“I’m here now,” Bianca said as she pulled the car up across from the cabin facing the porch where the guys sat.

Felix smiled at her and Gio glanced up at her for a second before turning back to Felix who’d said something that made him laugh. “Okay. I’ll let you go then,” Toni said. “But let me just leave you with one last thing. In all the times you’ve been going out with Felix, when you were so excited about him coming up for a couple of months and when you told me he’d said he loved you—I’ve never once heard the emotion I heard from you today when you spoke of Gio.”

Bianca stared out her windshield at Gio and Felix. Just a couple of weeks ago she was certain there was nothing or no one that would make her happier than Felix. Now, not only was she not sure if she was even in love with him, she may’ve fallen and in a way she didn’t even understand for someone else—someone she could never have—his best friend.

She’d never forgive herself for breaking up their friendship. Only she was already feeling it from this far away—the pull. She needed to be near Gio now. She wasn’t ready to walk away—didn’t think she could if she tried. But she had to before she did something she could never take back. What in the world was she going to do?

CHAPTER 14

Last night had been rough. Each day that passed having to see Bianca with Felix was that much worse than the last. It made Gio wonder how much longer he could take being here. But then they’d have another one of their moments and the more urgent question became how in the hell would he ever bring himself to leave? He couldn’t decide which was worse—having to see her with Felix—or never seeing her again. At least only as often as he ever saw Felix which if he wasn’t training him was only every six months or so.

Felix had left early that morning. Gio hadn’t even been up when he left and if he had been he would’ve pretended not to be. Felix would be gone for almost two days. The last thing Gio wanted was to witness their long goodbye.

After taking a shower, he called his mom to check in. She’d asked him to call at least once a day so he figured he’d get it out of the way now. Then he called Jack. The night of Noah’s dinner Jack had discreetly asked him to call him when he could. Gio had the next day and Jack told him he was going to hold off on adding the rest of the guys to the title of the gym because of a lawsuit he had pending. He didn’t want any of them getting dragged into it as part owners. He even offered to take Gio off the title because if the lawsuit got ugly, which his lawyers didn’t anticipate it would, they could come after Gio as well. Gio had told him he wasn’t worried and to do whatever made him feel better. Since getting Gio’s name off the title would involve a lot paperwork and getting them signed and notarized Jack said he’d hold off on that for now.

In this morning’s call Jack told him things were moving along. The lawsuit was going to be dismissed but it’d still be some time before he could get the guys on the title. He seemed worried that somehow they’d find out he’d only added Gio’s name and be hurt. Gio told him what he was sure was the truth. None of them would think anything of it and would understand but guaranteed him they wouldn’t find out from him. His lips were sealed until Jack told him otherwise.

Bianca was having breakfast alone when he walked into the dining room. “Morning sleepyhead,” she said smiling brightly when she glanced up and saw him. “Feel good to sleep in?”

“I didn’t actually,” he said taking the seat across from her and already feeling his heart rate speed up just from being this close to her. “I had some phone calls I needed to make.”

Gio knew Ignacio and Ray had both gone home yesterday to be with their families until Felix got back. Felix had flown them out first class and had offered to fly Gio to Los Angeles also but Gio passed saying he wanted to get some more snowboarding in on his days off. That’s when he and Bianca had had another one of their moments. It had obviously surprised her he wasn’t leaving like the other trainers. They’d all gone snowboarding a few times since the time he first went alone with Bianca but he hadn’t gone back with her alone since.

Amparo poured him a glass of juice and let him know she’d be back with his breakfast.

“So who’s snowboarding with you today?” She glanced at him then back down at her plate. “Evelyn?”

Gio had just picked up his juice but stopped before taking a sip. He’d been in the room with her for less than five minutes and already he was getting the urge to say things he shouldn’t. Last night Bianca had mentioned she had class this morning and an online seminar she had to watch today. It was disappointing to say the least that she wouldn’t be going with him but at the time he’d thought it for the best. “Nope. I’m going alone.”

Her eyes met his, a little surprised. “Really? Why?”

Gio shrugged. “No one else to go with. I haven’t even called Evelyn.” He knew it didn’t matter but he wanted that clear. He hadn’t called Evelyn or responded to her texts and had no intentions to, though he’d told Felix otherwise to avoid any questions. “So I’ll be flying solo. Unless…” he smirked. That did it. She was caught in his eyes again. And though he felt a little evil and like a bad influence the thought of spending an entire day with her beat out any hankering to do the honorable thing here and not dangle the bait. “Unless you play hooky and join me.”