She pulled away just long enough to say what she had to. “Don’t bring Evelyn back to the cabin.”

“I won’t,” he said simply and continued to kiss her.

“I haven’t been sleeping with him,” she said against his lips. “I’m not going to anymore.”

Gio stopped and stared at her breathing hard. “You’re not?”

“No. I promise. But promise me you won’t see Evelyn anymore.”

The response to that was a longer, even more vehement kiss. Then he stopped and looked at her. “I’ve no interest in Evelyn—none.”

Taking a step away from her, he glanced around. “We gotta go. Felix was just caught up for a few minutes with one of the skaters. Go this way.” He pointed to the quickest route back to where Felix was, then pointed in the opposite direction. “I’ll go that way.” He started to walk away then rushed back and took her face in his hands kissing her deeply one last time before letting go and sped around the small building.

Bianca walked around her side cautiously, her mind still swimming in a blissful daze as her heart continued to attack her rib cage with each wallop. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she was certain it was Felix looking for her but it was a text—from Lala. With her body still reveling the euphoria of having finally quenched her aching need to be near Gio again—feel his touch—kiss his lips, she stared at the screen elated. Just seeing the envelope with the code-name for him now like she had so much in the past few days made her want to do a little dance but she refrained and clicked on the envelope instead.

God I missed your lips.

She smiled, inhaling deeply as she touched her fingers to her lips, still warm from his kisses. “Wow. Now there’s a smile I haven’t seen in a while. Where’s that coming from?”

The phone nearly slipped out of her hands at the sound of Felix’s voice. He stared down at her phone, his eyes full of curiosity—or suspicion.

“I, uh.” Unable to put even one coherent sentence together, Bianca slipped her phone in her pocket. She cleared her throat. “Toni… she…” Bianca glanced up at Felix but unable to look him in the eye too long she glanced away quickly. “She was just being silly.”

Beginning to walk and pulling a strand of hair behind her ear, she snuck a peek in Felix’s direction. His brows had pulled together. “Yeah? What’s she up to?”

“She’s seeing some new guy.” Gio was up ahead waiting for them and smiled when his eyes met hers, making her already wild insides go even wilder. As anxious as the feel of this conversation was making her, she couldn’t help smiling back. “Some indie film maker from Los Angeles.”

Felix nodded, looking up at Gio who stood waiting for them a few feet ahead. “I meant to tell you earlier this week but things have been kind of weird. I’m having the guys up from 5th Street for the weekend. We’ll probably all go out. Maybe you can invite Toni since it’ll be a group thing.”

Bianca turned to him. The pulled together brows and any sign of suspicion were now gone. “I’ll ask her.” She smiled softly, and nodded. “That would probably be fun.”

Of course, that meant letting Toni in on her situation which she now absolutely had to tell her anyway. There was only so much longer they could keep this up without something going horribly wrong and Bianca would have to make a decision soon. Toni would no doubt be helpful in that decision making. Although the idea of walking away from Gio was one that became harder to even consider with each passing day.

There were no further moments the rest of the evening and for the next few days Bianca spent her days dodging Felix’s advances and melting over Gio’s texts.

Determined to not only keep her promise to Gio about not sleeping with Felix but to keep the touching to a minimum, Bianca upped the hurt act every time a new story about Felix and his other women was aired. It helped that the media was relentless and she was more than thankful that her feelings for Gio were so overwhelming they’d completely purged any feelings she’d previously had for Felix. Otherwise she would’ve been going crazy with all the stories. Her grandmother had asked her several times already without mentioning the gossip about Felix if she was okay. Bianca reassured her that she was.

Her impetuous feelings for Gio were a bit alarming. Especially given the fact that she still had no idea how this would ever work. She wondered at times if it was their circumstances that created such an urgency to be with each other. The need was profound—the willingness to take risks becoming greater.

With Felix and Gio’s friends coming up early for the weekend Bianca took the weekend off, including Friday, but left the cabin Friday morning before any of them got there to get her hair done and have a much needed talk with Toni. Toni had already agreed to come with them later that evening when they went night boarding. With Roni being pregnant Bianca planned on hanging out with her at the resort while the guys snow boarded so getting her hair done wouldn’t be a waste. Toni had been excited about meeting them and since Felix’s previous visits had been limited up until now, this was only the second time she’d be around him. She was still a little star struck.

Knowing Toni’s salon got busy Friday mornings Bianca ran a few errands first. Toni was still busy when she got there but told Bianca the wait wouldn’t be long. Bianca sat down in Toni’s tiny little waiting room and began sifting through all of Toni’s tabloids. She stopped when her phone pinged with a text. It was from Felix. The whole week she’d calculated leaving when he was already in the gym so there’d be no danger of him attempting more than the goodbye peck—the only affection she’d given him since his admission of having gone out with Shelley. And she made sure that happened only in the privacy of the bedroom. The master bed in his room was so freakishly big it was easy enough to steer clear of his side and so far he’d respected the boundaries. When she’d left that morning she barely stuck her head in the gym to let him know where she’d be.