Love Always Wins

58

Saturday July 4th. Red Bull Ring, Austria.

The third and final practice session had just finished and Viviana took a few snaps of Seb as he climbed out of the car. So far she seemed to have got on better with him this weekend, though they hadn't spoken much, and he seemed to be in a better mood which she put down to yesterday being a special day for him. Yesterday had been his birthday and she'd wished him a happy birthday as well as writing in a card that had been signed by his whole team and as he'd thanked her later that day he'd smiled behind his red mask, his eyes shining with genuine happiness for the first time since she'd met him. There was still something not quite right though. He just wasn't the same guy she'd first met in Australia. She was a confident person who could talk to virtually anyone and make friends easily so she decided to keep talking to him whenever she saw him, hoping that, in time, she could gain his trust and that maybe he would talk to her about what was bugging him. She really wanted to get to know him before he left at the end of the season, whenever that may be.
"Have you got any photos of Charles at all?" Teased Britta as she looked to see Viviana pointing the iPad in Seb's direction yet again.

"Sorry, it's just that I've always been such a huge fan of Sebastian." She locked the screen, she'd go through the photos in a little while and upload a few to social media. "But yes I did get some of Charles."

After walking towards his seat at the back of the garage, Seb placed his helmet and HANS device on the shelf and quickly put his mask on before walking over to the two women. Viviana turned to face him and he couldn't stop himself from briefly eyeing her figure. But it wasn't because he found her attractive, it was because of what she was wearing and it'd been bugging him all day so far. He started at the top, at her dark eyes that carried a mischievous but intriguing sparkle, her long glossy dark brown hair which was longer now that it had been before courtesy of lockdown, at her clear olive skin and her full lips that were painted Ferrari red and matched her immaculately painted nails. This woman obviously took great care of herself and oozed self confidence but it wasn't what had piqued his interest, it was her uniform - a figure hugging black dress that carried the Ferrari logo on the left hand side and her red soled shoes which were unmistakably Louboutins. The uniform that he'd requested for Chloe when she'd first started to work for him because he'd wanted her to have the best and to feel special and that she'd looked so hot in, was now being worn by Viviana. It was like Ferrari were replacing Chloe with her, even though she wasn't his PA. It felt like they goading him because he was missing his wife so much and because he'd leaving at the end of year.

Viviana stood still, both women had fallen silent, both watching how he was raking his eyes over her body. The thrills she got from the way he'd eyed her from head to toe was immeasurable, though whatever was going through his mind was completely unknown thanks to a large part of his face being hidden. Next to her, she heard Britta pointedly clear her throat before she spoke to get her driver's attention.

Seb lifted his gaze from those black Louboutin heels to meet the steely gaze and raised eyebrow of his press officer. He'd been caught and he could only imagine how bad it must have looked.

"As soon as you're changed you have a couple of media people to speak to before lunch." Britta stated briskly.

"Can we just have a word first?" He asked, feeling the need to explain himself. The last thing he wanted was for Britta to think that he was eyeing up Viviana in that way.

"I'll walk with you to your hospitality unit." She nodded. "Viviana?"

"Yes?" She tore her eyes away from Seb, Britta didn't look happy.

"Why don't you go and spend some time in Charles garage for a while." Britta made sure her tone was a demand and not a request as Seb walked away.

Viviana nodded and watched as Britta went off to catch up with Seb. She could understand his press officer being unhappy; with Seb being married, that odd little moment that had just occurred really shouldn't have. But boy, was she glad it had.