GioUnquestionably, what Gio was doing was technically against the man-code among him and his friends. They'd never actually discussed one, but it was still firmly in place. Coming on at all to one of his friend's girls was clearly breaking all kinds of rules: rules he never would've dreamt of breaking before Bianca. Not only had he just come on to her but he came on strong. He meant to rattle her. He loved what it did to her. Her reaction to his teasing had completely thrown him.He couldn't have planned it better if he'd tried. She'd walked right into all his comments, but she'd practically challenged him to try to weird her out. He heard it in her voice—saw it in those eyes. She could go from Bambi to bewitching siren in a second, and he was hooked. He never would've thought it about sweet little Bianca, but she had it in her. She probably didn't even realize she was even doing it and damn it if that didn't make it an even bigger turn on.Her licking her lip the way she had, had
BiancaFocusing on the excitement of seeing Felix—feeling his arms around her—Bianca pushed aside any nagging feelings of guilt. Curiosity is all it was. She'd been curious about Gio's comment ever since he first made it on the slopes. The wine had just given her the courage to ask. That's all it was."What happened?" she asked, pulling away from him so she could see his eyes. "I thought you said you wouldn't make it up tonight.""Babe, I was waiting for my driver when I called you." Felix's playful smile warmed her. It's what she loved most about him. She always told him she could totally picture what he looked like as a little boy. Despite his rugged features, he still had such a baby face. "I was this close to just telling you, but I knew how disappointed you were about me not making it up yesterday. I wanted to do something special."Bianca turned to the mariachis who hadn't stopped playing. One moment she was smiling so big she nearly laughed, and then just like that the feeli
//Bianca's eyes kept going from the back of the driver's head to the rearview mirror as Gio spread her legs. Her heart raced like she'd never felt it race before. She could hardly believe she was sitting in the backseat with him, naked from the waist down.She refused to pull her eyes away from the driver. Did he know what they were doing? Would he tell Felix? Feeling Gio spread her with his fingers made her breathe a little heavier, and a small moan escaped her."Shh," Gio hushed her.She wouldn't look, but her chest heaved up and down, and she gasped as his finger began to massage that spot: the one meant for no one else but Felix; yet here Gio was touching, caressing. She bit her bottom lip as his finger sunk in her. She was so wet it was almost embarrassing, but at this point, she'd beg him not to stop. He worked her in a circular motion while he sunk a second finger in her, and she struggled to hold in her moans.The uncontrollable trembling started, and her eyes would open an
BiancaAll morning Bianca had worked her shift at the shop and answered all her mother's and grandmother's questions, shoving any thoughts of her dream aside. It was just a dream. She'd spent the entire day with Gio. Of course, it would make sense that he'd be around even in her subconscious thoughts. But it was what he was doing in there and the disappointment she'd felt when she woke and realized that it wasn't Gio that gnawed at her more than anything.Why in the world would she be disappointed? She was so excited that Felix was finally here with her. Sure, Gio was gorgeous and sweet, but she loved Felix.She was certain that the hour of online college coursework she'd put in that morning was wasted because the whole time her mind had wandered off to the dream. Bianca shook her head as she turned off her car. It was just a dream. She'd had plenty of bizarre and unexplained dreams before. Stop overthinking this!Toni smiled at her as Bianca walked into her once again empty beauty
As they turned into the back entrance driveway of the club, Bianca was relieved to see the entourage of paparazzi that had followed them the whole way there was not allowed in the back way. She let out a slow sigh of relief and Felix squeezed her hand. "You okay?"She smiled and nodded, glad now that poor Gio, even in all the obvious pain he was in, had still come along anyway. He seemed just as unnerved about the paparazzi as she was, only for some reason, he looked more irritated than nervous about them. But clearly it was new to him too. Felix and Andy, who also accompanied them in the limo tonight, were completely unfazed by the attention."It's a private party, so the entire club is open only to invited guests. They," Felix gestured back to the paparazzi vans left behind. "are not invited."Of course, there were reporters present, but since they were invited, Felix said they'd be on their best behavior, unless they never wanted to be invited back to one of these events.Bianca
GioIt'd been over a fucking hour, and Felix had still not gone back to sit with Bianca. He'd walked over once, kissed her, and asked her something. She'd shaken her head no, and then he was quickly whisked away by his damn publicist. Why the hell had he brought her if this is what he was going to do to her?Gio hated to see her sitting there alone and obviously bored, but Evelyn had clung on to him and she wasn't going anywhere. Gio had seen the way Bianca had looked at Evelyn. He got the feeling she was offended by her, so bringing Evelyn over with him to keep Bianca company was out of the question. How stupid was Felix to show Bianca how easy it was for him to whip up female companionship just like that?The slow song he was dancing to with Evelyn picked up a little, and Evelyn swayed her hips against him. He knew how this night could end if he wanted it to, but his body was in no way ready for that. Just swaying to the music now made every part of his body ache. He could only im
Bianca Days later, Bianca was over the disappointing night out, which Felix had completely made up for by taking her out the following night to a romantic dinner, just the two of them. He followed up the dinner with a very romantic carriage ride where they cuddled up under some warm blankets as they rode around the picturesque little town, drinking hot cocoa spiked with Kahlua. They ended the night going back to the cabin where they made love, and not once had she thought of Gio.Then early that morning, Bianca awoke to another intense orgasm again, only this time Felix was sound asleep. She'd lain there, catching her breath, trying to remember all the details of her dream as her heart hammered away.With the visual Gio had placed in her mind about doing it in the men's restroom continually assaulting her thought processes these last few days, it was no surprise she'd dream about doing it. Only thing was that it wasn't Felix in her dream. Gio had been the one that lifted her onto t
GioGio took a slow swig of his beer before smiling at Noah. "Because she keeps your ass in check."Noah laughed. "Whatever. She's never even had to try." He turned to Bianca. "Speaking of, dinner is gonna be few more minutes but Roni asked me to send you in, Bianca. She's in there finishing up, and she wanted to meet you."Bianca stood up, smiling. Felix stood with her. "I wanna say hi to Roni too." They both followed Noah back in the house. Gio barely waited for them to be out of earshot before looking back at Abel. "Look, I hear where you're coming from, but don't even go there with him. It will not go over well. I'm telling you." Abel frowned, making Gio shake his head again. "All right, just don't say I didn't warn you."Gio always knew Abel had his reservations about Noah dating someone so much older, but he'd kept it to himself for the most part. This is why it surprised him that Abel was being such a hard ass about it now. Gio knew Abel just had Noah's best interest at heart
GioCalling Felix had been the best decision of Gio's life. Not only was Bianca back in his life for good, they'd start with the demolition of what was left of the old gym as soon as the investigation was over and rebuild from the ground up.The guys couldn't have been happier but none more so than Gio. Gio told them he'd get all their names on the title as soon as possible. Felix was going to do everything he could to get this thing going fast and have them back in business in no time. Felix might be relationship-challenged, but he truly was loyal to 5th Street and always had been.As promised, he figured something out, and while their new set up wasn't nearly as glamorous as something Felix could offer Bianca, they were happy. That's all that mattered. He was already working on bigger and better, but for now, this worked out for everyone and would have to do."What do you think?" Gio clicked the remote, turning off the TV in their bedroom as Bianca walked in wearing a bathrobe and
Gently patting the warm soapy sponge over Gio's big strong shoulders and then down his chest, Bianca examined all the bruises and scrapes that were still very visible. As the water from the shower rinsed away the soap, she kissed the bruises gently. She worked the sponge down to his hips as Gio brought his hand around her behind and squeezed a handful of her wet behind. He'd been hard from the moment she'd begun to undress him in the small hotel bathroom. Now he pressed against her, taking her mouth in his and kissing her with that need she loved feeling from him. As the warm water splashed down against their faces, she kissed him back with just as much need, moaning into his mouth.Gio brought his hand around the front, spreading her legs. If she let him and gave into her own yearning, she'd spin around and bend over, letting him take her right there, but she was determine: determined to not allow him to over exert himself—take care of him as she hadn't been able to this whole past w
Nearly hyperventilating for the third time this week, Bianca pulled over and got out of her car. She leaned her arm against the hood as the dry heaves kicked in. If her mother and Nana knew she was driving in that condition, they'd be furious.The anger, but mostly the immense hurt, nearly suffocated her. Gio's beautiful eyes had never looked at her the way they had tonight. They were so cold and full of revulsion she was convinced whatever love he'd felt for her was completely gone now.As the dry heaves slowly calmed, Bianca's breathing began to go back to normal. Her lip began to quiver as it had so much this week. She was out of options now. All week, she'd tried one thing after another. Trying hard to do as Noah said and respect Gio's wishes, she'd held out this long, and for what?Her efforts to reach him had been in vain. Even after she stopped getting the "not in service" message, now when she tried calling, the new message was even worse. This number has restrictions which
Bianca's mouth fell open, and she stared at him for a moment, her big stunned eyes searching his face for something. With her chest still heaving, she shook her head, blinking a couple of times. More tears leaked out of her eyes and down her cheeks before she turned around and walked away without saying another word.Drawing a blank about what to do or say to her now, he watched her walk away. As much as his heart begged him to go after her, he knew there was nothing more to say. He stood there immobile as the minutes passed. He wasn't even sure how long he'd been standing there, but it was long enough to rewind everything he'd been through with Bianca since the day he'd first gone up to Felix's cabin.Relentless hope flew out from the grave, suddenly pounding questions in his head. Why would she come down here just to lie to him? Why would she be so hysterical about it? He'd let his clobbered ego strangle those two questions down when she'd stood there before him and unleashed what
GioGlad that Noah hadn't walked in ten minutes earlier and seen him break down like he had, Gio looked up at him. Noah had news for him and from the looks of it, like when he'd walked in there hours ago to tell him about Jack not making it, this wasn't good."Abel said Hector's fine. He is, right?""Hector's fine," Noah nodded. "Just a broken arm and lots of bruises and scrapes.""Then what is it?""Felix and Bianca were here." Gio turned away with a gulp, glad now that it was past tense, meaning they were gone or he might be tempted to tell Noah to forget his earlier request. Even with everything he'd heard on the stupid TV, his heart yearned to see her now. "You told her I didn't wanna see her?""I did."Gio glanced back when Noah didn't say more. "What did she say?""Nothing. She bolted to the restroom. She was upset, but she didn't say anything, even when she came back to wait for Felix.""Wait for him?" Gio squeezed the sheet and clenched his teeth, the jealousy eating h
GioGio stared at the news reports numbly, switching from one channel to another as they went to commercial, ashamed to admit the stories and images of Felix and Bianca hurt just as much as the coverage of the fire.His second home, 5th Street, had been destroyed. Jack was gone, and Gio still had room to mourn for Bianca. He watched the latest reports that showed her getting into Felix's car with her luggage and flipping off the photographers. They were now said to be on their way here—together.Gio had never felt so stupid in his life. He'd hardly said two words since he came to over an hour ago, and the doctors advised him that the pain he was feeling was from his body being slammed against the wall. He'd been bruised and scraped up pretty bad from all the flying debris, but otherwise the worst injury he'd suffered was a concussion. They didn't think it was too bad, but they did warn the pain would probably worsen in the coming days when the whiplash and soreness really set in.E
BiancaIt'd been over an hour since the line between Bianca and Gio went dead. She tried to convince herself that he hadn't hung up on her. There had to be a reasonable explanation for why they'd been cut off and he was now not answering any of her calls or returning her texts. Even with the pictures, he couldn't possibly believe the stories about her and Felix being back together.Toni had called her about a half hour after her call with Gio to warn her about the new stories. The new photos of her and Felix coupled with the stories the media was circulating were pretty damning. She suggested Bianca give Gio a head's up. The media sure had a way of making even the most innocent of photos seem like some kind of deep moment between them.The more time that passed without her hearing from Gio, the more anxious she felt that he might actually be buying into the hype. He couldn't possibly, could he? But it was late already. They usually talked in the evening until bedtime.The televisio
The sincerity mixed with alarm made Bianca nervous but she waited as Felix let out a breath and frowned. "Andy wanted me to threaten her—threaten to go after her with everything I had—dig up any skeletons she might have and threaten to go public with them, all for the sake of intimidating her into having the abortion." He looked away, and Bianca sensed he couldn't look at her anymore. She was almost afraid to hear more. "I might've done it if this had happened before I met you. I actually considered it, but then I thought what if it was you? What if this had happened when I first ran into you again, before I really got to know you, and I'd done this to you. I didn't know much about her either, but I kept thinking she could be just another sweet and special girl like you, who I'd be screwing with just to cover my own ass—I couldn't do it. That's when I realized I'm not the same guy I used to be and it's because of you. I'm giving her whatever she needs, and I plan on being there for my
BiancaIt'd been days since the scandal broke—days since Bianca had last seen Gio and an eternity since she'd last kissed his lips. She hadn't even been able to say goodbye properly. What was worse was that this could go on for much longer.Both Bianca and Gio had assumed that the story would die down soon enough. Not only had it not calmed down but they were turning it into a full-blown soap opera. The paparazzi were relentless in their pursuit of a statement from any of the three parties involved in the, now internationally talked about, love triangle. Because they were all Hispanic, even the Spanish tabloids had gotten in on it.Bianca dropped the only class she'd taken on campus that spring because the once respectful photographers and sleazy journalists were on her now, as Nana so nicely put it, "like flies on shit."Gio had since been fined for flinging one photographer's camera across the 5th Street gym parking lot. They were forced to lay low for now. The media wanted nothi