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His answer was so simple I barked out a laugh. “Honey, it’s not that easy.”
“Isn’t it?” he challenged. “I mean, it’s just a bunch of twisted up glass.”
“No it’s not!” I exclaimed sharply. “This is artistry! Passion! Heart!” I blinked, still feeling awestruck and overwhelmed. I’d seen this piece a hundred times, in a hundred photos. None of them had done it justice.
“This right here…” I went on, struggling for the right words. “This is ainstinct!”
Connor turned to me, looking me straight in the eye. “And don’t you have your own instinct?”
I saw then what he’d been doing the whole time. The smirk at the corner of his mouth gave it away.
“Of course I do,” I admitted.
“You have your own skill, your own vision,” he said simply. “Plus, you’ve got two good eyes. This bloke had one.”
His mouth curled into a full-blown smile that warmed my heart. His arm slid around me again.
“When I came to America broke and without knowing a soul, my mum thought I was bonkers. Only Ibelieved. I had my own instinct. I knew I’d find greatness, I knew I’d have success.” He sighed in remembrance. “Now she has two houses in Dublin and a cottage in Killarney and she’s the envy of all her hag-lookin’, pearl-clutching friends. I used to send money back on the regular, but she made me stop a few years ago.”
I watched as Connor shook his own memories from his head. Clearing his throat, he squeezed me tighter against him.
“You could do this,” he said, pointing upward. “Maybe not tonight, maybe not tomorrow. But eventually.”
My attention shifted, and suddenly the sculpture was gone. Instead, I was fixated on him… and only him.
Ah, shit.
Connor’s hand gave me warm tingles where it clutched my hip. As goosebumps broke out along my arms I became increasingly lost in how handsome he was, both inside and out.
“Know what else?” he asked.
“What?”
“I wouldmurderanother cup of coffee right now.”
A half hour later we were sipping the last of our lattes, relaxing as we strode back toward the casino’s main entrance. I pulled the last payout voucher from my pocket and stared down at the amount left: a paltry $6.38.
“Ah, so the empire falls at last,” Connor joked.
“Good thing you paid for fuel already,” I shot back.
“There’s a five-dollar machine right there,” he pointed. “Get rid of that cursed thing before go.”
We walked the ten steps necessary and I slipped the voucher into the machine. Just as I was about to hit the SPIN button, Connor stopped me.
“Pull the lever, lass,” he said, tapping the side. “It’s more satisfying.”
I’d been pushing SPIN buttons for so long I’d forgotten the old levers were still there. They were for the oldschool gamblers. The ones who liked the feel of pulling that big arm down, even if the end result was the same.
He pulled with me this time, his hand over mine. The level went down, the reels spun, and alarms chimed. The whole machine started blinking, then lit up like a Christmas tree.
“What what what!?” I screamed, suddenly a lot more interested in how this particular machine worked. “What’d we win?”
Connor pointed up at the payout marquee above the reels. “Youjust won five-hundred,” he laughed. “Lucky fucker.”
Elation surged through me, as I spun around to face him. I was screaming like a maniac as I flung myself into his arms.
Before I could stop it our faces were together, and our foreheads touched. His eyes locked on my eyes, holding them prisoner. Freezing them there. Prolonging the moment.
