A SECOND CHANCE MAY BE TOO HOT TO HANDLE
They say there are no second chances, and for Lily Onassis, ever since she walked away from Formula World driver Max Becker, she's considered this true. Instead of a glitzy, glamorous life on the auto racing...
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MAX
Normally around women I'm a simple man, and I make my needs and wants well-known.
No strings, just fun, sex only. A few laughs, some drinks, a night in a hotel room, and we both move on.
But Lily...she's different. Always has been since the minute I ran into her in the days before my first race all those years ago. I can't help but think about that day when I stare into her beautiful face right now.
She was at a club with a group of grid girls. They were all impossibly tall and gorgeous, like human versions of gazelles. And then there was Lily. Short. Disheveled, with her long, dark hair flying everywhere. Wearing glasses. And the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen.
I hadn't believed in love at first sight until that moment.
Her beauty is still disarming, even now that I'm older and way more experienced. I know this because of the way I'm blathering on about my car and what happened on the track today.
I simply don't know what else to talk about. Hell, there's a lot I want to say, but something's stopping me. Pride, probably. And I'm shocked at her story about her firing. I'd heard she'd left a company, but since I don't go on social media — I employ people for that — I hadn't seen the controversy.
The fact that any man would disrespect her like that makes me want to punch someone. But she doesn't want to hear that, I'm sure. Just like she wouldn't want to listen to me grovel and apologize for what happened between us. She's moved on. And now with her father's health crisis her temporary takeover of the team, she doesn't want me complicating her life even more.
So I'm going to be a good boy and muster the one quality I'm not known for: patience.
I'm going to be Lily's friend, her team confidante. I'm not going to seduce her, not going to flirt, and I'm definitely not going to apologize or bring up our past. There's just no point in dredging up those feelings.
"So you were driving and lost acceleration all of a sudden? No other warnings?" She looks up from her notebook and tilts her head. Good god, she's heartbreakingly beautiful. I've always thought she looked like the women in those Greek frescoes, with flowing curly, dark hair and a dreamy expression in those hazel eyes. Age has made her look more delicate and vulnerable somehow, or maybe that's what life has done to her.
The glasses are different, more angular and modern than she used to wear, and they give her a sexy, serious look. I'd love to see her naked, wearing only those black-rimmed glasses.
I shrug. "None. I was coming down the straightaway, bringing it in for a win, and it was like the entire engine shut off. I slammed my foot on the gas, and nothing."
She purses her plump, glossy lips and a dissatisfied sigh leaks out of her. "I'm sure you've talked with Jack and the other engineers, right?"
"Not yet. Everyone was too upset about your father."
