Book 2: Beginning Again -Carlos Sainz

Chapter 12

Marie was sitting with her dad in the conference room, going over their strategy plan. He had been really tough on her lately, constantly pushing her to come up with more creative ideas and do more research. Marie never complained a word to him, but secretly she was really annoyed. She didn't kill herself for 5 years in college to finish her degree to be doing social media work. She respected social media work, much more after this job, and it wasn't easy by any means, but this wasn't what she wanted to be doing. But she just kept her head down, took his suggestions, and worked harder. Marie barely even recognized that they were in a new city this week, even though she had always wanted to visit Japan.

"Okay, we will be filming the first video this week, and the next two the following weeks. I have the time blocked out in the driver's schedules and I'm almost done preparing everything else," Marie said, half to her dad and half to herself.

"That sounds good. Marie... if this first video doesn't do well, I think we will really need to re-evaluate this strategy," Gavin spoke with seriousness in his tone.

Marie met his eyes, reminding herself that he was her boss right now, not her dad. This was church and state, they were to remain separate relationships. Nothing personal.

"Yes, I understand. Just give me a chance on this first one. I think more and more people are leaning towards short videos, with Tik Tok becoming really popular. Trust me on this first one, but if it doesn't work then I will do whatever you or the Ferrari social team want me to do."

Marie felt like she sounded pretty confident, even though she felt like a scared, shaking chihuahua when she spoke like that. She had gotten pretty good at faking it till she made it.

"Okay, deal. Can you show me the graphics you've made this week? The ones I asked for?" Gavin spoke as he pulled out the chair next to him.

"Absolutely," Marie said as she opened up her laptop and started looking for the files. Gavin was distracted by something on his phone while Marie pulled up the materials, before a message that had popped up on her computer screen grabbed her attention.

Carlos: Need you for stress relief. Bring that ass of yours over here.

Marie's heart rate skyrocketed as she slammed her laptop closed. She had no idea what else to do, as she ran the risk of both her father and her boss seeing the booty-call text she had just gotten from, essentially, her coworker. Gavin looked up at the sound of her laptop closed and looked at her, confused.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah... yes. Let me just..." Marie said as she pulled out her phone and cleared the message, turning on do not disturb just for safety. Her heart rate was starting to return to normal as she opened her laptop once again. She breezed past the awkward moment and jumped straight into the rest of the meeting. Once it was over and Gavin had fully exited the room, Marie looked down at her phone, opening the message. She hadn't even seen Carlos since their last time, granted she was holed up in a conference room or hotel suite somewhere for most of the days.

"He probably means he wants to meet up tonight. It's the middle of the day, we both have to work," Marie thought to herself as she typed out her reply.

I'm heading your way:Marie

Marie typed notes from the meeting as she walked over to his room, wanting to make sure she had everything in order before this weekend's grand prix. It took her double the time to get there, but by the time she knocked on his door she was still typing furiously. She didn't even notice when the door opened and an arm reached out to pull her inside.

"Woah, hey what?" Marie said as she looked up, regaining her balance with a hand on his bicep. Before she could even close her phone from the notes app, Carlos had pushed her against the door and was a few inches from her face, staring down at her.