“And suffering.” I twirled the strap of my bag around my fingers, tightening it some. “We’re not talking about me, though. We’re supposed to be talking about you.”
“You’re being driven by a world-famous racer.” He chuckled at that. It was kind of self-depreciating, but in a Big way. “Enjoy the ride, Aphrodite.”
Outside of the city limits, he hit the gas, and the wind whipped so hard I thought it was going to rip my bun out. But the weather felt like him—warm—and it felt good to be traveling away from the city and along Route 613.
About ten minutes in, Big slowed up some. I raised my brows at him.
“Animals cross.”
I grinned as I looked away from him and at the canyons in the distance. It was dark—almost pitch black—but it was almost like I could make out their forms from some sort of night magic. Or maybe it was just my memory filling in the blanks.
Around twenty minutes away from Vegas, Big pulled off the interstate and parked in a viewing area.
“Wow.” The word just slipped from my lips. “This makes you feel like you’re on another planet instead of being in Vegas.” I lifted my hand and twirled it around, like I could stir the pot of stars above me. There were so many of them, and they seemed almost liquid, like they were sparking from the bottom of a huge pot above. Floating in a sea of soup somewhere. The gigantic ring on my left finger seemed to fit with them, in terms of how bright. “I forget sometimes that Red Rock Canyon exists right outside of all the fake lights.”
“My mom used to say this was the real Paradiso.”
My eyes slowly left the stars and fell on him. He was looking at me.
“Why?” I whispered. “Because you don’t need to buy a ticket to get in?”
He studied me for a second, like he didn’t expect me to say that, and nodded. “The arrangement with Abree was just that. An arrangement. Rocco is married to her sister, Rosaria, and he thought we’d be a good match. His brother, Dario, had something with her for a while, and when that fell through, he introduced us.” He looked forward.
“You can’t just leave me hanging like that, Big.”
“Mr.Big.”
I grinned at his profile. “Mr. Big.”
“Better.” He squeezed the steering wheel, the tendons in his arms straining, making his veins seem more pronounced. Even his forearms were beautiful. “Eleni Bigatti’s death put life into perspective.”
His mom.
“That’s why you didn’t go forward with the arrangement?”
He nodded, turned his head up, his eyes reflecting the stars.
I took a deep breath and sighed it out. That was a vague answer to what seemed like a more complicated issue, but it wasn’t my place to pry. I was already starting to relax around him. I didn’t need to start feeling sorry for him and start telling himmysappy life story. I only needed to know what I was up against when it came to the Italian beauty—a memory that had trapped him? Or a memory that breezed in and out whenever something triggered it?
It wasn’t because I cared if it trapped him, either. Okay. Maybe I cared a little. But I wanted to stay out of that particular trap myself, refusing to get pulled into some kind of relationship issue with another woman.
A sense of peace washed over me with a warm wind when I accepted the answer he’d given me, though.
The quiet between us seemed loud suddenly. I reached forward and turned the radio on. It was just a whisper in the night. The song playing was older, from the ’70s, and I went to change the station when Big stopped me by putting his hand over mine.
It was the eeriest thing that had ever happened to me, but I knew the song meant something to him. Maybe his mom had liked it. In one of those articles, it said she was a darling of Vegas and used to be a singer.
I wondered if he would take it as a sign. A sign of what, though? I had no clue.
Our eyes met for a second before I relaxed in my seat, leaning my head back. He still had my hand, and the warmth of it was…nice, especially with the song.
Before I realized it, I dozed off. My eyes fluttered open when the bright lights of Portofino hit them.
Umberto was taking Big’s place in the driver seat, and Big was already at my side. He opened my door and gave me his hand. I took it, and he led me into the Mecca that was his casino.
CHAPTER10
Leonora
