Page 91 of Rags to Royals

“I’d love to hear more about it,” I say. “Do you know more about the families?”

He shrugs. “A little. But I haven’t met them. That’s Joann’s thing.”

I frown. “You haven’t met them?”

“Nah. That seems strange. They don’t need to know me.”

“They’d probably like to.”

“It’s not about me,” he says. “I provide the funding, but Joann knows a lot more about how to really run the place. And the women themselves know what they need.”

That’s true. But knowing Cian, he would love to know these families. He’d love to see how he was helping.

Then again, it’s not about him. He’s right, I suppose.

“Have you opened other communities like this?” I ask.

“Yes. There are six others.”

Wow. I…don’t know what to say to that.

“Do you want to get dinner? We can talk about it more. Now that I’ve got you back, we can talk about what else to do.”

Now that I’ve got you back. Yeah, oh boy.

“Okay, yeah, let’s get dinner.” I really want to hear more. I realize my heart is beating fast and my mind is spinning with questions.

Are the other communities multiple buildings like this? We’d actually brainstormed buying big houses with multiple bedrooms. Has he done that anywhere? Where are the other ones? Is he going to do more?

“There’s a great Italian place right down the block.” He puts his hand on my lower back and we start down the sidewalk.

Antonio’s smellsamazingand it hits me that I’m starving when we step inside the cozy restaurant at the end of the block.

It’s one of those places that is decorated in red and white and gold and dimly lit with sconces on the wall and fat round glass candle holders on the tables.

We’re escorted to a booth along the far wall immediately by a grinning older man who greets us with an enthusiastic, “Benvenuti!”

After we have water, glasses of red wine, and a plate of bruschetta in front of us, Cian turns to me. “I want to offer you a job.”

“A job?”

“Yes, as president of the foundation.”

“What foundation?”

“The foundation I’m going to start.”

He doesn’t even have the foundation started. Okay. “You’re starting a foundation?”

“Yes. One that will build even more communities like the one across the street. And other things.” He leans in, pinning me with an earnest look. “We can come up with all kinds of programs, scholarships, school supply funds.”

I smile.

“Whatever you want,” he says. “We can fund all kinds of things.”

“Me? What aboutyou?” I ask. “What kinds of things do you want to do?”

“Anything. That’s the thing I realized by putting that community together. I’ve got the money, and I can raise more. Talking to other rich guys is easy. Convincing them to give me money is easy. I’ve got connections. I can get resources together. I just need the ideas and plans to spend it on.”

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