Chapter 13
Thirteen
The first two days at the Spanish Grand Prix were an absolute blur. Emilio was busy with his regular workload, while Piper
was consumed by Gus and his social media. For now, the rumors about them as a couple were barely simmering, but they hadn’t
gone away completely. Because of that, he and Piper had agreed they’d keep some distance when at the track. Life would be
simpler if they didn’t fan any flames. It didn’t bother either of them too much—they simply erased that space the second they
were alone.
Emilio hadn’t had this much sex in a long time. He wasn’t complaining. It was so good he woke up every morning feeling like
he was walking on air. But it was more than that—he and Piper had fallen into sync. They enjoyed their time together, whether
it was talking about his day on track or Gus’s latest antics, or they were simply occupying the same space while he was studying
data and she was reading. Had he ever felt this relaxed for a race weekend? He wasn’t sure he had. That left him to wrestle
with the realization that this feeling he had with Piper was what he’d always wanted in his personal life. Leave it to him
to find that with someone who wouldn’t be around much longer.
“I’m going to take Gus out for a bit,” Emilio said to Piper, who was curled up on the couch in the motorhome, her nose in
a book. Night had fallen and he needed a good night’s sleep before qualifying tomorrow. He hoped he could clear his head with
a bit of fresh air. “Do you want to come with us?”
“Of course.”
There it was—in sync. Emilio grabbed Gus’s leash, and they stepped out into the night air. It was warm and a bit sticky with
humidity, with a clear sky—so clear you could see a few stars twinkling overhead. There was also the chatter of quiet conversation.
The drivers did often socialize in this area. It was one of the only places where they could be themselves. Emilio enjoyed
that aspect of this arrangement.
They strolled through the grass between the motorhomes. Up ahead there was a flicker of light. Someone had a fire pit going.
Emilio’s mind immediately went to the other night at his grandmother’s, when his heart softened even more for Piper. He would
be sad to say goodbye to her, but that was the reality of his life right now. Everything was a mixed bag. The good with the
bad. But being with Piper at his grandmother’s had reminded him the good things didn’t need to be big for him to appreciate
them. They could still make his life better, as long as he took the time to notice.
“It’s nice out tonight,” Piper said.
“It is. That’s part of why I wanted to come out.” He let Gus lead the way over to the fencing, where he took a pee break.
“How are you feeling about qualifying tomorrow?”
“Obviously, I want to do well. My mom will be here.”
“With Rico?”
“With Rico.” He drew in a deep breath and let out a heavy exhale. “She sent me a text. She’s excited for me to meet him.”
“Has she heard the rumors? About us? I wasn’t sure which way I should play it.”
Emilio hated that he and Piper couldn’t simply be the way they wanted to be, but such was the fishbowl of Formula One. “I
don’t think she’s been paying attention. She would’ve said something. My mom loves gossip.”
“Okay. Good.” Piper nodded. “And it’s not a problem anyway. I’m pretty good at ad-libbing.”
Emilio still wasn’t so sure their approach was the best one. Part of him wanted to be open about the fact that he and Piper
were romantically involved. Another part of him, a far more realistic part, knew it would only buy him problems. When Piper
left, he’d only get endless questions about why they were no longer together. He’d already endured too many queries about
his personal life. He wished people didn’t care so much.
With Gus’s pee break over, they continued with their walk. When they rounded one of the motorhomes, Emilio nearly ran into
Brett Lockford. He was hand in hand with Victoria.
Emilio froze. His stomach soured. Not from seeing them together, but from the realization that he didn’t know how to react.
For a guy with lightning-fast reflexes, it felt like his brain and body were moving in slow motion. “Victoria. Brett.” Stating
the obvious seemed like a halfway decent place to start.
“Emilio, hi,” Brett said.
“Hello, Emilio,” Victoria said, then immediately directed her gaze at Piper. “Oh, my God. You really are dating your dog nanny, aren’t you?” She turned to Brett and let out a breathy laugh. “It’s the scoop of the season, right in front of our very
eyes.”
Emilio wished he were surprised by her tactless response, but Victoria tended to lash out when she felt threatened. He wouldn’t
let it faze him. “Victoria. Brett. This is Piper Murphy.” He then did the only thing that came naturally. The only thing that
made sense. Because just like at the swipe gates in Imola, he felt the need to shield Piper in any way he could. So he slipped
his hand into hers.
Piper turned to him for an instant, and it was like an entire conversation happened between them, in the blink of an eye.
Does this mean . . . ?
That we’re telling people we’re together?
Yes.
Got it. She squeezed his hand in return, leaned into his shoulder and turned back to Victoria and Brett. “Hi there.”
“Hello, Piper,” Brett said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Victoria appraised Piper, unapologetically looking her up and down. Scrutinizing. Judging. “And how did you manage to meet
Emilio, Piper? A dog show? Or are you merely the luckiest fangirl in the history of Formula One?”
Emilio was ready to bite off her head, but Piper didn’t skip a beat. “Well, it’s kind of an adorable story, really,” she started,
sweet as could be, leaning into Emilio’s shoulder. “We met in Miami at the race there. We were brought together by our mutual
love of dogs, and we started flirting and one thing led to another and the next thing I knew, I was hopping on the plane back
to London with Emilio and moving into his house.”
“Oh,” Victoria said. “Miami. Really. That was quick.”
Emilio’s head spun with thoughts. He only wished he were as good at improvising as Piper. “There was no point in denying what
was between us.” On some level that was true, although Emilio had been sure at the beginning that Piper merely needed a job,
and of course, he’d been working overtime to ignore the way he was drawn to her. It struck him that it had been such a waste
of time. He should’ve gone for it from the beginning.
Piper squeezed his hand again. “Yep. Sometimes it’s just fate. Doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.”
Victoria crouched down in front of Gus. “There’s my little Gussy. How are you?”
Gus reared back his head so far he was nearly standing on his hind legs. Then he turned and tucked his nose behind Piper’s
leg.
“Oh. Okay.” Victoria straightened to her full height. “Somebody’s mad I haven’t been around.”
Emilio became preoccupied by a thread coming together in his head. It had never been a love connection between Victoria and
Gus, but Victoria had always been uncharacteristically enthusiastic about caring for him on race weekends. “I just figured
out why you used to take so many photos of yourself with Gus and post them on social media. You did it to make yourself look
good.”
“Excuse me?”
Emilio regretted saying it out loud, but only because he was angry with himself for not having seen it earlier. Judging by
the way Victoria wore Brett on her arm like a piece of jewelry, the problem between Emilio and Victoria had never been that
Emilio was incapable of love. It was that he was incapable of loving her. Everything Piper had said about love the other night rang loudly in his head—love was about connection, and it lived inside
us. He had it in him. He knew it now. Damn Victoria for making him doubt himself. “This is all just a game to you. Politely
insulting Piper so you can feel better about yourself. Pretending like you ever actually cared about Gus. It’s sad.”
“Hold on, Emilio. I’m going to have to stop you right there,” Brett said, puffing out his chest.
Emilio had to give Brett props for wanting to stand up for his girlfriend. Brett would figure this out eventually. Or maybe
not. Maybe Brett was into superficiality and putting on a show. Emilio really didn’t care. “It’s okay, Lockford. I had to
say my piece because I couldn’t get a word in edgewise when Victoria dumped me. And she did dump me. I mean, she got me there.”
He then looked right at Victoria. “But I’m done now. I’ve said everything I needed to say.” Emilio turned to Piper and smiled.
“Ready for bed?”
“You’ve always been such an ass.” Victoria grabbed Brett’s arm and stalked off. “I hope you have another shitty race weekend,”
she called over her shoulder.
Emilio didn’t bother answering.
“Fuck—” Piper yelled.
Emilio smothered her next word with a kiss. “Don’t bother. She’s not worth it.”
“You,” she muttered with their lips a whisper apart. She had the sexiest glint in her eyes. His whole body went tight with
desire. He needed her now.
He kissed her again, putting as much passion into it as he could squeeze into two seconds, with forceful lips and a semisalacious
amount of tongue. “I love the sentiment. And I’m going to fuck you the instant we get back up the hill.”
Emilio and Piper hustled back to the motorhome with Gus, neither saying a thing. As soon as they were inside, Piper turned
to him. “Emilio, how did you ever go out with her? She’s horrible. It’s gross.” Piper threw up her hands then crouched down
and unhooked Gus’s leash. “I’m not judging you. Believe me, my ex is no prize, either. I’m just genuinely curious.” She looked
up at him with her big blue eyes and he knew one thing—he didn’t want to talk about this.
He reached down with both hands and cupped the sides of her face, urging her to a standing position. She looked positively
dumbstruck, but that was okay. “Are you upset?” she asked.