Title: La Familia

Summary: When Fernando Alonso finds himself without a press officer, Camila is more than

happy to take the job. They hit it off immediately. Set during the 2013 F1 season.

"... in Toscana e Sardegna, abbondanti nevicate sulle Alpi e venti intensi meridionali con

raffiche fino a 70-80 km all'ora al Emilia-Romagna. Vi consigliamo di rimanere ..."

Camila Alvarez Larocque groaned, it was too early and too cold to start the day. She had been

awake for a while, listening to the gale winds outside banging against the window.

Reluctantly she threw off the duvet and crawled out of bed. It was safe to say she wasn't a

morning person. Her mood cleared noticeably after three cups of some real Italian espresso

<strike>okay, it was Nespresso</strike> and the realisation that today was the day she would

start her new job. She was quite excited, really.

After breakfast she had a little bit of spare time on her hands before she had to leave, that was

spent tidying up her new apartment. Camila still had some boxes to unpack, having only

arrived the day before yesterday from the UK. The apartment was modernly decorated with

some vintage touches in the right places. She quite liked it, an old friend from school designed

it for her. A quick glance at the clock told her she needed get going if she wanted to make it in

time for her first day as the new press officer at Ferrari. She made sure her make-up and blond

 bun looked presentable and locked up the apartment.

An icy wind blew tiny snowflakes across her face and made her shiver. When she accepted

this job in Maranello she expected something a bit warmer. The winters here were supposed

to be a lot milder than those in London. Camila got into her Fiat 500 Abarth, a red convertible

with racing stripes. Considering Ferrari was part of the Fiat group, she saw it as her mini

Ferrari and drove away.

It was a short drive to the Scuderia Ferrari headquarters, where Roberta was waiting for her in

the reception area. She was Fernando's old press officer and assistant, who had grown tired of

the hectic lifestyle and wanted to spend some more time with her family. Roberta explained

the details of her job and showed Camila her new office. A tour of the factory wasn't

necessary, because Camila was no stranger to this place or the staff. She had been here many

times visiting her godfather, none other than the president himself, Luca di Montezemolo.

Every year since she was eight, Luca took her and her father to the Italian Grand Prix in

Monza, they hadn't missed a single edition in 15 years. She had seen several other races over

the years with them, too. When she came home from her very first race, she knew this would

 be a passion for life. Sitting in a race car herself never appealed to her, but she still wanted to

 be a part of this world. Later she discovered that would be in the form of public relations.

That's why she didn't really hang out near the drivers in the garages during race weekends, but

 preferred spending time in the offices. The people there gave her some small tasks to keep her

occupied, like entertaining sponsors or typing up small press releases. As she grew older, the

 

tasks became a bit bigger and more important. And when she graduated university, Luca

offered her a fulltime job with the team.

Roberta showed Camila her new office, where she would work if she wasn't travelling with

Fernando. The rest of the morning was spent in the vicinity of espresso and cake, where

Roberta shared some useful tips about working with Fernando. He wasn't the easiest driver to

work with, but if you knew the right things to say to him, life wouldn't be too difficult. They

chatted about other things as well and lunchtime quickly arrived.

Luca had invited Camila for lunch in his private dining room at the company restaurant. He

greeted her warmly and they sat themselves down on the leather couch in the corner. They

talked about all kinds of things, her family and friends. He asked about her father's health.

Luca and Camila's father Raul studied as international lawyers together in New York and they

 became good friends. A knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

"Ah, that must be Fernando. I thought it would be best to invite him for lunch so the two of

you could get to know each other a bit better." Luca explained.

Despite Camila spending so much time with Ferrari these last few years, she had never

actually had a personal conversation with Fernando, or Felipe for that matter. They had

exchanged a few words over the years, but she never thought it was her place to disturb them

during a race weekend. The fact that she might have had a tiny little crush on Fernando didn't

help either. So she was a bit nervous about properly meeting him today, even though she had

outgrown that awkward teenage crush on him.

Fernando entered the room.

Luca welcomed him with a hug like he usually did, and introduced him to Camila.

"You remember my niece Camila, don't you? She's now officially part of la familia and here

to replace Roberta as your new press officer." He said.

Fernando sent a charming smile her way and placed a kiss on the back of her hand.

"Of course I remember you, how could I forget such a beautiful lady? It is a pleasure to see

you again." The Spanish accent gave her goose bumps.

His lips lingered for a moment, while his chocolate eyes bore into her green ones. It was like

he could see straight into her soul.

Roberta had warned Camila about Fernando's flirty behaviour towards the female staff that

morning. He liked to be adored by the Ferrari team members, he liked to be their number one.

And he succeeded in that, the men worshipped him as a hero and the women swooned as he

walked by.

 

 

Even though she knew he did that to every woman, she still turned a deep shade of red. That

she had outgrown her crush on him, didn't mean she stopped finding him attractive. If

anything, she thought he aged like fine wine. Growing ever more handsome as he got older.

Though to be fair, the early 2000s didn't really look good on anyone.

"I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with you." Fernando added with a wink, whilst

 pulling out the dining room chair across from his.

Oh yes, she definitely still found him attractive, very attractive even. As a proper ladies man

he had worn a tight white shirt to this lunch, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows showing off

his muscular underarms. That could have been a contributing factor as well. Who wouldn't

like a gorgeous Spaniard dressed like that?

Camila woke from her reverie when Luca clapped his hand together.

"Oh the food looks exquisite! Not that I expected any less, I added my personal touch to the

chef's recipe, after all." He exclaimed. "Here, you two must taste this fish. It is delightful, I

remember having dinner with Silvio a few weeks ago when ... "

Luca was quite a talker and more than happy to share a great number of stories about people

he had met or things he had done. The others could barely get a word in. Throughout lunch

Camila's eyes wandered to Fernando. Since she had already heard most of Luca's stories, she

studied him instead. There wasn't a feature of his she didn't like. The way his dark hair curled

at the nape of his neck, or how his hands moved when he spoke, or the way his lips moved

when he spoke ...

" ... Camila?" Oh dear, he was speaking to her.

"Huh ... I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Camila face flushed bright red.

Fernando gave her a sly smile. "I was just thinking it would be in the interest of the team that

the two of us go out for some gelato later this week, so we can get to know each other in-

depth. Don't you agree?"

"That is a wonderful idea, Fernando! No wonder you are such a good racing driver, such

attention to detail. Why don't you go to dinner this evening, it's on me." Luca interjected.

Camila eyes widened. Both men at the table stared at her expectantly.

"Uhm .. yeah sure ... I guess we could do that." She hesitantly answered, her voice sounding a

 bit uneven.

 

While Luca resumed his story on the real reason why Bernie Ecclestone disliked penguins,

Fernando looked a little too pleased with himself after what just happened.

<em>Cheeky bastard</em>, Camila thought.

The rest of the lunch went without a hitch and it was time to say goodbye.

"I'll pick you up at 8 then." Fernando whispered in her ear after he kissed her cheek.

This would be an interesting night.