must still hurt. I wish I could take away your pain.” He reached out to cup her cheek with his free hand. “I’m so damned sorry I don’t know how to do that, sweetheart.”
Tears burned behind her eyes. At his empathy. At his wishes. At the way he’d called her sweetheart again.
Seven days together should have been so short, so easy to sail through without any problems. Instead, everything was continually changing between them. First friends, then lovers, then…
Well, she wasn’t sure what they were to each other now. Only that it wasn’t at all easy, or simple, or clear-cut. Instead, being with Rory was sweet, and fun, and sexy—but also extremely emotional.
Fortunately, that was when Ruby decided to pick up a spoon, plunge it into the applesauce, and fling the contents and the plastic spoon at Zara’s face.
“You silly bunny,” she said to the baby. And then to Rory, she added, half-joking, “You’re not supposed to call me that.”
His gaze was intense. “I’ve never been good at doing what I’m told.”
“It’s one of the things I like best about you,” she said as she squeezed his hand to let him know she appreciated his support even if she was terrible at accepting it, then freed her hand to wipe her face. “And you’re great to care so much. But…”
“Back off?” he guessed.
Though she didn’t want to hurt his feelings when he was clearly going out of his way to be nice to her, she said, “I was hoping we could have a nice afternoon with Ruby.”
“Of course we can.”
Fortunately, the awkward moment was broken by Ruby flinging more applesauce all over them, which made them both laugh.
Hoping again to move them into safer territory, Zara asked, “Are there any other famous cousins you’ve been hiding in the woodwork?” Surely, talking about celebrities would be totally innocuous.
“Good thing you’re sitting down already,” Rory said. “This might take a while.”
She thought he must be exaggerating…until he started to list them all.
“Chase is a brilliant photographer. Marcus’s wife, Nicola, is a pop star—you would know her as Nico. Zach is a race car driver. Ryan has won the World Series multiple times. His wife, Vicki, is a sculptor. I’ve already told you about Smith, and his wife, Valentina, runs their film studio with him. Lori is a big-deal choreographer. My Aunt Mary was a supermodel before she had the kids. Mia’s husband, Ford, is a rock star. Ian is a billionaire, and his wife, Tatiana, is an Academy Award-winning actress, who also happens to be Valentina’s younger sister. Drake is a renowned painter, like my Uncle William, and Drake’s fiancée, Rosa, was an international reality-TV star. Suzanne owns a major software company. And Alec hangs out in the billionaire’s club with Ian, courtesy of his private plane business.”
Zara was momentarily speechless. “No one can be related to that many rich and famous people.”
“I haven’t even gotten to my cousins in Europe and beyond.” He smiled at her reaction. “It sounds worse than it is, though. You’d be surprised by how normal they all are.”
“Oh sure, all the billionaires I know are totally normal.”
He laughed. “It’s true, they are. Plus, there are plenty of regular Jills and Joes in the mix.”
She scoffed, saying, “I doubt that,” as he found the bag of baby wipes and made short work of cleaning off Ruby’s face and hands. Clearly, he had more experience with kids than he’d shown during the diaper change. Zara had the feeling she’d been played. Big-time. “So, who are all these ‘normal’ Sullivans you claim to be related to?”
“Chase’s wife, Chloe, makes quilts. And Marcus owns a winery.”
“Owning a winery is not regular,” she pointed out.
“I guess not, but doing accounting like Gabe’s wife, Megan, or running a dog daycare business like Zach’s wife, Heather, is down to earth.”
“I suppose so,” Zara grudgingly agreed. “Although after hearing that insanely long list of mega-achievers, I feel like I should head straight back to my office and work around the clock for a decade straight.” And here she’d thought it was bad enough to compare herself to Brittany. “Good thing you’re super successful so that you don’t have to worry about trying to keep up.”
“I’m happy with where I am,” he agreed, “but I’ve never wanted to be a billionaire or win an Oscar or sing onstage in front of a hundred thousand people. All I’ve ever wanted is to build things with my hands and know that I’ve been able to make a