Page 77 of Waste of Worth

Karen’s hand found his on the middle console, and without a word of request, Dino weaved their fingers together, then placed their joined hands on her jean-clad thigh. There, he could stroke her leg with the side of his thumb while he drove.

The action was soothing.

He didn’t really question why but instead, took the comfort it offered.

“You’re really not going to tell me what that meant, huh?” Karen asked out of the blue.

Dino looked over at her, taking in the beautiful warmth she radiated and how her face lit up whenever he gave her his full attention.

This whole weekend would be nothing but that, he knew.

His attention on her.

Only her.

“I’m curious what it means,” she pressed.

Dino still couldn’t tell her.

Not yet.

Still, his mind whispered the words—the truth.

You are my light.

Because to Dino, Karen was the brightest spot in his very dark world, always lighting up the shadows that never really seemed to leave.

It seemed apt.

There were a dozen and one other things he could have said to her in Italian—things that would have been safer, that he could have repeated in English without her looking too much into it or overthinking what it all meant.

This was not the same.

And he wasn’t ready to explain what it all meant.

Or rather, what it might mean for him and her.

Maybe he was a fucking coward.

“Not today,” he finally said.

With a sigh—although it sounded happy, more than anything else—Karen rested back into the seat, placing her feet up on the dashboard. “You’re so strange sometimes, Dino.”

She kept saying that, but …

“I don’t think it makes much of a difference to you, does it?”

Karen eyed him from the side. “No, it really doesn’t.”

KAREN’S eyes lit up as the trees began to clear up ahead on the dirt road. It was getting dark fast, but there was still more than enough light to see what awaited them for the weekend.

The split-level log cabin sat proudly on the edge of a lake, looking both old and comforting at the same time. It was a place Dino had purchased a while back if nothing more than for the land it offered, and the view he thought he might enjoy taking advantage of at some point.

He hadn’t been wrong on both accounts.

It was private, and that would do him well this weekend with Karen.

And the view …