Like a moth drawn to a flame

The new one

*Luisa*

"Charles!" the Monegasque laughed as he wrapped his arms around me from behind.

I let myself fall back a bit and smiled at the driver, who immediately pressed a kiss to my cheek. I could already understand why the speculation around us kept boiling up. We were damn close and got along really well. He made me feel good, I liked being around him and most importantly we worked well together.

For this season, I had been promoted to be his race engineer. I had been so proud. It was a great honor. Especially since I had only been with the Scuderia for two years and it usually took longer to get such a post. But Fred had dared to do it anyway. Mainly because Charles and I got along so well.

This season was going to be red.

"I missed you, ma Cherie." he smiled, leaning against the table next to me.

"I missed you too.", I smiled and slid my notebook to the three years younger "But I've been thinking about you a lot. Or rather, about your car.".

He laughed and immediately flipped through the notes.

"I've written down a few setups before. They'll have to have adjusted then, of course, but from the experience of the last two years, they fit you pretty well."

"Wow, you must have really missed me if you'd rather do something like that than enjoy a vacation."

"You know me. Quiet is a foreign word to me," I smirked.

Charles put his hand on mine and looked at me with concern. There it was again, that crackle as he leaned in. His eyes scanned my face.

"You've been resting, too, haven't you? I'm worried about you. Not that you're going to overwork yourself.".

That look he gave me made my knees go a little weak.

"That's all right Charles. I've had enough rest. I'll take care of myself."

His hand gently stroked through my hair "I'll take care of you too. I promise.".

After that, we delved back into the set-ups, but I couldn't deny that my eyes kept sliding to his lips. I wonder what it was like to kiss him?

Would I like it?

My heart beat a little faster. I could feel the blush rising in my cheeks.

Immediately, I lowered my eyes and focused on the notes again.

"Charles, Luisa, will you please come to the meeting room? I have an announcement to make," Fred interrupted our conversation.

"Sure, we'll come.", Charles smiled, took my notebook and then extended his hand to me.

He pulled me to my feet and I followed him into the meeting room. Most of our colleagues were already there. Charles and I sat down with Carlos and Matteo, his race engineer.

I leaned back a bit.

This must have been the speech for the start of the season. Fred was the new team principal, but was doing a really good job. You got the feeling he was strict, but very fair and he gave us a lot of freedom. So far, the testing had all gone according to plan, which just made him want to let us keep doing what we were doing.

"Glad to see you all here.", Fred smiled to the crowd "You've all done great in the last few weeks and I'm sure if we keep this up we'll have a good chance at the title. We are all pulling together and that makes us strong. But I have one more announcement to make before the season starts. And that is that I have hired someone else. I want to establish him especially for the race strategy and the car setup. This would mean that Luisa, Matteo and their teams would report directly to him. You will work closely with him and hopefully together you will find the best tactics for our team," he smiled and then nodded towards the door "Most of you have already worked with him. Come on in Seb.".

My heart skipped a beat as my ex-boyfriend joined our team leader.
Why him?

One trail of mine rejoiced, because Sebastian was an absolute perfectionist. He was partly to blame for me being the way I was.

The other part of me, however, didn't feel so good. We had broken up over two years ago because he had been struggling with so many things at the time that he hadn't had time for me. We had fought often and it had eventually gotten so bad that I had broken up. It had broken my heart because I had really loved him.

That we should be working together now wasn't exactly my dream scenario, because it still hurt.

I sank down in my chair a little. It was useless, his eyes were fixing on me anyway. Charles next to me was beaming. He was excited about Seb, he had mentioned that to me over and over again. He didn't know that Seb and I had once been together. No one had known that. It had been our secret. Especially because he and my dad had been such close friends and he had, since Dad's accident, taken over a bit of mentorship for my brother Mick.

It had been weird, but Seb and I had really loved each other. I had loved him more than anything. And then it had been over.

He hadn't been able to cope with it either, but had accepted my decision. Basically, he had had no choice.

Charles leaned over to me.

"This is going to be fantastic! Seb is great. You're going to love working with him. I mean you guys know each other, but...", Charles beamed even wider "...you're going to be a perfect team."

I rather doubted that, but nodded without looking at him. My gaze was fixed on Seb, who was also looking at me.

I wasn't sure if I should like the whole thing. But this time I had no choice. This time I had to go through with it.

My fingers began to tremble. Charles immediately wrapped his hand around mine.

"Are you cold, ma Cherie?" he asked anxiously, looking down at my shaking hand.

"A little," I murmured.

Now I tore my gaze away from Seb, but felt that he was still looking at me.

"I was pleased to get the offer, of course. Working for Ferrari is always a privilege and with such talented drivers and engineers, the chances are good that we'll make it to the title this year. Of course I want to play my part in that. I'm looking forward to it. And I'd like to talk to Matteo and Luisa in my office following the meeting."

I nodded without looking up, while Charles wrapped his hand around mine a little tighter. I was glad that Matteo would be there as well. At least then it wouldn't be awkward, or at least not as awkward as it probably would have been had we been alone.

I wasn't ready to be alone with him again because my heart was still racing and that was only because I could still feel his gaze.

How could anyone make you so nervous?

I squeezed Charles' hand and looked over at him. He was still beaming all over. His calmness came over to me. I relaxed a little, but avoided Seb's gaze until the end of the meeting.

"See you later in the garage ma Cherie.", Charles pressed a kiss to my cheek and handed me my notebook.

"See you later mio caro.", I smiled before walking with Matteo towards the offices.

"I'm really excited to see what it's like to work with him. You guys already know each other, right?", Matteo asked, walking relaxed beside me.

"Yeah right. He's kind of part of the family," I shrugged.

Seb was so much more than that. But also just that. He was family and he always would be. Mick saw him as a kind of father substitute and so I would always run into him anyway. I would get used to working with him.