✓ WORKING FOR THE KNIFE ━ lando norris. ¹

[ 033 ] Won't Make It

( ACT II. ── Uncertain Waters )
chapter thirty-three / Won't Make It

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The rally didn't begin until tomorrow. Dinner was reserved for six. It was barely one in the afternoon, so they had the rest of the day to kill. Annika was being driven slowly insane, purely by being around Lando, seeing him, his shoulders, his forearms, smelling his cologne, feeling every time he passively touched her.

She went to the hotel gym and tried to run it off, feeling like a complete psychopath for doing so, but at the same time she felt like rejection would send her over the edge right now. Needless to say, she didn't outrun it, and just ended up literally hot and bothered in addition to the figurative definition.

She returned to the room at a quarter-past five, intending to get a cold shower quickly before going out. Lando was laying halfway across the couch with one leg resting on the ottoman and one on the floor. He was on his phone, half-dressed for dinner already in grey slacks and a white tank top, a thin gold chain around his neck. "Hi," he greeted her cheerfully.

Annika breathed deeply, conflicted and frustrated, and just turned away from him, unable to be verbal.

"Anni?" he prompted worriedly. "You okay?"

"Fine."

He grimaced. "That's never a good response to get to that question."

"I am okay."

He stood up and approached her, reaching out and hooking his fingers into the hem of her shirt, completely without intention, but she noticed it like a nuclear bomb. Oblivious, he just leaned in and put a small kiss on her sweaty temple. "You sure you're okay? You're not hurting?"

She was, a bit. Her ribs and shoulder ached when she ran, and her neck had been a bit twinge-y ever since the crash. "Not really."

"Tell me if you are, okay?"

"Okay."

"Jeez, you smell good."

"Are you okay? I'm all sweaty," she said skeptically.

"Mm... dunno." He pulled her closer and inhaled deeply into her hair, then her cheek, neck, shoulder, making her laugh. Annika moved her hands up his arms and squeezed his shoulders lightly before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I need a shower," she giggled as he made another dramatic show of sniffing her ear.

"What? No."