One Night to Risk It All

by Katherine Garbera

  Then she took a deep breath and turned on the live video feed. She waited a moment for the feed to start and then smiled at the camera.

  “Hello, everyone. This is the perfect night for romance and wintry fun. I am in Central Park waiting for my date, and this light snow has started to fall. For a long time, I saw snow as something to be avoided. I always used to worry that it would ruin my hair, make it frizzy, or that the snow would leave wet stains on my clothing.”

  She tipped her head back and let the snowflakes fall on her face. She’d been so shallow.

  “Now when I think of all the moments like this that I never let myself enjoy, I regret it. I was so obsessed with getting the perfect picture to share, with making sure that everyone thought I had a better life than I did, but the truth is, I wasn’t living it. I was staging it, and in the end I wasn’t a very happy or nice woman. I hope that if you are watching this, you will get out tonight. Go and enjoy the evening wherever you are and don’t worry if it’s not perfect. If your hair is a little frizzy or your boots get muddy, that doesn’t matter. Are you with the person you love? Someone who makes you laugh? Or even just on your own, enjoying what the evening can provide?”

  She noticed that people were watching her, and she just smiled as she twirled in the snow. “Don’t let anyone steal your joy tonight.”

  She turned off the camera and walked back toward the restaurant. That’s when she saw Inigo standing a few feet away wearing a black wool coat. He was watching her. She knew she didn’t look as good as she had earlier; she could feel the cold on her face and imagined her cheeks and nose were probably red. But the snow and the magical atmosphere this evening had taken away her nerves.

  Just letting go of perfection was bringing her a satisfaction she hadn’t been able to find before this.

  “Hello, speedy. Looks like I beat you tonight.”

  He smiled at her and didn’t say a word as he walked over to her and took her in his arms to kiss her. The kiss was warm and passionate and everything that she wanted but had never had.

  She saw the flash of the paparazzi bulbs behind him and wouldn’t have minded for herself, but this wasn’t something that Bianca needed to see. The fledgling relationship she was trying to build with Inigo didn’t need the added attention. But she wished she could just ignore them and revel in the fact that for the first time in her life, she was being deliberate in her actions. She wasn’t staging her world to seem as if she was living a good life—she was actually enjoying it.

  And this man.

  This improbable man that she shouldn’t be kissing at all. But he was perfect for this night.

  She put her hands on his face and deepened the kiss. Then he tipped her back, not breaking the kiss, before lifting his head and looking down into her eyes. “Might as well give them a good pose for their photos.”

  “Might as well,” she said, hoping that she wouldn’t regret being so public with Inigo. But it was different, and in a way this suited her brand, her lifestyle that was a mix of luxury and authenticity.

  She took a deep breath and felt something shift deep inside her soul. Some place that had been barren and cold for the majority of her life no longer felt so cold or alone.

  He twined their fingers together and led her toward the restaurant. She was aware of people watching them, and she realized that for the first time she was the center of attention not because she was outrageous.

  “You are such a cute couple,” an older lady said to them.

  She glanced over at Inigo to see how he took that comment and noticed how satisfied he seemed. Maybe this was more than sex. Maybe.

  * * *

  After dinner Inigo was still not sure how to proceed with Marielle. She was funny, irreverent and sometimes would do things that shocked and turned him on. Like when she ran her foot up his leg to his crotch as he was giving the waiter his order. And when his voice dropped an octave, she just winked at him.

  But at the same time, there was Bianca and what Marielle had done with Jose. Was Marielle the shallow, callous woman she’d seemed to be in that situation? Should Inigo be the brother who was there for Bianca this time instead of the one who was...well, oblivious to what was going on?

  But Marielle had him in a sensual daze. He’d found his own hand up high on her thigh as they’d shared a decadent dessert. And when he paid the bill and led her outside to the waiting car and paparazzi, he didn’t think about Bianca or revenge. In a fevered state, he’d pulled Marielle into his arms, his hand sliding under her coat to hold her to him as he kissed her the way he’d wanted to since the very beginning of the meal.

  The flashbulbs of the paparazzi who had been following them around brought him out of his sensual haze. He lifted his head and looked down into Marielle’s upturned face. He went back to how he’d felt before talking to Bianca this week. He couldn’t follow through on his callous plan. He couldn’t hurt Marielle the way he’d intended. His tit-for-tat idea of hurting her after making her fall for him wasn’t going to bring him any solace or give his sister the peace she needed.

  His family were going to see these photos, but he would have to deal with the consequences. Before he might have used them as part of a plan to publicly dump and embarrass Marielle, but now he had no intention to.

  “What’s going on, speedy?” she asked once they were in the car.

  Her nickname for him almost made him smile. “I can’t keep doing this. I think you and my sister need to talk.”

  She shifted completely off his lap and turned to stare out the window. The lights of the city illuminated her reflection, and what he saw made him realize how difficult this was going to be.

  “Why? What purpose will that serve?” she asked.

  “I like you, Marielle,” he admitted. “And it’s not just because of my times behind the wheel. I don’t want this to be just hooking up. But it can’t be anything more unless you and Bianca...come to some sort of understanding.”

  “Understanding?” she said, turning to face him. “I didn’t go after her husband... Jose hit on me. He told me his marriage was over. I don’t think I owe her anything.”

  “She’s never going to see it that way,” Inigo said. He was being torn apart by this. How could Marielle not see that?

  “I don’t care,” she said. “I’m not saying I haven’t made mistakes in my life, but I’m done apologizing for being alive.”

  “That’s not what I’m asking you to do,” he said. This wasn’t going the way he’d hoped. “Forget I mentioned it.”

  “How can I forget it? It’s always there between us. As you said, there is no way to move past this. The one who could have made this right is dead. We both only know what he told us.”

  She had a point, but Inigo knew there wasn’t a way for him to continue in this relationship with her and not hurt his sister. She lowered the divider between the front and back seats. “Could you take me to my place?”

  She rattled off her address, and the driver switched lanes to head toward her place. She put the privacy barrier back up. “I think we need a break to figure out what to do next.”

  He nodded. “I’m going to Texas to do some training at the track in Austin, and then I’ll be back here in February for a week before we leave for Melbourne.”

  “I’m going to concentrate on my career too,” she said. “It’s finally starting to take off, and as much as I enjoy this, I want to see what I can do with that.”

  “Fair enough,” he said. “I’ll get in touch when I’m back in town.”

  “Okay.”

  They were silent for the rest of the drive, and when the car pulled up in front of her building, she put her hand on his arm to stop him from coming around to open her door. “Let’s just say goodbye now. It’s been fun.”

  Fun?

  “Okay.”

  It was all he could say. He could think of many
ways to describe their time together, and fun wasn’t one of them. It had been so much more from the moment he’d spotted her at Scarlet’s New Year’s Eve party. But now it was over. No matter what they’d both said, this was a forever kind of goodbye. And he was just going to let her leave.

  Maybe if it was the end of the season or if he had a win under his belt, he would have made a different choice, but he just sank back into the leather seats of the Vallerio sedan and watched her walk away in the slush.

  All of the romance of the evening was gone. No more softly falling snow, no more surprise kisses. No more Marielle.

  She entered the lobby of her building without a backward glance, and his driver eased back into traffic, taking him toward his home. He let his head fall back and tried to reassure himself that everything was for the best and this was the good life. But it didn’t feel like the good life. It felt like he’d made a mistake. But at the same time, what else could he do?

  She couldn’t see her way to make peace with Bianca, but was that why she’d left? Or was it that she didn’t care for him? He might have been pushing for something she simply didn’t want.

  When he got to his building and went into the lobby, Dante was waiting for him. They had planned to meet at his place to go over the latest results of his sessions at the facility. He was glad to see his friend and head engineer. Work was what he should be focused on.

  “Do you have time to talk?”

  “About the new setup?” Inigo asked. He needed to talk about racing and get his head off of Mari and those thoughts of what could have been.

  “Uh, yeah, of course, what else would I want to talk about?”

  Dante seemed a little strange but then started talking about the changes in the cockpit setup and the engine, and Inigo relaxed. Maybe he was being oversensitive after dealing with Mari. After hearing her dismiss what they had as just fun when Inigo was beginning to think he wanted much more.

  Fourteen

  “Hey, um, Inigo, this is Derek... When you have a moment, could you please call me? There’s something I’d like to discuss with you. I’m on call and have surgery this morning, but you can leave a message on my cell or with my assistant. We really need to talk.”

  Inigo saved the message. Worried something was wrong with Bianca, he dialed Derek’s number, but it went to voice mail.

  “Hey, Derek. Call me when you get this? I’m leaving my phone on and I’ll have one of the engineers get me if I’m in the simulator.”

  He hung up, rubbing the back of his neck. Worry about his sister was at the front of his mind. He’d been hoping to talk to Bianca about Marielle. Though she still hadn’t shown any regret for being Jose’s mistress, Inigo was falling for her. He wanted her in his life, but he knew that would never happen if he didn’t find a way to make peace between his sister and Marielle.

  His timing was bad, though. Bianca was in her last trimester, and if Derek had called, it had to be bad news. He texted his dad to ask if Bianca was okay. He was so nervous, he saw dots dancing in his eyes before his dad’s response reached him.

  Hiya, son, we had dinner with her last night and she was fine. Do you know something? Should I go over to her place?

  His parents would know if something was wrong related to the pregnancy. Maybe Derek was calling about something else. He twirled his phone in his hands, trying to decide how to respond to his dad.

  I was just checking in but didn’t want to bother Bianca.

  How’s the training going?

  Really well. The new facility is nice. We are going to head to Melbourne at the end of February.

  Mom and I want to see you before then.

  I will make that happen. I’m coming to Austin for some practice laps. See you then. Love you.

  Love you too.

  “Inigo, you ready to try this new setup?” Keke asked.

  “Yeah. Sorry about that,” Inigo said, walking over to Dante’s desk, where Keke waited. Both men had a new configuration up on the computer monitor. “Dante, watch my phone. My brother-in-law left me a voice mail on my last run, and it sounded urgent. If he calls again, will you answer it and then pull me out of the simulation?”

  “Is it about your sister?” Keke asked, putting his hand on Inigo’s shoulder and squeezing.

  “I’m not sure. I just don’t want to miss another call. She’s not in labor and there is no emergency my parents know about, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Inigo said.

  “We’ve got your back on this. Can you clear your mind?” Keke asked.

  He nodded. He wasn’t going to allow anything to keep him from another good run. He had noticed that as his relationship—could he even call it that?—with Marielle had developed, he’d been finding a way to clear his head and drive faster. Part of it was focusing on the remembered feel of her in his arms, but a bigger part was just that she cleared his head. Even with the complications of her past with his sister, she gave him something to look forward to that he hadn’t had before.

  He took his run. Technically he knew he’d done everything right, but he was also pretty sure that his time wasn’t that great. When he got out of the simulator and saw the looks on Keke and Dante’s faces, he knew his gut had been right. They both just told him to take a break and come back after he’d spoken to his brother-in-law.

  Inigo went outside. Late January on Long Island wasn’t exactly balmy, but he needed the brisk air to help clear his head. He was worried about Bianca, half in love with Marielle, unsure how to bridge the gap between the two women and what it would do to his driving this season if he didn’t get it sorted out.

  The easiest thing would be to break it off with Marielle, but he knew he couldn’t do that. He no longer just saw the smiley, sexy persona she presented to the world. Instead he saw the woman beneath the surface. The woman who was struggling to get past her mistakes. He could sympathize with her.

  Racing had always commanded all of his time and energy, so he hadn’t had the misspent youth that his brother Mauricio or Marielle had, but without racing, would he have been any different from them?

  His phone finally rang, and he almost dropped it when he went to answer it.

  “Derek?”

  “Yes, sorry to bother you when you are working, Inigo, but I need to talk to you,” Derek said.

  “Go for it.”

  “We saw the new pictures of you and that woman online, and they showed up in the Houston Chronicle as well. Bianca is shocked and upset by this, especially since she’d already talked to you about the earlier photos,” Derek said.

  “She’s really pissed, isn’t she?”

  “Yes, she is, and I don’t blame her. I know it’s not my place to talk to you about who you’re seeing, but is it possible to not do this now?” Derek asked. “Even as I hear myself saying this, I feel stupid. But you know your sister. She’s freaking out, and that’s not good for the baby or for her. And she’s my world...”

  He sighed. Maybe there was no choice but to stop kidding himself that he could be with Marielle. He had never wanted to hurt his sister, and there was the complication of being with a woman who made him feel the same burning excitement outside of the track that he did on it. It was hard to handle.

  Betraying Marielle would put distance between them. It would definitely put an end to whatever was going on between them, and he wouldn’t have to worry about how trying to have a relationship with Marielle would affect his racing season. But hurting her? Could he live with that? Then again, could he live with himself if he brought a woman that his sister couldn’t endure into their family? He had started something in ignorance, never guessing that love would hurt like this.

  “I know that. I promise you that this relationship isn’t what you think it is. I’m not seeing her anymore. It was...doesn’t matter. I’d never hurt Bianca like that and turns out neither would Mari.” He couldn’t rea
lly say that was the reason she’d broken things off with him but he was going to frame it that way.

  There was silence on the phone. His heart ached even saying those words, but he knew he needed to do something.

  “Inigo, I don’t think that’s what Bianca would want.”

  “What does she want?” he asked Derek.

  “I’m not sure she knows herself,” Derek said. “It would be easier if Jose were still around to talk to. I think what hurts her the most is she never got closure.”

  “I agree. Jose left behind a mess and we’re all still dealing with the wreckage,” he said.

  “True. Will we see you before you leave for Melbourne?”

  “Yes, I’m hoping to come home when Bianca gives birth and mix that with a training session that Moretti is sending me to Austin for,” Inigo said.

  He hung up a minute later and turned back to see Dante standing there. “So, how’s things with your sister and Marielle?”

  “Not good. The press keeps running the picture of that kiss even though we haven’t seen each other in a while. Bianca is upset by it and I can’t do more than walk away. Everything is a damn mess.”

  “Did you walk away?” Dante asked.

  “Reluctantly,” Inigo admitted. “Why?”

  Dante shrugged. “I might have said something in the bar the other night about Jose and Mari and your sister.”

  “What do you mean might have?” he asked. This didn’t sound good.

  “I can’t recall the entire night. I remember someone asking me about Mari and I know I said something about the stuff you told me when you were talking about revenge. Dude, I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t screw up royally.”

  “Hell.”

  “I know.”

  “Listen, whatever happens, it’s on me. I shouldn’t have been talking to you about it,” Inigo said. He owned his mistakes, unlike Jose who’d just run from them as fast as he could.