Chapter Fifteen
Katherine watched Lukas with a smile as he set a little Christmas tree on the table that sat between two armchairs in perfect view from his bed.
It was the first time she had set foot in here and it felt like they had moved beyond their agreement of just pleasure.
Something had changed on the boat. Well, something had been changing before that but when she and Lukas had slept together earlier, it had been better than anything that had come before.
There had been all the passion and fun she had come to expect but there had also been an intensity.
A connection so strong between them she’d wanted to cling onto Lukas and never let go.
She didn’t even know why she had cried but her heart had been about to burst.
Now she was in his bedroom. Proof that Lukas, that viciously private man, had lowered his walls for her.
‘You know, you have a pretty large one of those two floors below you,’ she said, gesturing at the small tree.
‘But that tree won’t have this.’ He pulled out the snowflake she had given him and hung it on a branch. ‘This is just for me.’
Lukas would never change. Hardly anyone came into his home and still he wanted to put barriers around what they shared. Hoard as much of the relationship for himself so no one else could peer in. Did he realise that that kind of behaviour made people more curious?
‘Come here,’ he called as he kicked off his shoes and settled on the large bed with one arm under his head, the other stretched out beckoning her.
She couldn’t resist.
She joined him, marvelling at how tranquil, how content she was when his arm curled around her.
‘I suppose that’s a pretty good spot for it,’ she said. ‘In the morning, when the sun catches the crystal—’
‘You’ll be here to see it because you’ll be in my bed.’ He hovered over her and she ran her fingers over his soft lips.
‘I thought you wanted some separation.’ An assumption based on him having given her a room on a different floor. Her workspace was also away from his. So this was a big change. One that emphasized how real the feelings in this fake romance were becoming.
‘I want you in my arms and in my home, Katherine. We might not be blessed with a lot of time, but we can make the most of what we’ve been given.’
But what if they had more time? She could wake up beside Lukas on some mornings, on others she would wake to the scent of coffee and him shirtless and sweaty.
She could work in the office he provided her.
Maybe they would travel to the tracks together.
He’d race and she would report and then they would come back to each other every night.
That didn’t seem so bad. He’d had a vasectomy so there was no risk of a family that might force her to give up her dreams.
With Lukas, she was safe to pursue the life she wanted.
‘I want that too,’ she whispered, and he kissed her. It was volcanic. Their passion erupting around them. Sweeping them away and then a loud ping pierced the air.
Katherine groaned. ‘I need to check that. It could be work.’ It most likely was.
Lukas loosened his hold, and she pulled her phone out of her pocket and saw a new email from Jennifer. She opened the email and her stomach sank.
…I know you asked me not to run the article… Katherine read …but it will be out tomorrow.
Tomorrow!
No. No! This couldn’t be happening!
‘What’s wrong?’ Lukas asked.
‘I’m not sure yet. I need to call Jennifer.’ She tried to hide her trembling and gave Lukas a crushing kiss. This call would be make-or-break for them.
Katherine went down to the lounge, as far away from Lukas as she could get, and called her editor. Jennifer answered immediately.
‘You said you’d pull the article.’ Katherine didn’t bother with pleasantries now. This was a disaster. Lukas could never see what she had written. Those words felt like a lifetime ago.
‘I know I did, but there’s so much buzz around you two right now, Kat. That article is a goldmine.’
Katherine pulled off the ring she wore on her free hand, anxiously toying with it while she tried to figure out a way to get Jennifer to change her mind.
‘That’s not the truth. Tell me why you’re really publishing it,’ she demanded.
‘You want the truth? Fine. The truth is we asked the two of you to pose as a couple. Generate interest. What we got is a shopping expedition, Lukas trying to hide you away from the cameras and some shots of you standing on a boat.’
Every one of those moments was so much more than Jennifer made them sound. Right now, Katherine was in a room filled with Christmas decorations because that was how far they had come. ‘That’s enough to hint at a relationship, Jennifer.’
‘Did we ask for hints? We wanted you to leave the meeting hand in hand. What does that tell you, Kat? I warned you in that meeting what would happen.’
‘Warned me? Bringing up the article was more like blackmail, Jennifer. We established that the things I wrote aren’t true.
We have more information now that surely warrants a rewrite.
’ Maybe if she could speak to Lukas, she could pen something that he would be happy with being out in the world.
A piece that didn’t shatter this dream they had only just found.
‘They aren’t untrue, Kat. There’s still a valid angle here,’ Jennifer said, ‘And having the article come from you is going to blow up traffic to the site, which is what I care about. But you know the others will be happy too, because people will tune in just to see what happens between you and Lukas in the aftermath.’
She was nauseous.
‘Is there any way at all I can convince you not to run it. Anything?’ She knew she sounded desperate now but she didn’t care. The thoughtful man up in his room who had made her feel seen and protected deserved better.
She deserved better.
‘No.’
‘Damn it, Jennifer!’
Katherine hung up. She couldn’t speak. She sank into the couch cushions and covered her face with her trembling hands. Lukas was going to hate her. All this contentment they’d found would be lost.
She had to find a way to get out ahead of it and the only way to do that was to talk to Lukas. After all, he knew what their dynamic was like. He knew she didn’t hate him anymore. If she could get him to see reason, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
She had to try. She couldn’t lose him.
Lukas stood out on the balcony attached to his bedroom, leaning on the glass balustrade, watching the sun sink lower towards the sparkling horizon.
Katherine had been gone awhile, but he understood how important her career was to her.
Just how much her need to be successful stemmed from a need to be seen by her family.
And while he was still struggling with the fact that her career required so much publicity, that it was in itself so invasive, he also wanted to be with her. For now, she was in his bed.
Even once she left and all the Christmas decorations were packed away, he would still leave that snowflake out. It was the only way he would never lose her, because he would never lose the memory.
One way or another he was determined that he would start the new season in the paddock. And Katherine would undoubtedly be there. How would it feel to see her? How would it feel when he got out of the car with adrenaline still pumping and emotions running high, then had to be interviewed by her?
You don’t know that you’ll be in a car.
He still had to face the fact that he was currently without a drive, but they were all working towards that goal.
You still haven’t turned down the team principal offer.
He hadn’t and he wasn’t sure why, when he belonged behind the wheel. It was what he’d always wanted. What his father had wanted. Being a racer made him worth something. But Katherine had also made some valid points when he told her about Vortex’s offer. Points that he had been thinking about.
‘Lukas?’
He turned around to find Katherine standing in the middle of his bedroom, clutching her phone in both hands. There was something about the way she awkwardly shifted her weight from foot to foot. The way she looked off to the side as if she was avoiding his gaze.
He immediately went on high alert. Something was wrong.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked. She opened and closed her mouth but no sound escaped.
‘Come here, Katherine.’ He held his hand out to her and to his relief she walked towards him.
When she was close enough, he put an arm around her waist, the other caressing her cheek as he placed a small kiss on her forehead.
‘Whatever is wrong, we can fix it.’ He would do nearly anything for her.
‘Something has happened.’ She swallowed hard. He could tell she was trying not to let her eyes well up. He never wanted to see her cry.
‘Take your time.’
‘Please hear me out before you say or do anything. Can you promise me? Please?’
‘Of course.’
She nodded, pressed her lips together then said, ‘Before we went to Lapland, before I even knew about Lapland actually, I had to write a feature on you for Aero’s site.’
The words had irritation flooding through his system because anything involving media attention was never good for him.
And if Katherine had written something before, they were trapped together, it was definitely going to be bad.
But he couldn’t respond as he usually did because it was his Katherine standing before him.
Not the woman he’d hated, who’d hated him in return.
So, fighting as hard as he could, he suppressed his irritation enough to respond calmly. ‘And it’s coming out now.’
He didn’t like the idea, but if he had given it any thought he would have realised that she must have tons of work submitted that would only be published now.
The truth was that he hadn’t thought about it, because he was so lost in her.
Another tendril of annoyance rose to the surface as he realised that fact, but he pushed it back too.
Stay calm. You don’t know what she’s going to say. It could be easily fixed.