Page 22 of Beautiful Trauma (The Irish Rogues #5)

W hile Mila changed into the black sweatpants and black T-shirt I’d ordered her, I spread the food out for us on the rickety table. When she came back out, I had everything ready for her.

“Clothes okay?” I asked.

Ducking her head, she replied, “Fine.”

I sensed she was holding something back, so I asked, “What’s wrong?”

To my surprise, she gave me a sheepish look. “You forgot a bra and underwear.”

“Fuck. I wasn’t thinking about that.” After furiously rubbing the back of my neck, I added, “Besides the fact I would have no idea what size your boobs were.” With a grimace, I corrected myself. “I mean, breasts.”

“It’s okay.”

“We’ll make another order.”

As I handed her a plate, my phone rang. At Callum’s name flashing on the screen, I quickly answered it. “Hey, boyo.”

“How are you holding up, mate?”

“We’re all right.”

“Are you settling into your shithole?”

I chuckled. “A little.”

“Well, you might as well get comfortable for the night.”

With a groan, I replied, “Seriously?”

“They’re working on a mechanical issue with the jet.”

“You’re joking?”

“Unfortunately not”

“Can’t the Nerettis send theirs?”

“Trust me, I already tried that. Gianni has it out in San Francisco at some tech conference.”

“Fabulous,” I grumbled.

“They should be there by morning. I’ll keep you posted. Sit tight.”

“I’ll try.”

When I hung up, Mila gave me a tight look. “That desperate to get rid of me?”

“That’s not it at all.”

“It sounded like it,” she replied in a surprisingly vulnerable voice.

I grabbed her hand in mine. “Believe me when I say I would be happy to stay locked up here in this hellhole with you if we weren’t in a foreign territory with no allies.”

“You’re joking.”

With a shake of my head, I argued, “Staying here means getting a chance to know you.”

After she placed a plump strawberry in her mouth, she asked, “What do you want to know?”

“More about Mila.”

“You met her the other night,” she protested.

“That was Mya.”

“It was still me.” At what must’ve been my skeptical look, she replied, “None of it was fake except for my name, hair, and eyes.”

“Then let’s fill in the gaps.”

She smiled. “Okay.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-five.”

“The same age as me.”

“When will you be twenty-six?”

“Two weeks.”

I smiled. “You beat me. My birthday is in a month.”

“Really?”

Nodding, I replied, “Maybe we can have a joint birthday party.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re joking, right?”

“Not at all.”

“After everything that has transpired between our families, you expect them to come together to celebrate our birthdays?”

I grinned at her. “Of course not. We can throw a party and not invite them.”

A laugh burst from her lips. “I like that idea.”

“Then let’s do it.”

“Good.”

“Speaking of birthdays, you get to be the cougar in our relationship,” I teased.

“Which is interesting since I’m usually attracted to older men.”

I scowled at the reference to her and other men. “Is that right?”

Amusement danced in her eyes. “Don’t worry. It’s textbook "Daddy Issues.”

Tilting my head, I asked, “What do Daddy Issues look like in men? Because after the father I had, I sure as hell have to have some.”

Chewing a bite of salad, Mila replied, “I’m not sure.” Holding out her hand, she asked, “Let me see your phone.”

After unlocking it, I handed it over. Her fingers flew over the keys. “Hmm, trust issues, repeated behavior, and difficulty with intimacy are the top ones.”

“Sounds familiar.”

Mila shook her head. “From what little I know about him, there’s no way you have any behavior of your father’s.”

“Oh, I can assure you I have trust issues.”

With a mirthless laugh, Mila said, “I’m sure I didn’t help with any of those.”

“You had a purpose in deceiving me that was forced on you because of your father. Other women didn’t.”

“Here’s another basic question for you.”

She swallowed a bite of chicken. “Okay.”

“What do you do for a living?”

“I manage the Lumiere gallery in Philadelphia.” A shadow passed over her face. “It’s how I was duped into coming to Dublin.”

“It was?”

“Brian pretended to be selling a very lucrative collection.”

When Mila pushed her plate away with a frown, I muttered, “Bastard.”

“While I have to agree, I also have to admit it was a very clever ruse.”

“Did you always want to work with art?”

Wrinkling her nose, she replied, “Actually, I never did.”

I swiped my mouth with a napkin. “Let me guess. Like a lot of underworld families, your father told you what you were going to do.’

At her nod, I eyed her curiously. “If you’d had a choice, what would you’ve wanted to do?”

With a shrug, she replied, “I don’t know.”

“Sure you do.”

She scowled at me. “Let me guess. You can tell I’m lying.”

“Yep.”

Mila huffed out a frustrated breath. “Fine. If you must know, I always wanted to be an astronomer.”

I blinked at her in disbelief. “An astronomer?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Is there something wrong with that?”

I laughed. “Not at all. It just took me by surprise, that's all.”

“I didn’t peg you as being sexist.”

Holding my hands up, I protested, “I’m not. My sister is a professional as well as all of my sisters-in-law. If I have daughters, I want them to go as far in school as they want to.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear it.”

“Out of all the sciences, why astronomy?” When she side-eyed me, I said, “I’m just asking since my sister-in-law, Isla, is a Molecular Biologist.”

“Because it was something I shared with my mother.”

“Really?”

A dreamy expression came over Mila’s face. “Growing up, she had this huge telescope that my father bought her. Like it wasn’t your average telescope. It was planetarium worthy.” With a smirk, she replied, “God only knows what it cost my father.”

Looking at the stars was something just the two of us shared since I was the only one of my siblings interested. We’d stand out on our balcony, and she’d show me stars and planets and solar flares.”

When her expression darkened, I reached for her hand. “Those sound like beautiful memories.”

With a nod, she said, “After she died, I managed to keep all of her books and journals. As I continued studying, it was a way to keep me connected to her memory.”

“It’s still not too late to become an astronomer,” I replied.

Mila snatched her hand back and shot me an exasperated look. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not.”

“You know as well as I do that I can never become an astronomer.”

“Maybe it can’t be your job, but you could still get a degree in it.”

Mila opened her mouth to argue with me, but then quickly shut it. “Maybe I could take some classes.

“Absolutely.”

“What about you?”

“What would I have done if I hadn’t been born into the Kavanaugh clan?”

“Yes.”

“Even though I’m good at finance, it’s not entirely what I would have wanted. I would have been satisfied maybe being an estate manager for horse farms.”

Mila’s brows popped wide in surprise. “You like horses?”

I nodded. “We had about ten of them growing up.”

“So did we.”

With a grin, I said, “Look at us having more in common than just the underworld.”

Pushing me playfully, Mila replied, “Whatever.”

“I have a small farm now.”

“Get out of here.”

I laughed. “I do.”

“ You have a horse farm.”

“Why is that surprising when I just told you I grew up with horses?”

“You just impress me as more of a city guy.”

“Trust me. I’m not. The best thing I ever did was buy ten acres outside of the city and get horses.”

“I’d love to see it.”

“Then I’ll take you there,” I replied, with a smile.”

She tilted her head coyly at me. “Did you just ask me on a date, Mr. Kavanaugh?”

“Yes, Ms. Korolova, I did.”

In her eyes, I could see there was more she wanted to say. Like with our birthday party, I knew she was thinking we had an expiration date. Because of my family and hers we couldn’t possibly have a future. But I was going to do my damndest to make her see that we could.

“Then I look forward to it, she replied softly.

“So do I.”