The remainder of the journey passed with the three of them exchanging small talk, then attempting to listen to music until it became apparent that their musical tastes varied massively. They teased each other mercilessly, and were still smiling and laughing when the sat-nav—which Elias had switched on about three-quarters of the way through their journey—told them they had reached their destination. Fortunately the weather had remained consistent, and the Kent sky was blue and radiating weak sunshine.
They fell silent as Elias indicated and pulled into the circuit’s entrance road. Mia reached into her shoulder bag for her bottle of water, since her mouth had suddenly gone dry. Bloody hell, this is it. It’s really happening!
Knowing there’d be a bathroom somewhere on the site, she chugged back half the bottle with confidence and no small amount of relief as it soothed the dryness in her mouth and throat. She clicked the cap back on the bottle, then returned it to the bag and retrieved her lip balm. After applying a generous layer, she sneaked a peek in her makeup mirror to make sure she looked presentable. Elias was concentrating on driving, and Alex was pulling up something on his phone, so neither of them spotted her checking her appearance.
“Okay,” Alex said, nodding, “head around to the left after these buildings, then keep going straight and we should see him.”
“All right,” Elias replied. “Heading left.”
They moved slowly through the site, which looked deserted to Mia, but couldn’t have been, otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten past the gates. Bloody hell, when he said he’d hired the track, he must have meant for my exclusive use. Wow!
As they rounded the corner of the buildings, Mia immediately spotted where they were going. A few hundred metres in front, beside the empty track, sat the car. A dark-skinned man stood beside it. Off to the right of the man, who’d started waving at them, was a regular vehicle—the owner’s ride home, she presumed.
Her heart pounded as they closed in on the Lamborghini and its owner, and she surreptitiously wiped sweaty palms on the legs of her jeans. The Aventador was painted a look-at-me red colour—as if such a stunningly beautiful vehicle needed to make an effort to draw attention. Typical man’s choice, Mia thought with a smirk.
Elias moved the Audi up behind the third car—which Mia now saw wasn’t regular, exactly. It was a brand-new Mercedes GLA. But, next to a Lamborghini Aventador, it was insignificant. He parked, switched off the engine, then got out and hurried around to open her door. Alex got out, too, and by the time her feet landed on the tarmac, both men waited for her side by side, wearing matching grins.
“You ready for this, Mia?” Elias asked.
She nodded profusely. “Absolutely. Can I put my bag in the boot?”
“Of course.” He pressed a button on his key fob and the rear door clicked and began lifting.
Mia put the bag down in front of her overnight bag, her heart skipping a beat as she saw it settled in between two other overnight bags. Shoving that and any related ideas to the very back of her mind, she grabbed her camera from her shoulder bag and zipped it up. “Okay, Elias, I’m done.”
He pressed at his key fob again. The tailgate began to lower.
Alex nodded towards the camera in her hand. “You want me to take photos for you? I’m pretty nifty with a camera. Bit of an amateur photographer, actually.”
“Yes,” she said, holding it out to him. “That would be great, thank you. It’s got a burst feature, video feature, and a huge memory card in there, so don’t hold back. I’ve also got a spare battery and a spare memory card, if needed.”
“Wow, you came prepared,” Alex replied with a lift of his eyebrows.
“For crossing an item off my bucket list?” she said incredulously. “Of course I bloody did!”
He held his hands up. “Fair enough.”
“Come on, then,” Elias said, pocketing his car keys. “Let’s go and meet Arjun.”
They walked over to where the man stood beside the Aventador. His face broke into a smile as they approached. Mia was surprised to see he was probably a couple of years her junior. She’d been expecting a much, much older guy—beyond retirement age. Wow—what does Arjun do for a living that he can afford an Aventador at his age? Or is he a lottery winner?
He was handsome, with his thick, black hair, liquid brown eyes, sinful lips, and trendy moustache-and-goatee combo. Mia blinked, resisting the temptation to pinch herself. How was it even possible that she was surrounded by so much beauty? Not one; not two; but three smoking hot, wealthy men. And the most stunning car ever made.
Apparently Santa had come early this year. And she’d been a very, very, good girl.
“Arjun?” Elias said, holding out a hand. “Hello. I’m Elias. Nice to meet you.”
Arjun shook Elias’s hand. “Hi, Elias. Good to meet you, too,” he replied in a lightly accented voice. Indian? She wasn’t sure.
“This is Alex, who’s hired the track for the weekend.” The two men shook hands. “And this,” Elias held an arm out to indicate Mia, “is Mia Harrington. She’ll be driving the Aventador.”
Arjun stepped towards her. “Hello, Mia. It’s good to meet you.” They shook hands. “I understand this is a special treat for you?”
Bloody hell, mister, this would be a special treat for most people—even the two blokes next to me, and they’re not short of a few quid. She nodded. “Yes, it is. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I met Elias and Alex a few weeks ago at the charity fundraiser. Elias, as you know, won the auction for your car. I just found out this morning that Alex had hired this track for the weekend. I appreciate you bringing the car over here for us.”
Shrugging, Arjun replied, “It’s not a problem. I only live a few miles away. So,” he shifted his gaze between her and the other two men with a slight frown, “you guys only just met? I assumed that you were Elias’s girlfriend.”
Heat crept up Mia’s neck and face. She shook her head. “No, I’m not his girlfriend. We did just meet. I’m not anybody’s girlfriend.” Why the hell did you say that? You sound like you’re trying to tell him something! “I mean… I-I’m not Alex’s girlfriend, either.” Not making it any better, Mia! Her cheeks blazed—the poor bloke probably thought she was some kind of high-class hooker or something, and was regretting his decision to donate use of his car to a charity auction. She mentally crossed her fingers that he wouldn’t change his mind now he’d met the winner.
A groove still between his eyebrows, but with a glint of amusement in his eyes, he replied, “All right. Glad we’ve established that. So, are you ready to drive? Obviously we’ve got to do some talking and some administration first, but then,” he dangled the keys from the index finger of his right hand, “she’s all yours.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Thank you so much, Arjun. That was totally amazing. She handles like a dream, doesn’t she? And she’s quick, too!” Mia handed Arjun the keys, adrenaline still pumping through her veins. She suspected the grin on her face reached from ear to ear.
He grinned back, then his gaze flicked momentarily over her shoulder. She turned to see Elias’s car pulling in through the gates that had opened for her just moments ago when she’d announced her arrival into the intercom. The Audi rolled up the gravel drive, leaving plenty of space between it and the Aventador, and parked. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. Will I have any speeding tickets to take care of in the next few weeks?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.
Mia shook her head, adopting a mock-offended expression. “Me? Speeding? Never! Not on the public highway, anyway. I admit, I did give her some welly around the track, though. But not too much—I was frightened of damaging her. I’m surprised you’re not examining her for damage, actually.”
With a chuckle, Arjun replied, “Not at all.” He paused. “I planned to wait until you were gone.” He winked.
“She’s as perfect as she was this morning, I promise. Though perhaps a little dirtier—I can’t avoid road dust, unfortunately.
Hey, how about I get her valeted for you before I bring her back tomorrow?”
“Absolutely not. I won’t hear of it. The whole idea of my donating to the charity auction was to raise funds for charity, of course, but also to give someone an amazing experience. I’m not then going to allow that person to pay to have the car cleaned. I’ll take care of it—consider it part of the donation.”
Just then, a security lamp mounted on the house behind him clicked on, bathing them both in its bright beam. The loss of daylight had been what had finally encouraged Mia to take her foot off the accelerator of the Aventador and think about leaving the track to return the car to her owner for the night. Now the sky was darkening rapidly, and her rumbling stomach was reminding her she hadn’t eaten lunch. “Okay,” she said with a nod. “Thank you again, in that case. That’s very kind of you. Anyway, I’d better go—Elias and Alex are waiting for me. What do you want to do about tomorrow? Shall I come and collect her? I plan to do some proper road driving tomorrow—all I did today was bring her from the track to here. I’d like to show her off a bit.”
“Sure. Any time after eight-thirty is fine with me. But… before you go, Mia, can I ask you something?”
“Yes, of course. What is it?”
He shifted his weight from foot to foot, then met her eyes a little shyly. “You said earlier that you’re not anybody’s girlfriend. And, to borrow your phrase, I’m not anybody’s boyfriend. So, would you like to have dinner with me this evening, if you don’t have any other plans? Just the two of us,” he added, his gaze flicking momentarily to the Audi.
“Erm…” Shock had rendered her unable to say anything intelligent. Her mind whirled with indecision. She knew him even less well than she knew the two men waiting for her just feet away, but she did find him attractive—and it was nothing to do with his bank balance. She idly wondered whether the last few years of not dating or even meeting anyone she particularly liked were catching up with her now—first the unexpected situation with Thomas, then Elias and Alex, and now Arjun. Four delicious men, and just one of her. It seemed greedy to lead them all on…
Realising she’d been so busy thinking that she hadn’t given him a reply, she cleared her throat. “Sorry, Arjun.” Disappointment made his lips turn down at the corners and he dropped his gaze to the gravel beneath their feet, plucking at her heartstrings. She decided honesty was the best policy. “Under ordinary circumstances, I would say yes. But Elias and Alex have gone to a lot of effort this weekend, and it would be wrong of me to ditch them to go out for dinner with you. Do you see where I’m coming from?”
Raking a hand through his thick hair, Arjun nodded. “Yes, of course. Now you have explained it like that, I realise it was wrong of me to even ask. I agree it wouldn’t be right for you to ditch them. Some other time, perhaps?”
She surprised herself by nodding—apparently she was in a greedy mood today. “That would be wonderful. I’ll see you tomorrow, yes? Around nine? That will give me time to have a decent breakfast—all I had today was two slices of toast. But it was totally worth it to spend the day in her.” She jerked her thumb towards the Aventador.
“No problem. Have a good evening, Mia. See you in the morning.”
There was an awkward pause, then Mia stepped forward and kissed Arjun’s cheek. The warmth of his dark-caramel skin and the scrape of his facial hair against her cheek and lips sent sparks of awareness rushing through her veins. God, he smells good, too. “Thank you again, Arjun,” she said brightly, quickly putting some distance between them before the awareness turned into full-blown arousal, “see you in the morning. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Mia.”
She spun on her heel and hurried towards the Audi, trying to distract herself with thoughts of what she wanted for dinner. The last thing she should be doing was getting all hot under the collar about Arjun when she already had two men pandering to her every whim for the weekend. It felt like a betrayal, somehow.
She’d put on such a burst of speed that she’d already opened the car door and was halfway in before Elias could come and do it for her. She clunked it shut behind her. “I’ve told him we’ll be back around nine in the morning. Is that all right?”
“Yes, of course,” Elias said, his voice conveying his confusion. “But is everything all right with you?”
“What do you mean?”
Both men had twisted in their seats to look at her. Elias spoke again. “Well, what just happened between you and Arjun? We couldn’t hear anything you were saying, but both of your body language went all weird, then you kissed him, and came jogging back to the car like you couldn’t get away quickly enough. He didn’t say something to upset you, did he?”
She shook her head. “No, not at all.” Beyond them, through the windscreen, she saw one of the five doors to Arjun’s garage opening, and the man in question about to get into the Aventador, presumably to put it away for the night. “Look, can we talk about this later? We’re sitting on Arjun’s property here—he probably wants to get the gates closed.”
“All right,” Elias said. The men exchanged a glance as they twisted to face the front of the car. Elias put the vehicle into gear and turned it around. As they left the property, Mia couldn’t resist looking through the rear window. The garage door was just closing behind the Lamborghini. Arjun stood watching as they drove away. She couldn’t see his face—the security light behind him had thrown it into relief, but she wondered what expression he was wearing. Was he disappointed? Pissed off?
She had to admit, she didn’t even really know how she was feeling, never mind anyone else.
Just then, her phone bleeped with a text message. One of the men had retrieved her shoulder bag from the boot of the Audi for her and put it in the back. She unzipped it and dug inside for the device.
She unlocked the screen and opened the message, which she’d already seen was from Thomas.
Hope you’ve had an amazing day in the Aventador and have got lots of photos for me to look at when you get back. Enjoy tomorrow, and stay safe. Let me know you’re okay. All is well here xxx
She hit reply, then drew a blank. Her brain was just too full of questions, of confusion. Just what the hell was going on? With her and Thomas, her and Elias, her and Alex… and now Arjun. She’d never been a cheat, and although she wasn’t cheating on anyone right now—one would have to be in an actual relationship for that to be possible—there were just so many emotions floating around inside her head that she couldn’t help but wonder. Was she doing anything wrong? Elias and Alex had already made their position perfectly clear—and she hadn’t so much as kissed either of them—in a sexual way, that was. And Thomas, although he was obviously upset at the thought he didn’t meet requirements in terms of her father’s will, hadn’t seemed overly concerned when she’d told him about Elias and Alex and their… preferences. Shocked, yes, but not concerned. Or jealous. And yet he was fond of her—he’d told her as much, and his behaviour towards her backed that up—so it wasn’t just that he didn’t care.
It was way too early to even begin to figure out Arjun’s intentions—and maybe she shouldn’t even try.
After all, having three men interested in her was already more than enough. Surely encouraging a fourth was just asking for trouble.
She shook her head, figuring she’d concentrate on one thing at a time so her head didn’t explode. Focusing on her phone, she tapped in a response.
I’m fine. The Aventador was AMAZING! Not sure about photos—haven’t had chance to look at camera yet, but there’s always tomorrow. Can’t believe I get to drive her AGAIN! I am a very lucky woman. Glad all is well there. See you on Monday xxx
She sent the text, then put the phone back in her bag. “Hey, Alex?”
“Yeah?” He turned to look at her.
“How did you get on with the camera? Did you get many good shots or videos, or whatever?”
“Yeah, absolutely. It was really easy to use—similar to mine, actually—so I quickly got t
he hang of it and took plenty of photos. Obviously you can’t really tell until the images are blown up on a computer screen, but they look fantastic on the camera’s screen. The light helped—the brightness meant the car’s paintwork looked really vivid. Beautiful. I got a bunch of stills, and a bunch of videos. We should get some of you posing outside the car, and inside it, too. You know, sitting in the driver’s seat and stuff. At the moment, it could pretty much be anyone in those photos, driving the car. You want some shots to prove you really did it, right?”
“Hell, yes! New Facebook profile picture!” she said with a grin. “Can I have a look?”
Alex shook his head. “Sorry, I put the camera in the boot when I got your bag out. I never thought, sorry.”
She shrugged. “It’s okay—I can wait until we get to the hotel. It’s not far is it, Elias?”
“Nope,” the other man replied. “Another two or three minutes, that’s all. We also have a table booked in the restaurant for this evening. I hope that’s all right. If not, just let me know and I’ll cancel. We can go somewhere else, if you want. I don’t mind, as long as I get something to eat—I’m starving. Mind you, we’ve got a few hours to wait—I always think it’s much later than it is when the nights draw in like this.”
“Yes, I’m starving too. Sorry, guys, I should have thought about lunch today, but I was a little overexcited—you might have noticed.”
“Just a bit,” Alex replied with a grin. “Don’t worry—missing one meal isn’t exactly going to kill us, is it? And tomorrow if you want to do some road driving, we can just find a nice pub somewhere and stop for lunch, can’t we?”
“Sounds great. And the hotel restaurant is fine, Elias. Thank you for sorting it all out.”
“You’re welcome. I didn’t want you to have to worry about a thing this weekend. It’s your treat.”
She smiled, despite knowing he couldn’t see her. “And I’m certainly feeling spoilt.” Though I can’t say the same about not having anything to worry about.
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