Page 19 of The Billionaire's Ride

“Feeling unexpectedly inspired?” I ask.

She flicks a look, then turns back to the stack in front of her. “Something like that.”

“So why lingerie?” Because I really want to know how a good girl like her makes a living creating tantalizing negligees.

“Sorry, I’ve already been interviewed today. You’ll have to read about it inLux,” she says, playfully.

“I’d rather hear it directly from the source.”

“I’ll sum it up for you with one name. Lisa Lake.”

“The model?”

“My stepmom. Or was. She left my dad eight years ago.”

“So that’s how you got into the biz.” I decide not to tell her that my brothers all had a crush on her stepmum when we were boys. “Isn’t she a little young to be your stepmum? Did your dad have a midlife crisis?” Being labeled as a man having a midlife crisis is one of my fears. But they never say that about George Clooney. That’s why I’ll never settle down in the first place. The moment you do, it’s over.

“She’s sixteen years older than me.”

“How’d your mom take it when your dad married Lisa Lake?”

Kate averts her gaze. “She died when I was little. That’s the only reason he remarried.”

Her words hit hard. I, too, know that pain. Losing your mother is awful, no matter when it happens. “I’m sorry to hear that,” I say.

“Thanks, but it was a long time ago. And I don’t like to talk about it because I always getthatface.” She points an accusatory finger at me.

“What face?”

“Thatface. Like you feel sorry for me. Don’t feel sorry for me. She was sick, and she died. It happens. I had great caretakers and a privileged childhood. So, please, stop with the pity face.”

“Okay.” I correct my expression just for a moment before I admit. “My mum passed too. Couple years ago.”

Now Kate’s the one with the long, pitiful face. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

I shrug. “It’s okay. It’s like you said. It happens.” My mother’s sudden death isn’t a subject I typically raise. I’m more of a deal-with-it-in-silence type. But now I know Kate gets it. Maybe even more than I do.

“Yeah . . . life’s a rollercoaster, huh?” she adds.

“It is. That’s why I try to keep mine fun.”

“See, I prefer to close my eyes, hold on for dear life, and wait until it’s over.”

I stare into her sea-green irises. “Kate, darling, what’s the point of being on the rollercoaster if you’re not going to enjoy the ride?”

She takes in a slow breath, and her gaze falls to my mouth. “I’ve been starting to wonder that myself. Anyway . . .” She turns her attention back to the stack of sketchbooks and plucks one out. “I guess I’ll have to settle for this one.” She heads to the register, holding it limply in her grasp.

Strangely, the whole thing breaks my heart a little. All her losses. I don’t want Kate to settle. I want her to have everything she wants. Everything. And I want to be on that list.

“Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to run my errands,” Kate says as we approach the tech store.

“It’s nothing. I’m not that busy.”

“So, no hot date tonight?” She asks me in a biting sort of way that tells me she’d be a little jealous if I were out with another woman in a few hours. Maybe she is interested in a fling with a foreigner.

“No. Well, not really,” I say, thinking I’ve got plans to go out with the lads.

“Not really?”

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