Free Xander (Billionaire Racers Book 1) by Anne Marsh

barely moving forward as he waits for the start. I move in fast and hard. He has room to keep clear, but I get the leeward overlap on him, and seize his spot at the five-minute warning signal, flashing him the bird as I sail past and into the hole.
    The race officer sounds the starting signal. The first five minutes of the race are critical. This is where the leaders pull away, the mid fleet forms, and the unlucky fuckers fall to the back of the pack. When the officer signals, I accelerate. I am not pinned in or blanketed by the other yachts—the Koa shoots forward.
    Game. On.
    “You sure you want her here?” My second-in-command appears at my side. He watches both the water and me, and I have got nothing but respect for his skills… but there is nothing that will keep me from Lily Petrov. After six long years, she is now grown up and she has come to me. While her timing is shit, I will make the best of my opportunity.
    “You are volunteering to throw her overboard?” We have almost nine hours until we cross the finish line—there will be no pit stops to disembark anyone. I turn my face into the wind, letting the roar fill my ears. Wind is so goddamned essential out here. Without it there is no way to move. To leave. Everywhere I look, the wind has something to say, whether it is in the ripples forming on the surface of the sea or the whitecaps as the wind starts blowing harder.
    He shrugs. “It could be arranged.”
    We both know he is joking. “I’m keeping her.”
    He nods. “Better keep her below deck then. Wouldn’t want her accidentally falling overboard.”
    Lily Petrov deserves more. She is up to her ass in a mess she had no hand in creating, but I could pull her free. She wakes protective instincts I did not know I possessed—and I absolutely want to fuck her.
    Save her.
    Make her mine in every sense of the word.

    LILY
    Six hours later, I’m ready to escape my luxury prison. I’ve spent my time wisely, working on a proposal for my company and doing some customer website updates. If the space shuttle rented out office space, it would probably feel like this. The Koa lunges through the water at breakneck speed, slamming into troughs of deep water and then rising up to repeat the process all over again. For the first thirty minutes, I’m convinced someone must fall overboard at any moment. I can’t even stay put on the bed—how does the crew manage to not fly off the deck?
    The cabin’s apparently soundproof, but when I prop the door open, sound washes over me. The wind, the roar of the waves, the bellowing of Xander’s team as they fight to maintain their position at the head of the pack—it all floods the galley and the cabin. There are the sounds of ropes, levers, and a dozen other sounds I can’t identify, followed by barked orders and footsteps. I can’t believe how noisy it is—somehow I’ve always thought of the ocean as peaceful.
    When I come up on deck—standing cautiously in the doorway because the last thing I want is to be in the way—the yacht’s a veritable beehive of activity. When Xander sees me, he lifts a hand in greeting and then hands off the wheel to another man. Other men rush around pulling on ropes and adjusting the sails. It all looks frightfully complicated.
    Xander comes over to me and wraps an arm around my waist. I’m pretty sure he drops a kiss on the top of my head too, although that seems unusually… domesticated for a member of the Russian mafia. I guess he doesn’t mind if his crew knows that I’m more than just a ride-along. He said that it wasn’t unusual to have members of the press or sponsors tag along in the galley, but I’m also guessing he doesn’t kiss them.
    “Am I okay here?” While we have a bet riding on the outcome of this race and I should want him to lose, I don’t want to get in the way. Whatever happens or doesn’t happen between us, I’m not forcing it. Not this time.
    “ Da . You are good.”
    He doesn’t let go, and I’m