A girl chasing her dream. A boy looking for the light.
When Florence Nyx started her internship at a Formula 1 paddock, she expected a lot. Fast cars. Exclusive impressions most people could only dream of. An entire array of skills she'd acquire...
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I'd already known I was in big, big trouble the second Phoenix gave me a taste of his cooking abilities. But as I watched him twirl around the kitchen like a pro, seasoning and layering the lasagna before he then shoved it into the oven, I realized I was in way over my head.
Because the way he insisted I didn't lift a finger and kept pushing me away when I approached him to help, both warmed my heart and baffled the hell out of me. I wasn't used to anyone waiting on me hand and foot, but when Phoenix did it, he seemed to actually enjoy it.
Still, it was frustrating, and ended with me standing in his way most of the time. I'd lost count of the amount of times we ran into each other, with Phoenix muttering a silent curse every time our bodies collided. It was a dangerous but exhilarating dance, one that made me want more.
So much more.
The chime of my cell phone forced me to look away from the handsome racing driver, who was currently cleaning while waiting for the lasagna to finish. I unlocked my screen and smiled at the message Rafi had sent me.
Your dog is so weird.
A snort fled my lips when I noticed the picture he'd sent along with his message, causing Phoenix to glance over at me.
I waved him over with a laugh, showing him the image of Rimmy's snout being stuck inside a bag of potato chips, his head raised to the ceiling.
"Damn." Phoenix chuckled, his eyes glancing at the top of my screen. "He's with your brother?"
I typed out a quick reply to Rafi before sliding the phone back in my pocket, my eyes finding Phoenix's.
"Yeah. He takes him whenever he can and I need him to."
He nodded, his eyes still lingering on me. You could practically see the question dancing in his irises, a question he wasn't sure he had the right to ask.
"I didn't tell him where I was going," I answered his unspoken words. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he'd wanted to know.
"Why?" he asked.
I took a step toward him, reaching for his hand. A smile crept up my lips when he instantly closed the distance, letting our fingers intertwine without hesitation.
Truth be told, there were a ton of reasons for me to not tell Rafi about this. There was the fact that technically, I was Phoenix's boss. To add on to that, he wasn't just a rookie anymore now. He was a full-blown Formula 1 star, with cameras following him everywhere and groupies standing in line to meet him.
But the reason why I didn't tell anyone, not even Ames or Jas, about this date... was that I was scared shitless.
Phoenix scared me. And I don't mean in the frightening way, but in the way that he had a power over me that left me speechless and paralyzed. I didn't know yet how this evening would proceed, where our souls would end up by the end of the night.
