It's You ✮ Charles Leclerc

Cɦɑpteɾ 28

♫  Let me take the lead
You follow me closely
But come on and show me ♫ 

Natalie Beaufoy POV

"Thank you for picking me up!" I say hurriedly as I enter Marina's car. My dad probably fell asleep and missed my calls so my best friend is the best choice to pick me up at a damn airport at this time.

"Why the hurry?" She asks as I put the address in her GPS.

"It's Lucas' birthday in half an hour so speed up. If you get any fines I will pay for them, just get me there before midnight," I ask her, and she takes a deep breath before doing exactly as I told her.

"Wait, Charles Leclerc lives here?" She asks in awe as we approach the building.

"He sure does, and if you tell anyone I will make sure you regret it. I have 2 minutes so stay here and I will be back soon enough," I say as I run out of the car, not giving her a chance of second guessing it.

I catch one of the residents leaving so I enter the building as I give him a fast greeting. The elevator was still there so I might reach the apartment at midnight exactly.

I knock on the door seconds away from midnight. Arthur opens it and I see the shock in his face.

"Charles tried contacting you," he whispers.

"Airplane mode," I say as I enter the apartment. I saw Lucas was on his dad's lap while talking to him and I sighed in relief. "Happy birthday kid!" I say excitedly, and both the adult and mini person turn to me.

"You are here!" He says excitedly before running in my direction. I smile and hug him.

"I won't fail you, baby. I asked you to celebrate this, and it starts at midnight," I say as I kiss his cheek.

"Happy birthday, mon prince," Charles says as he comes closer, and he smiles.

Lucas was congratulated by his uncles afterward, but he was too tired to be here, so Charles went to put him to sleep. I followed closely behind, watching from the doorframe as he gently kissed his son's forehead.

"That was close," Charles says as he closes the bedroom door and I nod.

"There were problems in Maranello, so I had to stay a few more days to help work it out," I explain, and he seems surprised.

"Wait, did you fly here today?" He asks surprisedly.

"I arrived in Nice at 11.30," I confess, and he is even more surprised.

"Who brought you here? Was it Anthoine?" He asks, and I shake my head.

"Marina," I say as I finally remember I've been here for 20 minutes.

"The unknown best friend. I thought you had made it up," he laughs, and I do too.

"You will know her soon. She will come to the party with some of my other friends. Also, I should get going. She is downstairs, but I will be back before he wakes up," I tell him, but he looks around before getting closer.

"Or you could stay. Lorenzo and Arthur are leaving now. I could help you get the bags," he says, and I feel his breathing closing in as he leans to kiss me.

"He could find us," I say as my heart races before he kisses me, taking me in his arms as his kiss draws me in.

"He won't," he says before we go to the living room, where his brothers are clearly ready to go.

I arrived at Marina's car, and I don't think she saw Charles behind me.

"It took you long enough. I could've made a whole kid with that time. Or were you the one doing that?" she asks with a smirk, and I laugh before we hear Charles cough.

"Hi! I'm Charles, nice to meet you," he leans down to the height of the car window, and the smile is wiped off her face in a split second.

"Oh. OH! Oh my god! You are even more handsome in person. God damn! Hm, I'm sorry; it's nice to meet you. I'm Marina," her emotions were all over the place, and Charles laughed. He took a step back as she exited the car nervously.

"Thank you for bringing her," he says honestly as we walk to the trunk, and Charles takes both bags out.

"No problem. Take good care of her. I will see you both later; it's good to finally meet you," she says as she enters the car.

"Sorry about that," I say as we head inside.

"Why? I can see why you two get along; it fits," he chuckled as I looked at him, trying to determine whether that was a compliment or not.

"I know, right?" I say proudly. Marina is my ride-or-die; I wouldn't take that as a flaw.

"He was scared you would leave, too, and I couldn't reach you, so I told them you would be there first thing in the morning. I was sweating," he comments after he gives them something to eat, not cooked by him since he doesn't have that ability. The man is perfect, but he can't know everything.

"I wouldn't miss it. The flight got seriously delayed, and then they canceled it, but I found a way. I changed the flights, and that one wasn't canceled or delayed, so I got here just in time."

"What are we doing after he wakes up?" He asks curiously as he leans forward.

"We are having breakfast just us; then we will have lunch with the family, followed by some karting," I say, but Charles doesn't seem convinced.

"Karting? He has no interest in that," Charles says, but I shake my head.

"He wanted to be independent; he didn't want to bother. He loves all that his dad does. He asked my dad to go with him once, and he was too scared to get in the car, but he wanted to watch. He told him only his dad was brave enough to do that," I tell him, and I notice his surprise.

"Do I even know my kid?" He asks doubtfully, and I nod.

"You will know more of him as he shows you. But tomorrow, you will celebrate his five years of life, and you will teach him karting. And teach me too, please; I am too afraid of getting hurt," I say as I approach his stall on the other side of the table. He smiles as he pulls me close.

"Help me understand him. I want to know everything about him. I can't understand what he is going through, but you can," he said calmly, but his eyes begged for help.

"Don't worry about it; you are doing just fine."

I kissed him gently, and he returned the kiss. That was the last of that subject because he quickly took me to his room and closed the door.

"I missed you," he says after lying me down on his bed, and I laugh.

"Did you?" I am being cocky, but I would hope he would miss me.

"I sure did. Did you miss me, baby?" he asks, as my top is already off, and I nod.

"I did; it's hard looking at someone you can't have," I think my words flipped a switch because he switched positions quicker than I ever thought was possible, and now I am the one on top.

"You can have me anytime you want."

"Not at work Charles," I say as I laugh, and he smirks before his hand reaches my neck and he pulls me close, this was attractive in bed I must admit.

"Anytime, anywhere. Just tell me you want me. Deal?" His lips brushed lightly on mine with every word he said, and I nodded.

"That's risky," I say as my eyes focus on his.

"I don't mind it. Do you?" He asks, and I shake my head.

"I should, though. I can be fired," I tease him as I wet my lower lip. His eyes immediately look at the slight movement.

"You won't, believe me."

Those were the last words before he kissed me again, and I was completely stripped of any reason and clothes. This man will seriously harm my better judgment if he keeps being this good at everything. It will be hard not to fall in love, I already love the kid, I could love the dad so easily and yet I know I shouldn't. Unrecriprocated love would suck, I don't know how it feels, and I don't intend on finding it out.