Velocity (6 page)

Content for the moment, Savannah talked to the guys until
Natalie pulled her away a while later so they could find their seats and the
men could get into their proper headspace.

“So explain to me why you’re taking their blood pressure? I
think I understand, but explain it so I’m sure.”

“They have a ‘resting’ blood pressure, which is probably
still elevated since it’s an event day. Research on adrenaline shows it spikes
your blood pressure, so I want to see if it’s higher before they ride or after.
I can’t use the baseline for those measurements, which is why I wanted to take
it an hour before and right after. I’ll compare all three readings for each guy
to himself and to the other riders. After that I’ll compare it to the other
areas I’m researching, like NASCAR, if I ever get anyone over there to talk to
me, to see what differences there are, if any.”

“Okay. How’s your research different than what’s already
been done though?”

Savannah smiled. “That’s the beauty of academic research.
You don’t need to have an original idea, you just need to take it further than
someone else has or add more data to strengthen or dispute their assertions.”

“Huh. Lucky for you.”

“There’s a reason I’ve been in school so long. I’m far too
lazy to come up with this stuff on my own.”

“Do you have any idea what you want to do once you finally
finish school?”

“I’d like to do therapy for people with traumatic brain
injuries.”

Natalie nodded, tilting her head. “That sounds kind of
fascinating, actually. But I have no interest in going to school for a bunch of
years.”

“It does take a long time to get the qualifications to do
it. Luckily you don’t need a medical degree though.”

Savannah changed the subject, not wanting to talk about her
research all day. She lived it enough at school. Besides, she wanted to know
more about bull riding, maybe probe Natalie a little about how much she and
Marco suspected that Paolo didn’t want to ride anymore. She wouldn’t rat him
out—it wasn’t her place to be the one to tell them—but it might make Paolo feel
better if he knew his brother wouldn’t be surprised by the news.

“What do you know about the bull Paolo drew?”

Shrugging, Natalie said, “He’s had trouble riding him in the
past, but who knows, maybe his good-luck charm,” she poked Savannah, “will
help.”

“It must be frustrating to come to event after event and get
bucked off.”

“Oh, I would imagine so. And he’s not the only rider having
that kind of trouble. Marco’s been lucky, really. He’s never experienced a
prolonged slump. For him, a slump is being bucked a couple of times in
succession, not a dozen or more like Paolo and some of the other guys.”

“I don’t know how they do it.”

“Some of them don’t have any other options. Some are
stubborn. Some are too blind or stupid to know when to quit.”

“Interesting.” Their attention was diverted by the
pyrotechnics show that seemed to accompany every event opening. “Oh crap, I
need to go get the guys’ readings again. I should’ve done it already. I hope
forgetting won’t skew the numbers.”

“Want me to help?”

“Yeah, that’d be great. Can you record the numbers so I can
just move from guy to guy without having to stop to do that?”

“Sure.”

With Natalie’s help the task went much quicker and soon they
were settling back into their seats. “I’m glad I caught them before it was too
close to their time to ride.”

“Yeah, good thing you remembered. I certainly didn’t.”

The riding began a little while later and Paolo was slated
to go pretty early due to his low ranking. When his turn came, Savannah found
herself leaning forward, biting her lip as she watched him make his
preparations with Marco’s help. At his nod, the chute door opened and the bull
lurched out, immediately spinning to the left. Paolo held on, but when the
animal launched all four feet in the air, coming back down with a crash, Paolo
slipped to the side and was off the bull before Savannah could even process
what had happened.

The bull turned and charged Paolo, managing to gore him in
the side with his horn before the bullfighters could distract the beast. Paolo
went down on one knee, appearing to gasp for air. The medical staff came
running out to meet him, but he waved them off, slowly rising of his own
accord. When he turned and caught her eye, giving her a slight nod, she slowly
released a breath.

“They should take
my
blood pressure right now. I
swear that took ten years off my life.”

Natalie nodded, her expression sympathetic. “Get used to it
if you have
any
plans of continuing to see Paolo, which I think you
should.”

“I’m not sure my heart can take it. Besides, I have to go
back to school.” She watched as Paolo left the arena and said, “Can I go down
there and see how he’s doing?”

“Of course.” The two made their way down the bleachers and
Savannah ran over to the chute area, where Paolo was talking to Marco and
holding his side.

“Oh my God, Paolo, you need to go get looked at,” Savannah
exclaimed. “Is it bleeding?” She tried to move his hand but he stopped her.

“It’s fine,
cara
. This has happened before and it
will bruise. I did not break anything.”

“How can you tell?”

“After bull riding for a couple of years, you can tell. It’s
going to be sore for a few days, but I’m fine.” He indicated the bag she’d
slung over her shoulder. “Do you need to take my blood pressure?”

“Is it okay to?”

“Of course.” He held out the arm not guarding his side and
Savannah quickly took a reading.

“I want you to go sit down and relax somewhere,” she told
him after she was done. He let her guide him over to an area with some folding
chairs. “Other guys can help your brother. You just sit here. Do you want some
water or anything?”

“No, I’m all right. I promise to rest though. I do not like
putting this on your beautiful face.” He reached up and rubbed the furrow
between her eyes.

“Okay then. I’d better go watch the rest so I can take the
other guys’ blood pressures when they’re done.” She shook a finger at him
playfully. “But I’m watching you.”

“I hope so,
amante
.”

Paolo watched Savannah walk away before removing his hand
from his side to gingerly test his range of movement. Yeah, that was going to
bruise and there was no way he could hide it. Yet another thing pushing him out
of bull riding—stupid, painful injuries.

After the other guys had gone and event results had been
tabulated, Savannah finally let him move around again. They were staying in
Sacramento tonight and then leaving for Anaheim. Tomorrow was another travel
day, which was good since Anaheim was a good seven hours away.

He decided he would broach the subject of not wanting to
ride bulls that night over dinner since it would be the four of them alone.
Paolo knew he was old enough to start making some of his own decisions, and
with Savannah’s encouragement, it was time to tell Marco he didn’t want to ride
anymore.

Once they’d ordered, he glanced over at Savannah and licked
his suddenly dry lips.

He addressed Marco, but didn’t want to leave Natalie or
Savannah out of the conversation, so he looked over at Natalie too. “I would
like to talk to you about something.”

“All right,” Marco answered slowly. “Is something wrong?”

“I have made a decision.”

His brother sat back, his expression wary. “What kind of
decision?”

“I don’t want to ride bulls anymore.”

Marco’s hand crept over his heart. “I thought you were going
to say you were returning to the family.”

“Why would I do that?” Paolo asked, frowning.

“I don’t know, but I’m glad that’s not it. And I can’t say
I’m surprised about you wanting to quit. What will you do?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced at Savannah again, who gave him
an encouraging smile. “I was thinking something outside or maybe working with
horses. Savannah says there are doctors that work with small animals and those
who work with large ones.”

“That sounds like something you would enjoy,” Marco said
with a smile. “Are you quitting immediately?”

“No, no. I want to look around and talk to some people. I
might try to stay on tour with you and help them take care of the animals.”

“You certainly can, but Paolo, don’t think you have to stay
with me. That was never my intention. I can give you your money out of the bank
account. I’ve kept track of your winnings. You can do anything you want with
it.”

Natalie piped up. “You could go back to school, even. Or,
since you never went to college at all, start school.”

“I’m not sure, really. I just wanted you to know what is
inside my head.”

Marco reached across the table and clapped him on the
shoulder, taking obvious care to do it on the side he hadn’t injured. “I’m
happy you told me. And since you’re not looking for rankings or points anymore,
I want you to take the next event or two off.” He jerked his head toward
Paolo’s side. “That would be painful to ride with, and why bother if you’re not
staying? You can enjoy your time with the lovely Savannah while she’s here that
way too.” His brother threw a wink Savannah’s way and she laughed, shaking her
head.

“That sounds like a good plan to me,” she said. “I’m still
here for a while and I’d like to spend time with you.”

“And I you,
cara
.”

Savannah looked over at Natalie. “Have they always talked
like this, with the silver tongues?”

“It’s in their nature, so they tell me. God help us if we
ever went to Italy.”

“We would keep you close to us and make sure the Italian men
knew you were taken,” Marco told her. “Especially you with your blonde hair.
Italian men are fascinated by blondes. Many people in
Italia
have dark
hair like we do.” He rifled through her long hair.

After the discussion of Paolo’s future ended, dinner passed
quickly. Savannah made him take some pain pills, and despite how he was showing
a brave face to the world, the reality was that though he was pretty sure
nothing was broken, it did hurt like a son of a bitch. He doubted there would
be many mattress gymnastics moves going on tonight. Considering they’d held off
on sex the night before and had only the brief interlude in the shower this
morning, Paolo was disappointed. Much as he wanted to, he didn’t even think he
could move enough to make Savannah come.

But I might try anyway.

That thought brought a little smile to his face and he
looked up to see his brother eyeing him. He chose to ignore the obvious
question on Marco’s face, and instead concentrated on using his left arm as
little as possible as he ate.

After dinner they climbed into a cab and Savannah followed
Paolo to his room. She’d checked out of hers earlier when they both admitted
she probably wouldn’t be spending much time in her own hotel room while she was
on tour. It saved her money anyway, though she’d tried to tell Paolo she’d pay
her way. Of course he would have none of that. He did have
some
pride.

As soon as they got inside his room, she sat him down on the
bed and removed his boots before urging him to lie back. Slowly and carefully
she undressed him down to his boxers, and when she saw the bruise, she gasped.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t go to the hospital?”

“Yes, truly. If I thought I needed a doctor I would get one.
I don’t believe in not asking for help when you need it. This has happened
before, more than once, to all of us. It bruises and looks ugly for a couple of
weeks, but then it goes away. Marco and Conner both checked it out for me in
the locker room before we left and they agree with me.”

“If you’re positive…”

She still didn’t look convinced and he couldn’t blame her.
While he’d been telling the truth about the injury, it certainly looked bad,
with its darker circle in the middle where the actual horn had hit to the
mottled area around it. He’d been kicked by horses worse than this, and if he
were looking for points he would be on the bull at the next event. It was kind
of nice to know he’d never have to ride again. Paolo let out a long, slow
breath so as not to aggravate his injury, and his entire body seemed to settle
into the mattress.

He watched from his position as Savannah went about her
night routine, awed by how natural it felt to watch her as she scuttled from
her suitcase to the bathroom and back, to hear the sounds of her brushing her
teeth and washing her face. For the first time, he began to seriously consider
whether or not he should try to keep seeing her after she left the tour. Brady
and Leah, after a couple of years, still had a long-distance relationship and
they made it work.

Savannah climbed into bed and he held his good arm up. “Come
and lie with me.”

“Okay, but if anything hurts you have to promise to tell
me.”

“I will.”

She snuggled in and fell asleep quickly, but between his
mind racing about all the uncertainties in his future and the pain from the
goring, Paolo only managed a few disjointed hours of sleep.

The next morning he told Savannah to straddle his face. He
needed to taste her before they started their all-day journey down to Anaheim.
After initially protesting, she did, and he licked her to a moaning, shaking
orgasm. She climbed off before grabbing his boxers, freeing his morning wood
and beginning to stroke it quickly. Paolo suspected the orgasm would hurt with
his injury, but at the moment he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Normally he’d ask her to slow down so he could savor the
experience more, but they were driving with Marco and Natalie and he didn’t
want to make his brother wait. Not that Marco couldn’t entertain himself with
his own girl, but he hated being the one to hold things up. Savannah’s hand
moved up and down his shaft with sure strokes, sometimes adding a little twist
at the end that drove him crazy. It wasn’t long before he was crying out and
spilling onto her hand and his belly. Panting, he closed his eyes. That initial
moment of orgasm had, in fact, hurt, but it was so worth it.

“Stay there,” Savannah told him before hopping off the bed
and going into the bathroom. She returned a few moments later with a warm
washcloth and cleaned him off. “Why don’t you just take a quick shower so you
don’t aggravate your injury? I’ll repack and get in after you. It doesn’t take
me long to get ready.”

Much as he would’ve liked to watch the water run down
Savannah’s body, it would probably be safer with fewer elbows to accidentally
jab him, so he took a perfunctory shower and then Savannah got in. True to her
word, she was quickly ready to go and they met Marco and Natalie in the lobby.
Marco had already gone to pick up the car, so they set out for Anaheim by just
after eight. Registration for the next event went from four until seven that
day, so they wanted to be sure to get there in plenty of time so Marco wouldn’t
miss registration.

Even with stopping briefly for lunch, they rolled into the
arena parking lot at about four thirty and walked with Marco to register. A
couple of riders were surprised Paolo wasn’t registering, and he wasn’t ready
to tell them of his decision so he blamed his injury. After that the four of
them checked into the hotel and Savannah made Paolo rest for a couple of hours.
When night fell she brought dinner back for them to eat in the room.

The next morning they slept in, and when Paolo woke and saw
how gorgeous Savannah looked in the morning light, her eyes closed and a small
smile decorating her face as she slept, his dick stirred. Maybe they could
figure out a way to have sex without hurting him. Of course a blowjob would
serve the purpose, but he really wanted to slide inside Savannah’s slick, wet
pussy. Maybe doggy style. Or reverse cowgirl.

While he contemplated his choices, Savannah blinked sleep
out of her eyes.

“Good morning,” she mumbled, and he remembered how much she
needed her coffee before becoming functional. That might put a damper on his
plans to take her anytime soon.

“Morning.” He gently rolled onto his good side. “Would you
like me to go get you some coffee?”

“Oh no, you stay here and relax. I’ll go get some.” Savannah
climbed out of bed and it was tempting to try to persuade her to stay, but he
decided against it as soon as he heard a crash and Savannah swearing.

He leapt out of bed, ignoring the searing pain in his side.
“
Cara?
Cara?
Are you all right?” Paolo got to the door of the
bathroom and saw Savannah’s toiletry bag on the floor, the contents strewn far
and wide.

“Yes, I’m fine. Just clumsy. I knocked it off the vanity
when I was getting my toothbrush out.” He began to kneel to help her pick stuff
up, but she stopped him. “I’ve got it. Go back to bed, really. This won’t take
long.”

Reluctantly he withdrew from the room, but sat on the chair
near the desk and picked up the remote. It was going to be a hot one today in
southern California. He glanced at his suitcase. Most of what was in there was
dirty and he wondered if he should see if the others wanted to get some laundry
done. They’d be here long enough to send it out through the hotel. Picking up
the phone, he called his brother.

“
Ciao.
I was going to send some laundry out. Do you
guys need to?”

“Oh, good idea.” Paolo heard some mumbling and assumed Marco
was checking with Natalie. “Yeah, we’ve got some stuff. I’ll bring it to you.
What room?”

Paolo gave him the information and then hung up.

“Who was that?”

“Marco. We’re going to send out our laundry while we’re
here. Feel free to add anything you’d like. We put stuff like that on Marco’s
bill since he pretty much controls the money and I am sure he would not mind.”

Savannah bit her lip for a moment before saying, “Okay. I
probably could do with getting a few things cleaned. But I’m not putting any
silky underthings in there.”

“I would not want you to,” Paolo told her with a wink. “I
want to keep the silky underthings for my eyes only.”

After dressing enough to be decent for company, they got a
bag from the hotel’s closet and filled it. They didn’t have to wait long before
Marco and Natalie brought theirs over.

“Want to grab breakfast?” Marco looked Paolo up and down,
raising an eyebrow.

Paolo glanced at Savannah. “We have not showered, so I think
we’ll pass.”

Marco turned away with a little smirk. “All right. We will
meet up at the arena later?”

“Yes, we’ll see you in a few hours.” That brought a bigger
smirk and Paolo pushed his brother out of the room before Savannah noticed the
expression. When they’d gone, he turned back to Savannah. “I’ll go get you
coffee.”

“You really don’t have to do this every day.”

“I like doing it. Every Italian man knows it’s his job to
take care of his woman.”

“Well, thank you. I’ll shower while you’re gone.”

“Without me?” He pretended to pout.

She pointed to his side. “I didn’t get a look at that when
we were dressing. Let me see.”

Paolo knew it looked horrible and thought about trying to
distract her, but there was no way that tactic would continue to work if he
wanted to have sex with her anytime soon. He lifted his shirt.

Savannah gasped and looked up at him, her eyes wide. “Are
you completely sure you don’t need a doctor?”

He looked down at the bruise, which now spanned several
inches. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

She made a dismissive noise. “Right. Well, if you refuse to
see someone for it, there’s nothing I can do. But I’ll take that coffee.”

Paolo made his way down to the lobby and got a large coffee
for Savannah, amused he already knew how she took it. As he was leaving the
coffee bar area he ran into a couple of riders and was noncommittal about when
he’d see them. Obviously by later on today everyone would know he wasn’t
registered, and he intended to continue to use the injury as an excuse for a
while, but it was still sort of weird to not be doing what everybody else was
now that the event was getting closer.