Read Gio (5th Street) for Free Online Page B

Street. Hector, Abel’s brother is still part-time but the rest of us actually help Jack, the owner, run it now.”
    A sudden squeak from Bianca made him glance up and seeing her turn red, then giggle embarrassedly, had him smiling like an idiot. It was the cutest damn thing. As much of a struggle as it was, he managed to turn back to his cocoa chuckling and asked, “What’s that about?”
    He glanced up when she didn’t respond. She was holding her hand against her mouth, eyes closed, trying to muffle her laughing. She put her mug down on the fireplace shaking her head and proceeded to go into a laughing fit. When she gained a little composure she explained, “That just reminded how back in middle school, this group of cool girls wore the 5 th Street t-shirts they sell down at the gym.” She shook her head continuing to wipe the corner of her eyes. “Me and my friend Anna wanted to be cool too but our moms’ were not about to shell out the twenty bucks for a t-shirt.” She started laughing again. “So we decided to make our own.” Just seeing how hard it was for her to even speak now had him laughing, too. “You should’ve seen the mess we made of our dads’ white t-shirts. We both got in trouble for ruining so many of them and we never did get to wear them.” Then she squeaked again and it was all over. They were both laughing uncontrollably now. “Stop!’ she begged between laughs. “I hate that stupid squeak!”
    Gio caught his breath. He hadn’t laughed that hard in a while so the words came out without thought. “I think it’s cute. I’ve always thought you were cute.”
    That doe-eyed expression was abruptly back as what he’d just blurted out sunk in. Her laughing slowly subsided and she stared at him. Thinking fast he added, “My sister does this hiccup thing when she laughs.” He had nothing else. The mood had switched so quickly with his stupid admission he was grasping here.
    “You have?”
    “Huh?” His thoughts were still scrambling trying to think of something else to say, he wasn’t even sure what she was asking. Then she smiled a smile so sweet he had to suck in a fleeting breath.
    “Even in high school you thought I was cute?” She tilted her head sideways. “I always felt invisible to you back then.”
    No way was he telling her she’d been anything but invisible and that just like now there’d been too many times he’d gotten lost in those eyes of hers. Gio sat up straight taking a sip of his chocolate. Son of a bitch if he couldn’t think of a proper way to respond to that.
    “Well, yeah. I mean, you sat right next to me. How could I not notice you?” He glanced at her. Those eyes were still doing that thing. There was no qualm, no questioning that her boyfriend’s friend—best friend back in high school—had just told her he’d always thought she was cute. “Just like I said earlier, you’re runway model material now. Of course you were at least cute back then.”
    “Dinner is ready whenever you two are.” Ampara stood at the archway opening of the large room.
    The second Bianca glanced away, Gio let out a huge silent sigh of relief. His body almost slouched in reaction to the amount of tension being released.
    “Thank you, Amparo.” Bianca turned to Gio who straightened up quickly. “Shall we?”
    Gio nodded and they stood together and made their way to the dining room.
 
     
    ~*~
     
    Felix had thought of everything. The dinner he’d instructed his cooks to make for their first night back together was excellent. Steamed shrimp, oysters, stuffed mushrooms; crusty bread with some kind of gourmet spread the cook called bruschetta. They even prepared a chocolate fondue with strawberries and pineapple slices to dip. It was so perfect and she’d shared the dinner with Gio.
    Not that any girl in their right mind would be complaining about having such a romantic dinner with a gorgeous guy like Gio. He was sweetly attentive and as polite as she remembered him