CHAPTER SIXTEEN CLARKE #2
He sighed. Okay, that makes sense. Fine. No big deal.
A photo of them holding a trophy doesn’t suggest anything beyond what the date was—a social obligation.
Aunt Delilah tapped his shoulder. “Speaking of that trophy, what do you think?” she asked.
The trophy sat alongside other trophies Ceci had earned for racing.
But the trophy for the Pawsome Sledding race held a special place of honor.
It sat dead center and out in front. He couldn’t help smiling, seeing that.
Although glancing at all those other trophies made him wonder why she’d left driving Formula 3 for the management side of Formula 1.
“It looks good there,” he said.
“It does,” Aunt Delilah agreed. “A good beginning. It bodes well for the future.”
Clarke frowned.
Future?
“In addition to that, you won’t have to bother with any of the angst or quarrels you do when you really care about each other. It’s just a business transaction. A mutually beneficial business transaction.”
Is she referring to that scheme of Roxanne’s?
Ceci glared at her aunt. “I told you, he doesn’t want to do it, Aunt Delilah.”
He didn’t. He’d said as much. But looking at her now and thinking of that catsuit, he wondered why.
“Did you?” Aunt Delilah asked. “I must have forgotten. Why is that?”
Lots of reasons, his rational brain was telling him.
She’s combative. Always wants her own way. Always thinks she’s right. Not to mention, I suffer physical injury when I’m around her.
But all those things led him to wonder what she would be like underneath him, on top of him, in front of him, alongside him.
And sitting on my shoulders with that pussy just a lick away from my tongue.
She’s got to be wild. And she must have quick reflexes—agile hands.
She was a driver, so she knows how to handle a gearshift.
Just like she told me in that dream. She must know how to handle lots of things.
I bet she’d ride a man so hard, there’d be nothing left of him, except that chalk outline on the pavement.
The only evidence he’d ever lived and breathed.
Here lies what’s left of Leo Clarke, former F1 champion.
Why would I want that? Even the chalk would be only temporary.
He stared at her lips.
In one flick of a moment, she’d purse them and blow. Me. Away.
He was suddenly rocking back and forth on the sofa.
That’s when he realized Ceci’s aunt had a hold of his shoulder.
That’s also when he realized his pants had become tight.
He pulled down the edge of his sweater and quickly placed his hands in his lap, attempting to cover up the swelling and—yes, he thought, as he allowed himself a quick peek—noticeable bulge.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Aunt Delilah said. “Why do you object to this mutually beneficial transaction?”
Oh, he thought, that’s right, she asked me why.
Why don’t I want to do this thing? It’s only dating, and fake dating at that. Not any of that other …
He shifted in his seat as his dick twitched.
His eyes slinked right but quickly darted away when they met Ceci’s gaze.
Why? Why? He kept repeating the word to himself. His lips parted but no sound came out.
Aunt Delilah turned to her niece. “What makes you so certain he doesn’t want to do it? I just asked him, and the boy can’t come up with even one reason.”
“He said emphatically, he wouldn’t do it,” Ceci hissed. “Why, he practically screamed no.”
Clarke frowned. “Screamed? I don’t think I’ve ever screamed in my life.”
“Oh, you did. Trust me.”
He was starting to get annoyed.
“You’re mighty sure of yourself. Never even the slightest doubt you might be wrong. No possibility you might not win.”
Win?
We weren’t discussing racing.
She lifted her chin, and that sly smile spoke to him.
Cat, meet mouse. He had no doubt which one he was in the equation.
Damn it, why had he said that? It wasn’t like him to make such a stupid mistake.
She grinned. “None in the slightest.”
Aunt Delilah stood up. “I have a way to settle this.” She peered at Clarke. “Do you know how to use a rifle?”
He hesitated. “Yes.”
Just then Boudica came up, planting his stubby paws on his lap.
“Boudica, get down!” Ceci cried.
But before the dog could obey her, Clarke picked him up and placed the bulldog on his lap. He was still sporting a boner.
“He’s fine,” he said.
Aunt Delilah clapped her hands. “Let’s go outside.”
“I’ll be out in a moment,” he said.
After they’d gone, he sighed, nuzzling the bulldog and whispering in his ear. “Thank you, Boudica, us men have to stick together.”
As Clarke looked out the window of the plane, watching Montana disappear behind the clouds, he felt none of that elation he had anticipated feeling when leaving the state.
Had he been played?
The moment she’d handed him a rifle, he caught that superior look on Ceci’s face.
In her mind, she’d already won.
I was played all right.
But the challenge of going up against a cocky Ceci Rivers had been too damn hard to resist.
He still couldn’t figure out exactly when and how he’d agreed to the bet in the first place. But that aunt of hers was difficult to argue with.
Ceci Rivers once again was going to get what she wanted, and they were actually going to do this crazy thing.
It wasn’t altogether bad, he thought, as he pictured her in that catsuit and wondered what she would wear on their first fake date.
He remembered holding her wrist, gazing at that mark and tattoo at the masquerade party. He hadn’t imagined the quickening of her pulse as he ran his thumb across it. But he was the Man in the Iron Mask then.
“It’s to remind myself I was born.”
How could a birthmark and tattoo do that? He wondered if it had something to do with what her aunt had told him. The meaning of her name? Her father? Her mother?
To have your mother die giving birth to you—that had to have a profound impact on a person.
He gazed out the window and tried to turn the clouds into a giraffe, a tree, even a racecar like he used to as a child.
But all he could see were those blonde curls.
If he shut his eyes, he could almost feel them caress his cheeks, like they had when she’d brought him out of the darkness with that kiss when he’d lain unconscious on the men’s room floor of the Royal Horseguards Hotel.
Did she ever think about it?
He wished he wouldn’t. He shouldn’t.
She wasn’t just any girl. She was Ceci Rivers. Team principal for Blue Jet Lightning. The brains behind Anker’s championship win last season.
That was the point, wasn’t it? That’s why Roxanne was so keen on this fake dating idea. Because of the stir it would cause. The stir it had already caused.
But what about the paddock? What would the owners say about them dating when they were on competing teams?
What would Anker say? Maybe nothing. Maybe everyone in the F1 world would know that it was fake.
Of course they would. They would see there was nothing real between them.
It was too illogical, unreasonable, and unbelievable to think anything else.
Leo Clarke and Ceci Rivers? The whole thing was preposterous.
Let Roxanne concern herself with that. He would not expend one ounce of energy on it. His focus had to be on racing—and racing alone.
The first race was in Austin, Texas. So that was where this fiasco would begin. Ceci would decide where they would go and what they would do. She’d insisted on that.
He swallowed. Those dreams were going to make this even more difficult.
He’d had to sleep another night in Montana before he could fly out.
And once again he’d dreamt of Ceci Rivers.
She was still wearing that fucking catsuit but in this one, she was sauntering along a snowy track, kicking a kart toward him and demanding he pull it.
When he hesitated, she cracked that whip.
The black leather snapping like the electricity snapping through his veins.
That mild brush of the cattail at the end of the whip against his flesh, so mild he couldn’t tell whether it was the tip of the leather tickling his cheek or only the rush of air its movement through space caused.
That sly smile as he began to drag the kart.
And that flick of the wrist, that crack and flash like lightning when the whip came down dangerously close to his flesh whenever there was a moment’s hesitation on his part.
All that in and of itself would have been disturbing enough.
But what was really disturbing was that he liked it.
??F1 UPDATE SNOW. FLANNEL. CHAOS ??
So remember that charity date won by Ceci Rivers, featuring none other than Sir Leo Clarke (yes, our knight in carbon fiber armor)?
Well, they didn’t go to Monaco. Nor Paris.
Not even London. Nope. They went to a tiny winter festival in rural Montana.
??Locals say they were spotted eating Krispy Kreme burgers, deep-fried s’mores, and entering their dogs in a sledding race, which they won.
???? AND THEN—because this saga never sleeps—Sir Clarke was spotted at Bozeman Airport with ANOTHER BLACK EYE.
WTF??? We don’t know if it’s flirting, fighting, or foreplay. ??
#Snowmance #BlackEyeSeason
??CANDID CHAOS ALERT??
Somewhere in Montana in the midst of his Hallmark enemies-to-lovers arc, Leo Clarke—yes, the knighted, seven-time F1 champion, press-conference-poised Sir—has been caught on cell phone camera …
lying face-down, sweeping his arms through the snow in an attempt to teach Ceci River’s bulldog how to sled-race.
???? Witnesses say the bulldog was unimpressed.
The internet, however, is losing its collective mind.
?? This is the weirdest F1 offseason we’ve ever seen and we cannot look away.
#SnowSweepingSir #ThisIsYourGOAT?
#MeanwhileFerrariIsJustTryingToTestTires
CORNHOLE, MONTANA
?? FROSTBITE NEVER FELT THIS GOOD—
FANFIC PLAYLIST
?? Frosty Vibes
1. “Your Best American Girl” – Mitski
Ceci doesn’t want to impress him. And Clarke doesn’t mean to be judging this small Montana town with his tweed eyes. But the clash is undeniable.
?? That Krispy Kreme Moment
2. “Sweet” – Cigarettes After Sex
Slow, smoky, dreamy. Ceci offering the burger with that grin. Clarke knows he shouldn’t. But he does.
3. “Cherry” – Lana Del Rey
That first bite. Ceci’s swagger. Clarke giving in to the moment—and to her.
4. “Love Interruption” – Jack White
That feeling in his throat—ragged and sharp. That burger like Eve’s apple—delicious but he knows it comes with a price.
?? Dogsled Derby: Teamwork
5. “The Way I Do” – Bishop Briggs
Building that sled-kart for Boudica and Holly. Ceci hammering too hard, Clarke engineering like it’s a Monaco pit stop. Somehow … it works.
6. “doomsday” – Lizzy McAlpine
The moment they win. The joy is real, brief, raw. But that punch is coming. Clarke just doesn’t know it yet.
?? The Black Eye Strikes Back
7. “Cigarette Daydreams” – Cage the Elephant
For that exact moment after that punch. The wind is too loud. So is the silence.
?? Unspoken Endings
8. “Liability” – Lorde
The drive home. Neither of them speaks. But both of them are thinking the same thing: Ceci Rivers is a liability.
9. “Talk” – Hozier
The silence on that drive home is thick with everything unsaid.
10. “Heat Lightning” – Mitski
Clarke can’t sleep, but he can dream … Ceci and that fucking catsuit.
11. “Don’t You” – Taylor Swift
The aftermath. Maybe they’re enemies. Maybe they’re not. Either way, it’s no longer simple. But then, it never was.