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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"We absolutely can not do that."
I shrugged and smiled up at Phoenix, who stared at the sight in front of us. Even though his expression said he wasn't sure about the decision we were about to make, part of me knew he wanted it just as much as I did. He was just a little more reasonable than me.
"Why can't we?" I asked, trying to mimic Rimmy in my arms, who also gave his dad big puppy eyes.
Phoenix glanced at me, then Rim, and then back at me. His trusting green eyes sparkled with a hint of amusement that gave me the literal green light to do what I knew we both wanted to. We'd discussed it beforehand, after all. Phoenix had just gotten cold feet now that we were here.
"Because..." He sighed and studied the few dozen dogs of the animal shelter. "We already have one that's deaf. How the hell are we supposed to keep another one that's blind?" he asked, pointing at the German Shepherd on the other side of the fence. She was the prettiest dog I'd ever seen, even with — or maybe because of — her light eyes, revealing her disability.
As if to answer Phoenix's question, Rimmy jumped from my arms and ran toward the fence, where Xenia and him now sniffed each other with wagging tails. The two barked and licked and did whatever they needed to communicate, and ended up rubbing their heads against each other before they fell into the grass. Even Phoenix had to sigh now, his features softening slowly.
"Well, I mean, Rimmy seems to like her." I hugged Phoenix from behind, interlacing our fingers while I pressed a kiss at the sensitive spot behind his ear. "And I mean, what's one more dog, right? We're already pros."
Glancing over his shoulder, Phoenix raised a brow at me. "Xenia is twice as big as Rimmy. This is a whole new challenge."
"I know." I smiled. "But don't we like challenges? Besides, my parents and your mom also agreed they'd help whenever we can't take them with us. And this way, Rimmy gets a play buddy wherever he goes. That would take a lot off our shoulders, too."
Phoenix sighed, now turning to wrap his arms over my shoulders and face me. "I don't know. I'm just afraid it'll get too much with everything going on already."
His furrowed brows told me he was sincere, and I could practically feel his worry when he pulled me into a quick but relieving hug. The strain of the past months had started to wear off, but all the post-championship-hype had followed us even outside of the paddock. Winning the championship hadn't just meant that Phoenix had achieved his goals and dreams, it'd also meant he had to live up to the expectations a world champion had to face.
At the beginning, it'd been pure chaos. It'd taken all of two weeks for the media to calm down, which only happened because we flew to Phoenix's hometown in Ireland and went undercover. Now that things had settled and we had some time to recharge, it was time we created our new reality, and lived our lives the way we always wanted them to. Sure, we had to keep extra security around now, and sure, we had to be more careful whenever we left the safety of our home, but that didn't stop us from doing what we loved.
