His smile was like the sun rising. “God, I’m gonna ruin so many press photos by staring at you now.”
I laughed. Really laughed. Because somehow, even in the middle of a terrifying conversation about trust and heartbreak,he made me feel safe.
The morning came into the room in a burst of sunshine, the wind blowing a curtain open rhythmically. I cracked my eyes open and let myself wake up to the street noises below us. The sun cast along Matteo’s back. He was waking up slowly as well, a smile taking over before he yawned. All golden and sun-kissed skin.
“Good morning, gorgeous,” he said, his voice scratchy and deep from being unused. I had missed that last week. Having it back now was something I didn’t want to let go of anytime soon. I would just always wake up next to him. That seemed feasible.
A text pinged on my phone, and I knew it before I even saw my father’s name on my screen.
Dad:
Let’s meet this morning, 9:00 a.m. Bring DeLuca.
I sighed and turned the phone to Matteo.
“I feel like a teenager about to get called into the principal’s office,” he said, scratching his head.
“I mean, same same but different.”
“You think he’ll be mad?” he asked.
“Could go either way, but he’s not really the mad type. A very calm man actually. Other than if the World Cup is on.”
“Makes sense,” Matteo nodded.
I decided the best walk of shame would be to Lucia’s instead of to my hotel that my parents were at. So I walked down the hall, counting down the numbers till I hit Room 414 and knocked. The door creaked open, a half-asleep Lucia blinked back at me.
“Hey!” she said in a voice laced with surprise. “Wait, I thought you were at a different hotel?” She rubbed her eyes and covered a yawn.
“Yeah, didn’t make it back…” I trailed off feeling a blush creep up.
“Oh,” she sighed, then her eyes widened. “OH.”
“Yeah, so…”
“Holy shit.”
“Sorry to wake you early, but I need to borrow a change of clothes because my father has requested to meet with me and Matteo and I refuse to do a walk of shame in the hotel he’s staying at.”
“Mmhm, yup, yup, come in” She shuffled me through the doorway. The lights were off, aside from the soft glow of the bathroom door cracked.
“Gianna still asleep?” I whispered. Lucia nodded.
“Yeah, in Alexander’s arms and everything because she woke up at about 4:00 a.m. and refused to go back into her bed.”
“That’s fucking adorable.”
“I know. Like how am I supposed to not love them?”
“Wow, the ‘L’ word?” I mock-gasped, but we saw it coming—literally everyone other than them knew they were destined.
“I mean, who can blame me right?” she shrugged, and walked to the little bar setup, clicking on the espresso machine. “Alright, fill me the hell in.”
“The article pissed me off,” I said.
“Mmhm, hell hath no fury like a pissed off Nicola,” she giggled.
“They implied he was using me to get up in the racing world, like he hasn’t dedicated his whole life to the sport, like he doesn’t work every single day toward being a better driver, training, and working with the team. It pissed me the hell off. So you saw the anger part. But afterwards we had a rather open and honest conversation about it. And, well, I guess we’re trying the whole ‘together’ thing now.” I shrugged, trying to appear casual as my heart thumped in my chest.
