Page 56 of Too Fast To Fall
That we’re telling people we’retogether?
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 meetEmilio, 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 mutuallove of dogs, and we started flirting and one thing led to another and the next thing I knew, I was hopping on the plane backto 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 whatwas 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 wasteof 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’sleg.
“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 andGus, but Victoria had always been uncharacteristically enthusiastic about caring for him on race weekends. “I just figuredout why you used to take so many photos of yourself with Gus and post them on social media. You did it to make yourself lookgood.”
“Excuse me?”
Emilio regretted saying it out loud, but only because he was angry with himself for not having seen it earlier. Judging bythe way Victoria wore Brett on her arm like a piece of jewelry, the problem between Emilio and Victoria had never been thatEmilio was incapable of love. It was that he was incapable of lovingher. Everything Piper had said about love the other night rang loudly in his head—love was about connection, and it lived insideus. He had it in him. He knew it now. Damn Victoria for making him doubt himself. “This is all just a game to you. Politelyinsulting 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 maybenot. Maybe Brett was into superficiality and putting on a show. Emilio really didn’t care. “It’s okay, Lockford. I had tosay 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 withdesire. 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 semisalaciousamount 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 turnedto him. “Emilio, how did you ever go out with her? She’s horrible. It’s gross.” Piper threw up her hands then crouched downand unhooked Gus’s leash. “I’m not judging you. Believe me, my ex is no prize, either. I’m just genuinely curious.” She lookedup 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 positivelydumbstruck, but that was okay. “Are you upset?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No. Not at all. If anything, I’m happy.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her neck.
“Happy? How?”
“Because I don’t feel bad anymore.” He moved to the other side, pressing soft, wet kisses along her neck.
“Okay. Because I don’t want you to have sex with me because you’re trying to get back at her. Or you’re working out your anger.”
He stopped so he could look her right in the face. “I want to have sex with you because I like you, Piper. A lot.”
