her coming-of-age hormones doing the talking. But Sophia was taught by her parents, and her aunts and uncles, and even her big brothers, to always trust her instincts. No matter what. Your Gabrini gut, they all always told her, was never wrong.
And when The Weeknd went off, and Luther Vandross came on singing the old Rod Temperton-penned Always and Forever, even Von’s mood in the car became more acute to Sophia. As they listened to a song she’d never heard before that moment, but one he’d heard many times, he kept glancing over at her. When she returned his glance, he smiled, which made her smile too. And then he reached over and held her hand.
That small, kind, sweet gesture melted Sophia’s heart. She wasn’t wrong about him! Nobody was going to convince her that she was wrong about him.
“Every day,
love me your own special way.
Melt all my heart away-
with a smile.
Take time to tell me,
you really care.
And we’ll share tomorrow-
together.
I’ll always love you-
forever!”
Von didn’t know why he took her hand. He’d been longing for somebody to love his whole life, but even at his young age he was convinced it was never going to happen for him. His sins were too great already. And to fall for a target on top of it? That had never happened to him, not ever, before.
But he was falling for Sophia. As he looked over at her once again because he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off of her, he knew it was no theoretical shit either. He was developing feelings for her. Could she be the one? Could this unlikely young woman whose father apparently was his father’s mortal enemy, be the one person able to break through with him?
If that were true, he was going to be caught between a rock and a hard place, with his old man commanding both slots.
He knew he had to cut this off and cut it off right now. He eased his hand from her grasp.
But when he pulled up to the PaLargio Hotel and Casino on the Vegas Strip, and they sat there under the portico even as the valets waited on either side to open the doors, neither one of them seemed ready to say goodbye.
“Thanks for driving me home,” Sophia said.
“Home. Some home,” he said as he looked up at the massive hotel. “What does it feel like to call the PaLargio home?”
Sophia smiled. “I don’t know how to answer that question. It’s been my home my whole life.”
“Just here?”
“We have another house, near my Uncle Sal’s house, but we mostly stay here, yeah. It’s just more convenient than the suburbs.”
“I can understand that,” Von said. “Everything at your fingertips up in there.”
Then silence fell again. And they both hesitated again.
Are you nuts, Von was saying to himself. End this now and leave her alone! You aren’t going to harm this girl. You know that now. Not when you don’t even want to say goodbye to her. Just go!
But then they both spoke at once:
“I’d better get going,” said Von.
“How would you like,” said Sophia.
Von looked at her. And just looking into her eyes made him realize he was already getting weak for her. “How would I like what?” he asked her.
“My high school graduation’s less than four weeks away. How would you like to come? I can get you an invitation if you want to come.”
Just say no fool, his mind was telling him. What you need to go to her graduation for? Just say no!
But his heart overruled his sense again. “Sure, I’d love to come,” he said.
And Sophia’s smile increased. “Okay.”
But Von couldn’t let it end there. Four weeks? No way could that be the next time he saw her. “What are you doing tomorrow?” he asked before he could stop himself.
Sophia didn’t need to be stopped. She was already ready to go full steam ahead. “Tomorrow’s Saturday. I have nothing on my plate tomorrow. Why?”
“Let’s hang out.”
Sophia’s heart soared. “Okay.”
“I have some work to do in the morning,” Von said, “but I’ll phone you later and see what you’d like to do.”
“That sounds good. But I don’t think you have my number.”
“I’ll just call the PaLargio.”
Sophia laughed.
He handed her his cell phone. “Put it in there,” he said. Then she put his number in her phone. And she was about to alert the valet that she was about to get out. But Von quickly began unbuckling his seat belt. “I’ll get the door for you,” he said.
“The