‘What? What do you get?’
Rocco didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds. He’d never felt this engaged in a conversation with any woman in his life before but then, he reminded himself, he wasn’tRocco, he wasJose. Jose came with freedoms that Rocco had never had. Of course he would react in ways that were alien to the carefully controlled guy he’d always been!
‘You never had your moment of rebellion because your brother was the one who did that and, for as long as he was the rebel, you subconsciously strove to be the one who kept things on an even keel, especially if your mother was chronically ill.’
‘How did you just do that?’
She smiled, and for a second Rocco’s heart swelled with pleasure. He wasn’t the billionaire who ran an empire and gave orders to people who jumped when he spoke. He was the kid who got the answer right in class in front of the girl he wanted to impress.
‘Do what?’
‘Get me to open up to you. I haven’t said that to anyone but, yes, you’re right. Conor was the rule breaker, and the more he broke the rules, the more I obeyed them. I suppose I thought that he could have stayed longer after mum died. He was helpful, and he arranged a lot of things while he was here, but then he was gone and here I am. I stayed.’
‘But surely you didn’t have to?’
‘Why is this conversation all about me?’ Ella glanced at the menu that seemed magically to appear in front of her and randomly chose something off it without really registering what she was ordering. She laughed but her laughter dried up at the depth of his dark gaze as it rested on her, questioning,thoughtful and breaking down yet more of those barriers she had erected.
‘Maybe I fell into a rut.’
‘Too much excitement out there? Easier to kick back and see where life decides to take you?’
But he was smiling when he said it, and she smiled shyly back at him.
‘I needed to get away,’ she said in a low, broken voice. ‘I… I never thought I’d end up getting away for good. I always assumed I’d finish my geography degree, but then I came back here and day to day reality took over, and one day I realised that finishing my degree was no longer a priority. I guess… I fell into a rut of my own making.’
‘You said that you needed to get away…’
‘I… I’m boring you. I’m talking all about myself. You must think I’m crazy to be sobbing on your shoulder when I don’t even know you.’
‘Maybe that’s why you find it so easy.’
‘Tell me about yourself.’
Their food had arrived, as if mysteriously, because Ella was so oblivious to everything around her, including the waiter who had refilled their wine glasses and presumably made the usual noises to ask what they wanted.
‘What do you want to know?’
‘Do you have any family? Brothers? Sisters? Cousins? Annoying uncles and aunts you only see at Christmas? Do you miss living in Spain, running your store there? Actually, you haven’t really told me where you live… Do you live over here?’
Rocco lowered his eyes. Her open honesty was discomforting, reminding him why he was here in the first place, and honesty didn’t play a big part. He squashed his niggling conscience fast. What was happening here wasn’t about his acquisition of thestore. What was happening here was about the two of them and their unlikely attraction.
‘No brothers or sisters. An uncle, yes—not in touch. He’s the black sheep of the family.’
‘That’s a shame,’ Ella said with sympathy. ‘Family is so important, and it doesn’t sound as though you have lots to go round.’
‘Can’t say I’ve shed tears over that.’
‘But there’s always a reason that a black sheep is a black sheep, don’t you think?’
‘Haven’t really thought about it.’
‘Sometimes it’s the family dynamic, having to live up to a sibling who’s cleverer or better-looking or the favourite…’
Rocco—who normally would have repelled that sort of mumbo jumbo—thought about what she’d said. He thought about his uncle and the steadiness of his own father—the cold confidence that had been in such stark contrast. They were rather like Ella and her brother, he thought, but so much more destructive with so much money and power at stake. There hadn’t been room for a wild card, especially when the wild card had gone so far off the rails that he’d threatened to ruin the company.
‘Maybe you’re right, but hey, who needs the potted history?’
‘I just gave you some of mine,’ Ella pointed out.
