Deep Breath | Daniel Ricciardo

Part Eighteen

The restaurant wasn't far from the hotel, around 20 minutes in the car. Daniel had driven me, Michael and scotty (another friend of his) while Max had taken another car with a few of his friends in. From what I could gather we were meeting Charles, Carlos, Lando and Pierre at the restaurant.

I was quiet in the back of the car, not really sure where to join the conversation. The guys had all been friends for a long time, I felt like such an outsider to their group. Daniel kept checking in me through his rear view mirror, winking whenever we caught eye contact.
M

We all seemed to pull up together and all the guys were mingling, hugging fist bumping and greeting each other. I quickly realised how out of place I was. No one had brought people from work with them. They'd brought close friends.

I'd purposely stayed back a little as all the guys came together. I hadn't wanted to get tangled up in what ever all that was. Pierre had noticed me standing to one side.

"Hi, I don't think we've met, I'm Pierre."

"Hi," I shuck his hand weakly in greeting. "I'm Libby, Daniels..." there was a slight pause. I wasn't exactly sure what to say.

"Yeh I know," he smiled. "I've heard a lot about you!"

My face must have changed subconsciously, what the hell did that mean. Heard what!

"All good, all good things," he said laughing wrapping his arm round my shoulder and pulling me close to him.

I didn't really know how to react. I wasn't a huge fan of random men having intense physical contact with me. Even if they did look like Pierre. Daniel seemed to sense my discomfort and took my hand pulling me out of Pierre's grips and into the restaurant.

"Everything okay?" He nuzzled his head down close to my ear, his whispering breath tickling my neck. I nodded with as much confidence as I could manage.

It was a super posh restaurant. Don't get me wrong I was lucky growing up my family never had money troubles and they supported me right until I started getting a steady income, but the money these drivers have is off any scale I've ever known. I quickly realised after looking at the menu, this was way over the budget of a first year junior's salary.

I panicked for a moment thinking that if they split the bill I might be ripping into my overdraft this evening. And to put the cherry on the cake, I still wasn't stomaching much at the moment. I think I had managed a couple of slices of toast in about 5 days now.

I was sitting between Lando and Daniel with Michael directly opposite.

Daniel and I were sat on a two seater couch which had meant we sat very close to each other. I was almost sitting on his lap. "Choose what ever you want okay. My treat," Daniel whispered into my ear.

I smiled at him and blushed. "You don't have to"

"I want to," he smiled back at me, my cheeks now on fire, our eyes fixed on each other. I bit down on my lip subconsciously and he took a deep breath in. He lowered his face down to my neck, his lips nearly touching my ear, "did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight." I gasped slightly, I wasn't expecting that to come from his mouth. I bit down again on my lip without even thinking, my body seemed to burn with passion. I couldn't help myself, it had been so long since someone had made me feel things like I feel now; I wasn't actually sure I'd ever felt this way with anyone.

Michael had been watching us from across the table, "Your settling in well," I adjusted myself awkwardly. Pulled as far away from Daniel as I could, what was he trying to say, yes I was enjoying my time with Daniel but I was here for a job. I knew that and I took it seriously. Michael seemed to sense my unease, "What I mean is, you've fit in so perfectly. We all like having you around, I think the other drivers are even jealous. Your work is so amazing and your personality. We've never had someone like you on our team."

Christ I wasn't expecting that, I felt Daniels hand on my thigh he gave me a gentle squeeze. I smiled looking round at the guys so overwhelmed, my eyes were filling up. "Thank you, you don't know what that means."

"They're right you know," Lando interrupted, "You've got most of the grid talking. It's incredible how well your coping and the drivers love you!" My face was burning with embarrassment, I had never had people talk about me like that.

"I'll be working my magic to have you on my side of the garage by the end of the year!" Max piped up.

"No, I recon by the end of the year we'll be seeing you in Ferrari red!" Carlos shouted across to us, winking at me.

"Looks more like and AlphaTauri girl to me," Pierre said putting his hand over Carlos's mouth laughing.

"Quite the job line up," I reply to them quietly still blushing.

The evening carried on with lots of laughter, food and drinks. Something had shifted and I found some confidence within myself I didn't know was there.

I chatted like I had known these people all my life. I shared stories of my childhood and laughter about the stories they shared. Some about their childhood and young adulthood and lots about their F1 careers. They had all been in this business so long they both kind of became the same thing for them. Some of them had known each other right back to their karting days.

The evening had rapped up at around 11pm, we'd said our goodbyes and headed back to our hotels. My touch with Daniel had barely broken all night, a hand on my thigh or my shoulder, our sides pressed against each other.

Daniel had asked for a word in private when we arrived back at the hotel. What he'd really wanted was to allow time for Michael and Scotty to enter their rooms so we could enter his or mine as one, together.

I could feel my heart beating heavily as we approached the elevator, I was fiddling with the strap of my handbag trying to focus. Daniels arm was slung carelessly over my shoulders and I could feel my pulse racing, I could feel it in every part of my body.

I wasn't sure what was going to happen in the next moment and I wasn't sure what I was ready for.