Chapter 13 #2
She put her hands on his face and deepened the kiss. Then he tipped her back, not breaking the kiss, before lifting his head and looking down into her eyes. “Might as well give them a good pose for their photos.”
“Might as well,” she said, hoping that she wouldn’t regret being so public with Inigo. But it was different, and in a way this suited her brand, her lifestyle that was a mix of luxury and authenticity.
She took a deep breath and felt something shift deep inside her soul. Some place that had been barren and cold for the majority of her life no longer felt so cold or alone.
He twined their fingers together and led her toward the restaurant. She was aware of people watching them, and she realized that for the first time she was the center of attention not because she was outrageous.
“You are such a cute couple,” an older lady said to them.
She glanced over at Inigo to see how he took that comment and noticed how satisfied he seemed. Maybe this was more than sex. Maybe.
After dinner Inigo was still not sure how to proceed with Marielle.
She was funny, irreverent and sometimes would do things that shocked and turned him on.
Like when she ran her foot up his leg to his crotch as he was giving the waiter his order.
And when his voice dropped an octave, she just winked at him.
But at the same time, there was Bianca and what Marielle had done with Jose. Was Marielle the shallow, callous woman she’d seemed to be in that situation? Should Inigo be the brother who was there for Bianca this time instead of the one who was...well, oblivious to what was going on?
But Marielle had him in a sensual daze. He’d found his own hand up high on her thigh as they’d shared a decadent dessert.
And when he paid the bill and led her outside to the waiting car and paparazzi, he didn’t think about Bianca or revenge.
In a fevered state, he’d pulled Marielle into his arms, his hand sliding under her coat to hold her to him as he kissed her the way he’d wanted to since the very beginning of the meal.
The flashbulbs of the paparazzi who had been following them around brought him out of his sensual haze.
He lifted his head and looked down into Marielle’s upturned face.
He went back to how he’d felt before talking to Bianca this week.
He couldn’t follow through on his callous plan.
He couldn’t hurt Marielle the way he’d intended.
His tit-for-tat idea of hurting her after making her fall for him wasn’t going to bring him any solace or give his sister the peace she needed.
His family were going to see these photos, but he would have to deal with the consequences. Before he might have used them as part of a plan to publicly dump and embarrass Marielle, but now he had no intention to.
“What’s going on, speedy?” she asked once they were in the car.
Her nickname for him almost made him smile. “I can’t keep doing this. I think you and my sister need to talk.”
She shifted completely off his lap and turned to stare out the window. The lights of the city illuminated her reflection, and what he saw made him realize how difficult this was going to be.
“Why? What purpose will that serve?” she asked.
“I like you, Marielle,” he admitted. “And it’s not just because of my times behind the wheel. I don’t want this to be just hooking up. But it can’t be anything more unless you and Bianca...come to some sort of understanding.”
“Understanding?” she said, turning to face him. “I didn’t go after her husband... Jose hit on me. He told me his marriage was over. I don’t think I owe her anything.”
“She’s never going to see it that way,” Inigo said. He was being torn apart by this. How could Marielle not see that?
“I don’t care,” she said. “I’m not saying I haven’t made mistakes in my life, but I’m done apologizing for being alive.”
“That’s not what I’m asking you to do,” he said. This wasn’t going the way he’d hoped. “Forget I mentioned it.”
“How can I forget it? It’s always there between us. As you said, there is no way to move past this. The one who could have made this right is dead. We both only know what he told us.”
She had a point, but Inigo knew there wasn’t a way for him to continue in this relationship with her and not hurt his sister. She lowered the divider between the front and back seats. “Could you take me to my place?”
She rattled off her address, and the driver switched lanes to head toward her place. She put the privacy barrier back up. “I think we need a break to figure out what to do next.”
He nodded. “I’m going to Texas to do some training at the track in Austin, and then I’ll be back here in February for a week before we leave for Melbourne.”
“I’m going to concentrate on my career too,” she said. “It’s finally starting to take off, and as much as I enjoy this, I want to see what I can do with that.”
“Fair enough,” he said. “I’ll get in touch when I’m back in town.”
“Okay.”
They were silent for the rest of the drive, and when the car pulled up in front of her building, she put her hand on his arm to stop him from coming around to open her door. “Let’s just say goodbye now. It’s been fun.”
Fun?
“Okay.”
It was all he could say. He could think of many ways to describe their time together, and fun wasn’t one of them.
It had been so much more from the moment he’d spotted her at Scarlet’s New Year’s Eve party.
But now it was over. No matter what they’d both said, this was a forever kind of goodbye. And he was just going to let her leave.
Maybe if it was the end of the season or if he had a win under his belt, he would have made a different choice, but he just sank back into the leather seats of the Vallerio sedan and watched her walk away in the slush.
All of the romance of the evening was gone. No more softly falling snow, no more surprise kisses. No more Marielle.
She entered the lobby of her building without a backward glance, and his driver eased back into traffic, taking him toward his home.
He let his head fall back and tried to reassure himself that everything was for the best and this was the good life.
But it didn’t feel like the good life. It felt like he’d made a mistake.
But at the same time, what else could he do?
She couldn’t see her way to make peace with Bianca, but was that why she’d left? Or was it that she didn’t care for him? He might have been pushing for something she simply didn’t want.
When he got to his building and went into the lobby, Dante was waiting for him. They had planned to meet at his place to go over the latest results of his sessions at the facility. He was glad to see his friend and head engineer. Work was what he should be focused on.
“Do you have time to talk?”
“About the new setup?” Inigo asked. He needed to talk about racing and get his head off of Mari and those thoughts of what could have been.
“Uh, yeah, of course, what else would I want to talk about?”
Dante seemed a little strange but then started talking about the changes in the cockpit setup and the engine, and Inigo relaxed. Maybe he was being oversensitive after dealing with Mari. After hearing her dismiss what they had as just fun when Inigo was beginning to think he wanted much more.