Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Breakfast at Peacock Alley in the Waldorf Astoria was both elegant and refined.
Inigo had never been before, but Marielle knew the ma?tre d’ and had gotten them a table that was out of the main dining room and quiet.
She looked different than what he’d come to expect today.
She was still herself, but she’d braided her long blond hair and a few tendrils had escaped to frame her heart-shaped face.
She smiled easily, but he could still see some signs of tension in her expression.
He felt it too. Accidentally running into her at Ralph’s when they’d first reconnected had been one thing, but this...he was now back to toying with an idea he wasn’t sure he could commit to.
Revenge had been an idea that he’d toyed with but his heart wasn’t in it.
As much as he thought Marielle needed to be brought to see how badly she’d hurt his sister, he couldn’t stay away from her.
He was in the crosshairs of a dilemma like he’d never experienced before.
He’d always prided himself on being a man who put family first, but here he was with Mari. Again.
He’d finally answered Bianca’s texts. To say his sister was upset about the TMZ photo of him kissing Marielle was an understatement.
She had gone into brutal detail about what had happened with Jose.
Now Inigo was torn. Part of him was still so angry about how Bianca had been treated by Jose and his mistress.
But another part of him looked at Marielle and had a hard time making the connection between any viciousness on her part and the hurt and guilt that were in her eyes so often when she spoke of Jose.
He needed answers, which was why he’d asked Marielle to meet him even though they’d agreed not to see each other anymore.
He had to ascertain if she was the heartless other woman or Jose’s victim.
He’d seen Jose use his charm to soothe angry race officials and tempt fans over to their team.
He’d been larger than life and Inigo had been in awe of the man.
He had wanted to be like him when he grew up. But now...
Feet of clay, he thought.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever been with a guy and not talked for this long,” Marielle said. “You’re very serious this morning.”
“Got a lot on my mind,” he said. “And I was checking out this place. Not many restaurants like this in Cole’s Hill.”
“My family has been coming here for Sunday brunch for years. We have a history with this place. After we eat, I’ll show you the portrait of my paternal grandparents with the former owners that hangs in the owner’s lounge.”
“I’d like that. Is family important to you?” he asked, as one of the waiters poured him some coffee.
“I’d like to say no, but that’s not true. As much as I try to do things to shock my parents, I do love them,” she said.
“Was the affair with Jose something to shock them?” he asked.
She tipped her head to the side. “Are we going to talk about that again?”
“I think we have to,” he said. He’d always been direct, and he couldn’t imagine that he was going to change now. He wanted to understand her. To try to reconcile the lover who’d been in his bed on New Year’s Eve and the woman he’d learned she was the morning after.
“Of course I wasn’t doing it to shock my parents. It was because I thought I loved Jose,” Marielle said with a shrug. “I never would have gone into that relationship if I hadn’t believed him when he said his marriage was over.”
“Do you regret the affair? Now that you know about Bianca?” he asked.
She picked up her mimosa and took a sip. “How can you be asking me this? I already told you how much shame I feel.”
“Bianca saw a picture of us kissing when we left the Polar club the other night, and she isn’t happy. She’s been telling me more about what happened,” he asked.
“Is that so? Well, you should just remember that there are two sides to every story,” Marielle said. “Not that I blame her at all. But he lied to both of us.”
Inigo felt the slow burn of anger. The fact that Marielle seemed to have no shame about her actions made him realize that his attraction was a mirage. He might be seeing something in her that wasn’t real.
Sex. He had to remember it had been a year since he’d gotten laid before Marielle. Maybe that was responsible for his obsession with her.
“I’d think you’d have some regret. She was pregnant.”
“I can’t control anyone other than myself. I was upset and broke things off when I realized that Jose was lying to me,” she said. She chewed her lower lip and looked away from him. “He made me promises as well. But he wasn’t a man of his word.”
That didn’t jive with the Jose he knew, but Inigo had realized after his mentor’s death that there was a lot about him that he’d never known. He’d only seen Jose’s talent as a driver and knew that if he wanted to be the best, he needed to emulate what he saw.
On the other hand, he didn’t feel as if he knew Marielle at all.
She seemed so callous toward Bianca and took no responsibility for the outcome of her affair.
That affair had devastated his sister. Inigo wondered if someone treated Marielle that way, she’d finally be able to find some empathy for Bianca.
And worst of all, Inigo still wanted her. Could he have her? Or was avenging his sister the right course after all? He’d been so worked up after his call with Bianca that he hadn’t even thought about how all this might impact his racing.
“Did you only ask me to lunch to discuss the past? Because if so, we’re done here,” Marielle said, shifting in her chair as if she were going to get up and leave.
“No, I want to discuss the future,” Inigo said, stopping her. “I need you back.”
Marielle showed up twenty minutes early to her dinner date with Inigo, which wasn’t like her. She almost had her driver circle the block a few times so she wouldn’t be early and realized she was nervous.
What did it matter?
He was just a guy.
She hadn’t been able to resist when he’d asked to spend more time with her.
She scolded herself for giving in to temptation and knew that the situation with Bianca meant that it wouldn’t last. But she couldn’t lie to herself.
She’d missed Inigo. She had to see where this went, even if it didn’t end well.
She glanced at her phone and decided she could play this off if she used it for her social media channel. Her manager had noted that her live videos were the things that really got the most views.
She took a deep breath and then asked the driver to stop. Living her best life on social media was always easier than her reality.
The restaurant Inigo had chosen was very popular, and there was a line outside.
There had been a light snow falling, and it was almost too perfect.
It was the kind of wintry evening that was made for romance.
There were some carriages lined up to take couples through Central Park, and she used them as the background, adjusting her position to find the best light for her video.
Then she took a deep breath and turned on the live video feed. She waited a moment for the feed to start and then smiled at the camera.
“Hello, everyone. This is the perfect night for romance and wintry fun. I am in Central Park waiting for my date, and this light snow has started to fall. For a long time, I saw snow as something to be avoided. I always used to worry that it would ruin my hair, make it frizzy, or that the snow would leave wet stains on my clothing.”
She tipped her head back and let the snowflakes fall on her face. She’d been so shallow.
“Now when I think of all the moments like this that I never let myself enjoy, I regret it. I was so obsessed with getting the perfect picture to share, with making sure that everyone thought I had a better life than I did, but the truth is, I wasn’t living it.
I was staging it, and in the end I wasn’t a very happy or nice woman.
I hope that if you are watching this, you will get out tonight.
Go and enjoy the evening wherever you are and don’t worry if it’s not perfect.
If your hair is a little frizzy or your boots get muddy, that doesn’t matter.
Are you with the person you love? Someone who makes you laugh?
Or even just on your own, enjoying what the evening can provide? ”
She noticed that people were watching her, and she just smiled as she twirled in the snow. “Don’t let anyone steal your joy tonight.”
She turned off the camera and walked back toward the restaurant.
That’s when she saw Inigo standing a few feet away wearing a black wool coat.
He was watching her. She knew she didn’t look as good as she had earlier; she could feel the cold on her face and imagined her cheeks and nose were probably red.
But the snow and the magical atmosphere this evening had taken away her nerves.
Just letting go of perfection was bringing her a satisfaction she hadn’t been able to find before this.
“Hello, speedy. Looks like I beat you tonight.”
He smiled at her and didn’t say a word as he walked over to her and took her in his arms to kiss her. The kiss was warm and passionate and everything that she wanted but had never had.
She saw the flash of the paparazzi bulbs behind him and wouldn’t have minded for herself, but this wasn’t something that Bianca needed to see.
The fledgling relationship she was trying to build with Inigo didn’t need the added attention.
But she wished she could just ignore them and revel in the fact that for the first time in her life, she was being deliberate in her actions.
She wasn’t staging her world to seem as if she was living a good life—she was actually enjoying it.
And this man.
This improbable man that she shouldn’t be kissing at all. But he was perfect for this night.