A girl chasing her dream. A boy looking for the light.
When Florence Nyx started her internship at a Formula 1 paddock, she expected a lot. Fast cars. Exclusive impressions most people could only dream of. An entire array of skills she'd acquire...
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When I stood by my hotel room, trying desperately to open that damn door, I really thought I did the unthinkable.
I kept my distance, even though everything within me wanted all of her.
But the more I swiped my card over that reader, the more impatient I grew, and the more sent me toward her room.
Could I have gone down to reception and asked them to open that door for me?
Probably.
Should I have done that?
Also, probably.
But the second my eyes left the door handle, they fell on room No 207. Florence's room.
I didn't even have a chance to convince my mind to do otherwise before my legs moved me in her direction, and my hands already curled into fists which then met the wooden door.
And now I was standing here, asking her to let me in. It was an absolute risk, one I definitely shouldn't have taken this early into... whatever this was.
But I had no choice, and somehow, it felt like the big guy — or big girl — up there sent me a message.
Just win the damn race, Phoenix. That's what you usually do.
Florence's cheeks colored in a fiery red the longer she looked at me, and it was hard not to notice how hard she was trying to control her heaving chest. "Yeah. Come in," she finally said breathlessly, though she didn't move out of the way.
Fine by me.
I walked over the threshold and into her room, which forced her to take a few steps backward as well, so I could kick the door shut with the heel of my shoe. The click announcing our solitude surely didn't help the itch in my fingers, the need to touch her again suddenly becoming hyper-vigilant.
Everything about her was so contradictory; She oozed pure and utter confidence, and her whole being burned with a fire I was so ready to step into. But somehow, a vulnerability lay between all of that. I couldn't tell if I liked seeing it, considering the last time I recognized any uncertainty was when she involuntarily got hammered a few weeks back. It didn't suit her and was so unlike everything she stood for that I couldn't help but wish she didn't feel that way with me around.
"You okay?" Something within me had to ask her.
She shook her head. "No."
I watched how she ran a shaky hand through her hair, a motion that almost killed me earlier today. She looked so damn beautiful, it was hard to focus sometimes.
"You're not?"
"No." Again, she shook her head.
"Why?"
As she stepped toward me, I couldn't help but notice how that sliver of uncertainty washed away, just like that. Right in front of me stood the woman that drove me insane with every little thing she did, and she knew it.
