Page 20 of Too Fast To Fall
At the end of the block, he turned left where she and Gus had always gone straight. Now that she had a sliver of time withhim, she wanted to ask more questions, but she wasn’t sure he’d answer, so she kept those to herself. Also, she was workingtoo hard to get chatty.
“When you say run, you meanrun,” she managed between gasps.
“Too fast?”
“I’m fine.” She wasn’t. That was stubbornness speaking. Her legs were starting to turn to rubber. Now that she thought aboutit, she hadn’t gone for a run in probably more than a month. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea.
“If you want to quit, you can circle back,” he said with all the confidence of an elite athlete with exceptional lung capacity.
“No. No. This is fun. I could keep running forever,” she lied.
“Are you sure? You’re sweating a lot.” He glanced at her and narrowed his stare. “More than is normal.”
Wow.That was not nice. There was no shame in having excellent free-flowing sweat glands. No, she did notperspirelike a wee thing. So what? “This is a normal amount of sweat for me. You know, the more in shape you are, the more you sweat.It’s because your body has become very efficient at cooling off.”
“I’m in excellent shape and I’m not sweating that much.”
Of course not, Mr. Perfect.“You’re used to the heat and humidity of Monaco and Spain.”
“You’re from Florida,” he said as they turned into a city park with wide walking paths, tall trees, green grass and a smallpond.
Just like that, Gus’s leash went limp by her side.
“What the...” Gus was a golden flash, darting ahead. “Oh, my God! Emilio! Gus!” Piper pointed at the pond. Gus launchedhimself right into the water.
“Aye yi yi, Gus!” Emilio whipped off his shirt and ran after him, diving right into the water, shorts, shoes and all. Pipergrabbed Emilio’s T-shirt and ran to the water’s edge, watching as he swam perfect strokes out to Gus, who was happily dog-paddlingaround with his tail sticking out of the water. He reached the dog, got him under one arm, then began swimming sidestrokeuntil he could drag him out of the pond.
Back on dry land, Gus shook. Hard. And now she was soaked, too. Piper kneeled to latch Gus’s leash, her clothes dripping.“So that’s what it’s like when he takes off.” She handed Emilio his shirt, trying hard to ignore how ridiculously hot he lookedwith beads of water on his glistening sculpted shoulders. The view sure made his grumpiness easier to take. She was sure shelooked more like a drowned rat, but perhaps that was an improvement from her previous sweat-soaked state.
“What happened?” Emilio asked.
“I don’t know. One minute we were running and the next, he was just... gone.” Piper sighed. “We’re going to need to givehim a bath when we get back to your place.”
“I’m going to need a shower, too.”
Yeah. The mental image of naked, soapy Emilio wasnotone she needed planted in her head. “Let’s just get back. You’ll have to show me the coffee place another time.”
“Gus, why did you do that?” Emilio asked while toweling off after his shower. “Why did you jump in the pond?”
Gus, being an otherwise good boy, was sitting at attention on the bathmat in front of the tub. He cocked his head to one side.
Emilio sighed. “Because now we have to give you a bath and Piper wants me to help. I have work to do. We leave for Italy tomorrow.”
Gus rested his head on the side of the tub. He had no answers to offer.
For one whole week, Emilio’s plan had been going perfectly. He’d been working out as hard as ever, had twice visited Megateam headquarters for meetings and to work on the sim, and had done much of his other prep for the Grand Prix at Imola. Hestill had quality time with Gus, but he didn’t have to worry about whether he was happy or well cared for while Emilio worked.
Staying so busy had helped him nearly shake the dream he’d had on the airplane. Then Piper had decided to get up early andinvite herself on his run. Every minute around her, smiling and sweaty and cute, brought back the memory. He understood alittle better why his subconscious had chosen to go there. Her laugh. The flash of her eyes. Her sunny disposition. She hadthis way about her—a sweetness and lightness, even when they were arguing. She made him want to do things like relax and havefun. He didn’t have time for those things. If he didn’t turn his season around, he could not only lose his seat at Mega, healso might not get another chance in Formula One. There were virtually no open seats for next season. His entire future restedin keeping his eye on the prize.
“Gus is all yours,” he said to Piper as he opened the door to his room. Emilio’s bathroom had a tub, but Piper’s did not,so she’d been waiting outside in the hall.
“I need you to help me get him in.” Piper slipped past him with an armful of supplies. “If he’s used to the fancy gear atthe groomer, he might not be willing to just hop in the tub.”
Emilio stopped in the doorway to the bathroom, closed his eyes and shook his head. This did not sound like a good idea. Thissounded like a lot of proximity in close quarters. Hands touching. Gus being adorable, which would invariably cause laughter.Merriment. And he had more close quarters to look forward to in Italy. They’d be staying in a motorhome near the track. “Gusloves you. I’m sure you’ll have no problem handling this on your own.”
“Emilio. Please. Five minutes. Just for the heavy lifting.”
Gus turned to him and whimpered.
