33. Aurélie
The music thudded through my heels, bass vibrating in my ribs like the pulse of something alive. Lightsstrobedoverhead. Laughter rippled through the crowd. And still, all I could feel was the warmth of his hand on the small of my back.
This closeness, the unspoken us growing louder in the spaces between the paddock and the track and the hotels and all the locations we’d visited… I used to be afraid to be someone’s secret. Now I wanted this to stay our secret for a little while longer. Before the universe was involved.
“Dubois!”
Kimi’svoice rang out from the upper level of the VIP section, cutting through the music like a whip. He stood with a bottle in one hand, waving with the other. Marco stood beside him, grinning like the devil. Dozens of the engineers and mechanics were up there with them.
“You’re late!” Kimi called.
“Fashionably,” I called back, stepping ahead and feelingCallum’shand follow. His fingers grazed my waist. I needed to remember to breathe and not move my hair over my shoulder.“That’s how the French do it.”
Marco handed me a champagne flute as we reached them. “To the star of the show,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “Looking dangerous tonight,Dubois.”
“She always does,”Callumsaid behind me, voice low and unbothered. Except I knew just how bothered he really was.
“Careful,” I teased Marco, “you’re going to make him jealous.”
Marco smirked. “He can’t be that jealous. Not with that bruise on your neck.”
I almost choked on my drink. “Oh, my God. Let it go.”
“Kind of like how I should let our shared kiss go?”
“ Marco. ”
“Hey, I didn’t say I minded, ” he said. “Dramatic. Public. Just the right amount of tongue.”
“Liar. There was no tongue.”
Callumdidn’t say a word, but his hand slid just a little higher. Not enough to draw attention. Just enough to remind me he was there.
Kimiwaggled his brows. “I’m just saying, if anyone’s sweepingAurélieoff her feet tonight, it might not be Fraser.”
I turned my head and looked straight intoCallum’seyes, slow and deliberate. “You guys are delusional. Fraser saved a damsel in distress today. A gallant hero, one would say. Don’t be so hard on him.”
Callum’sthroat bobbed. The corner of his mouth lifted—barely—but I saw it.
“So that’s how Fraser busted his hand. I need to know?—”
Nope. Not how I planned to spend my night. “Marco,” I purred. “Drop this topic and dance with me.”
“Oh, Team Heartthrob is so back,” he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me to the dance floor. I threw a glance over my shoulder atCallum, who was gawking like I’d torn his heart out and handed it to someone else.
Poor baby.
Except he moved. Fast. One hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me gently, but firmly, out of Marco’s grip. My champagne spilled over the edges of my glass.
“Hey!” Marco said, half-laughing. “I was promised a dance.”
Callumdidn’t even look at him. “Pick someone else.”
“Jesus,” Marco muttered. “Possessive much?”
“Yes,” Callum said flatly. “Very.”
My breath caught.
He didn’t ask, wait, or explain. Just led me straight to the center of the dance floor, the crowd parting like it sensed what was coming.
He turned to face me. Music thrumming low and sinful. I was already shaking.
“What are you doing?” I asked, breathless.
“Reminding everyone,” he said. “And maybe myself.”
“Of what?”
“That you’re mine.” His hands found my hips and slid lower. Not quite appropriate, yet not obvious. But I felt the edge in them. The way his fingers splayed across my hips like they were barely containing something darker.
The music pulsed slow and sinful—made for grinding, not gliding. AndCallum danced like a man with a purpose. He pulled me tighter, until the curve of my ass brushed against the front of his jeans.
And fuck. He was hard. I was wet, thighs sticky from all the verbal foreplay and teasing and not having nearly enough of him earlier.
I inhaled sharply, my back pressing against his chest. This was filthy. So much dirtier than dancing in Miami. Here, we knew what giving in was like. How good we were at it together.
He didn’t say a word. Just let his hands trail down, thumbs grazing the bare skin below the back hem of my dress, right where it barely covered me.
“Callum,” I warned.
He dipped his head, stubble scraping against my neck. “Keep dancing, love.”
My thighs clenched. The music dropped into a bass-heavy roll, and I moved—slow, deliberate. Pressed my body to his. Rolled my hips just to see what it’d do to him.
His grip flexed. “Fuck,” he groaned into my skin. “You’re perfect, and you’re all mine,Aurélie.”
I wanted to believe him. I really did. But all I could think about was how Kimi had said it. Pain and poetry. As if it was an old joke. As though Callum had loved before, said all the right things before, left bruises before.
Maybe I wasn’t special. Maybe I just fucked like a dream.
The thought coiled low in my stomach, sharp and unwanted. I didn’t want it to ruin this, ruin us , but it festered. Familiar. Ugly. Santino had done that—made me question every softness like it was a scam. Made me feel like I was only worth something when I was on my knees or underneath him.
Callum wasn’t Santino. I knew that, yet I also knew what it felt like to be replaceable. To be just another warm body in the rotation.
He turned me in his arms, chest to chest now, my thigh slipping between his. I dragged it up slowly, trying to school my features.
He hissed. “You do that again and I’ll take you to the car and put my mouth on you for the rest of the damn night.”
I was a mess of contradictions, both insecure and throbbing for him, every nerve ending strung tight and reminding me how much I really wanted him to do just that as much as I wanted to cry.
Everything in his face was raw. Worship. Hunger. Love. “I can’t kiss you,” he murmured. “But I can touch you like this. I can make you feel me.”
“You already do.”
His forehead touched mine. We swayed like that—like the whole world had vanished.
And then he said it. Barely audible. Just for me.
“I love you.”
I stilled. Heart thudding so loud I swore the DJ could hear it. I wasn’t used to being loved loudly.
He didn’t flinch. Didn’t take it back. Just looked at me like he already knew it would wreck him. As if he’d mean it forever.
“I love you,” he said again, more certain now. “And I know we can’t say it out loud yet. Not in front of them. But I’m not hiding it from you.”
My fingers curled into his shirt. “I’ve been waiting for you my whole life.”
Then the lights shifted, the music dipped, andKimi’svoice roared through the mic.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he boomed. “Tonight isn’t just any party. Tonight, we are in the presence of racing royalty.”
Oh, no.
Callum closed his eyes. “Fucking Kimi.”
My stomach dropped. “I’m going to murder him.”
Callumleaned in, his breath brushing my ear. “Go with it. You deserve this.”
I shot him a glare. He didn’t flinch.
Kimipointed directly at me. “This woman made history today. Rookie on the podium. First female driver to ever do it. And let’s be honest—she made the rest of us look like we were on tricycles.”
Laughter. Cheers. Someone whistled.
Marco grinned, appearing beside us and tugging on my hand. “C’mon. Don’t fight it.”
I hesitated, then looked atCallum.
“I’m right behind you,” he said. “Always.”
I let Marco pull me toward the tiny raised platform near the DJ booth. Champagne rained around us like gold. I held my glass high, trying not to shrink from the applause.
“ToAurélieDubois,” Marco roared. “The future of Formula 1!”
The cheers were deafening.
And then she appeared.
The Harper Rose—global pop sensation, self-made billionaire, and a living legend. She was even more striking in person, her confidence practically radiating off her. I blinked like I was hallucinating, but no—she was right there , gliding through the crowd like some myth brought to life.
Her eyes locked on mine.
“You’re a damn inspiration,” she said, voice low, sure. “The way you owned that win? The way you handled the media? That was power.”
I could barely speak. “Thank you, I?—”
She shook her head. “You don’t get it yet. You mean something. What you did today—that’s rewriting the rules. Keep doing it. Don’t let them dilute you. You’re not just fast. You’re fearless. There’s a difference.”
My throat tightened. I swallowed hard, trying to blink the sting from my eyes. And then she winked and disappeared, just like that. The air felt too thick to breathe.
I turned, andCallumwas already there, one step behind me, his eyes soft and searching.
“You alright?” he asked.
I nodded. “That… just happened.”
He took the champagne glass from my hand, setting it aside before curling his fingers gently around mine. “Let me know if you want to go.”
I looked out at the crowd. The lights. The chaos. And then back at him. The only steady thing in the room.
“No,” I said, voice soft. “I want to remember this. I want to feel it. All of it.”
He kissed the back of my hand. “Then I’m staying right here.”
I looked out at the lights, the champagne in the air, the crowd that had just chanted my name. But it wasn’t any of that that anchored me.
It was him, and how special he made me feel—as if I was the only woman in his world.
I wanted to be the last.