Perfect Match (Vice Club Nights #2)

19. Gio

Chapter nineteen

Gio

W aking with Tori in my arms is something I want to do every day. It was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in weeks. But then I’m reminded of Ant and Lucia. My brothers and I might have a plan to get me out of an arranged marriage, but it will take some time to put that plan into action.

Until then, Tori and I will need to be discreet. I hadn’t planned on returning to my apartment last night. I was going to take Tori to the hotel room I’ve been hiding in, but when she asked, I couldn’t resist her request.

I want to tell her everything, but I promised my brothers that no one else would know. Success depends on us keeping this quiet. And if it means I could have Tori in my bed every night in the future, then I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.

My hand strokes up from her ribcage to cover one rounded breast. I love how they fit perfectly in my palm. As she slowly comes awake, she quivers in my arms, and it only encourages me to continue, with my finger now circling one pretty pebbled point.

Tori rolls onto her back grinning. Her tits tantalizingly close to my mouth. “Did I wake you?” I tease before dipping my head to suck one dusky peak between my lips. And the moment her nipple pops from my mouth, she springs up, grabs a condom from the bedside table, and rolls it down my length.

In seconds, she straddles a leg on either side of my hips, teasing my cock with her dripping pussy brushing above it. Then, wrapping her fingers around the base of my cock, she eases me inside of her, inch by slow inch. When I’m seated fully, her butt cheeks rest on my thighs, and my balls are nearly bursting.

She rises up, then plops down, fully wrapping my penis in her hot, wet walls, and a groan squeezes from my lungs.

I rock my hips up, meeting her push down, and rub my thumb across her clit. Her rhythm speeds up as she rides me hard. Her pants are growing stronger as she nears her goal.

“I’m so close,” she mutters incoherently in her eagerness to reach her climax.

Her lips part in a silent scream as her orgasm squeezes my cock.

When she slows her rocking, I pull out, flip her onto her stomach, lift her hips high, and plunge into her still-spasming pussy. It’s only a few pumps of my hips into her tight heat before I’m coming hard with a loud grunt of release.

All strength in my muscles gone, I collapse over her, my head falling to the pillow beside hers.

“Damn, bella. What are you doing to me?”

She turns her face to mine; a few inches separate us, and I tuck a long lock of her hair behind her ear.

“I tried to get over you after you stopped calling,” she whispers.

I swallow hard, forcing the guilt gnawing at my gut back down. “I’m sorry.”

The words sound hollow, but I truly mean them. And not just for handling the cancellation of my visit to Paris badly.

“There’s so much I want to tell you. But it will never be that I don’t want to be with you.”

Her dark eyes hold questions that I can’t answer.

At least not yet.

***

Fuck, fuck, fuck . My mind can barely comprehend what Ant is yelling at me through my phone.

Social media photos of Tori and I hugging outside my apartment.

And now my father has announced my engagement to Lucia in the Italian media.

I have to speak to Tori—explain everything before she sees any of this bullshit. The thought that she already has is like a dagger to my heart.

I hate the paparazzi. This is why I’d been hiding out at the hotel. They never leave me the fuck alone when I’m in Manhattan. I really thought with my time away in Italy that my personal life would be of no importance to anyone. But I guess I was wrong.

“I have to go. I’ll call you later,” I interrupt Ant midway through his continuing tirade.

I don’t need him telling me I’m an idiot for kissing Tori goodbye yesterday morning in public.

“Don’t you fucking hang up on me, G,” Ant rages.

My temper rises to boiling point. I’m done with being the supposedly calm brother of the family. I grip my cell so tight in my palm that it digs into my skin, and I welcome the pain.

“Ant, shut the fuck up. I don’t want to marry Lucia because I’m in love with another woman. But I can’t tell her that until this whole fucking mess is sorted out. That’s if she’ll even talk to me again after I tell her I just became engaged.” I take a deep breath to slow my racing heart before continuing, “Right now, I have to go and speak to Tori before she reads any of this online. So I’ll call you later.”

I disconnect, not bothering to wait for his reply. At this point, I don’t want to hear anything from any of my brothers who are currently blowing up our group chat. There’s only one person I need to speak to, and that’s my priority.

My call with Tori is short as I ask her to meet me at The Vice Club. It’s neutral ground, and at this time of day, we can be assured of privacy. No photographers lying in wait to snap a photo they can use to spread more rumors with.

***

Now that she’s here, sitting next to me in the deserted VIP bar, all the words I practiced in my head have disappeared.

“What’s wrong?” she asks. I can feel her eyes boring into me as I focus on how perfect her delicate fingers are when entwined with mine on the seat between us.

“There’s something I have to tell you before I leave.”

“You’re going already?” she asks, slumping back into the chair.

“You know I need to return to Italy for business?”

She nods, and I continue, “There’s another reason I need to return.”

“Go on,” she encourages, but her eyes narrow on me.

“My father wants me to marry a family friend’s daughter, and it’s been leaked in the Italian media that we’re engaged.”

“You’re engaged?” she gasps, dropping my hand like it’s a hot rock. “What the fuck have you been doing with me, then?”

I reach for her hand, but she pulls hers back, hiding them both in the fold of her arms.

“Don’t,” she warns before springing to her feet.

“Tori, listen to me. I have no intention of marrying Lucia.”

Her mouth gapes but just as quickly snaps shut again. “Does Lucia know about me?”

“No. Why would she?”

She steps back, widening the distance between us. And when I stand, she holds up her hands to hold me back.

“Gio, I don’t want to be a part of whatever you have going on with this woman, Lucia.”

I take a step forward. And she takes one back.

“I had a feeling this was a mistake, but I stupidly ignored my instincts. You lied to me, and that is unforgivable,” she yells at me.

I don’t try to plead my case because whether it was a lie or something I should have told her before our night at the club, the result is the same. I fucked up. “I’m sorry, Tori. I—”

“No, Gio. We’re done,” she pleads in a soft voice, then turns to walk away. At the top of the stairs, she stops. “And please, do me a favor and lose my number.”

Her expression is an impenetrable wall of pain.

***

Florence, Italy

True to her word, Tori is refusing my calls, and my messages go unanswered.

My cell is buzzing on my desk, and not bothering to answer the call from my father, I turn it off and pop it in the pocket of my suit jacket.

Instead, I click on the scheduled Zoom call with Ryan and Hunter on my laptop. The faces of my friends and partners pop up on the split screen, and already, my crap day is looking better.

“How are you doing, Gio?” They both ask almost at the same time, and we all laugh.

My friends have been reaching out and offering me support ever since social media started lighting up with stories of my engagement. Hunter, even more so than Ryan, understands the pressure of being in the public spotlight, the media vultures always searching for the next scandal. And when it’s a slow news week, making one up.

Ryan is trying to be supportive, but it’s hard when his new girlfriend is Tori’s twin sister.

“I’m fine, guys. Keeping busy and trying to ignore what’s happening in the world of trash media. But that’s what you’re here for, to talk to me about the club and take my mind off all that.”

“Let’s get to it.”

Ryan starts to update us on the monthly financial reports. The gym is still losing money, and the manager just handed in his resignation. The gym has never made the club much money, and while it’s filled with state-of-the-art equipment, we’ve seen it more as a loss leader than a profit maker.

Ryan clears his throat, looking unusually uncomfortable. Given his former Navy SEAL training, I never thought I’d see the day that Ryan was worried to say anything.

“Cough it up, dude,” Hunter jokes, and I know it’s not my imagination.

“Well, about the club. Charli and Tori have put forward a proposal to make the gym more profitable.”

My eyes narrow. “Charli and Tori? Or just Tori?” I ask, and it’s clear now the reason for his hesitancy.

“Tori. And it’s a good proposal with the introduction of yoga and Pilates classes …”

He continues to list the basic principles behind the proposal, but I switch off, remembering that she told me about her experience in one of our text message chats back when we were still on speaking terms.

“Offer Tori the gym manager role,” I say, interrupting Ryan midsentence.

Both Ryan and Hunter are silent, and I wonder if the batteries in my AirPods have died.

But then Ryan says, “Are you sure, Gio? Because I do think she’s the right person for the job. She’s got the qualifications and experience.”

“I know, and I don’t want to be the one to stand in her way because I fucked up.”

He nods. “Chances are, you’ll run into each other.”

Ryan has probably heard all the details from Charli, and I hate the thought that he’s been caught in the middle in any way.

“Ryan, I don’t plan on being back in New York for the next few months, so there’s no chance of that happening in the immediate future. And when I am finally back, enough time will have passed.”

That last part is total bullshit, of course, because there will never be enough time for me to forget Tori. She’s been imprinted on my heart. But I have to hope that when she hears of Ant marrying Lucia instead of me, she’ll give me another chance.

Hunter, who has remained silent until now, adds, “I agree that Tori should be the new gym manager. And, Gio, I’m sorry things didn’t work out.”

“Me too,” I mutter.