They went their separate ways and Lefty steeled himself to keep shit between him and Gia
neutral. He found her talking to Ardy and a few other old ladies. “Hey, you ready? I talked to P.”
“Yes.” She nodded her head and eyed him curiously.
He ignored her eye probing. “Ladies, good to see you.”
“You too, Lefty,” they chorused.
He nodded his head toward the exit and turned, trusting Gia to follow. He heard the sound of her footsteps hurrying over the ground to keep up with him.
“Are you mad at me?” she asked.
“I’m not mad, I’m just done. When you decide you’re ready to do this, you can let me know.
Until then, I’m through with chasing you down. I laid out my terms, you don’t want to accept them. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve had plenty of time to adjust.”
“Lefty, it’s not like that.”
He continued his silence as they returned to her cage.
“Colm.” She pressed her hand to his shoulder.
He stilled in front of the driver’s side door.
“It’s got nothing to do with you and everything to do with my head. I know it may seem to
be taking forever, but I am working on it.”
“I’m not so sure you are. One word from Taffy and you’re looking at me like I’m Satan.”
“I’m not. I—”
“Okay, so why are we having this conversation?”
“Because, I don’t want to give up everything I worked for.”
“And you think being with me would do all that? How? I don’t want or need shit from you.”
“You want everything. Being in my body isn’t enough. You want to be in my head.” She
tapped her temples. “And my heart.” She lay her palm flat down on her chest. “And I don’t know how to deal with that. I can’t even fathom it. No one has ever cared about me. No one. Not like this, and I don’t think…” She glanced up at the evening sky studded with stars. “I don’t think I’m worth it. I’m not sure I can give you what you need. That I’m capable of it.”
His anger faded and he cupped her face, forcing her to look at him. “Don’t you get it, babe, you already do. There’s everything I need right in front of me. You’re one step away from the finish line and stalling out.”
“What do you want me to do—Colm?” Her voice warbled. Tears made her eyes shimmer
like jewels.
“Look me in the eye and tell me we’re actually going to do this together.”
“The way I feel about you scares me shitless, Colm. I’m in love with you and I don’t know
how to handle that. I don’t know if it’s good for either of us—”
He smashed their lips together and stole her air, preventing her from saying another word.
Her body relaxed against his and his heart filled. For the first time since his mother, he allowed himself to take on full responsibility for another female. She loved him. Whether she wore the title of old lady now or later didn’t matter. She curled her arms around his neck and, for a moment, it was only them beneath a velvet sky dotted with stars. He tilted his head. Is it possible for her to taste even sweeter?