Page 16 of Too Fast To Fall
“You’ll get used to it. I have.” That was a complete lie. Emilio had grown up in Spain, moved to Monaco when he got his seatin Formula One and had lived there until he was ousted at Vermillion and Mega Racing swooped in. At that point, his life hadblown up—no girlfriend, different team and parents at war—it made sense to move and start over. England did have its sunnydays, but it wasn’t what he was used to. He craved heat. Brightness and light. He longed to raise his face to the sky to feelthe warmth of the sun. Too little of that happened in London.
“It’s strange to realize that I’m on the other side of the ocean from my family now.” Piper’s voice was wistful. “I’m justgoing to send a message to the family group text and let them know I’m okay.”
Emilio never thought about being away from his family. Not anymore. What had once felt rock-solid and full of love was nowsplintered. It had become something else entirely, where he was starting to feel more like the parent than the kid. It wasas if his parents had become completely different people in the past year.
“You can call them if you need to. We’ll be in the car for a while longer,” Emilio said.
Piper’s phone rang and she laughed quietly. “My dad. A text wasn’t good enough, I guess.”
“Please. Go ahead.”
Piper tapped the screen and raised the phone to her ear. “Dad. Hi. I can only talk for a few minutes. We’re almost to Emilio’splace.” She sat quiet for a moment as her dad spoke. “It’s definitely sudden, but I had to take the job.” She turned towardthe window, away from Emilio. “It pays too well. I couldn’t say no.”
Emilio pressed his lips together. He didn’t care about the money at all. He simply found it amusing that Piper was tryingto be so discreet.
“His name is Gus and he’s amazing.” She ruffled the fur around his neck. “He’s such a good boy. Very smart.”
Emilio tried not to smile. He did love hearing an accurate assessment of Gus’s personality and demeanor. He’d heard too littleof that from other dog sitters.
“Oh, the race was amazing.” Piper sucked in a breath and turned toward Emilio, then shied away. “I mean, you saw on TV, right?It was a good race. And it was fun to be there. No, he, uh, didn’t have a great day. But you know...” Her voice trailedoff. “There’s always next time.”
Emilio cleared his throat and tried to work a kink out of his neck. He was certain she was discussing his race performance.He had no idea about her knowledge of the sport, but it was an undisputed fact that he hadn’t done well yesterday.
“So, is Gabby mad that I left?” Piper asked. “She hasn’t said anything on the group chat. I can just sense it when she’s givingme the silent treatment.” Piper sighed. “I knew she’d be like this.”
Emilio glanced over to see Piper gnawing on her nail and nodding in agreement.
“It would be nice if she’d simply acknowledge this wedding is difficult for me. It’s like she thought ignoring my broken engagementwould make it go away.”
Emilio’s ears perked up. Broken engagement?
“Okay, Dad. I’ll talk to you later. I love you, too.” Piper tapped at the phone again and tucked the device into her bag.“Sorry about that.”
“You needed to check in with your family. I understand.”
“We’re all really close. Especially me and my dad.” Piper turned to him and gathered her hair, pulling it up into a ponytailand securing it with a band she’d been wearing on her wrist. He turned his sights to the road, then dared to glance back ather. How was she even prettier with her hair up? Better yet, how was she prettyat allafter having been on a plane all night? “My dad says hi, by the way. I’m sure that sounds weird. He’s just excited I’m workingfor you. He’s a big fan.”
Emilio wasn’t about to dig for more information. The less he knew about the personal details of her life, the simpler thingswould be. Judging by that dream he’d had on the plane, he needed to create as much professional distance as possible. Withthat in mind, this seemed as good a time as any to establish the ground rules. “We’re almost to the house. As soon as we getthere, we can go over your role and my expectations.”
Emilio exited the highway, and they entered a more residential area, while Piper wondered about what Emilio meant byexpectations. Her short conversation with her dad left her feeling conflicted. He was excited about her having taken the job, and in particular,he was intrigued by her new employer. But he was also worried because she was “so far away.” And he’d confirmed one of Piper’sbiggest fears. Gabby was pissed. No huge surprise.
As Emilio drove, on either side of the street were shops and brick row houses, churches and pubs. Double-decker buses rumbledpast from time to time. Everywhere she looked, there was a bustle of people in a hurry to get... somewhere. “Is this themain part of the city? I’ve never been here before.”
“This is the outskirts. London is massive. I live in Highgate. On the northwest side.”
“I need to look at a map.” Right now she felt as disoriented as she ever had, and not just because she wanted to know thelayout of London. There she was in a new place that was definitelynothome, with a man who might be nice to look at but was otherwise not giving off great vibes. She felt untethered from everythingthat helped her get through her day-to-day life—her family, her clients and the comfortable surroundings of the place she’dlived her entire life. Would she be able to hack this for five weeks? Now that reality was sinking in, the bravado she’d hadyesterday when she accepted the job was slowly slipping away.
They pulled up to a brick row house with tall paned windows trimmed in white. Emilio pushed a button on his rearview mirrorto open a wrought iron gate. As it wobbled across a narrow driveway, it revealed a small garage, which he pulled into afterthe door for that opened, too. “Only space for one car?”
Emilio killed the engine. “It’s not great, but I’m lucky to have parking at all in the city.”
Piper opened her door and Gus hopped out, then she followed as Emilio pulled out their suitcases and wheeled them througha crooked door in the back of the garage that led into a fenced-in yard with a patch of grass and pink roses climbing a trellis.Entering through the back door, they stepped into a cramped back hall with hooks for jackets and a place to leave shoes. “It’snice you have that outdoor space for Gus,” Piper said.
“It’s why I picked this place. The house isn’t the best, but everything happened so fast with moving here.”
Happened so fast... He meant the situation with being forced out at Vermillion. “I’m sorry about that. The situation with your old team.I mean, I’m sorry, but Tristan Highbridge is creepy. And Vermillion was so sketchy about it. It wouldn’t surprise me at allif the allegations were one hundred percent true.” She watched as Emilio’s expression changed from regular seriousness tostern agitation. She needed to cut this short. “It wasn’t fair…what happened.”
“So you know about that. Did your dad tell you about this?”
