“Look at me, G.” Gio turned back to Noah then followed Noah’s gaze. Jack and Felix were coming toward them, but they were moving slow, and Jack was really struggling. Still, Noah spoke fast. “Whether she’s still sleeping with him or not is beside the point. He brought you here as a favor. You’re my friend, but what you’re doing is a huge disrespect to him.”
Gio dropped his head back, exhaling through his mouth. Noah was right and Gio couldn’t argue there, but he was too far gone to try and fight this thing, whatever it was, no matter how wrong he knew it was.
“I know you’re not as close to him as you once were, but you’re still his friend. Now I don’t know what she’s thinking,” Noah continued adamantly as Jack stopped walking to take a breather. “But she’s staying in his cabin—sleeping in his fucking bed. If this is really what she wants, then maybe she should move out. Have you two talked about that at all?”
“I haven’t had a chance. We text when we can, but since the last time he left, I haven’t had a moment long enough to talk to her about anything like that.” Gio glanced around, making sure Abel and Hector weren’t within earshot either. “It’s not like I’ve slept with her. I’m telling you it’s not even about that. I don’t know what it is about her, but I can hardly think straight when I’m around her.” He stopped, letting out a frustrated sigh. “You know me, man. I’d never do something like this to any of you guys.”
Noah nodded. “Yeah, I know you wouldn’t. That’s why I’m still shocked that I’m standing here having this conversation with you in the first place.” He turned back to the girls. Roni waved at him, blowing a kiss, and he waved back. “And Bianca seems so damn innocent. Even now that she’s older—so damn sweet.”
“She is!” Gio insisted, leaving out the fact that she could also be sexy as shit when she wanted to be.
“All right, shut up,” Noah said, suddenly looking over Gio’s shoulders, and in the next instant, someone slammed into Gio, nearly bowling him over.
“What the—” Gio was barely able to keep his balance but managing to stay on his feet.
“Sorry man,” Hector laughed, holding onto Gio’s arm. “I couldn’t stop.”
Abel came up behind him and laughed too. “I keep telling his ass to slow down.”
After falling a few more times, Jack said he’d had enough and was heading back to the bar with the girls. They teased him about quitting but weren’t able to convince him to hang out longer. Jack headed to the bar, and Gio and the rest of the guys headed to the lift.
Having to share a lift with both Noah and Hector, Gio was spared any more lectures on the ride up, but he did inwardly promise he wouldn’t disrespect Felix in his own cabin. It wasn’t just because of the cameras either. As much as he knew he simply didn’t have it in him to fight his urge to touch—kiss—taste Bianca, he wasn’t that big of an asshole. Some things were still sacred.
For the next couple of hours, Gio focused on enjoying his time with his friends. It felt damn good to revert to the ways of the old days: the days when things were so much simpler. Each time he got caught up laughing and enjoying this day that was all on Felix—he’d paid for the season tickets, the snow gear, even the snowboards—Gio couldn’t help feel the chafe of guilt grating away at his conscience.
By the time they hit the bottom of the mountain for the last time, they were all good and ready for drinks, something Felix, no doubt, would be paying for all night. Even when Gio had tried to pay the last time they’d come to this very bar, the waitresses had apparently been forewarned that they were not allowed to take any money from him and that it would all be put on Mr. Sanchez’s tab. Great.
Felix insisted most of the time that Gio and all his guest’s drinks were on the house. The bars enjoyed the extra business just having him there brought in, but Gio couldn’t help feeling like a freeloader.
There were so many heaters all around the outdoor bar that it was actually quite warm even outside, so warm Bianca had removed her coat. She wore a body-clinging knit dress, long sleeved and dark brown like rich chocolate. It was simply cut but for the scooped neckline that nearly froze Gio in place. It wasn't how low it dipped. That would have been bad enough. It was the provocative way it laced, beginning mid-chest and ending at the upper curves of her breasts. Bianca had left the corded strings loose, making it even sexier than an open plunging neckline would have been, almost as if she’d planned it this way. She’d left little to the imagination.
She’d gone from adorable to crazy hot with the simple removal of her coat. Gripping the bottle of beer he now held, he almost wished she’d put the coat on so he wouldn’t have to think about it. If she were Gio’s girl, he wouldn’t mind her dressing this way, even in front of other guys, as long as he was there. He wanted to believe, as doubtful as it was, that she’d worn the dress to drive him crazy, but the fact remained she’d be going back to Felix’s room tonight, not Gio’s.
They’d been at the bar drinking for a while, though Gio had kept a slow steady pace compared to the rest of the guys. He felt even stupider now about telling Noah what she’d promised. Noah had to be thinking the same thing. Maybe something had changed today. Maybe his text this morning had snapped her into the realization that this couldn’t go on any more. That they had been incredibly delusional to have ever even considered getting into this situation in the first place.
The very idea that she’d changed her mind made him sick, but with every shot Felix took, he was getting more and more touchy-feely and she was letting him. The last straw was when she’d walked back from the restroom toward the table with the rest of the girls and Gio’s heightened senses followed her. His nose followed the lingering scent of her perfume. He fought the losing battle to keep his eyes off her, only to watch Felix pull her to him as she’d nearly made it past him and kiss her, blatantly shoving his tongue in her mouth for an instant. She jerked away, obviously irritated by his drunken kiss, but it was enough to make Gio want to run out of there. “I’ll be back,” he said, exchanging glances with a stern faced Noah. “I gotta make a phone call.”
Without even glancing back in Felix and Bianca’s direction, he took off to the inside bar area of the resort. He didn’t care anymore about staying sober. Needing a shot but not about to stand and watch Felix and Bianca while he took one, maybe more, he headed straight to the bar. And he’d buy it with his own fucking money too.
Irritated, he pushed the fact aside that even his own money was coming from Felix: money he hadn’t paid Gio to stick around and fall in love with his girlfriend. Gio nearly stopped walking. He’d known all along that she was different, that he felt things for her he’d never felt in his life. He’d crossed a line he would’ve never considered crossing, but he had only because it was her. She possessed the power to make him lose the capability to hold on to any reasonable thinking. But had he really fallen in love with her this quickly?
He fisted his hand as he continued to walk through the crowded bar. How the fuck could he be stupid enough to fall in love with someone so completely off-limits?
Just as he reached the bar, he thought he felt his phone go off in his pocket. In no mood to talk or even text anyone, he almost didn’t pull his phone out. The remote possibility that it might be Bianca made him reach for it. He was surprised not only that it was Bianca’s name on the screen but that it wasn’t a text: she was calling.
He glanced back through the glass doors and saw the guys still drinking by the bar. They all held shots up in the air, but Bianca was nowhere to be seen. Feeling a little hesitation, he answered anyway. Who the hell was he kidding? He was suddenly dying to hear her voice. “Hello?”
“Meet me out front in the parking lot,” she whispered rapidly.
“What?” he asked, already headed for the front exit. His heart sped up with every long eager stride.
“Just do it,” she urged.
“I’m on my way.” He nearly broke into a sprint, her voice alone vanquishing all the negative thoughts he’d so recently been thinking.
Yep, there was no question about it. God help him. He was in love.