A door slammed, jolting him out of his thoughts. He turned and Bianca was gone.

CHAPTER 3

Bianca struggled to hold it together but the disappointment was too much. She’d looked forward to today all week—counted the days—the hours. God, she felt pathetic. She prayed her voice wouldn’t give. The last thing she wanted was to sound needy. “When will you know?”

“All I know is they just announced we’re snowed in for tonight.” Felix spoke quickly. “I’ve been waiting for hours just to get confirmation of that.”

“Why did you take so long to get there?”

“Same reason—the weather. Traffic was horrendous. We still got here on time but all flights were being grounded because of the blizzard.”

It was just as he said the word blizzard that she noticed his words were slightly slurred. Immediate thoughts of him actually partying instead of sitting at an airport like he was claiming assaulted her. “Have you been drinking?”

“I’m not gonna lie. I’ve been sitting here for hours with nothing else to do. So yeah, I’ve had a few.”

She exhaled, feeling a little guilty about immediately thinking the worst.

“I’m sorry, babe. I’ll make it up to you, I promise, okay?”

The most she would manage was not to frown; a smile was out of the question. She’d been looking forward to seeing him so much, she could almost feel his arms around her. “You think tomorrow for sure?”

“I can’t promise,” he said. She felt the warm tears fill her eyes again. “But I’ll do my best. The storm is pretty bad. The good thing is private jets get first dibs as soon as they open things up again. So I’ll be the first one out, okay?”

Bianca nodded, squeezing her eyes, holding her fist to her mouth. She didn’t want to speak, afraid her voice would betray her and give away how anxious she was to see him again.

“Hey,” he said when she didn’t respond. “I love you.”

Her eyes jerked opened. Even though they’d been going out for several months and were sleeping together already this was the first time he’d told her this. “What?”

“I do,” his laugh sounded a little nervous—a little unsure.

The L word was not something she threw around just like that. As much a she cared for him and as much as she’d begun to miss him when he wasn’t around she wasn’t sure it was love and she certainly hadn’t envisioned the day they did profess their love for one another to be over the phone. She wondered if it was the alcohol talking. “You do? Since when?”

He chuckled again the nervous tone still there. “I don’t know. Since now. This has been one of the most frustrating days of my life and I think I just figured out why. Because I’m dying to get to you already and now just hearing your voice…I love you, Bianca.”

She tried with all her might not to not get too excited about this but it was too late. She felt ready to jump out of her boots. “I love you, too.” The words flew out of her mouth without thought.

She giggled and she heard him laugh on the other end. “Damn, I can’t wait to be with you now. I’ll call you the second I know something, okay?”

“Okay,” she nodded again as if he could see her. Her mood had completely done an about-face.

The door to the gym opened and Gio walked out. She stood at the bottom of the stairs, her phone still at her ear. Gio mouthed the words, “You okay?”

It was only then that she realized a few tears still streamed down her face. She smiled, wiping them away, and gave him the thumbs up. Gio nodded and went back in the gym.

Felix explained to her he had arranged for dinner to be prepared for them tonight. He’d hoped it’d be a very special first night back together but said the dinner was still being prepared anyway and she should have dinner with Gio and the other trainers. He didn’t want her feeling lonely. They said their goodbyes and he promised he’d get to her tomorrow one way or another.

After hanging up she practically skipped up the steps to the gym. What she felt now was such a contrast to what she felt just minutes earlier when he laid the news on her about not making it up tonight. She’d been devastated. She had arranged to have the entire weekend off just to spend it with him. How could three little words make up for it all?

Gio was over by the ring talking to one of the other trainers. He turned when she walked in and smiled at her. She smiled back.

Bianca still couldn’t believe what a small world this really was. She’d recognized Gio almost immediately when she first saw him earlier. He hadn’t changed much since high school. He did look a little taller and she was sure underneath all those layers of snow gear he’d bulked up even more just like Felix had. But his face was still that same almost pretty face with the chiseled features she remembered from school. The girls went crazy for him even back then. She could only imagine what things were like for him now that he’d grown into his own. And his green eyes were just as amazing as she remembered.

At least three of her friends were in love with him back then. He’d always been nice enough to her in school but except for the times he was hitting her up to borrow paper or a pencil she was invisible to him. Felix at least flirted with her making it obvious that he acknowledged her as a girl he might actually consider. Of course, he flirted with everyone.

Gio, on the other hand, only ever gave her very polite, sometimes remorseful smiles when he was borrowing something from her—yet again. At times, it seemed he even avoided eye contact. So, no matter how beautiful it was when the boy smiled, even though it was usually at someone else, she never once allowed herself to even harbor a secret crush for him like she had Felix. Gio was completely out of her league and she never even bothered lusting over him.