2. Bruno
CHAPTER 2
brUNO
S harp tingles shoot up my arm when our gloves touch. Even the thickest wool can’t rival the heat that floods my body every time Chloe flies into my airspace.
She stares up at me through her snow goggles. Even the glare of the sun reflecting off the clear plastic can’t hide the anger in her gaze.
I’ve missed staring into those clear green eyes. I know I’m the reason why they’re overflowing with rage right now. What happened was all my fault. I played with fire that night, and choices I made turned everything good in my life to ash.
Chloe wanted a guy who wasn’t a mafia thug with a perpetual target on his back.
I told her I’d change.
I couldn’t.
I mean, how the hell could I? This life is all I’ve ever known. My father, brothers, and cousins all expect me to do my job and protect the family businesses. How the fuck could I tell them I’m out because I met a girl who won’t date me unless I go legit?
They’d kick my ass up the West Coast and back down again because anyone in the mafia knows there’s only one way out…in a box.
The truth is, I love my life. I get paid a shit ton of cash to keep order in our family-owned Las Vegas casinos. After the Excelsior opened a few years back, it did so well, we decided to open a new one called Paradiso Resort and Spa. I’m in charge of security for both. I make the rules for myself and when other people challenge me, they pay the price. No questions asked. No fucks given.
It's been a year. I figured my feelings for her would’ve fizzled but judging by the way my cock tingles when she falls into my arms, it’s damn clear they haven’t.
“You okay?” I ask when she pulls away.
“Fine,” she snaps, her dark hair stuck to the sides of her face. The rest hangs in wet strands around her shoulders.
I remember fisting that hair while I fucked her against the window in my apartment that overlooks the Strip.
I wonder if she remembers that, too…
“Bruno,” a playful female voice calls out from behind me. “Are you ready to go yet?”
I swallow a groan. Jesus, could her timing be any worse?
Chloe twists away from me, her face pinched with pain.
“Are you sure? Doesn’t look that way.”
She pulls off her goggles, her eyes glittering with anger. “I can take care of myself, thanks. Besides, I wouldn’t want to hold you and your friend up.”
My friend. Yeah. What the hell is her name again, anyway? Angie? Ari?
The girl who remains nameless because I didn’t give a shit enough to remember it wraps her arm around my waist and drops her head on my shoulder. “It’s so cold out here. Let’s go find a hot tub,” she murmurs, not giving a flying fuck that I’m standing with a group of other people.
Chloe’s cheeks turn bright red, her eyes widening.
“You sure don’t like to waste any time, do you, B?” Lily says with an eye roll. “You just landed a couple of hours ago, for Pete’s sake. Heaven forbid your best friend needs you for wedding stuff.”
I grit my teeth. Of course I’m the bad guy. Worse now that I’m gonna get laid by a snow bunny whose name I don’t even know.
“Come on, let’s go get something to eat,” Zeno says, taking Lily’s hand. “I’ll catch you later, B.”
But Chloe’s fiery gaze doesn’t move from my face. It’s like she’s trying to blow up my brain with her eyes. She shakes her head and with a wince, trudges after Zeno and Lily who are a few steps ahead of her. She slants me a glance over her shoulder just as the girl reaches her hand down the front of my snow pants.
Chloe gasps and loses her balance, stumbling sideways.
“Chloe,” I yell. “Watch out.”
But she’s too busy flipping me off to see the large sign for the Intermediate Hill on her right side until it’s too late. The edge of her ski crashes into the wood post stuck into the ground and when she jerks around to steady herself, she slips and falls over the sign. And for the second time today, she’s on her ass.
I thump toward her, moving as fast as these damn boots will let me. Lowering myself to my knees, I snake an arm around her back and lift her out of the snow. Her goggles flew off her head and landed a few feet away along with her wool cap.
“You really needed to flip me off that badly, huh?” I ask, a smirk on my face. “You ever hear of karma?”
She narrows her eyes. “You’re such an asshole.”
“So I’ve been told. Come on, let’s get you up.”
I get her to a standing position and she lets out a yelp once she puts weight on her right foot. “Ow! My ankle.”
“You probably twisted it when you went over the sign,” I say, holding her tight around the waist.
“I’m sure she’ll be okay,” the girl says with an impatient sigh. “Aren’t there, like, ENTs who can help?”
“Ear, nose, and throat doctors?” Chloe says sarcastically. “I think you mean EMTs, sweetie. Like emergency medical technicians, right?”
The girl shrugs. “Whatever. It’s all help, right? We can call someone for you,” she says to Chloe, reaching for my arm. “Come on, Bruno. The hot tub is calling. Do you hear it?”
“Look, I’m not going anywhere,” I say, shaking off her hand. “She’s hurt, and I’ve known you for two seconds…too long. Think you’re gonna have to find another hot tub buddy, Amy.”
Amy. That was it.
Amy’s eyes practically pop out of her skull. “You’re choosing the hot mess over me ? Are you serious?”
“I’m choosing to be a good person.” I turn to Chloe with a grin. “Not an asshole.”
“For once,” Chloe mutters.
“Fine. And it’s not Amy, dick. It’s Ally!”
Ally. Oops.
She flips around and storms back to the lodge.
“Um, I really need an ENT. Can we please get moving?” Chloe says, with a smirk on her face.
I chuckle. “Yeah, but I think we need to get those skis off you first.” I bend down and unclip them from her boots. She steps out of the right ski without a problem but cringes when her right foot hits the ground.
“Dammit, what if it blows up? How am I going to get my foot into a shoe for the wedding?”
“You have a couple of days. Is it that bad?”
She nods. “I think I need someone to pull me back to the chateau on a sled.”
I bend down and with one swift sweep, I lift her into my arms. “How’s this for service?”
“So now you’re trying to service me?”
“I didn’t think that was even a remote possibility. You ever think that maybe I’m just trying to be a good guy?”
“No.” Chloe wraps her arms around my neck. “If you were, things would be different between us,” she mutters.
Her words hang in the air like a toxic cloud.
“You knew who I was when we met.” My snow boots dig deep into the snow, my breaths clouding in the cold air. “I never hid it from you.”
“You lied to me. You told me you’d give it up and then…”
She doesn’t need to say it. We both know what I did.
“I wanted it to work, Chloe.”
“Right.” Her body stiffens in my arms. “Just not badly enough since you had no problem leaving me that night and completely ghosting me afterward. You’re completely full of shit and we both know it. You chose your family.”
“And you chose yours,” I grunt.
Her family. What a bunch of pompous, arrogant asshats. Fucking rich bitch judgmental mother who spent more time getting sauced than talking to me the one time we met. And her father who actually offered me cash to forget his daughter. Like I was some derelict from the streets who needed two nickels to rub together.
Chloe shifts in my arms and I get a whiff of her perfume. It’s my favorite one. It’s not flowery or fruity. Just clean. Like she just got out of the shower.
Fuck. Wrong time to think of her soaped up and naked under a scalding hot spray of water.
“Look, we have two days to put up with one another,” she snaps. “And then we never have to see each other again. Can you handle that for our best friends?”
My heart sinks into my boots.
Seeing her again, breathing her in, holding her in my arms, hearing her voice…
No. I don’t think I can.