A pair of very familiar bright blue eyes were staring at her and her stomach twitched when he smiled at her with his eyes twinkling.
'What are you doing here?' was the only thing she could think of to say. He had told her that he only needed to be back at the factory next week and that he had some sponsor event in Germany.
'Surprise,' he grinned and he sat down at the table opposite Keira. 'Thought you needed someone to celebrate with.'
'You didn't even know if I would get the job,' she said and pulled away her tray to make more space.
'Oh come on, who wouldn't hire you!' he said with a playful smile and checked if there was any food left on the tray. When he saw there wasn't he pulled a sad face and spied at the table next to them.
'I guess I have a job now,' she grinned, 'God, that sounds so weird! Also the salary is way higher than I had expected.' That was true, she had goggled when she had read the figure Christian had written down and had wanted to sign right there and then without reading the rest of the contract.
'Not as much as I do,' he chuckled and a cheeky grin appeared on his face.
'I do have a list of things I still want,' she shot back. That damn smile of his was getting to her every time and it made it really hard for her to focus on something else.
'I'm not Santa!' he replied and he pulled a face.
'No, you would need a white beard for that,' she grinned.
'Would that make me more handsome?' Seb was stroking his chin and waggled his eyebrows.
She laughed at his idiotic impression of having a beard. 'Stick to this, this at least makes you look good,' she said while shaking her head.
'You find me good looking, I knew it,' he winked and he stood up, picking up the empty tray to put it away.
She felt her cheeks flush and was glad that Seb had walked away. Her eyes were on his behind again when he bent over slightly to clean the tray and she felt her breathing getting heavier. He was wearing a light grey Red Bull shirt which showed his abs pretty well. She now knew how he looked without his shirt and that wasn't helping her to stop staring at him. Her eyes were now drawn to his strong arms and remembered how he had put them around her, pulling her closer to him. His messy blonde hair was styled the same way as the night of the party and she felt a slight sense of disappointment that she hadn't ran her fingers through it then. She averted her eyes when he walked back to her and smiled innocently, like she hadn't been checking him out a few seconds before.
'Come on, I'll show you around the factory and introduce you to a few guys. I also promised Christian to bring you to Gavin, who is the performance engineer of Mark. He'll be your mentor the first few weeks and show you what is expected of you,' he said as he had put his hands on the table.
'You are my guide?' she said in surprise and her heart jumped a little.
'You don't think I'm capable of showing you around?' he said trying to look hurt, but he wasn't very successful. 'You know we're going to work closely together, if you think I'm incompetent you can still tell Christian you don't want the job,' he grinned.
'I thought being a racing driver meant you had thick skin,' she replied in an annoyed voice, but a smile was visible on her lips.
He stuck his tongue out and she grinned, he could be such a child sometimes. She followed him when he waved to the guys who were still eating and led her out of the canteen. It was clear that Seb was a regular here, because he knew the factory like it was his own home. He kept pointing at rooms and people and explaining what or who they were, often taking time to have a little chat and introduce her as his new performance engineer. They visited the R&D department and visited the shops were they made all the parts for the cars, but the thing she had been looking forward to the most was seeing the cars themselves.
'Look, my precious Abbey all taken apart,' Seb pouted when they had finally reached the cars.
'Your car is named Abbey?' she grinned. 'I have to tell Abby that, she would feel rather special.'
A few mechanics grinned when they saw Seb sulking. 'He has always named his cars after girls, because he thinks his cars are sexy,' one of them said.
'Thanks Chris,' Seb rolled his eyes and made a not so friendly gesture with his hand.
'You are one weird human being,' she shook her head and chuckled. She liked these little quirks about him as they made him Seb, it was actually rather cute.
'Well, these are the guys you'll be working with. I know you'll mostly work together with Rocky and I on the balance of the car, but when there are changes to be made you have to discuss that with these guys,' he said and he pointed his head at the group of mechanics.
She shook hands with all of them and they looked like a nice bunch of guys. She spotted one girl among the many guys and her long blonde hair was rather out of place in this environment.
The girl cleaned her hands on a cloth and then held out one. 'Hi, I'm Macy. Nice to have another girl onboard,' she smiled. 'I'm sure they try to turn me into one of them and the level of testosterone in here is way too high,' she said and rolled her eyes.
'Are you both coming to the weekly drinks meeting?' Charlie, one of the mechanics, asked.
Seb looked at Keira to get an answer. 'Do you want to come? It's just close by in a little cafe, my guys and I have a little tradition of going there. They go every week and when I'm here I join them,' he explained.
'Yeah sure, why not. I have to celebrate my new job anyway,' she grinned.
'Good answer,' Macy grinned and she looked happy to finally have a female companion.
They stood there chatting for a while before Seb said to her that there was still more to see and that she could talk to them more during drinks. He still had that look of pity on his face when he looked at his dismantled car.
'It was nice to meet you all,' she said to the group and was just able to wave before Seb had pulled her away.
----------
She was already on her third pint of Guinness and she was listening to one of the stories Charlie was telling about himself and this time it was about almost being run over by a Formula 1 car. He made it sound like it had been almost certainly his death if his genius brain had not decided to take a step forward at the last moment. He and Seb had been challenging each other to tell the most impressive story and Seb was heading that at the moment. He had been so funny that the muscles in her face were now hurting from laughing so much. With every laugh she started to feel more like herself and she was becoming more relaxed with guys being so close to her. Seb had definitely helped with that and the fact that when one of the mechanics next to her accidently bumped into her and it didn't make her jump in fear was proof of that.
'He's definitely not winning, my stories are way better than his,' Seb said suddenly turning his attention to Keira. He was also drinking a beer, although he hadn't want to go near the Guinness.
She grinned and looked away from Charlie's portrayal of being run over. 'True, I especially liked that one where you switched Mark's race suit for one that was way too small and tried to convince him that he screwed up with his diet.'
Seb shrugged his shoulders. 'He deserved that, he had been making nasty comments about me getting a belly,' he said indignantly. 'I mean, that's totally not true!'
'Are you sure?' she lifted an eyebrow and looked at him in amusement.
'Yes,' he said with a sly smile. 'Here, look for yourself,' he added and he lifted up his shirt, showing his flat stomach.
She was totally taken aback by this and stared at his bare skin, which definitely wasn't showing a belly. Without thinking she stretched out her hand and touched the toned muscles which were now visible. His skin was warm and it felt exactly like she had imagined, hard as a rock but still with a soft edge.
'You agree then?' he winked and he sounded a bit out of breath. His lips were slightly parted and his eyes were between showing surprise and eagerness.
She quickly retracted her hand and turned red instantly. What on earth was she doing? This by no means had been an invitation to touch him and she had done so anyway. Her heart was racing from embarrassment and she was glad to see Seb had let his shirt down again. She couldn't read the expression in his eyes, but he was definitely looking different at her. His cheeks were a light pink and she could see him biting his lip, what didn't help to calm her down as he was looking extremely hot doing that.
'Do you want another round?' Chris asked them both and held up his empty glass.
'Not allowed to,' sulked Seb and he looked sadly at his own empty glass.
'You Keira?'
'Yes please,' she grinned and passed him her glass. 'I'm sorry,' she said to Seb when he looked jealously at Chris ordering more drinks.
'I hate Heikki,' he grunted and planted his elbows on the table. 'I hate always being on a diet.'
'At least it makes your stomach look nice,' she grinned and she ignored the tingle in her own stomach.
'That's something I guess,' he sighed and he looked at her again with that knowing smile. He had leant in a bit closer to talk to her than he maybe did with others.
'You know that now I'm part of your team I'll also have to watch what you eat?' she grinned and gave him a playful nudge.
His face turned sour immediately. 'What have I done,' he hung his head. 'You were the only one who let me cheat,' he pouted.
He looked utterly adorable and all she wanted to do was give him a hug, however she was able to retain herself this time, she was not going to let it happen twice in one day.
'After you have won this championship I'll let you eat anything you want, alright?' she tried to cheer him up.
'Promise?' he said with his puppy eyes.
She grinned as she never was able to resist him when he looked like this. 'Promise.'
'Seb, tell your story about that time there was a horse inside the garage,' yelled one of the guys from across the table.
'A horse in the garage?' she looked quizzically at Seb and was sure she hadn't heard it right.
'I told you Red Bull was not your average team,' he grinned, 'so be prepared for what else is coming.'
Amazed by what apparently was happening inside a big organisation like this she decided to not be surprised anymore from now on. Her mouth curved into a smile and she focussed her attention back on Seb who was now telling the story to the group, who were listening eagerly. He had trouble not to laugh and she quickly found herself staring at his smile and glimmering eyes again.
----------
A loud banging on the door woke Keira up and she was confused by who would be banging on her door. She quickly got out of bed and tried to fix her hair when she walked to the door. When the person started banging again she opened the door and a cheerful Seb was looking back at her.
'How on earth do you know where I sleep?' she said cautiously and she felt rather exposed in her baggy pyjamas.
'Britta,' he grinned and he clearly wasn't fazed by her appearance.
'And what exactly are you doing here?' she asked and she leaned against the door.
'Waking you up,' he answered as if that was clear from the start. He pushed himself past Keira and let himself into her room. 'You were still asleep, weren't you?' he yelled from the room back to Keira.
Not sure why exactly he was in her room she followed him back inside. He was sitting on the sofa and she was happy that she always put her dirty clothes back into her suitcase as it would be embarrassing if he had found dirty bras or something laying around.
'You're very neat,' he said impressively when darting his eyes around the room. 'Anyways, I have brought you breakfast,' he looked proud of himself as he held out a bag.
When she opened it she smiled, of course he had bought her croissants. She threw one at Seb and he caught it with ease before taking a bite. They were still warm she noticed and Seb had to have gotten them himself from the bakery, what was impressive.
'Can I ask again why you are here exactly?' she said when she sat down on her bed, looking at Seb.
'Christian asked me to give you your schedule for today, so I thought I would come by instead of emailing it,' he smiled and he waved his croissant in the air.
'Don't you have somewhere to be?' she asked, still not really grasping the fact Seb was sitting in her hotel room and she was in her pyjamas.
'I have to be in the simulator today, but not right now,' he answered and he laid down on the sofa.
'So, what do I have to do today?' she asked curiously.
'First we have to collect your team gear, so you can start wearing that today. Then you'll meet with Gavin to get some finer details on your job and finally you'll attend the general team meeting. I'll be there as well, I can tell you that these are almost always boring,' he sighed and he furrowed his forehead.
'I knew they were organised, but I only got the job yesterday and haven't even officially started yet and I already have a schedule,' she laughed.
'Get used to it, I have Britta following me everywhere on a race weekends,' he sighed. 'I like her and stuff and it is great that she arranges everything, but sometimes she'll drive you crazy,' he grinned and put the last piece of croissant into his mouth.
'So, how late do we have to be at the factory?' she asked while searching for her phone to check the time.
'At eleven, so plenty of time,' he said while checking his watch.
'That's only half an hour Seb, that's not plenty of time as we still have to get to the factory,' she rolled her eyes at him not understanding the importance of time.
'Better get dressed then,' he grinned and he let his eyes linger on her pyjamas, 'because I think everyone will frown upon you arriving wearing pyjamas.'
There was nothing in her reach to throw at him so she just glared at him and started to look for clothes inside her suitcase. With Seb sitting in her room she had to get dressed inside the bathroom and she tried hard not to think of pushing Seb onto her bed and kissing him instead.