Lap Two

They were always supposed to cross the finish line together... until life sent them in opposite directions.

In high school, Avery Cole and Nicholas Hartley had everything mapped out: she'd escape their small town with a business degree and a corner office, he'd chase his NASCAR dreams, and somehow they'd make the distance work.

Instead, he left for a career opportunity of a lifetime. She stayed behind with a shattered heart and a college acceptance letter, swearing she'd never build her future around a boy who chose racing over her.

Years later, Avery is a rising corporate powerhouse, the woman brands call when they want results. Her latest project? Lead a major sponsorship deal in NASCAR. The catch: the driver at the center of the contract is the one man she's spent a decade trying not to love.

Nick Hartley is now a Cup Series star with a loyal fanbase, a reputation for driving on the edge, and a "casual" situationship with the grid girl everyone assumes is his girlfriend. He's learned to keep his heart out of the car, until Avery walks back into his garage in heels, a blazer, and ten years of buried feelings.

Forced into each other's orbit; lightning holds in the hauler, hotel mix-ups that end in motorcoach sleepovers, late-night strategy calls that sound too much like the past they can't outrun, and a decade of unfinished between them.

But the track isn't the only place things get messy.

The grid girl who wanted more from Nick, the polished ex who wants Avery back, and a gossip-hungry fanbase turn their second chance into a very public spectacle.

In a world where everything is measured in laps, contracts, and camera angles, Avery has to decide what and who is worth the risk.

Is Nick just the unfinished chapter she never closed, or the home she's been quietly steering toward all along?