Page 41 of Rush
‘Can Wyoming wait until after the race?’
‘What did you have in mind?’
‘Come back to Monaco with me?’ he asked. ‘I’d really like to show you how I do things when we’re not travelling the world for races.’
She pondered the offer, juggling the pros and cons in her mind. She’d never been to Monaco, and it might be nice to see how the other half lived. What else was she going to do? Fly halfway across the world solo and sit in a hotel room? Go home and have Weston celebrate the downfall of his baby sister’s shambles of a relationship? She could get on board with a private tennis court, where she could smash tennis balls and pretend they were Jesse’s face until she had no anger left within her. ‘Fuck it, let’s go.’
16
Savannah needed solitude, and that was exactly what Marco’s tiny home country could offer her. An escape from reality, some peace and quiet. And more importantly, someone to remind her just how special she was. He could do that for her, just until she figured out who she was in a world without Jesse.
Marco wasn’t lying when he said he had grown up in luxury. While he had been open about his upbringing when Savannah had asked, bringing her here was a whole different ball game. Thankfully he knew his family were still in Switzerland visiting his brother, and the only people here were the housekeepers.
Her eyes would fall out of her skull if she saw the way his parents dressed just to sit around at home. Not a day went by when his father wasn’t in a full suit or a shirt and trousers. He was ready to drop everything and run to a business meeting at any given moment, and he frequently held them at the family home. They would petrify Savannah, and he knew she’d be self-conscious of her own choice in clothing. If only she knew his mum had a pair of cowboy boots hiding in the back of her walk-in closet.
Despite the stupid amount of money they had accumulated in their joint bank account, his family were incredibly down to earth and he was proud of that fact, grateful forthe way he had been raised. Everywhere they travelled, they volunteered with the local community, educated themselves and immersed themselves in the culture. They’d built schools, hospitals, hotels which only hired local people and paid above minimum wage. And the rest of the world didn’t know about any of it. His parents didn’t like to brag, and they kept their social circle small.
His brother had taken all the money out of his trust fund and donated it to a medical research programme the same week he turned eighteen, and then promptly moved to Switzerland to meet a girl he’d been talking to online and started from scratch.
But Marco knew this was intimidating. From the tennis court and the swimming pool to the marble floors and multiple garages filled with sports cars, mostly gifts from car manufacturers for just… being a racing driver. It was a lot. And he wasn’t oblivious to the fact Savannah hadn’t come from money and was probably afraid to touch anything in there.
‘I never realised you still lived with your parents,’ she murmured, hovering in the doorway to the kitchen. After a guided tour, during which she had been stunned into silence, that was all she had to say? He was wondering if he should’ve booked her into a hotel or rented an apartment for the sake of a week. She might feel more comfortable.
‘I have an apartment, but there’s only one bedroom. I didn’t think it was appropriate, plus it’s in a building full of racing drivers and you would have been hounded by them all. They’re nosy. You have your pick of three rooms here,and my family won’t be returning home until we’re en route to Brazil for the race.’
‘I bet your apartment doesn’t have a tennis court,’ she laughed nervously, finally choosing to join him at the kitchen island, while the family chef whipped them up some pancakes. Vegan and packed full of protein and chocolate chips, just how he liked it.
‘No, but it has a pool. On the roof, not private. And a community gym, too, which I don’t use because I crammed as much equipment as I could into the spare bedroom. The reason for me not having an extra bed.’
‘You know what my gym is back home?’ She watched the chef work. ‘Running the hiking trails and horseback riding. Mocha and I go out for hours sometimes.’
‘Is it not dangerous, running the trails? Isn’t the bigfoot out there?’
‘I stay close to the ranch. I’ve grown up there, I know what to look out for. And bigfoot isn’t real, idiot.’ She rolled her eyes, and he grinned at her. He liked it when she called him an idiot. It made him feel like they were getting closer, close enough that they could insult each other without consequence.
‘So, Cowgirl. Is there anything specific you’d like to do while you’re here?’
‘Am I allowed to indulge in the life of Marco De Luca for a while? Go to the casino, play some tennis, swim…’ She took a bite of the food that was put in front of her. ‘Eat these incredible pancakes. Oh my god! Maybe I do need a chef.’
‘If you want to live my life, you’re gonna have to ditchthe cowboy boots for a few days. Those won’t fly in a place like this,’ he laughed. ‘I’ll have to drag you out on a sunrise run.’
‘Sunriseor sunset?’ Her eyes widened.
‘Rise. Shouldn’t you be an early bird, growing up on a ranch?’ He took a forkful off her plate, too impatient to wait for his own to be ready.
‘Getting up early was Weston’s thing. I always stayed inside and helped get breakfast ready for when he and Dad and the ranch hands came back from their early morning jobs.’
‘So, if you’re not up by nine every morning to run or train, I’ll have to set the fire alarms off to get you out of bed. Noted.’
‘I am capable of waking up early, I just prefer not to. I have enough of that during race week. Please also note that I am in mourning following the end of my relationship, so go easy on me.’ She scowled, but in all honesty, she didn’t seem as devastated as he had worried she’d be. He had even got in touch with Esme in case he needed back up, since she was the only friend who had known about Jesse. Her reaction had been explosive, and Savannah’s phone had immediately lit up with a flurry of messages from her best friend. But she hadn’t shed a tear in front of him since first leaving the restaurant, and she had hardly mentioned it on the flight to Monaco. Wasn’t that a sign that it had been the right thing for her, whether the choice had been hers or not?
‘I will take it into consideration. Eat up, I’ve got something really cool to show you.’
‘How can it possibly get cooler than everything I’ve seen so far?’
‘Trust me.’ Marco gratefully accepted his pancakes from the chef. ‘Give me two minutes and we’ll head upstairs. You’ll like it, it’s right up your street.’
He scoffed his food down, thankful that he’d taught himself this recipe so he could have them any time the chef was off, or if he was in another country.
