Page 97 of Nothing to Win

Scooping up some of the cream on her pinkie finger, she sucked it clean.“Breaking up with me on the phone?”

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it in person.”

Rotating the cup toward herself, Gia lifted it.“I’m not scary,” she said, enjoying a drink.He watched her tongue move across her top lip.Why was he…?“What?”

“Nothing,” he said and flashed a quick smile.

Oh, no, she knew him better than that.Something unshared was on his mind.Shame it was no longer her place to pry.

“Weird as this is, I… I’m glad to have the opportunity to thank you.”

“Thank me for…?”he asked, still intent on her mouth when she drank.

“Not putting a stop payment on the check I wrote for Shanna on Sunday.”

For a second, he just looked at her.Only when she raised her brows did he speak.

“You think that of me,” he said.“Your brother thinks the worst of me at all times, but I thought you knew me better than that.”Before she could respond, he carried on.“I didn’t know you wrote her a check.My team know those checks were given to you and why, all of them will be authorized.”

Despite implying it was accidental, her earlier meeting with Jenna hadn’t been coincidence.

“I should’ve been clear… I—upstairs, I gave the checkbook back to Jenna,” she said.“I went looking for her to return the credit card and my security pass for SG too.”

He winced.“Ouch.”

A laugh bubbled out.“What did you expect?”

“Sounds final.”

She curved her hands around the drink and took another mouthful.“You broke up with me, Mister.Final is what you wanted.”

Their eyes met, his smile faded as hers loosened too.

“Yeah,” he murmured.“It’s what’s right.”

Gia couldn’t break the stare.“Who’s the judge of that?”

He was just as locked in.“I didn’t want you—”

“Well, I know that now—”

“Let me finish,” he said.“I didn’t want you to be obligated to me for some deal.”

Raising the glass to her lower lip, she let the scent drift to her nose.“The deal was important.”

“Yes, and I’ll reiterate what I said about honoring my end.Putting a stop to your obligation was my choice and doesn’t diminish my commitment to you.”

Gia put the drink down on its saucer.“That’s exactly what it does,” she said, not really talking about his financial commitment to Shanna’s search.

And she was strong.Ready.Willing to keep her distance and a poker face—until he slid his hand over hers on the tabletop.

“I don’t want to argue, Irish,” he whispered.“Shit, baby, the last thing I wanted to do was let you down.I’d never hang you out to dry, you should know that.”

Her own hurt prevailed in her present view on him.Or her view between this conversation and their last.

At the start of this, she’d promised not to judge him based on preconceived notions.Experience brought them to this, drew them closer, deepening her trust in him.Just because he’d chosen not to be with her romantically, shouldn’t change her understanding of him as a good man.

Turning her hand so they were palm to palm, the warm slide of their stroking fingers was something she’d missed.