Rogue Beast (The Rourkes #12) - Kylie Gilmore Page 0,64
word. We both know why I asked. If things keep going well between us, one day I could be a princess. I wouldn’t say no to wearing a tiara and staying at the palace in Villroy.
“I want to go to that Regency-themed ball pretty badly,” I confess.
“You only want me for Alice.”
“It’s a two-fer.”
He laughs. “Last time she dressed her baby girl Sigourney in this little blue gown that matched hers. She goes all out. I’ll take you next time on one condition.”
“What?”
“You have to promise not to forget I exist once you meet your idol.”
A bubble of pure happiness blooms inside me. “Yes.” I flush with excitement, but then I remember my grandmother. “I can’t, though. My grandmother expects me for Christmas, and she’s getting up there. I don’t know how many Christmases I have left with her.”
“She’s tough as an ox. She can come along on the royal jet. I bet she’d fit right in with my cousins. And really hit it off with my dad.”
“Maybe.” I can’t ask her to travel for selfish reasons. What if she fell ill? It would be my fault.
“Sure, we’ll see where we’re at then.”
Once we’re back in the privacy of my apartment, he makes himself at home on my sofa and pats the space next to him. “Story time,” he says. “You tell me yours, and I’ll tell you mine.”
I’m suddenly nervous. My grandmother’s warning sounds in my head: never show weakness. And then my publicist’s voice: every person you let in must sign a nondisclosure. I let myself be vulnerable with him. And I have to be brave and keep doing that. It’s the only way to really connect with the man I’m beginning to suspect I love.
I join him on the sofa and take a deep breath. “Not much to tell. I never met my dad. He was married with a family of his own.” I swallow hard, surprised it still bothers me after all these years that he never acknowledged me. “My mom had me very young and left me as a newborn in my grandmother’s care. My grandmother is her mom.”
“Did your biological mom visit?”
I smile a little. It’s nice of him to refer to her that way. She never felt like a real mom. “No. I don’t think she felt welcome. I think my grandmother scared her away.”
“Did you ever try to get in touch with her?”
I hate to admit it because it just shows how little she cared. “No, I planned to as an adult, but…she got in touch with me when I got my first show at fifteen. We met up in LA. She asked me for money, and when I said no, she said my grandmother had tainted her against me. I was saving every paycheck at the time, terrified I’d get fired and never work again.”
He kisses me. “I’m sorry.”
A lump forms in my throat. “Don’t share that with anyone, okay? Just between us.”
“Of course. Who would I tell?”
“There’s a lot of people who’d pay good money for dirt on me.”
“Harp, don’t you know me better than that by now?”
I blink back tears. “Sometimes it’s hard to trust. I’m trying, okay?”
“Anything you tell me stops here. I’m not trying to gain anything from you besides your…company.”
“What were you going to say?”
He shakes his head, smiling. “No. Not the time for dirty joking around. So my story is simple. I told ya how my father was banished. After that, it was a pretty normal life from my perspective. By the time I arrived, my dad was working for my uncle’s construction company, handling the financial side, and my mom raised us six boys. They stopped having kids after perfection, as you can see.” He gestures with both hands toward himself.
I laugh. “Obviously.”
“Eventually, me and my brothers were brought into the company as our uncle taught us the trade. When he retired, he gave the company to me and my brothers. We’re equal co-owners. My older brothers have worked out a niche in the new company we formed under it for real estate development, Rourke Management. I missed out on that. I’m still just working crew. They didn’t think I was experienced enough for a high-level position at first, and now those positions are all filled.” He sounds bitter.
“That’s the second time you mentioned being passed over.”
“Yeah, well, I guess it’s been on my mind a lot lately. I’m suddenly ambitious for more.”