Bianca
For as much apprehension as Gio had about getting up on the slopes, he actually caught on much quicker than Bianca had imagined—even faster than Felix had when he first tried snowboarding. After just a few hours, he was getting fancy and speeding up so much at one point she had to warn him not to get too overconfident.
She watched as he flew by her while she’d stopped to take a breather. Shaking her head, her eyes followed him. After spending the entire day with him, she could very easily understand how anyone could develop a major crush on this guy. Not only was he incredible to look at but he was turning out to be one of the sweetest guys she’d ever met. She felt terrible that he seemed so agonized about the tragedy in the ring.
He made his way back to where she still stood. His big satisfied smile gave her silly butterflies, reminding her of the days back in high school. Then she remembered how she’d felt earlier when he held her hand. Oh, yeah, she was definitely developing a crush—a harmless one. It wasn’t unheard of for girls to develop crushes on their boyfriend or even spouse’s friends, especially ones that looked like Giovanni Bravo, right?
She brought her hand to her forehead and nearly blushed recalling her grandmother’s comment. That woman said whatever was on her mind without a second thought—something Bianca had been known to do a lot herself, resulting in some very awkward moments. She was doing her best to make sure it didn’t happen with Gio. Several times today when she kept having to help him stay up and their faces were only inches away, she nearly blurted out what she was thinking—that his eyes were just spectacular. But she’d managed to hold it together though there’d been several moments when she’d been lost in them for a little too long, and she was sure he’d noticed.
“Ready to race?” he asked as he stopped right next to her.
“Get out of here!” She laughed. “I’m telling you. You need to pace yourself. You don’t wanna get hurt.”
“I think I got this,” he said, straightening out in a proud stance.
She elbowed him playfully. “Actually I think we should call it a day. You’re going to be so sore tomorrow.”
Gio made an exaggerated face of shock and utter disbelief. She suspected he meant for it to be funny, instead it was as breathtaking as all his other expressions were. “Are you even capable of making any unflattering facial expressions?”
His expression dissolved, and those eyes now stared at her, making her breath catch. “Are you?”
For the first time that day, her laugh was a nervous one, and the schoolgirl butterflies were back en masse. She proceeded to scrunch her face up. “See?” Then she stuck her tongue out at him, closing her eyes.
When she opened her eyes, she expected to see him smiling, but he was staring at her mouth, and he seemed stunned for a moment. Then he smirked, his heavy lashes lowering over the tops of his now smoldering green eyes. With her insides lit, Bianca was totally mesmerized. “I’d say to you what I say to most girls when they show me their tongues, but I shouldn’t.”
Swallowing hard and trying not to let on what his eyes and words were doing to her, she managed to stammer out, “Why not?”
“Because Felix might not like it.” His eyes left her mouth and met hers with a smile. “Let me rephrase that. I know he wouldn’t like it.” His eyes locked on hers for an instant, making Bianca’s heart pound before having mercy on her and glancing away. “Let’s go.”
He started off down the small hill, leaving her breathless and confused. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, making a mental note. Never show him your tongue again.
With a deep breath, she went after him but only because he turned to see if she was following. Otherwise, she might still be glued to that same spot. She cleared her throat as she caught up to him and tried to sound as casual as possible. “I was serious, you know.”
He glanced at her, his eyebrows pulled together. “About what?”
“You’re gonna be sore tomorrow.”
He chuckled now, really reminding her of Felix and how cocky he’d been about it his first time out. “Did you forget I work out every day?”
“I knew you’d say that because it’s exactly what Felix said. This is a different work out, Gio. You’re gonna feel it tomorrow—everywhere. I promise.” He smiled, obviously not worried about it. “I mean it. You might even consider soaking in the hot tub tonight. Felix was so sore the next day, and he didn’t even go as long or as hard as you did.”
A sudden evil smile spread across his face, and his eyes just about sparkled with humor. “Is that right? So you’re saying I went longer and harder than your boyfriend?”
Bianca felt the flush clear down her neck, but she couldn’t help laughing and went along with her own smirk. “Yes, you did.”
She sped up and away from him, no longer able to be that close to him knowing that her apparent crush on him was obviously coming through loud and clear and he was now having fun with it.
“Bianca, wait up.”
At first, she didn’t wait up. She needed to give her heart time to settle. After a few minutes, she slowed a little, reminding herself that even though he’d been a fast learner, he was nowhere near her level of skill. He came up alongside her. “You know I’m just teasing, right?”
“Of course.” She glanced up at him and his perfect smile.
“I mean I’d say something like that even in front of Felix,” he laughed, “just to piss him off, but I hope I didn’t offend you or anything.”
“No, not at all.” She realized she was blurting out her auto-responses, but she wanted to be perfectly clear on this. This was nothing more than innocent flirting. He was just being playful after having spent the entire day with her. Secretly she was surprised, not only by how thrilling it was but how she in no way wanted to discourage it.
The main lodge to the resort was just up ahead. She’d been so distracted by his teasing that the time it took them to get there just flew. “Felix says things like that all the time too. Nothing shocks me anymore,” she lied through her teeth.
“Yeah, but he’s your boyfriend.”
She shook her head. “But I get it. You two are funny. There’s nothing you can say that will weird me out. I promise.”
The teasing smile was back and she braced herself.
“You’re making a lot of promises today.”
That confused her, and she searched his eyes then he laughed. “God, those eyes of yours, Bianca.” This time he shook his head. “Back there, you promised I’d be sore tomorrow.” She started to smile, remembering but then stopped when she was caught in those molten eyes of his again. “I’ve made that same promise a few times.” He stared at her a bit longer and harder before his lip lifted into a sexy crooked smile. He finally turned away with a soft chuckle, leaving Bianca no choice but to laugh along nervously.
By the time they were in the car, she managed to appear cool and collected on the outside, but her insides were out of control.
Gio rolled his neck and massaged his shoulder with his hand. “You know soaking in the hot tub is starting to sound real nice now.”
“You should. It’ll do you good.” She smiled innocently, pushing away the visual of Gio near naked in the hot tub.
“Will you join me?”
Was it possible that he knew blinking in that slow motion sort of way had a hypnotic effect on girls? Maybe it was just her weak resolve. She nodded, not looking away and praying her voice wouldn’t crack. “Sure. I’ll be sore tomorrow too, you know.”
The second her words left her mouth, she saw that evil twinkle in his eye, and she fought the flush already creeping up her nape. “You promise?”
Damn him. She wouldn’t squirm and he wasn’t winning this one. Throwing out the mental note she made earlier, she licked her bottom lip and his eyes were immediately on her tongue. “We’ll just have to wait and see, now, won’t we?”
His startled eyes were back on hers, and she smiled, hoping she looked as smug as she felt. Got ’im.