With a gulp she glanced at him as he concentrated on his footing. There was no way he was feeling what she was feeling from the simple touch of his hand. Gio was completely engrossed in making sure he didn’t fall. She squeezed his hand as his foot slipped slightly and he squeezed back, finally looking at her with a smile. Her heart rate had already sped up the second their fingers touched. It accelerated even more now. Jesus, could he be more beautiful?

She remembered thinking this even back in high school. Was it possible someone could be just as beautiful on the inside? She would’ve never thought so, but after spending the evening with him, and the entire morning, that possibility was beginning to feel very real.

CHAPTER 7

Gio could’ve gone for a simple cheeseburger at the ski lodge but Bianca insisted the food there was overpriced and not worth it. She said there was some place he had to try while he was up here and they may as well try it today.

They now sat at BJ’s, a dive off the main strip but Bianca swore they not only had the best cheeseburgers in Big Bear but also the best homemade chili. They also ordered two mugs of beer. Another thing Bianca said was great about this place—their prices. The mugs were under two dollars.

“Now we’re talking.” Gio smirked, clinking her mug in the air before taking a swig.

“I thought you’d like the cheap beer. You’re such an Angelino!” Bianca took a swig.

Gio placed the mug down loving how her always-cheery demeanor was so damn contagious. He hadn’t stopped laughing or smiling all morning. Even when he was falling on his ass. “You calling me cheap?”

Her bright eyes teased him. “I call them like I see them. Even Felix with all the money he has couldn’t hide his excitement about the cheap beer here.” She giggled. “You can take the guy out of the barrio but you’ll never take the barrio out of the guy.”

Gio had to laugh. “This is so true. Felix will always be an Angelino. No matter what part of the world he’s in.”

He thought about how loyal Felix had always been, not just to him but the gym—Jack—his roots. It almost made Gio feel guilty about how much he was enjoying spending time with the guy’s girl. He knew technically he wasn’t doing anything wrong but what he was starting to feel every time he looked into those eyes and what he’d felt when he held her hand earlier wasn’t exactly admirable.

He took a harder swig of his beer as their food was set on the table. Bianca leaned her nose into the bowl of chili in front of her then did that orgasmic thing with her eyes again. Gio cleared his throat looking away. This wasn’t helping his already corrupt thoughts, damn it.

“It smells so good,” Bianca said as he tried his best to concentrate on their food and not her facial expressions.

“Yeah, looks good, too.”

Bianca took a bite of her still steaming cornbread and Gio turned away quickly. Her eyes were already closing at the taste of the apparently delicious bread but there was no escape from hearing the near moaning sounds she made. He fisted his hand pressing his lips together and for an instant wondered if she could possibly be doing this on purpose.

“You’re real expressive when you’re enjoying something, aren’t you?”

The moment the question was out there, he was hit with the visual of her being expressive enjoying other things. As if that thought alone wasn’t bad enough he remembered something else. He’d be in the same cabin, just yards away from her and Felix’s bedroom for two months.

“Something wrong?”

Nudged out of his thoughts Gio glanced at Bianca who for the first time today wasn’t smiling. “No, why?”

“I don’t know. You looked upset all of a sudden. Everything okay?”

Her face was so concerned. Did he really look that upset? He played it off with a smirk. “Yeah, I was just thinking about…” He couldn’t come up with anything so he put a spoonful of chili in his mouth then nodded. It was damn good. He hoped the subject would go back to the food. Instead, she surprised him.

“Were you thinking about that guy?”

Gio tilted his head, confused. “What guy?”

“The one that died in the ring?”

For once since it had happened, he was actually relieved that the subject was brought up. Anything was better than admitting what he was really thinking. “Yeah, I guess.” It was a stretch. He had thought of the guy today. Not just now but he had on their way to snowboard that morning. He looked back down at his chili unwilling to look into her sympathetic eyes any longer. Gio was tired of people feeling bad for him. He wasn’t the one who lost his life. He didn’t leave a pregnant wife behind.

Before he could say anything else, Bianca began to speak. “When my grandparents were first married they went on their honeymoon to Acapulco. On their drive back on a lonely road they were assaulted by a gang of thieves. They beat my grandpa with a horseshoe until he was unconscious but before they could rape my grandmother another car pulled up and they all ran off.”

Gio stared at her, stunned by her story but she continued, “My grandmother said my grandfather was barely breathing. She was certain he wouldn’t make it to a hospital. It took them hours to get him there and by some miracle, he made it. Nana said it just wasn’t his time to go. Then just last summer everything was fine. They’d enjoyed a day out on the lake and that evening he fell asleep on his reclining chair and never woke up. His heart stopped in his sleep.” Gio didn’t think it possible but her eyes grew even darker as she continued to talk. “My dad had something similar happen to him too. When he was a little boy he nearly drowned in a neighbor’s pool. The doctors didn’t think he’d survive and if he did they said he’d have brain damage because of the amount of time they thought his brain had been without oxygen. Not only did he survive, he made a full recovery. Then like my grandpa, when I was in the fifth grade, very unexpectedly he stepped foot into the street and was hit by a bus. It killed him instantly. Because of his hearing impairment he relied heavily on his sight when doing something as simple as crossing the street but the bus driver said he’d just stepped foot onto the street right in front of the bus without looking up. Something he always did but for some reason that one time he didn’t.” She shrugged “It was their time.”