they were all reasonably optimistic again.

She collected her things from the garage before she went to eat. Her stomach was rumbling and it had been a long day again, although it had been satisfying to find some things to improve. She waved goodbye to the ones who were still left and made her way out of the garage. It was dark, but still very busy as people were on their way back to their hotels and finishing up for the day.

'So, you're working for his team now?' a voice with a thick Spanish accent said.

Of course of all the people she had to run into Fernando. Not knowing how to act around him she just stopped walking and let him catch up. She hadn't really spoken to him anymore since that day in the club besides from a few casual texts they had exchanged.

'Did he get you a catering job or do you have to carry his bag around?' he was smiling, but it was clear he couldn't let an opportunity pass to make fun of Sebastian. He was still in his Ferrari outfit and the hat he was wearing hid his wavy hair, which made him look a lot less attractive somehow.

It hurt to hear Fernando speak about Seb or even herself in this way and she didn't like his tone. 'I'm his new performance engineer, thank you very much,' she said in a cold voice and started walking again.

He seemed taken aback by that and his confident smile disappeared for a moment. 'I thought he had only brought you with him because you're a pretty girl last race,' he admitted when he followed Keira walking through the paddock.

'That's the first thing you think about girls, that they are there to be pretty?' she raised her eyebrows and he wasn't making this situation any better. He was completely different than the guy she had spent an entire evening with.

'No, no,' he said quickly when now walking next to her, 'that's not what I meant. You just never told me that you were there for a job the last time,' he said.