Page 80 of Caruso
She chuckles softly, and as her gray soulful eyes lift to mine, she says confidently, “I want to stay. I love being with you—all of you but it will always be in the back of my mind that I am only here for one thing. It’s not enough, which may sound ungrateful because you have all given me so much in such a short space of time. More than anyone has in my life so far, but I don’t deserve handouts. If I am to survive and to be a better person, I must cut all ties and move away from Vegas. To a small town perhaps, where I can take a job in a diner.”
I resist reaching out and gripping her hard, forcing her to retract that statement because she is going nowhere. However, force won’t work with Taylor; she’s not the frightened woman she thinks she is. She’s strong, resilient and a warrior, and she doesn’t realize it yet, but she’s now a Caruso, and we don’t run from anything, not without setting our past on fire and kicking away the ashes first.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Taylor
Now that I’ve stated my intention, I can breathe a little easier. As soon as Jason walked back to his friends, I hated how he left me. I don’t want to be like him. Hustling my way through life, feeding off a weaker person to better myself.
I am better than that, but all the time I’m the Caruso brother’s sex toy, I am kidding myself.
It’s best if I leave now before I fall any harder for these men. They have given me so much, and one of the most important things is strength of character. Confidence even and even if I only walk away with that, it’s the first brick in building a stronger foundation because I will not allow my past to define me. I’m better than that.
The fact I don’t want to leave is killing me inside. To lose them as fast as I found them isn’t sitting well with me. But I must cut free with a grateful smile, and telling Tommaso is the best way to make it a reality.
He doesn’t want me here; he will consider this a winand is the perfect brother to convince the others to let me go.
As soon as I delivered my speech, he fell silent, which I am grateful for, and for the next hour we sit with our thoughts for company until the car turns into a driveway under an arch that states grandly, ‘Freedom Ranch.’
“Is this it?” I ask, straining for a glimpse of their mountain home but seeing nothing in the distance.
“It is.”
His voice is gruff, which is usual, I guess.
“How long have you lived here?”
“We don’t live here. It’s a place to retreat to when the city suffocates our minds.”
“You own a home you hardly live in. That’s a bit of a waste, isn’t it?”
“It’s real estate, nothing more.”
“Giorgio may disagree with you on that.”
“Giorgio likes to play the cowboy. We hoped he’d grow out of it, but apparently he never will.”
I smile. “You should never let go of your childhood dreams, Tommaso; they are there reminding you that life was once yours for the taking.”
“What are your childhood dreams, Taylor?”
I shrug. “For a normal family like the ones on the shows on television. To skip home from school, where my mom was baking cookies and my father chopping wood in the yard. A bicycle on my birthday with a cake and candles. A pretty dress, grandparents, cousins and siblings. A family, I’m guessing, a happy home and hope for the future.”
I sigh. “It’s a little sad to dream about something most people take for granted.”
I turn to him with curiosity.
“What was your dream, Tomasso?”
“To wake up from the nightmares, Taylor.”
His eyes darken, and I hitch my breath because it’s all there before me. A broken man struggling to deal with the life he was given.
I don’t get to question that as the car turns a corner and a huge ranch-style house appears like a mirage in a desert.
“Wow, is that your place?”
“It is.”
