Free Velocity by Cassandra Carr

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