Free Race to the Top: Book one in the Racing to Find Love series by KT Shears

incredibly anxious for Erik. This all
looked quite dangerous, and she watched with her heart in her mouth as he flung
the car round the sharp bends. More and more cars joined them on the track, and
she glanced at the television above her head, which displayed all the drivers
and their lap times. She was pleased to see Erik’s name go on top, although she
knew that it didn’t really matter as this was just practice. But still.
Even as she watched, though, Devlin’s name overtook him then, a few minutes
later, Erik’s name was on top again. She thought back to what Dan had said
about what a fierce rivalry it would be this season, and figured he had been
right.
    She was enthralled. She’d imagined racing just to be going
round in circles, but the twists and turns of the track amazed her. She had a
new respect for both drivers – they must need some level of skill to handle
their car without crashing, she thought.
    Devlin was first in, climbing out of his car and shoving his
helmet at one of the mechanics. He ran a hand through his hair and Anna was
childishly amused to see that it was sticking up. He disappeared through the
back.
    Erik came in shortly after, pulling back in beside Devlin’s
car. He clambered out, managing to make it actually look graceful, and removed
his helmet too. A mechanic came forward and Erik handed it to him, clapping him
on the shoulder and exchanging a few words. Anna thought of the way Devlin had
shoved his helmet at a mechanic, wordlessly, and thought that just summed up
the difference between the two drivers.
    Erik started to head through to where Devlin had gone – Anna
assumed it was to look at graphs and statistics or something – but noticed her
and came over. He smelled of sweat but she didn’t find it unpleasant. To her
surprise, she actually found it vaguely arousing.
    ‘Well?’ Erik asked. His voice sounded expectant.
    ‘I loved it,’ Anna trilled enthusiastically. ‘And it wasn’t
even a race! How can you drive so fast round all those twists and turns? It’s
amazing.’ She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, ‘And I’m glad you
finished ahead of Devlin.’

Chapter twelve
     
    Erik thought the two practice sessions had gone pretty well.
The car had felt good, better than last season, he thought. The team had
obviously listened to his feedback and made changes. He had checked his times
and was pleased to see he had been 0.1 seconds ahead of Devlin in both
sessions. It was practice, so didn’t mean anything, but he hoped this would be
the same for qualifying tomorrow.
    He smiled thinking about Anna’s awestruck face as she had
asked him how he managed not to crash. He was glad she had enjoyed it – he had
sought her out when he pulled back into the garage after practice one. He
recalled the way she had whispered in his ear, the sensation of her breath on
his neck making him tingle slightly. And, of course, she had said she liked him
more than Devlin – that made him smile too.
    He headed back to the hotel, trying to dodge the various
newspaper and television reporters determined to ambush him. He managed to make
it out with only having to do two interviews, which he thought was pretty good
going, considering. He arrived back in his room and lay on his bed, closing his
eyes.
    A picture of Anna swam into view, her dark chocolate hair
falling about her pretty face. He opened his eyes with a jolt. He needed to get
his head straight, he couldn’t let a pretty girl distract him from opening
weekend. He closed his eye again, but she was still there. He knew that she
wasn’t just a pretty face, too. He enjoyed their conversations, looked forward
to hearing her speak. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d met a woman who
he found interesting and engaging.
    He got up again, unable to concentrate and picked up the
phone, dialling his parents’ number. It should be about 8am there, he
calculated, doing the quick maths in his head.
    ‘Hej?’
    ‘Hi Mama, it’s