Page 76 of Red Queen
“A bottle of champagne, please,” Teo answers, then, as the lady leaves, he reaches for my hand across the table.
“You’ve got quite the taste, Acosta.”
“Yeah? You like it?”
“Oh, yeah, I do. It’s beautiful,” I say as my eyes wander around the landscape.
Sitting in a restaurant on top of a big ass building in Abu Dhabi and about to have dinner with my boyfriend? I couldn’t ask for a better date.
“Yeah. It is,” he says, watching me as he says so.
“Did you really book a table in advance? It sounded pretty spontaneous in the car.” He chuckles, playing with my hand, the contact making my skin tingle.
“When we stopped at the next red light, I asked Enzo to call them up.”
“Ah. Smart,” I answer, and he’s still not taking his eyes off me. “I’m really proud of you, you know. You did it. You won the championship.”
“Thank you.” He smiles, and my heart melts. I love his smile. Maybe a little too much.
“So, you wanna tell me how exactly you won?” She asks after sipping from her wine.
“When Asher went to the pit to serve the five-second penalty, one of the mechanics touched the car before the five seconds ended, so he didn’t quite serve the penalty.”
“Oh, so that’s how! Wow. That’s terrible. I feel really sorry for the mechanic. But I mean… You won!” My face breaks into a grin and I reach out to hold his hand.
“I damn did.” He smiles, then clears his throat before he continues to speak. “I actually brought you here, because I wanted to tell you that… I feel really lucky to have you in my life. And that I’m sorry I was such an asshole before. I’m glad you didn’t listen to me and stayed by my side.”
I smile at his words, tears starting to swell in my eyes. “You’re good at convincing, but I’m more stubborn.” He chuckles, now taking both hands into his.
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“At least you’ll never be bored,” I joke, and after the laughter dies down, my tone gets serious. “I’m really lucky to have you, too. And thank you for everything so far. It’s truly been a roller coaster, but it was worth it.”
“I love you, Rosa,” he says, the words melting my heart. Doesn’t matter how many times I’ll hear this, I’ll never get enough of it.
“I love you too, Teo.”
EPILOGUE
ROSA
3 months later
Eek! We’re getting closer and closer to the day. I’m turning 26 tomorrow. Devastating. Teo wants to take me somewhere, and he’s planning a surprise for me. He’s arriving later today, since he had to do some sponsor photoshoots.
We’ve been together—officially—for a little more than four months. At the beginning, when we started doing this whole fake dating thing, I didn’t think it would lead here. I really thought we’d be spending our time left on Earth despising each other. But he’s too good in bed, so there wasn’t any other choice.
But that wasn’t the only reason I fell in love with him. How much of a woman I can be next to him. How it feels to be truly loved, to be worshiped. I didn’t think I’d be able to find such a good soul, who’s not only handsome but single too.
I always tell him how happy and grateful I am to have him in my life. He supports me endlessly, not afraid to appear vulnerable in front of me, buys me books, listens to me andloves me like no one did before. Sometimes I get emotional just thinking about how lucky I am.
My phone suddenly starts to ring, and I’m pulled back into reality.
“Buenos días, cariño. I have bad news and good news. Which one first?”
“Starting strong. Alright, bad one first.”
“They canceled my flight. I won’t arrive on time tomorrow.”
