Chapter 26
‘Savannah, no way. That horse is a fucking giant. I can’t get on that!’ Marco backed away from Cappuccino, eyes wide with fear.
‘You can, trust me. I know what I’m doing, Mars, and I won’t let go of the reins until you’re comfortable.
’ Savi ran her hand along Cappuccino’s muzzle, keeping her calm and still.
She was a nervous horse, and perhaps wasn’t the best match for a nervous rider, but she trusted her dad’s advice.
She just had to get Marco to do the same.
‘If I fall off, you can call Jasper and tell him your family tried to kill me out here in the Wild West.’ Marco crossed his arms and Savi grabbed one of them, forcing it away from his body so he could stroke the horse.
‘Just give her some love.’ Savi rolled her eyes. ‘And get a grip, you’re a grown man who drives fast cars for a living. You can handle a horse that twelve-year-old girls ride.’
‘I’m really not an animal person, Savannah. Lucie and Brett have goats in Malmedy, and they rammed me and knocked me over last year. The only animal I like is Faith and Julien’s dog.’
‘Marco De Luca, you are getting on this horse. You wanted the full cowboy experience, didn’t you? I’d be doing you a disservice if I sent you home to Europe without having experienced the wind through your hair as you gallop through the mountains.’
‘I already kissed a cowgirl, isn’t that enough authenticity?’
‘Monaco,’ she scowled, blushing slightly. They hadn’t addressed last night, but it wasn’t awkward. It just… was whatever it was and she had no desire to label it.
‘Okay, what the hell do I do?’
‘Put your foot in the stirrup, grab this,’ she pointed at the pommel, ‘and haul yourself over. Then just sit there until I give the next instruction.’
She tried her best not to laugh at his misfortune as it took him several clumsy attempts to mount the horse, cursing each time before he finally made it. Cappuccino just stood there blinking, probably wondering who let this guy anywhere near her. Once he was up, Marco grinned proudly down at her.
Savi spent the next twenty minutes guiding him around in circles, teaching him how to control the horse’s movements.
With each step, he gained more confidence and eventually, she was able to let go.
She mounted Mocha and joined Marco, waiting for one of the ranch hands to let them out of the gate.
They were taking the easiest trail; one she could remember like the back of her hand.
It led to a little brook so they could have a picnic on the rocks and let the horses cool off.
‘You know, this is kind of like driving. You have to feel every movement, learn the horse and move together as one. I think I like it.’
‘Yeah, your horse is an extension of you.’
‘But they still have a mind of their own, and I swear to god if she runs off and I go hurtling through the mountains, I am never going to forgive you.’
‘You’ll be fine, Monaco. If Gabriel can handle it, so can you. Right, we’re about to enter the trail and it’s quite narrow. Not so narrow that you’re going to fall to your death, but we can’t walk side by side. Stay as close as you can, I’ll keep checking on you.’
She led him through the trees, remembering just how lucky she was to have this on her doorstep.
Hikers would sometimes come all the way through from one side to the other and end up lost on the ranch, but for the most part, they and a few neighbours were the only ones who ever used these trails.
It was peaceful; the perfect place to escape and forget about the real world.
They stopped by the brook and she unpacked, waiting until they were sat down on the picnic blanket with a beer in hand to bring it up. ‘So, um… How was last night for you?’
Marco swirled his beer around, staring through the mouth of the bottle, deep in thought. He was quiet for a moment, the only sound the running water and Mocha and Cappuccino’s whinnying.
‘Savannah, you’re not ready for the real thing, are you?’ He still wasn’t looking at her when he spoke, which gave her time to do a double take.
‘I don’t think I am…’ Her voice was barely a whisper, nausea rising in her throat.
‘Cowgirl, it’s okay. You don’t have to pretend. If I was your rebound, just say so.’
‘You’re not my rebound.’ Savi pulled her knees up to her chest, watching Mocha drink from the brook. ‘I just…’
‘Look, some people are just destined to disappoint us. It doesn’t mean they’re bad people, or that they intended to, it just means they’re not ours to keep,’ Marco stated.
‘Look at Esme. I thought there was something real there, but she wasn’t meant for me.
In the end, she was just part of my journey.
My feelings for her taught me patience while I wait for what’s mine. ’
‘But what if this journey just looks different to how you think it should and it’s worth waiting things out just that little bit longer?’ She chewed her bottom lip.
‘How much longer is a “little bit”? I know you’re scared, but I can promise you that if we were ever to explore this further, it wouldn’t be like it was with Jesse.
I’ve told you before that if you were mine, I would be shouting it from the rooftops, showing you off to the world.
Regardless of the risks. I am an all-in kind of guy, in everything I do. ’
‘He didn’t let me choose.’ She let out a sarcastic laugh, getting angry again. Mostly at herself for putting up with Jesse for so long when she knew it wasn’t what she truly wanted.
‘What, to go public or not?’
‘Yeah,’ she nodded. ‘He insisted for four years that I couldn’t handle the level of fame that comes with dating someone like him.
That they’d rip me apart in the press. It’s why he was so paranoid about the photos being linked to me.
He thought he was doing me a favour by keeping everything under wraps. ’
‘But in reality, he kept you locked in a cage.’
‘My career could handle the blow if people realised it was me. I know Jasper would have my back, so would Gabriel. I’ll admit that I was scared when they first got released in the press, but I could handle the humiliation; these kinds of scandals happen to people in the public eye all the time and it’s soon forgotten about when the next big thing hits the headlines.
But instead, Jesse used the situation as an excuse to keep me as his dirty little secret. ’
‘And it also isn’t your fault that the paparazzi are so vile, so invasive. They took advantage of you both in the privacy of your own home, bypassed a whole security team for a decent pay day. That’s not on you, and fans and sponsors would take that into account.’ Marco pointed out.
‘I know you’re nothing like him. I just need to be sure that his actions haven’t fucked me up enough that I take you down with me.
’ Savi took her boots and socks off, tossing them to the edge of the picnic blanket and standing up.
She needed to feel the earth beneath her feet, and this brook was one of her favourite places near the ranch.
It was serene. It made her feel like herself again.
Marco joined her at the water’s edge, his jeans rolled up to his knees. He looked ridiculous, but he looked peaceful the second his skin met the cool, clear liquid. ‘You’re too good for this world, Cowgirl.’
‘Tell me about it.’ She started wobbling her way over the pebbles lining the bottom of the brook, heading to the large rock that sat right in the middle.
Once she made it over there, she felt like she was a million miles away from the outside world.
She glanced at Marco who was cautiously eyeing the path she had taken.
‘Come sit over here, live out your mermaid fantasies.’
‘I don’t have mermaid fantasies, Savannah. I’ve seen footage of them before, you know when people claim they’ve spotted one? They’re terrifying.’
‘They’re edited.’ She rolled her eyes as he worked up the courage and got closer to her, finally settling on the rock and gripping onto her thigh for dear life as his feet lifted from the ground. ‘You really liked Esme, didn’t you?’
‘I did.’ Marco nodded.
‘How did you get over her?’
‘I got under a number of other people,’ he laughed.
Savi blinked at him. ‘Is that seriously it?’
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m not sure if that helped or hindered things.
I’m just the kind of guy who thinks that what’s for you won’t pass you.
That especially goes for soulmates. If you’re supposed to be with someone, it’ll happen.
Sometimes the journey to get there is complicated and hard and it takes a while, but for the most part, I think it’s supposed to feel easy.
And it wasn’t easy with Esme. It was all over the place. ’
‘It feels easy with you. Almost too good to be true.’
‘Because you’re used to chaos and pain. It’s what you know, what you’re good at.
My parents really set the standard,’ he said.
‘The way they love each other… half the time I think they’re on a different planet to the rest of us and their love is the only thing in the entire world that matters.
The respect they have for one another, the way they support each other through absolutely everything no matter how big or small.
It’s all I want in life. God, it’s more important than my career.
To love and to be loved; it’s what I was put on this earth for. ’
‘I grew up around that exact kind of love. My parents would die for each other, and it’s beautiful. It influenced the way I see the world. So why did I settle for less than that?’
‘Because you got the fairytale once. You got the racing career, then you got the contract of your dreams. You’ve found your home away from home with our team, given your family the ability to provide for Weston and keep a roof over their heads.
You love hard. It’s who you are. And you loved Jesse, but as a result it means you’ve suffered.
You’ve got to love yourself more. Let yourself have all the things you desire.
If that includes me, then I’ll take it. But regardless of your choice in the end, I’ll respect it. ’
‘I don’t think anyone’s ever been able to read me the way you do.’ Savi rested her head on his shoulder, wanting to be close to him physically but unsure of how to go about it without crossing those lines once again.
‘I’m just too good.’ Marco took her hand in his, giving it a squeeze.
‘Yeah, you are.’