Rush: Part One & Two (The Pitstop Series Book 3)

My heart rate skyrockets before we step into Evangelin’s store. I need both of them to get along, and I’m afraid of how she will react when she sees Gabriel. So far, there has always been something off when I talked about him, and even though I don’t know what it is, it makes me worry.

The handsome man next to me grabs my hand, clearly also nervous. As soon as I feel his fingers intertwine with mine, I relax.

“Are you okay?” The words leave my lips and catch his attention.

His gorgeous face is making all kinds of worried expressions, and I smile to comfort him.

“She’s going to love you,” I assure him and pull our hands to my mouth, pressing a kiss to the back of his. “Just behave yourself,” I tell him, but he frowns at me in response.

Before we can both panic and overthink things any more, I open the door to Rush and lead Gabriel inside. No one is at the store because it is too early, and Evangelin is hanging clothes on the racks. When she sees us, a beautiful grin spreads over her tired face.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Gabriel.” She holds out her hand for him, and he takes it, a polite smile on his face.

“The pleasure is all mine,” he says, and it warms my heart. It is riveting to hear the French words fall off his lips.

Evangelin nods at him before bringing her attention to me.

“You should be getting ready to leave for Italy,” she scolds, and I give her half a frown.

“I’m not leaving you alone on the busiest day of the week.” She takes my hand in hers and squeezes it. “And I’ve brought reinforcements. Gabriel is going to help us,” I assure her.

“Thank you, for everything you do for me and my store. I’ve been trying to hire someone to help out, but I’ve been struggling.” The small woman in front of me is about to cry when she catches herself and starts explaining to my boyfriend what he could do to be useful. Meanwhile, I set up everything by the cash register to be prepared for our customers.

As soon as the first one walks in, Evangelin moves to greet them. The person asks her for a couple articles of clothing, and I cash them out soon after. More and more people come and, within an hour, the store is full. It’s difficult to keep up with all the customers and their demands, but all three of us do our best.

Every now and then, I look over at Gabriel, who is doing much better than I would have expected. He’s helping mostly men, although a lot of women walk over to him, asking for his help. I’m a bit worried about what they’re asking him because his face is a deep red, and he seems to get uncomfortable sometimes. Luckily, the queue decreases soon enough, and I walk over to release Gabriel from a middle-aged woman, who is clearly asking him questions he seems unsure how to answer.

“I bet your girlfriend appreciates your great fashion sense,” the woman says in English, which surprises me, but also doesn’t distract me from the task at hand: protecting Gabriel.

Her fingers lift to his arm, and she squeezes it. His eyes find my face, and I see relief wash over him.

“Yes, I do,” I reply, making the woman turn around. “I would also appreciate it if you would not touch my boyfriend without his consent.”

The woman drops her hand, embarrassment in her gaze. She mumbles a quick ‘sorry’ before she moves away and toward Evangelin. I bring my focus to Gabriel, whose smile is bigger than ever before.

“Are you okay?”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

“More than,” he replies. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you to call me that.” His lips find mine before I can reply. It’s a short kiss, but it still makes my knees weak. “I’m going to get some coffee.” I don’t even have to tell him my order, he knows that my favorite drink is an iced vanilla latte. He says it out loud before giving me another brief kiss and walking over to Evangelin.

The store is almost completely empty when Gabriel leaves, and I check the time. My legs are already tired from standing for the past four hours. I sit down on the chair next to the cash, and Evangelin comes up to me, her grin making me nervous. I attempt to get up so she can sit, but she pushes me down onto the chair again.

“Gabriel is very sweet,” she says, and, suddenly, her grin is contagious. “I’m glad the two of you have figured everything out. He seems to make you happy.” She pulls her hair into a bun, and I don’t know what to say at first.

“He does, he makes me happy, frustrated, crazy,” I admit, smiling to myself. “I don’t understand it, but I love it.” I hide my face behind my hands and let the embarrassed blush settle on my cheeks.

“I can see that. You don’t know how delighted I am for you, Valentina. Your love story has just begun. There are going to be many more ups and downs, and you have to realize relationships take work. You can’t give up after every single fight, but you also can’t let things pile up. Communicate with him and make sure you always talk about things that bother you. If you don’t, you might end up getting sick of each other. Trust me, Carlos and I have been at a point before where we weren’t communicating, and we broke up. It took us one messy year to find our way back to each other. So, remember, communication is very important,” she says, and I nod.

“Thank you. I don’t know what I would do without you and your wisdom,” I admit, and she blushes.

“Stop it,” she says, and I laugh a little. “Are you ready to start training?” Evangelin asks next, making me feel nervous again.

“I’ve been ready since my grandfather took me on my first run.”

Gabriel steps back through the door, a tray with three coffees in his hand. He presses a kiss to the top of my head, and we fall into a casual conversation. He asks Evangelin about Carlos and her shop. She happily tells her story, and I decide to look around to see if there is anything I want to buy.

I scan the racks, and something catches my eyes. It’s an evening gown with the most unique pattern of flowers that stretches from the bottom of the dress all the way across the chestal area in one line. The rest of it is white, highlighting the different colors of the floral pattern. It has a boat neck, and the more I study it, the fancier I realize it is. I don’t know where I would ever wear this to, but I’ll regret it if I don’t buy this dress.

The price tag makes my heart skip a beat. It’s more expensive than any other piece of clothing I have ever bought. It goes against my nature to carry it toward Evangelin, but I push past the feeling.

“Excuse me, ma’am, I would like to purchase this dress,” I say, and she frowns at me.

“Since you called me ‘ma’am’, the price of it just doubled,” she jokes, and I chuckle. “Just take it, dear, you’ve done so much for me, you deserve it.” I shake my head as soon as she says it.

“No, I don’t help you because I hope to get free clothes out of this. I help you because you’re my friend. Now, I’d like to pay with my credit card,” I inform her, and she sighs loudly.

“Okay, four hundred euros is your total,” Evangelin says, and Gabriel’s eyes widen.

“Let me pay,” he offers, but I shake my head.

“No,” I say, making him frown.

“Chérie, this is nothing for me, but you need to save your money.”

I ignore his comment, digging around in my wallet to get my card. His hand slips around my wrist, stopping my movements.

“Let me pay, please. It’s a selfish request, I promise. I like buying you things, especially dresses I will rip off your body,” he goes on, whispering the last sentence.

I stretch my lips into a thin smile, but the blush on my cheeks reveals how much I like the image he has planted in my mind. Gabriel smirks, satisfied he’s on the verge of convincing me.

“No,” I repeat, firmer this time.

“Fine. I won’t rip it off you then,” he says, and, for a brief moment, I think about letting him pay just so he will do so.

I shake my head and insert the card, ignoring his upset expression. Grandpa has left me money, more than enough to live on until I earn my own. I hate spending any of it on something other than a necessity, but if I don’t buy it now, Gabriel will.

“You can wear the dress to the Ferrari unveiling event of their new sports car. Adrian and I have to attend it next week,” Gabriel lets me know as soon as we leave the store. “Would you like to go with me? As my date?” he says, and I bite the inside of my cheek.

“I would love to. Just to clarify, does that mean you are going to pick me up, drive me there, make me feel amazing the whole night?” He chuckles but also nods. “I never went to prom or any dance,” I admit, and he squeezes my hand, which has been resting in his ever since we started walking.

“Neither did I.” He steps in front of me to stop me from going any further. “I will give you the full experience,” he says, his hands grabbing my hips and pulling me close to him. I focus on his bottom lip, which is tucked between his teeth.

“Oh, and what is the full experience?” I ask, desperate for more information.

His eyes drift from my face, and he touches his tongue to the roof of his mouth. I tug on his shirt, waiting for him to answer.

“It’s in Rome, so I can pick you up in Maranello and we can drive there. We will probably stay in the same room so I’ll be able to take you to the event and spend the whole night trying to find a way to touch you inappropriately without anyone noticing.” I smile and my head drops, but he lifts it again, forcing me to make eye contact. “Then, I will take you back to the hotel room and make love to you all night long…” He trails off, his eyes fixating on my lips. My whole body tingles with excitement as I imagine it. “Not being able to touch you constantly today has been driving me crazy, but thank you for bringing me. I loved meeting Evangelin, she’s great.”

He got along with her, and they like each other. A weight lifts off my shoulders, and after today, I’m sure I was just imagining the weird expression on Evangelin’s face the first time she saw him. Gabriel’s grip tightens on my hips, bringing me back into the moment.

“You make me really happy,” he says, and, for the first time in minutes, I find my voice again.

“And you me, mon soleil,” I tell him, making a smile spread over his full lips, which exposes his gorgeous dimples. I lift my hand to his face, my index finger touching the one on his left cheek. “I love those damn dimples of yours,” I admit, making a blush settle on his cheeks.

“I love the ones on your lower back,” he replies, and it’s my turn to blush.

I had no idea I had them, but the fact that he likes them makes me adore them too.

“Let’s go home, ma chérie.” The way he says the word ‘home’ sounds right. I don’t know what it is, but I push the ridiculous feeling to the back of my mind.

It’s not time for that… yet.