Epilogue
‘I’M ALMOST READY, I swear,’ Astrid lied, hurriedly dabbing a layer of powder high on her cheeks then staring at the selection of lip products she’d yet even to begin applying.
She looked up, eyes landing on where Apollo now filled the doorway that separated her dressing room from their master bedroom.
Mouth set in a firm line, Apollo cut an impressive figure in his designer wool coat and sleek white shirt, but the look in his eyes was one of fond impatience.
‘You said five minutes. That was half an hour ago.’ His tone was scolding, but his eyes were soft as he stalked across the room and slid one finger slowly along the thin strap of her midnight-blue dress.
‘I know that look in your eye, Mr Accardi. And the answer is no.’
‘No?’ he repeated, brown eyes gleaming wickedly. ‘It’s like you want me to make us even more late today.’
‘Apollo…’ she scolded, his name turning into a groan as his lips lowered to her sensitive skin.
His hands ran a sensual path along her shoulders and Astrid sighed as his fingers kneaded the delicate tension away, his thumbs working magic that he had learned and perfected in more than a decade of blissful marriage. Eleven years of bliss, to be precise…
She stared up at his reflection, taking in the handsome smattering of grey at his temples and the new designer beard that he was working for his latest sports-fashion crossover campaign with Falco Diamonds. Her husband was becoming a silver fox and she found him more attractive than ever.
Their eyes met in the reflection of the vanity mirror and he smiled devilishly as he clearly saw the undisguised heat in her own gaze.
‘We haven’t got time,’ she breathed, gasping as his hands dipped beneath the neckline of her dress, brushing her nipple. ‘Unless you can be fast.’
‘Darling, you know how much I love a challenge.’
Then he lifted her, pressing her forward across the surface of her dressing table with absolutely no regard for the bottles of products he sent cascading down onto the carpeted floor.
‘Look at you,’ he rasped, sliding the silk of her dress up over her hips to reveal the rather risqué underwear she’d chosen.
Strong fingers gripped the globe of her bottom, followed by a gentle yet possessive smack as he hummed in approval.
He had just begun easing her dress up over her hips when a thundering of small footsteps intruded upon her consciousness, followed by the distinct sound of little-girl chatter heading straight for their bedroom door.
‘How do they always know?’ Apollo groaned in frustration, his forehead pressing between her shoulder blades.
Astrid smirked, both of them collapsing into laughter as they moved to hide their state of undress with a speed that came from years of grabbing stolen kisses in various alcoves of their busy family home.
They had just enough time to right their clothing before their nine-year-old twin daughters came bursting into the room in a flurry of excitement.
‘The car is waiting for us, Mummy!’ Clara exclaimed with her usual vibrant excitement while her sister, Victoria, remained quiet, shrewd eyes taking in her parents’ slightly frazzled appearances for a moment, before she joined in urging them to hurry so that they wouldn’t be late.
It was the first day of the Elite One racing season.
They still attended many races every year, as Apollo was still the owner of the now highly respected Accardi Autosport team, having rooted out the corrupt elements, including all three of his cousins.
But this year they had a very new, slightly terrifying reason to be present at the opening ceremony.
‘Are you ready?’ Apollo asked, an equally nervous expression seeping into his usually calm features.
‘Ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.’ Astrid answered, placing her hand in his.
Apollo had stood in the garages of an Elite One Premio hundreds of times in his career, but today was different.
Today it wasn’t him standing in front of the monitors, performing his final checks, but his son.
At just eighteen years old, the crisp maroon-and-gold suit of the Falco Roux team had yet to cling to his lean shoulders and wiry frame but, as predicted, Luca Lewis Accardi had grown into quite the handsome young man, standing a couple of inches taller than his father.
He had not inherited Apollo’s love for the camera, however, and his quiet, studious intensity had become his signature brand as he’d risen through the ranks of the Academy.
Astrid had given her baby boy one look and promptly burst into tears, necessitating Apollo ushering her away from the garage after a quick perfunctory hug and a choked whisper of good luck.
Luca didn’t need luck; the boy was a natural in this high-intensity competition, just as he had been on the very first day Apollo had set him behind the wheel of a kart.
His talent and drive for constant progress was infectious, so it had seemed a natural progression to everyone that Nina Roux would act as Luca’s mentor once she eventually retired.
Not just because Nina was also autistic, and understood the delicate balance that came with being a racing driver and having a neurodivergent brain but, according to Luca, because his father was much too performative and impulsive in his tactics.
Memories of how he had hated his own grandfather berating him and pushing him on the track was all Apollo had needed to give his son his blessing to drive for whatever team he wanted, whilst he watched from the sidelines.
Now here Luca was, performing his debut as an Elite One driver.
The youngest driver ever to set foot on the track, he had already broken countless records, and the odds were he would continue to do so.
Apollo could not have been more proud. Grayson Koh and Nina Roux stood alongside him as they waved the next generation of future champions off to the starting grid.
They walked together in pensive silence up to the corporate box, to watch with everyone else. Isabel appeared in the doorway, looking harassed.
‘Thank goodness you’re back; the children are running wild up here.’
‘How many have you got now? Twenty?’ Apollo asked, smirking when Grayson reached out to playfully punch him in the shoulder.
Of course, he knew they had five, having officially adopted their third foster child to join their merry crew the previous Christmas.
But it was fun to watch his old rival get steadily more outnumbered by the year.
For all Apollo’s previous jealousy, he and Grayson had become fast friends over the past decade, and they had both become equal partners in Apollo’s enormously successful global campaign for equality in motor sport.
He had even convinced Tristan to join them for a spicy calendar shoot, much to Nina’s enjoyment.
The devilishly handsome owner of Falco Roux Racing appeared and greeted his wife, their five-year-old son Laurent hiding behind his legs.
Nina would return to the garage to act as a consultant with her brother on the pit wall, but for now the six of them stood shoulder to shoulder as the teams took to the track and began warming up their tyres.
Apollo embraced his wife from behind, trying to take some of the nervous tension from her body with the heat of his own. ‘Relax, amore. Luca’s starting in pole position. He’s going to win.’
‘I know he will,’ Astrid whispered, ‘I just…wish he could win a little bit slower sometimes.’
Apollo laughed, turning her in his arms and placing a firm kiss on her lips. ‘This is why you’re not allowed in the garage.’
‘I can think of one time in particular that you were very happy to have me all alone in the garage, husband.’
‘I have no recollection of such a lewd act but, the minute this race is over, let’s go straight down there and you can remind me.’
Astrid giggled and he leaned in, capturing the glorious sound with another deep kiss.
He’d been so ready to take her earlier, he hadn’t quite shaken his desire.
It wasn’t his fault that he’d married a walking seductress, determined to distract him with impure thoughts at every turn.
She could have been wearing grease-covered overalls and he’d still have wanted her.
Actually, that was another element he might add to their little role-play next time they wound up in an Elite One garage all by themselves…
The announcer’s voice boomed through the speakers, cutting short a kiss that had already become too heated for public consumption, and Apollo laughed as his daughters teased them with loud kissing noises before turning back to continue playing and laughing with their friends.
Not just friends, he realised as he gazed around at their collective brood of happy offspring and the two other couples with whom they had shared their lives for the past decade. They’d become family to him too.
The thought buoyed him and he reached out to hold his wife’s hand as they watched the cars line up on the grid.