Chapter 2
Giovanna
He does this thing when he stares at me, this not-blinking thing that drives me absolutely insane.
It’s like he’s trying to have a staring contest with me, and no matter how hard I try, I am always sadly losing.
His dark brown eyes are so intense, pinning me like I’m prey, as if I’m some unsolvable equation he refuses to stop working on.
I hold his gaze for as long as I can, but God damn it, my eyes keep tearing up.
Fuck if I’m going to let him see me cry, so I look away, discreetly running my fingertip under my eyes so I don’t end up looking like a raccoon.
I’m not crying. Not exactly. I’m drunk is what I am.
And frustrated.
I’ve known Tommy all my life.
Growing up, everyone saw him as Vin and Matti’s weird, quiet little brother, but sometime in my teens, things changed between us.
He inexplicably began to seek me out, hovering nearby whenever I was with my friends, and when we were alone, he would relax and talk to me.
He turned out to be really sweet and funny, but when I turned 17, he shifted into being an overprotective dick.
And I’m the fucking idiot who still wants to sleep with him even though he clearly doesn’t want me.
Or maybe that’s why I want him.
God, I want him so bad it makes me stupid.
He’s just so… Tommy. Tall, lean, muscles cut into his physique like granite.
Sleeve tattoos, olive skin, eyes the color of melted chocolate you want to drown yourself in, fringed by thick eyelashes girls would kill for.
His mouth is fucking devastating, especially when he stares at me when he thinks I don’t see him and licks his bottom lip.
Forcing me to put on his hoodie tonight?
That’s nothing. I can’t even count how many times he’s cockblocked me at parties and warned men away from me.
But still won’t fucking touch me.
At this rate, I’m going to be a virgin forever.
That’s a problem. My friends never stop talking about it, and every guy I meet wants to be the one to take my V-card from me.
Except Tommy.
But he doesn’t get to control me.
If he won’t have me, I know Antonio will.
“Happy New Year, biiitch!!”
My best friend, Lexington Barrow, barrels through the crowd toward me, shrieking.
People step out of her way in alarm, but she doesn’t seem to notice.
That, in a nutshell, is Lexi.
She loops her arms around my neck, then pulls back in disgust, plucking at Tommy’s hoodie that makes me look like a toddler playing dress-up.
“Why are you wearing this thing?”
“I’m cold,” I lie, glancing at Tommy.
His jaw ticks once, his posture rigid, as he watches us.
Lexi slides closer so we are both facing Tommy as Antonio comes back from the bar, carrying two drinks.
She snatches one and sips it coyly, her eyes twinkling at Tommy.
I know she wants him. She’s made that very clear.
And while she gave me ‘dibs’ since we’re best friends and she knows I want to fuck him, she’d jump him if she had half a chance.
Which is fine. I guess.
“Did you kiss him at midnight?” she purrs.
I flush with embarrassment remembering his response when I asked him to.
“No.”
It’s both my answer to her and an echo of his answer, and I glare at Tommy.
It’d be so much easier if I could just hate him and move on.
“So then you won’t mind if I do.”
“Lexi—”
She shoves her drink at me, flounces over to Tommy, throws her arms around his neck, and slams her mouth into his.
My jaw drops. Rage sears my skin as he pries her off him and shoves her back.
His eyes immediately lock on mine, and I scowl.
Disgusting.
Antonio sidles behind me like a shadow.
Wrapping his arms around my waist and putting a drink in my hand, his mouth is next to my ear.
“Will you be my first kiss of the new year?”
I groan inwardly and down the drink.
I don’t know why I agreed to meet Antonio here tonight.
Or any night. He’s hot, but he’s boring.
So boring in fact that I’ve managed to turn all our dates into group events and usually disappear with Lexi.
In fact, I think I’ll do that now.
“C’mon,” I mutter, yanking Lexi toward the dance floor.
“Happy New Year, baby,” she drawls drunkenly over her shoulder at Tommy, blowing him a kiss, and I grimace.
I spin her a little too hard on the dance floor, and she laughs as we ping-pong off each other.
Stumbling in close to me, she grabs my waist as we move, sticking her face in mine in mock concern.
“Jealous, Gigi? Don’t be, baby girl. You know you’re my number one.
”
Fucking ‘Gigi.’ Hate that name, but I barely hear what she’s saying.
I’m wasted and 100 percent focused on her mouth.
The mouth that was just pressed up against Tommy’s mouth.
Tommy’s lips. Tommy’s kisses.
“Make it up to me.” I yell over the music and the fireworks exploding over our heads.
She laughs again. “Okay. How?”
I frame her face in my hands in an attempt to make my double vision singular, then slam my mouth into hers, dragging my tongue roughly over her bottom lip.
She freezes, then leans into me, winding her arms around my waist, pulling me closer.
It’s not the first time we’ve made out when we were drunk, but it’s the first time I ever initiated.
I slide my tongue against hers, tasting Tommy.
A sharp wolf whistle cuts through the music, and I step back from her, laughing, rooftop lights and people spinning around me.
Lexi’s face looms into focus, her eyes sparkling at me as she claps her hand over her mouth, laughing.
“Wow, Gigi. You kiss better than Tommy. Are you trying to tell me something?” She winks at me and starts jumping to the music.
I laugh as Antonio moves toward me like a prowling coyote, his eyes dark with lust.
I can feel Tommy’s disapproving stare boring into me, and I smirk.
I hope he can feel me mentally flipping him off.
I’d love to see that man break, finally lose that icy control.
“Take this hoodie off me,” I snap at Antonio loud enough for Tommy to hear.
Antonio laughs softly and dips his chin down, pulling me close.
“Here? Now?”
“Yes, Antonio. Right here. Right now.”
His steps back, his gaze dragging up and down my body.
He’s blurry and I’m unsteady, but I can tell by his expression that if we were alone he’d be ripping off more than my hoodie.
He half-growls as he bends enough to take the hem of the hoodie in his hands, his mouth an inch away from mine.
Tommy’s comments about my short dress come back to me.
“Don’t show my ass to the world.”
He chuckles again and reaches for the hem of my dress under the hoodie, his eyes glazing over when his fingers graze my underwear.
I arch an eyebrow when he stops moving, his eyes heavy with lust and locked on my face.
At least, I hope I’m arching my eyebrow.
Control over my body is not something I have a lot of right now.
“Focus,” I snap.
He keeps his eyes locked on mine as he holds my dress down with one hand and lifts the hoodie with the other.
I raise my arms straight up and hold his gaze like a challenge, though every ounce of my attention is on Tommy seething a few yards away.
My focus is so heavily on Tommy that Antonio shocks the shit out of me when he leans in and presses his lips to mine.
He steps in closer, sliding his hands up my torso, dragging the hoodie up.
His thumbs brush over my nipples as he deepens the kiss, pulling me against his hard cock, and my stomach churns.
I don’t want a reaction from him.
I want a reaction from Tommy.
I don’t have to wait long.
“Get your hands off her.”
Tommy’s voice is low and dangerous, but Antonio doesn’t let go.
Instead, he grips my rib cage tighter as he kisses me, swiping his tongue across the seam of my lips then pulling back just enough to look me in the eye.
Fierce. Intentional. Possessive.
Keeping one hand on my waist, Antonio turns toward Tommy, pushing me slowly behind him.
It’s a standoff.
I take advantage of their diverted attention and finish taking off the hoodie.
Lexi cackles next to me and licks my shoulder.
I snort out a laugh, trying to get my eyes to focus.
I’m glad I’m not the only one here who’s wasted.
“What did I tell you, Giovanna?” Tommy’s eyes hold Antonio hostage while he growls at me, but I just laugh.
“When? Earlier tonight?” I peek around Antonio, laughing.
“You said ‘no.’”
And I’m done being told ‘no.’
I yank the hoodie over Lexi’s head, trapping her inside like Tommy did to me.
“He’s your problem now,” I snarl.
Angry that my jealousy is showing—freaked out that I’m jealous at all—I spin away from Tommy and his fucking amazing lips and stupid hypnotic eyes and bark at Antonio, “Take me home.”
Antonio catches up to me.
Snaking his arm around my waist, he steers me toward the exit.
He drops a kiss on my shoulder, and when I turn to scowl at him, I glance behind us in time to see Tommy watching us and Lexi watching him.
Tommy shakes his head at me slowly, warning me not to leave with Antonio.
Well, fuck him. If he doesn’t want me, he doesn’t get a say in what I do.
I grab Antonio by the back of the neck and pull him down to me, kissing him hard, swallowing the disgust rising in my throat.
When I pull back, he’s breathless, and I’m bored.
“Get me the fuck out of here.”
Without hesitation, he pulls me toward the elevator, kissing me hard until it arrives then shoving me inside.
He slams into me, hands everywhere, his mouth hot and insistent.
Hooking my leg around his waist, he grinds his hard cock against me.
His pupils are blown out when he pulls back, his breath coming heavy.
“I fucking love you, Gigi. I want you so much. Fuck.”
It’s like the sun blasts through my drunken haze as his fingers probe my panties.
“What the fuck?” I shove his chest and smack his hands away.
“You love me? Are you fucking high? Jesus Christ.”
He’s red, embarrassed.
“Don’t take it like that, Gigi. I just—”
“God damn it. I didn’t think I’d get this love con bullshit from you, Antonio.
”
His embarrassment turns to anger. “Love con? I’m not—”
The elevator dings and the doors slide open.
I push him out, scowling and fixing my dress.
“I’ll find another way home,” I snap as the doors slide shut and smack random buttons.
I know Tommy has a suite here somewhere.
I’m going to find him and handle this V-card business once and for all.