Chapter 5 #2
“Hopefully, the fee I’m paying you will make a difference in your life.”
“It will. Even after the percentage to the service I work for.”
“I’ll pay the percentage, too. As a bonus, if everything goes well.”
Piper wondered if he was trying to buy her cooperation with the rules he’d set in place. No more early-morning hallway ambushes
and inviting herself on his run. “I wasn’t trying to fish for more money.”
“Gus is important to me. Plus, you picked up your whole life to be here. As you pointed out five minutes ago.”
“Thank you. That’s sweet.”
“No. It’s business.”
She let out an exasperated breath. It really was one step forward, two steps back with Emilio. “Hand me Gus’s leash.”
“I can take it.”
“You’re paying me to take care of him.” If he was going to make things all business, so would she.
“Fine.”
At the end of the block, he turned left where she and Gus had always gone straight. Now that she had a sliver of time with
him, she wanted to ask more questions, but she wasn’t sure he’d answer, so she kept those to herself. Also, she was working
too hard to get chatty.
“When you say run, you mean run,” she managed between gasps.
“Too fast?”
“I’m fine.” She wasn’t. That was stubbornness speaking. Her legs were starting to turn to rubber. Now that she thought about
it, she hadn’t gone for a run in probably more than a month. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea.
“If you want to quit, you can circle back,” he said with all the confidence of an elite athlete with exceptional lung capacity.
“No. No. This is fun. I could keep running forever,” she lied.
“Are you sure? You’re sweating a lot.” He glanced at her and narrowed his stare. “More than is normal.”
Wow. That was not nice. There was no shame in having excellent free-flowing sweat glands. No, she did not perspire like a wee thing. So what? “This is a normal amount of sweat for me. You know, the more in shape you are, the more you sweat.
It’s because your body has become very efficient at cooling off.”
“I’m in excellent shape and I’m not sweating that much.”
Of course not, Mr. Perfect. “You’re used to the heat and humidity of Monaco and Spain.”
“You’re from Florida,” he said as they turned into a city park with wide walking paths, tall trees, green grass and a small
pond.
Just like that, Gus’s leash went limp by her side.
“What the . . .” Gus was a golden flash, darting ahead. “Oh, my God! Emilio! Gus!” Piper pointed at the pond. Gus launched
himself right into the water.
“Aye yi yi, Gus!” Emilio whipped off his shirt and ran after him, diving right into the water, shorts, shoes and all. Piper
grabbed Emilio’s T-shirt and ran to the water’s edge, watching as he swam perfect strokes out to Gus, who was happily dog-paddling
around with his tail sticking out of the water. He reached the dog, got him under one arm, then began swimming sidestroke
until he could drag him out of the pond.
Back on dry land, Gus shook. Hard. And now she was soaked, too. Piper kneeled to latch Gus’s leash, her clothes dripping.
“So that’s what it’s like when he takes off.” She handed Emilio his shirt, trying hard to ignore how ridiculously hot he looked
with beads of water on his glistening sculpted shoulders. The view sure made his grumpiness easier to take. She was sure she
looked more like a drowned rat, but perhaps that was an improvement from her previous sweat-soaked state.
“What happened?” Emilio asked.
“I don’t know. One minute we were running and the next, he was just . . . gone.” Piper sighed. “We’re going to need to give
him a bath when we get back to your place.”
“I’m going to need a shower, too.”
Yeah. The mental image of naked, soapy Emilio was not one she needed planted in her head. “Let’s just get back. You’ll have to show me the coffee place another time.”
“Gus, why did you do that?” Emilio asked while toweling off after his shower. “Why did you jump in the pond?”
Gus, being an otherwise good boy, was sitting at attention on the bathmat in front of the tub. He cocked his head to one side.
Emilio sighed. “Because now we have to give you a bath and Piper wants me to help. I have work to do. We leave for Italy tomorrow.”
Gus rested his head on the side of the tub. He had no answers to offer.
For one whole week, Emilio’s plan had been going perfectly. He’d been working out as hard as ever, had twice visited Mega
team headquarters for meetings and to work on the sim, and had done much of his other prep for the Grand Prix at Imola. He
still had quality time with Gus, but he didn’t have to worry about whether he was happy or well cared for while Emilio worked.
Staying so busy had helped him nearly shake the dream he’d had on the airplane. Then Piper had decided to get up early and
invite herself on his run. Every minute around her, smiling and sweaty and cute, brought back the memory. He understood a
little better why his subconscious had chosen to go there. Her laugh. The flash of her eyes. Her sunny disposition. She had
this way about her—a sweetness and lightness, even when they were arguing. She made him want to do things like relax and have
fun. He didn’t have time for those things. If he didn’t turn his season around, he could not only lose his seat at Mega, he
also might not get another chance in Formula One. There were virtually no open seats for next season. His entire future rested
in keeping his eye on the prize.
“Gus is all yours,” he said to Piper as he opened the door to his room. Emilio’s bathroom had a tub, but Piper’s did not,
so she’d been waiting outside in the hall.
“I need you to help me get him in.” Piper slipped past him with an armful of supplies. “If he’s used to the fancy gear at
the groomer, he might not be willing to just hop in the tub.”
Emilio stopped in the doorway to the bathroom, closed his eyes and shook his head. This did not sound like a good idea. This
sounded like a lot of proximity in close quarters. Hands touching. Gus being adorable, which would invariably cause laughter.
Merriment. And he had more close quarters to look forward to in Italy. They’d be staying in a motorhome near the track. “Gus
loves you. I’m sure you’ll have no problem handling this on your own.”
“Emilio. Please. Five minutes. Just for the heavy lifting.”
Gus turned to him and whimpered.
Emilio blew out a breath. He couldn’t argue with them both. “Five minutes. You start. I’ll jump in when you need me.” He folded
his arms across his chest and leaned against the bathroom doorway.
Piper kneeled on the bathmat next to Gus. Since Gus had drenched her after his impromptu swimming session, she’d showered,
too. Her hair was up in a damp, messy pile on top of her head. It was one of the sexiest things he’d ever seen. She was wearing
a pair of cutoffs that showed off her legs. A tank top that flaunted her shoulders. There were simply too many stretches of
her bare skin to avoid staring at or accidentally touching. To make it all worse, she smelled like vanilla. Sweet heaven.
Gus was fascinated as Piper turned on the faucet and ran her hand back and forth through the stream of water. “Have to get
the perfect temperature.”
Emilio had never bathed Gus, so he’d never considered this. When he showered, he used the hottest water he could get. “How
do you know when it’s right?”
She sat back on her haunches and stared up at him with her mesmerizing blue eyes. They were somehow complicated and comforting, even when her expression said that she was truly confounded. “What do you do when you give him a bath?”
“Take him to the groomers.”
“You’ve never done this yourself? Not even when he was a puppy?”
“It’s not a moral failing.”
“But you should know how to do this. He’s your dog.” She shook her head in disbelief. “You’re staying for the whole thing. Not just five minutes.”
“I have things I need to do.”
“What if I wasn’t here? What would you do then?”
“Give him a bath. And it probably wouldn’t be perfect.”
“Dogs have sensitive skin. It’s important to get it right. You can stay in the interest of learning how to do this.”
Emilio let out a low grumble. “Fine.” He took a step into the bathroom and peered down at her, trying desperately to ignore
the perfect view of her cleavage. Her breasts were incredible. Not big by any stretch of the imagination, but her skin looked
so buttery soft. It had the slightest glisten. Why couldn’t he have found a less appealing dog nanny?
“Come on. I promise I won’t bite.” She patted the spot next to her on the bathmat.
Emilio eased down onto his knees, but a bathmat wasn’t much territory to share. Their knees were inches from each other. Elbows,
too. Making him think about Piper in ways that did not suggest professional distance. Why had Gus chosen today to leap into
a pond? “Show me what to do.”
Piper slipped her hand into the stream of water from the faucet. “That’s perfect, but I want you to feel it, so you know what
to look for.”
She sat back and Emilio reached beyond her to test the water, but his upper arm grazed her chest. She jerked back.
“Sorry,” he blurted. Heat plumed in his belly. Then in his cheeks.
“It’s okay,” she said, avoiding eye contact.
He gathered himself and ran his hands through the stream of water. “Got it.”
“Okay, Mr. Man,” she said to Gus. “It’s showtime.”
Emilio looked Gus in the eye. “Gus. In.” He snapped his fingers then waved his hand over the tub.
Gus just stared back.
“Gus. In,” Emilio repeated.
“We’re going to have to go with brute force,” Piper concluded.
They both stood, and Piper wrapped her arms around Gus’s torso under his front legs. Emilio did the same at the rear.
“Gus. What are you doing? You’re dead weight,” Emilio said.
“Clearly, he doesn’t want to get in the bath. We’ll have to lift him on three. One . . . two . . .”
On three, Gus squirmed out of their arms and launched himself into the tub, landing with such force that a good gallon of
water sloshed onto the floor.
“Dammit, Gus!”