Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73568 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73568 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
For the life of me I can’t understand why I want her to see me in a more professional light, especially since my modus operandi for how I live my personal life has been about leaning into my youth and wild ways. I want to impress her, which isn’t something I’ve ever felt the need to do, other than the people who sign my paycheck.
A smile comes unbidden to my face as I think about Posey and how quickly she’s gotten under my skin. I still can’t believe I managed to strong-arm her into letting me stay at her Airbnb and I’ve got no clue what I was thinking. I’ve never minded the commute from London, but I still used that as an excuse for why I wanted to stay in Woking. Whatever that unknown factor is that draws me to her had me boldly demanding she let me stay with her and to my utter fucking delight, she caved.
The door opens from the outer hall, and I turn that way. Posey steps through, all smiles as she chats with Gio. He laughs at something she says and I find that interesting. The man is perpetually dour and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him laugh, but Posey sort of has that effect on people.
And blimey… my bloody heart rate nearly triples the minute her eyes land on me and light up with joy.
She bounces over and lays her hand on my arm. “Lex, you wouldn’t believe the stuff I saw,” she says, her voice bubbling with excitement. “Okay, maybe you would, but the carbon fiber… it’s so light but so strong! And the autoclave—it’s incredible! I didn’t know it would be that big. I got to watch one of the 3D printers create a new brake duct for your car.” She frowns and looks back to Gio, pulling her notepad out of her purse. “But I forgot to ask you exactly what that does.”
“No worries, bella,” Gio says, and my eyebrows nearly shoot off my head that he called her bella. His expression is fond, as if she’s a beloved niece or something. “We’re testing the new brake duct to improve the airflow efficiency and cooling performance.”
Gio grins at me as Posey furiously jots down notes.
“Now, if you excuse me,” he says, his Italian accent seemingly more pronounced, “I go get ready for Lex’s simulator run.” He offers Posey a slight bow.
“Thank you again for the tour. It was amazing,” she gushes.
“Anytime.”
Gio disappears into the simulator room and I grin at Posey, pleased by her enthusiasm.
“You had a good time, didn’t you?” I ask.
“It’s beyond my wildest dreams, getting this type of access.” Posey’s forehead wrinkles as she frowns. “Although… that actually makes me feel guilty.”
I wave her off. “You said you were going to write an article to submit to some publications, so you’re still doing a journalist’s job, Posey. Don’t worry about it.”
“Well, I do. I’ve never done anything so devious in my life.”
“Yes,” I say drolly with a roll of my eyes. “You’re a criminal mastermind.”
Posey snorts before jabbing me hard with her elbow, and I even like that about her. No girlie giggles or offense. Just a snort of amusement.
“Ready to see how all that comes together?” I ask her.
She nods eagerly, and I lead her into the sim room. Gio is joined by Emma Dunn and Gareth Elrod, all three sitting at a long table with their laptops open.
“Right, Lex,” Gio begins, his Italian accent less pronounced but now adding a touch of gravitas to the conversation. “We’ve made some refinements to the front wing to increase drag on the straights, particularly on the back straight of the Bahrain circuit. You should feel a bit more stability in high-speed corners without compromising top speed.”
I nod, absorbing the information. Bahrain is all about balancing speed on the straights with the grip in the corners. “So, we’re expecting less understeer coming into turn ten?”
“Exactly,” Giovanni confirms. “But I need you to push it hard through that sector. See if the adjustments give you the bite we’re expecting when you’re on the throttle.”
“We’ve also adjusted the suspension setup slightly,” Emma says. “We’re trying a nominal softer rear to help with traction out of the slow corners, especially coming out of turn one and turn thirteen. The aim is to get the power down earlier without losing the rear end.”
“Got it,” I say, mentally running through the sequence of corners. Bahrain’s a track where you’ve got to be aggressive but smart, especially with tire management.
My head turns to Gareth Elrod, our strategy engineer who’s staring at me with his usual intense focus. “Lex, keep an eye on the tire degradation simulation. We’re running medium tires in this session, and I need to know if the softer suspension is affecting wear. Also, pay attention to energy deployment. I want to see if the new mapping gives us better acceleration out of those corners.”