“Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying the city so far, sweetheart,” I said as I kissed her cheek. “Are you hungry?”
“A little.”
“Why don’t you go take a shower and I’ll order us room service? Connor is sending his driver, Denny, to pick us up at nine-thirty.”
Rory turned around and smiled at me. “I can’t wait to see Ellery and Julia.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
She gave me a kiss and then went in the bathroom to take a shower. I called our breakfast order in and then checked my voicemail messages from last night.
“Hey, Ian, I wanted you to know that we found Rory’s father. Mr. Jimmy O’Rourke is living in Los Angeles. He owns the Piano Bar in Hollywood. Good luck.”
I sighed as I sat there, debating when I was going to tell Rory. I told her that I would look for him when we got back from New York. I honestly didn’t think he’d be that easy to find. God, wait until Rory finds out that her father lived less than an hour away from us. I didn’t want to ruin our trip for her, so I’d tell her as soon as we got back home. I looked up and saw that she was standing in the doorway, looking at me.
“You looked like you were in deep thought,” she said.
I held out my arms to her, motioning for her to come sit on my lap. She smiled as she walked over to me and sat down.
“I was just thinking about some business stuff.” I smiled as I kissed her head.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Everything is fine, sweetheart. It’s just business; nothing for you to worry about.”
Just as I leaned in to kiss her beautiful lips, there was a knock at the door.
“Room service.”
Rory got up and I walked over to the door. I wasn’t wearing anything but my pajama bottoms and the young girl that delivered our food gasped when I opened it. I held the door open as she pushed in the cart.
“Here’s your breakfast, Mr. and Mrs. Braxton.”
Instantly, I spoke up. “We’re not married.”
Rory shot me a look and the girl looked at Rory.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said as I reached in my wallet and pulled out some money for a tip.
She quietly left the room, shutting the door behind her.
“Wow, Ian,” Rory said.
“Wow what, sweetheart?”
“That was rude.”
“Well, we’re not married and I don’t want her thinking we are.”
“Of course not, because that would tarnish your playboy reputation,” she said with a big attitude.
“Rory. Stop it and come eat your breakfast.” I sighed. “I’m not going to argue with you over something stupid like that.”
“It’s just the way you said it, Ian. You said it with an authoritative tone. Big deal if she thought we were married. You didn’t have to be so rude about it. Better yet, maybe I should get my own room so people won’t make that mistake again and maybe when we go out, I can walk a few feet behind you so people won’t get the wrong idea.”
I rolled my eyes at her and took in a deep breath. “Sweetheart.”
“No! This is not okay,” she said as she grabbed her tray and stomped off into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Great, now she was eating alone in the bedroom. I was starting to believe that Adalynn’s wedding was getting to her. I walked over to the bedroom and opened the door. She was sitting on the bed with her knees up. I stood in the doorway and stared at her, since she wouldn’t look up at me.
“Can I come in?” I asked.
“No. I just want to be alone right now.”
I knew I needed to apologize to her, but I was afraid it would come out wrong. “Rory, please. I’m coming in, and I don’t want you throwing something at me.”
I saw a small smile grace her face. I walked over and sat down on the bed. “There’s a little bit of a smile. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry for what I said and how I said it. I’ll be honest with you, Rory, I didn’t realize it came out that way. Please forgive me, sweetheart.”
She looked up at me with her sad eyes and nodded her head. I let out a deep breath and wrapped my arms around her. “For the record, you’re not staying in another room and you’re not walking behind me. Now let’s eat breakfast and then head to Connor’s and Ellery’s place.”
“Ellery, you’re looking as beautiful as ever.” I smiled as I kissed her cheek.
“Ian, good to see you, buddy,” Connor said as we shook hands.
Ellery grabbed Rory and dragged her upstairs. Connor grabbed his coat and we climbed into the limo to go look at the property he was interested in. Once we arrived, I looked at the empty field.
“This is it?” I asked.
“Yep, this is it. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a field, Connor.” I chuckled.
“Good eye.” He winked. “Look beyond the field, Ian. I want to build one of the largest art galleries in New York, and this is the place to do it.”
I stood there with my hands in my pockets, nodding my head. “For Ellery?”
Connor looked over at me and smiled. “Yeah, for Ellery.”
I started walking forward towards the field. “You two are a perfect couple. You give me hope,” I said.
“Hope is what Rory should be giving you, Ian. She’s an amazing woman.”
“Yes. She is an amazing woman.”
Connor walked up and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Relationships aren’t easy. I almost lost Ellery a few times over things I never should have done. She’s my first and last love. Me and you aren’t that different, Ian. From what I can see, she’s completely changed you as Ellery did me.”
I laughed softly. “She’s changed my views on a lot of things and she’s changed my life. I don’t know what I would’ve done if she hadn’t come back with me from Paris.”
Connor sighed. “Yep, I know what you mean. I don’t know what I would’ve done if Ellery hadn’t come back with me from California.”
“I guess we’re lucky.” I smiled.
“We sure are. Now, what do you think about the property?”
“It’s a field, Connor. It’s really not property yet. But I’ll turn it into a property and you can go and build Ellery the biggest art gallery in New York.” I smiled.
“Thank you, friend,” he said as he patted me on the back.
Chapter 12
Rory
“Would you like to feed her?” Ellery asked.
“Really? I would love to feed her.”
Ellery handed the baby to me and I laid her in my arms and put the bottle in her mouth. She grabbed hold of my finger and stared up at me with her beautiful blue eyes.
“She’s so beautiful, Ellery. You and Connor make amazing babies.” I smiled.
“You and Ian will make beautiful babies too. You’re drop dead gorgeous, and Ian, well, look at him.”
“Thank you, but, I don’t think Ian ever wants children. Hell, he gets pissed off when you mention the word marriage.”
Ellery cocked her head and looked at me. “Why?”
“I don’t know. He’s totally anti-marriage. He wants nothing to do with it and we got into an argument this morning in the hotel room because the girl that brought up our breakfast thought we were married and Ian snapped at her. He was totally out of line and he saw nothing wrong with it.”
“Are you two okay now?” she asked.
“Yeah. He apologized after I yelled at him and locked myself in the bedroom.”
Ellery laughed. “Sounds like something I would do.”
I looked down at Julia as she was drinking her bottle. It felt so good to hold her and so natural. “Ian still has a lot of issues, and a lot of them have to do with his mom. He feels betrayed and I think she just really left her mark as far as he’s concerned with relationships.”