SYDNEY
"If all it took was for you to date someone in my team, I would've been a wingman way earlier," Theo said as I walked into the circuit with him. "I mean, you've never attended a race in your entire life, and this is your second one in a month."
I laughed. "Yeah. I don't know why it's taken me so long to show an interest in the sport." Aside from the fact that it unleashed memories of my father that I'd buried deep down.
Theo frowned. "I wish it was under better circumstances though."
I shrugged. "Are you going to say something every time you think about me and Henry?"
"Yeah. I mean, I love the guy, but I'm always going to protect my little sister first. If he does something stupid, that friendship is over."
Yikes. I'd never thought about it like that. Theo and Henry had been friends for years. To think that I could be the cause of their brotherhood ending was frightening. It was a good thing Theo had nothing to worry about. In fact, I could already picture the relief on his face when he found out the truth.
"Thanks for looking out for me, but I'm not that innocent fifteen-year-old anymore," I sighed. When our mum left us to go travelling, Theo was freshly eighteen and never planned to have an extra person to care for. I was so relieved when he received the contract to join Formula One as I knew he was only staying at home to make sure I was okay. Even once I turned eighteen myself, he still felt like it was his responsibility to care for me. Without that contract, he still would've been by my side.
Theo was about to intrigue me with another seminar about why this was a bad idea when Francesca and Lily approached us.
"Hey, Sydney," Lily said grinning. Her smile faded as she looked at my brother. "Theodore."
"Lily," my brother said dryly. I made a mental note to ask him what the hell was going on there later on.
"We just passed the Santoro motorhome," Francesca beamed. "Your boyfriend was looking for you."
Theo shook his head, while I adjusted to hearing those words come out of someone's mouth. It felt so weird, even though I'd just had a boyfriend recently. But picturing Henry when people said that word was just...odd.
"Oh, cool. I'll uh, go say hi," I said, closing my eyes with embarrassment the second I was out of their sight. "I'll go say hi. Who even says that?" I cringed.
Henry was juggling some exercise balls the moment I walked in. His performance coach vigorously watched him like a hawk.
"And time," his coach said as he clicked his stopwatch. The two men drew their gaze to me, while Henry placed the exercise balls on the table.
"Ma chérie," Henry said as he walked my way. "I'm so glad you could make it." He placed a gentle kiss on my cheek which sparked some weird feeling in my head. I attempted to tell myself it was just jet lag.
"I don't think we've met," Henry's performance coach said as he walked over and held out his hand. "Sam."
I placed my hand in his. "Sydney. Lovely to meet you." Sam was a handsome man. While Henry was a pretty type of handsome, Sam was rugged and protective. He had long blonde hair, soft eyes and smile lines that were permanent on his cheeks.
Henry must have sensed the odd tension between me and the hot blonde, as he placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "I've booked us a reservation at a restaurant tonight. It has a cocktail dress code, but I figured it's been a while since I've spoiled you."
If his words had any truth behind them I would've melted. But I'd take a dinner at a fancy restaurant any day, even if there was no romance involved.
"That sounds lovely. Thanks for that," I said.
"Well, I will let you two have some time together," Sam began. "But Henry, you need to be in the garage in ten."
He nodded before his performance coach disappeared down the hall.
Henry turned back to me. "I'm glad you flew over."
I grinned. "Me too. I'm beginning to like this sport."
"Oh yeah? Did you not already like it cause of Theo?"
Even though my father was a rally driver, the whole idea of motorsport frightened me. It had been years since he passed away, but I always felt guilty indulging in something that took the life of the person I looked up to the most. I still felt that way, but there was something inside me that wanted to break through this fear. And doing it with Theo and Henry oddly seemed to help...a lot.
I realised I'd fallen into a trance when Henry said my name. I shook my head. "Sorry. Uh, no I hadn't gotten into the sport because I was too busy. But life seems to have slowed down now."
Henry nodded. "I mean, I can see how starting a business would take precedence."
I smiled. I knew it was just a passing comment, but something about the way he remembered my story, along with the hint of pride in his tone, made me feel good.
"Come on. Sam will be waiting," I said as I walked to the door.
***
HENRY
I gently knocked on Sydney's door at half past six. She'd texted me to let me know she'd be ready in five, but I was highly doubting that now that she was yelling, "Just a minute."
I laughed, feeling slightly weirded out by the nervous sensation brewing in my stomach. I'd been on numerous dates, and this one wasn't even real. I guess I didn't want to say the wrong thing and have Theo knocking down my door at midnight. She didn't need to be my girlfriend for me to know I needed to tread lightly.
She opened the door five minutes later, wearing a slicked bun, a white skirt, and a red corset that showed a lot of cleavage. I respectfully shifted my gaze to her eyes, although the red corset reminded me a lot of the lingerie on our phone call.
I knew little about makeup, but she'd definitely done something new to her eyes. It made the blue in them stand out even more, and I had to admit she looked fucking gorgeous. She always looked sun-kissed with her soft, tan skin, and those freckles were so damn beautiful. It was her personality and her beauty that made this arrangement all the easier.
We arrived at the rooftop restaurant just after seven. I held out my arm for my fake girlfriend and she took it gracefully. We were seated by the window, where the skyline adorned the edges of the city like a necklace. Sydney was directly opposite me, looking out at the city view intensely. Her hands were woven as she rested them directly under her chin.
"It's so pretty," she said.
I nodded, though she couldn't see me.
"So," she eventually said as she returned her gaze to me. "Have you thought about how we're going to end it?"
I raised my brow, almost choking on my water as I said, "I'm sorry?"
She chuckled, covering her mouth while doing so. "I mean, the relationship is pretty public. We'll have to tell the world it's over somehow."
Damn, I hadn't thought about that.
The waitress saved me for a minute as she took our drink order.
"Hey," she said to me. Her long brown hair sat directly above her hips, while a long, navy dress clung to her body. I vaguely remember meeting up with her in my second year of Formula One...when we had a Grand Prix in Shanghai.
What a night that was.
Sydney smiled at the waitress, who appeared to be jealous of our date. "I'll take a virgin mojito, thanks."
The waitress appeared confused with Sydney's non-alcoholic order, raising her eyebrows as she scribbled on her notepad. I quickly placed my order to divert her attention and move her along. She approved of my order, giving me a wink as she disappeared towards the kitchen.
"You know her?" Sydney asked, indicating that my actions were awfully obvious.
I nodded. "It was a long time ago, but I didn't know she'd be working here."
Sydney shrugged. "Wouldn't matter if she did. You don't need to justify your affairs."
I didn't know what to say to that, but luckily we found ourselves arguing over the entrée menu.
"Why would we order fried squid? That's terrifying," Sydney shrieked.
I shrugged. "It's not as terrifying as you think. It's covered in batter and salt."
She made a stank face. "Can we at least get the shrimp siu mai then?"
"So you won't eat squid, but you'll eat shrimp?" I laughed.
She rolled her eyes. "You can barely taste it when it's in the siu mai."
I chuckled. "You can barely taste the squid when it's covered in batter and deep fried."
The waitress must have heard our disagreement as she made a one-eighty turn faster than my car on a U-turn chicane.
Sydney folded her arms. "Fine. But you cannot judge me for wanting to get the orange beef as my main."
I zipped my mouth shut with my right hand and smiled.
She smiled too, grinning at the ground while her eyes held contact with mine.
"Will we say you cheated because you couldn't keep it in your pants?" Sydney said once we'd placed our order.
I widened my eyes, completely flabbergasted by her unhinged comment. "I'm sorry, what?"
"When we end it."
I shook my head. I thought we would've dropped this case and forgotten about it for the night. Especially when this evening was meant to create a romantic vibe. "We will not be saying that. I'm trying to amend my reputation here, not completely ruin it because I broke the heart of the prettiest woman out there."
Her gaze softened. "God, you are such a flirt. How many times have you recycled the end of that line?"
I didn't even realise what I was doing. "Don't worry, ma chérie, that was personalised for you."
Sydney must have assumed I was joking as she rolled her eyes and took a sip from her glass.
"Wow, I'm honoured," she mocked. "I hope when you finally find the one, you'll drown her in personalised compliments too."
That won't be happening, solely because I won't find the one. Emphasis on my inability to welcome a long-term relationship into my life. I'd have no problem showering my girl with a thousand compliments a day. Except for the fact that my girl would never exist.
"Okay, let's get a picture." I held up my phone and snapped a shot of her. The light above reflected off her skin, making her glow a shade of gold.
I tagged her—because she'd shown me how to—and posted her to my story. I already knew it would be reposted on a hundred different fan pages by the end of our dinner. I swear someone sent me a fan account for Sydney the other day too.
"Over the next few months, we'll post a lot of pictures together, and then when this is done, we'll delete them all. Trust me, that's all we'll need to do to get people talking."
Sydney looked impressed. "I like your thinking. See, this is why we're a team right now. We bounce great ideas off of each other." She snapped a few more shots once our food had arrived and said she'd do a post of our date later that evening.
"So how often is this date thing going to happen?" she asked once we'd moved on to dessert.
I shrugged. I hadn't planned that far in advance. I wasn't a planning kind of guy.
"I guess these kinds of dates are perfect for publicity," Sydney continued. "But we're also going to have to talk regularly if we really want to fool the world."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, we're only going to appear comfortable together if we're actually comfortable. That kind of deception can't be forced."
She had a point. It was no use if I occasionally saw her, I had to actually get to know her. A part of me wanted to do that as well. I had enjoyed the past few weeks talking with her, so it wasn't going to be a chore to continue that streak.
"I'll try to make sure our hotel rooms are on the same floor," I began. "That way, it'll be easy for us to spend time together."
She nodded. "Cool."
***
"People are going to eat this up," Sydney said as we hopped out of the car. She handed me her phone and told me to swipe through the images. I had to admit, it looked pretty convincing...especially the video where she placed her hand over mine and rubbed her thumb over my own.
"It looks good," I said as I placed my hand on her lower back and directed her into the lobby.
"Perfect." She stopped in her tracks, and I had to steady myself to avoid walking into her. "I'll post it right now." After a few taps on her screen, she slid her phone into her pocket and looked up at me. "Thank you for dinner. It was really fun." She looked around the hotel and lowered her voice. "But please let me pay for myself next time. It's not a real date and even if it was, I wouldn't expect you to pay."
I laughed. "It's okay, ma chérie. I enjoyed it." I had no idea why I was still calling her ma chérie, despite no one being around. It must have caught on over the past few days, and now it was second nature to do so.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then," she said, before stepping closer to me and pulling me in for a hug.
I hugged her back, gripping her tight like I always did. I was never going to complain that she was a hugger. I claimed to be an affectionate person myself.
"Goodnight," she whispered.
I handed her the handbag I'd been holding on to since we left the restaurant and watched as she headed towards the lift. It wasn't until I looked in the mirror to my left that I realised I was blushing.