Connections (F1 story)

Chapter Forty Seven: Time Out

Lizzie had been ringing me, or rather, I had 21 missed calls from her. Twenty one...

I then came to the conclusion that Christian had told her what was going on, or she was just very, very drunk. It was after all ten-to-midnight. Way past her peak.

I looked out of the window as we took off up over Belgium, noting a lot had happened in the past few days and I was going to have to tell Daniel at some point, preferably in London so my home was closer.

The familiar sensation returned in my stomach as the plane banked to the left. My muscles flinched and my breath momentarily stalled.

"Okay?" Daniel asked, taking my hand as I nestled into his shoulder relaxing only slightly.

"Okay." I replied and smiled. It was incredibly hard not to smile when you were around him. Although, however much the media portrayed him as the joker, he had a deadly serious side- the racer, the fighter...the guy that got incredibly homesick from Perth and his family.

---

Monaco was hot and Daniel was in shorts. Paul was fretting about how it was going to rain at any given moment and I- well, I was up to my eyeballs in media stories and reports. There was simply no let up, absolutely none. My laptop had been constantly plugged in since landing.

Paul got up to go shopping and collect his latest order of fitness goodies. The two boys had been out all morning training, even though we had landed less than seven hours ago.

Subsequently, I had just witnessed a full on massage and then Daniel almost falling asleep as a result. I tried to tell Paul that my back was giving me grief but he wouldn't have any of it.

"Daniel?" I said as I focused on the tattoo on his right thigh. You rarely saw it around the paddock, but when it was just us I was becoming more and more accustomed to it.

"Yes, Saskia?" He sat up straight, stretching his arms out and attempting to disguise a yawn.

"I must say I am loving the shorts."

He laughed and looked down at his Red Bull logo'd attire.

"Thanks. I chose them myself." He smirked, gazing at me. That particular facial expression was always guaranteed to make my knees go weak.

"Thought so." I replied, placing my Mac on the terrace floor. My eyes were going crosseyed looking at the damn thing. At least I had a head start with event planning for Monza.

Daniel moved closer and slipped his arm around my shoulder. His touch was soft yet I could feel his pulse through the tips of his fingers.

"It's nice how I can just relax for a day now." He sighed contently, as if his mind was really at rest after the madness of yesterday. "Do you fancy heading down to the harbour?"

"Only if you tell me the reasoning behind your leg artwork." I said, maintaining eye contact.

"Have I not told you?" He suddenly shied and I was pretty certain that he was blushing.

"Nope." I shook my head and stood up, suddenly feeling very dizzy. Lack of sleep and stress was taking its toll.

"Ah, well..." he said and whispered into my ear. I gently hit him knowing that he was blatantly bullshitting. His face then came over serious. "I'll tell you on the way there."

I pulled him up and Daniel locked the door putting his keys into the pockets of his shorts. He grabbed my hand and we set off towards the sea front, me thinking how the magical atmosphere of Monaco would never grow old. Mainly because here was where the bulk of my thinking was done. And this was only my fourth visit.