Race to the Top: Book one in the Racing to Find Love series (3 page)

‘Nice wheels,’ he said, gesturing to
Anna’s little Clio. She glared at him.

‘We can’t all get paid millions for
driving round in circles,’ she snapped. He laughed and wound up his window
again, pulling away with a cocky wink.

Anna grumbled under her breath and
got into her car.

Erik climbed into his car and adjusted the mirror slightly.
That had been another tedious Gary Freeland meeting, he thought dully. The only
slightly interesting bit had been the journalist. He recalled the look she had
shot Gary and smiled to himself. She was feisty, he thought, and quite
different to the usual women he met.

She was attractive too – not the usual stick thin blondes he
usually went for. She was brunette and definitely curvy. He’d had a good look
at her backside when she’d walked across the room to sit down. There were worse
people to accompany you around the globe, he thought, remembering their silly
conversation as they had walked down the corridor. It might be nice to have
someone around who wasn’t entirely brain-dead.

Speaking of brain-dead… his mind turned to Devlin. Who did
he think he was, sauntering in there halfway through the meeting? He shook his
head. And who did Gary think he was, just letting him get away with it? They
were supposed to be equals, him and Devlin, but he felt like the number two
sometimes.

He watched as Devlin’s car cruised past his, and then saw it
stop beside a small silver car. He realised, with a touch of annoyance, that it
was the writer, Anna’s, car. Devlin was probably trying his usual chat-up
lines. Erik didn’t think Anna was the type of girl to fall for them, though.
He’d watched as Devlin had tried to make conversation with her in the meeting,
and she’d brushed him off. It had made Erik pretty happy to see that, he had to
admit.

He smiled as Devlin drove away – clearly Anna hadn’t wanted
to engage him in conversation, and he watched the small silver car pull out and
head out of the car park.

He eased his own car into gear and followed until the end of
the road, when he turned left and she turned right.

He toyed with hitting the gym. The first race was less than
two weeks away, and he wanted to be in top condition. But he was hungry and
tired, and decided to go home instead. He could go to the gym tomorrow. As he
drove, he thought back to the last season.

He was new to the team last year, Devlin having been there a
year before him. He knew him of course, had raced against him before and spoken
to him. He hadn’t liked him much but, then, Erik didn’t like many of the
drivers much. They just weren’t his type of people – brash, flashing the cash,
fickle. Devlin had made it clear from Erik’s first day that he saw himself as
the number one driver, and Erik was just there to make up the numbers. He
smiled to himself, recalling the first race of the season, when had had beaten
Devlin to that number one spot on the podium. His face had been a picture –
Erik wished he had had a camera. Unfortunately for both of them, their cars just
weren’t good enough last year, another driver and team grabbing the
championship. Devlin had finished second and him third in the standings,
separated by one point. He remembered Devlin’s taunting smile as they waited
backstage to collect their trophies and spray the champagne.

‘Next year it’ll be me on that number one step,’ Devlin had
said.

Erik knew it was possible. Devlin was a good driver, and he
raced hard. But Erik knew he was a better driver, knew that his quiet intensity
gave him an edge over Devlin’s incredible arrogance and self-confidence.

He pulled into his driveway and fumbled in the glovebox for
the remote control that opened his garage. He waited as the gates rose up,
painfully slowly, he always thought, and then carefully manoeuvred his car
inside. There was a door directly from the garage into his home – he’d had that
added for convenience when he bought the house – and he unlocked it and went
inside.

His voicemail was flashing and he pressed play. It was a
message from his mother, asking him to call and telling him she loved him. He
smiled as he heard her voice. He missed his parents; he was rich enough now to
be able to fly them out to races frequently, but his mother wasn’t a keen
traveller and they only made a couple of grand prix a year. He was looking
forward to seeing them at the Germany race, a couple of months away.

Opening the fridge, Erik took out a bottle of water and the
ingredients for a cheese sandwich, and then sat on his sofa watching the sports
channel on his massive TV. There was a piece about him and Devlin and he
watched with interest as the commentators discussed who they thought would lift
the championship.

‘I’m going to say Jonasson,’ one of them said, an ex-racing
driver himself. Erik nodded, approvingly. ‘Carter struggles under pressure, we
saw that last year in some races, but Jonasson always stays cool.’

Another panellist jumped in. ‘But I don’t know if Jonasson
has the passion. You can say what you like about Devlin Carter’s conduct and
personality, but you can’t doubt he has the passion to win.’

Erik took a swig of water to wash down a bite of sandwich.
He had intensity, and he would show them.

‘You got to meet them
both
?’

Dan had been quizzing Anna on her visit to Willis Mechanical
all through dinner, sighing in exasperation when she was unable to answer
simple questions about her visit.

‘I just sat there while Gary Freeland talked a lot of
rubbish,’ Anna said, shrugging apologetically. ‘And then I got horribly lost
and Erik Jonasson had to escort me out.’

Jules sat up in her seat, interested now.

‘Was he gorgeous? What was he like?’

Dan shook his head, and went back to his meal, but Anna
could see he was interested to know what Erik Jonasson had been like too.

‘He seemed nice enough,’ she said, thinking back. ‘He
explained a bit about tyres to me after he read a stupid note I’d written in
one of those books I ordered.’

Jules waved a hand dismissively.

‘Oh who cares about tyres?’ she said, Dan bristling beside
her. ‘Was he as gorgeous in the flesh as in that picture we saw?’

Anna considered it for a second.

‘Yes,’ she admitted, ‘He’s a very good-looking man. And he
seemed pretty down-to-earth. Not like the other one.’ She remembered Devlin’s
comment about her car and felt a flash of anger again. Who did he think he was?

‘What, that Devlin guy?’

‘Carter,’ Dan said in a monotone.

‘Yes, Devlin Carter,’ Anna said, popping a piece of pasta in
her mouth. ‘He’s an arrogant idiot.’

Dan was listening, interested.

‘They were saying on the TV the other night that his
arrogance and self-belief are probably going to give him the edge over Jonasson
in the championship.’

‘I hope not,’ Anna said, feeling slightly sad and not quite
sure why. ‘He was quite rude.’

Jules howled with laughter and Anna looked at her, puzzled.

‘Only you could meet a millionaire racing driver and brand
him “quite rude”,’ she said, Dan chuckling quietly too.

Anna laughed too. What had she gotten herself into?

***

She had a week or so before they left for the first grand
prix of the season. Anna had suggested to Gary that she come into the
headquarters again to properly meet people, but he had dismissed her, saying
they were far too busy for that kind of thing. Instead, she busied herself with
tying up loose ends at work, handing over any pieces she wouldn’t be able to
finish properly to Eleanor, who was only too glad to take them on. She suffered
from a crippling lack of imagination and intuition – Anna sometimes wondered
how she’d ended up working here in the first place and wondered if she was the
daughter of someone who knew someone. Then she would invariably feel guilty for
thinking such a thing.

Anna had pored over her information sheet numerous times.
There were lots of things on there she was pretty sure didn’t apply to her, and
were to do with transporting the cars. From what Anna could gather, she was to be
at the airport at 5am on Monday, April 2
^nd
. She gathered that the
team was travelling earlier than was usual, but Anna remembered Gary talking
about various promotions and events that had been lined up to celebrate the
start of the racing season. According to her schedule, the actual racing stuff
didn’t start till Friday. Anna had asked Dan about this at dinner the other
night.

‘Why do they have a bunch of practices? Shouldn’t they be good
enough already?’

Dan had found that heartily entertaining, laughing away to
himself while Jules and Anna looked at one another, baffled.

‘It’s not really practising,’ he said, when he had regained
control of himself. ‘It’s more testing out the car in the conditions and the
track, getting used to any changes made between races, and seeing if anything
needs to be tweaked before qualifying.’

Anna didn’t know what qualifying was either, but it sounded
like something important so she had nodded seriously.

She read some more of her books over the next few days,
although Anna thought racing was probably one of those things you need to
experience, rather than read about. Still, she found herself understanding a
little bit more about how the whole thing meshed together – although she
couldn’t bring herself to tackle the chapter on ‘kers’, whatever that was.

Packing largely consumed her thoughts in the days running up
to her departure. Anna had no idea what to wear for a week in Australia, and especially
not for a week on the racing circuit. She had e-mailed Gary asking about the
luggage allowance. From the briefness of his reply, she had gathered that
luggage allowances were quite far down his list of things worth considering,
but she had at least got an answer. It was generous, so she decided to go for
the ‘pack everything she owned’ approach, and chucked in just about every
possible outfit she could need.

Stella called her in the day before Anna was due to fly,
just to run over the brief again.

‘James O’Hare called me this morning,’ she said, after Anna
had assured her that she was organised and ready to go. ‘He’s looking forward
to reading your first column and is delighted that you’re going to be at the
first race of the season.’

Anna nodded, hoping she had arranged her face into something
resembling enthusiasm. She was sure James O’Hare would expect the writer on his
payroll who was reporting on his beloved team to love the sport like he did,
and even with Anna’s limited knowledge of different tyres and what a practice session
was, she wasn’t sure she would be able to convince anyone.

Anna had dinner at Jules’ and Dan’s again the night before her
flight and she was going to stay over there, too, as their house was nearer the
airport and it would be cheaper in a taxi. Plus then she wouldn’t have to get
up so early – 5am was horrific enough without having to get up hours earlier to
make her way across the city. Both Jules and Dan were excited, although about
totally different things.

‘I can’t believe you’re going to be walking around the
grid,’ Dan enthused, shaking his head at the thought of it. ‘It’s amazing. I’d
love to go.’

‘Maybe I can get you a VIP pass for one of the races or
something,’ Anna said, and he beamed at her.

Jules, on the other hand, was obsessed with the two drivers,
Erik and Devlin.

‘Will they be on the plane tomorrow?’ she asked in an
innocent tone. She didn’t fool either of them – Dan rolled his eyes and Anna
shook her head at her, smiling.

‘I don’t actually know,’ Anna said, ‘I hadn’t really thought
about it.’

Anna and Jules both turned to Dan, their racing guru. He
laughed at the expectant faces turned in his direction.

‘I’ve no idea,’ he said, shrugging. ‘I’d have thought so,
for the first race of the season, at least. It gets more chaotic as the season
goes on so they’ll probably start making their own way, but seeing as they’re
both in the country and heading to the same place, I imagine they’ll be on the
same flight.’

Jules smiled triumphantly.

‘You
have
to sit next to one of them,’ she said. ‘And
tell them about your poor sister, just waiting for a rich man to come and whisk
her away.’

Dan glared and Anna held up her hands.

‘Don’t worry, Dan, I’ll tell them she’s a crazy racing
groupie.’

The napkin Jules threw at her only narrowly avoided her head.

***

Seating arrangements were the last thing on Anna’s mind as
she heaved her suitcase from the taxi drop-off into the airport. Packing
everything she owned had been sensible at the time, she reflected, but she
hadn’t considered the small matter of manoeuvring her luggage from place to
place. It was 4:50am and she was out of breath, sweaty, tired, and annoyed. She
paused for a moment to catch her breath.

‘Would you like a hand?’

Anna twirled round at the voice, and saw Erik Jonasson
standing there, looking amused. Probably at the state of her appearance, she
thought.

‘No thank you,’ Anna said, in a dignified manner. She
resumed her efforts to haul the suitcase behind her to the entrance of the
airport. She had almost made it to the door, when she felt it being seized from
her, and Anna turned to see Erik had lifted it up, as if it was nothing.

‘What have you got in here?’ he asked, as he carried it into
the concourse, Anna scurrying along beside him.

‘Oh you know,’ she waved a hand vaguely. ‘Things.’

Anna gazed around as they entered the building.

‘Where is everyone?’

She had expected to see the usual lines for check-in, and
was surprised to see that the place was largely deserted.

Erik looked puzzled for a second as he followed Anna’s gaze,
and then seemed to understand.

‘Oh,’ he said, ‘It’s a private charter flight so we just get
to go straight on.’

‘Wow,’ Anna said, betraying her ignorance, but he didn’t
laugh. ‘Where’s your stuff?’

‘Already on the plane, I imagine. Someone else usually takes
care of it,’ he said, lifting up Anna’s suitcase again. ‘Shall we?’

She followed him as he led the way to a gate. Gary was standing
by it, with a clipboard. Anna sniggered at the officious look on his face and
Erik caught her eye, winking, as they approached.

‘Oh you’re here,’ Gary said, ticking something off on his
list. ‘Go on through,’ he waved them past. ‘What
have
you got in that
bag?’ he said, goggling as Erik hauled it past.

They went down a set of steps and arrived on the airfield.
This was a very strange experience, Anna thought. What about security? She had put
everything in special baggies just for that purpose. Anna followed as Erik headed
towards a medium-sized plane that was parked up a few hundred metres away. A
man in a fluorescent jacket nodded as they got to him, and took the bag from
Erik, struggling under its weight.

‘Names?’ he asked, consulting a sheet that he pulled out of
his pocket.

‘Erik Jonasson and Anna Sawyer,’ Erik said, and Anna felt a
burst of surprise that he had remembered her name. The man in the jacket jerked
his head at Erik’s name, and stared up at him, obviously recognising him.

‘I’m a huge fan,’ he said, ‘I hope you win this year.’

Erik nodded at him, graciously.

‘Thanks,’ he said, and held out his hand. The man took it,
not believing his luck, and they shook. He then picked up Anna’s bag and hauled
it away, presumably to load it onto the plane.

‘After you,’ Erik said, as he motioned towards the stairs.

Anna climbed up, trying hard not to fall, and they entered
the aircraft. It wasn’t like the usual cheap economy flights she took when she
went on holiday – this plane was spacious and even the chairs looked like
they’d cost a lot of money.

‘Where do I sit?’ Anna asked, feeling stupid. With no
ticket, how did anyone know where his or her seat was?

Erik shrugged.

‘Anywhere you like, really. Devlin always likes to be right
at the back.’ Anna mentally struck the back of the plane off her list, ‘and
Gary right at the front, so as he’s away from Devlin I think.’

‘I can’t say I blame him,’ Anna said and she saw Erik smile.

‘I tend to sit in the middle, away from them both,’ he
admitted, laughing slightly. ‘You’re welcome to join me there.’

Anna felt a faint glow of pleasure at being asked to sit
with him. And it would be useful – she was determined to find out what this
mysterious ‘kers’ was before she embarrassed herself in front of someone
important.

‘That sounds good,’ Anna said. ‘Being far away from either
of them will make for a much more relaxing journey.’

She took the window seat at Erik’s insistence – ‘I’ve done
this flight plenty of times’ – and gradually the plane filled up. Anna saw
Devlin get on and averted hers gaze as he strolled past.

‘Erik,’ he said, coolly. And then he saw Anna beside him.
‘And Anna, wasn’t it? Nice to see you again.’ He winked and she rolled her eyes
at him. He chuckled and carried on to the back of the plane.

‘What a sleaze,’ Anna muttered.

Apparently, it was Gary’s ‘thing’ to do a little speech on
the plane before they took off for the first grand prix of the season. It was
boring, and Anna noticed a few people settling down to nap. She felt she should
at least be a little professional, and took her notepad out of her handbag,
starting to scribble.

‘What are all those weird symbols?’ Erik asked, peering at
what she was writing.

‘Shorthand,’ Anna said. ‘Lots of journalists know it. It’s
basically just a quicker way of writing when people are talking. It’s
impossible to write longhand at someone’s talking speed.’

She pointed to a symbol.

‘That means championship,’ she explained, ‘but it’s phonetic
– each line and squiggle represents a sound, so when I read this back I read
the sounds and put them together to make the word.’

Erik nodded, interested.

‘How fast can you go?’ he asked, curiously.

Anna shrugged.

‘It’s been a while since I did my exam,’ she admitted, ‘so
I’m probably a bit rusty. You’re meant to be able to work at normal speaking
pace, but I’m not quite fast enough for that. Luckily Gary doesn’t say that
much worth writing down, so it’s pretty easy to keep up.’

Erik laughed and watched as Anna made a few more scribbles.

‘I wouldn’t be able to read it back,’ he said, waving a hand
at the page. ‘I’d come back to it an hour later and it would all be
meaningless.’

She smiled.

‘Sometimes I have a brief panic about that too, when I can’t
decipher the first word and then worry I’ve written a whole interview in a
made-up language I’ve forgotten. But I can usually make sense of it.’

Gary stopped speaking, blessedly, and sat down, buckling
himself in. Anna put the notepad away.

‘I’ll test you when we arrive,’ Erik said, grinning at her.

‘Deal,’ Anna said, laughing.