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She wanted another bite. And another. And another.
But she’d agreed to one night.
How could one go back to ordinary sustenance every day after she’d tasted something so scrumptious?
She eyed Rob’s naked body. Scrumptious indeed. How had she once thought he looked like Benjamin Bratt? She bet Ben didn’t look this good on his best day. Although after her Jane Millionaire experience, she had a totally different perspective of “Law and Order”.
“Why don’t you have an accent?” she asked before she could think better of it.
Rob shifted next to her, his muscles tensing. “What do you mean?”
“When I first met you, I expected you to have a Hispanic accent. It surprised me when all I heard was pure Californian charm. Was I wrong in thinking you had a Latino heritage?”
He inhaled and took his time before answering. “My father was Puerto Rican, but he wasn’t part of my life. Left before I was out of diapers and I haven’t seen him since. My mom was what I guess is of mixed European descent, the good old melting pot put into effect. Other than having grown up in East L.A. in a mostly Mexican population, there isn’t any reason why I’d have an accent.”
“So you do speak Spanish?”
He laughed and pitched his thumb and index finger together. “Un poquito. You couldn’t get by in the neighborhood I grew up in without knowing a little, but my mother always insisted upon English being spoken. Because of my father, I think.”
“You said was when you spoke of her.” She hated asking, but she wanted to know more, to understand this man who had come to mean so much to her in such a short amount of time.
His body coiled with tension. “She died right before I turned eighteen.”
Which would have been right before he married. “I’m sorry, Rob.”
“Me, too. She was a wonderful woman and mother.”
Ah, there was just something totally cool about a man who loved his mama. Jill grieved his loss, the knowledge that she’d never meet the remarkable woman who’d given birth to and raised Rob. “Did she remarry after your father left?”
“No, to my knowledge she never even went on the first date after he ran out on us. There wasn’t enough time for her to date.” His hold tightened and Jill winced. She’d stumbled onto a subject she should have left alone.
Why did she always have to push further? To ask one more question?
“I’m sorry. It’s the badge. I just have to ask whatever pops into my mind.” She attempted to smooth things over. Under no circumstances did she want to lose this warmth between them.
“It’s okay.” He rolled onto his side to face her. “Like I said earlier, you’re an amazing woman.”
Oh my. Her cheeks blazed. “Okay, then, finish telling me about you.”
He chuckled, but she didn’t pick up on any real humor.
“Me?” His expression turned thoughtful and she wondered if he thought she’d gone too far by asking for personal information. “I guess you could say I’m one of the lucky ones. As I mentioned, I grew up on the poor side of L.A. Mom worked all the time trying to support my brother and I. There were days we barely saw her, but she did her best to make sure we had the things we needed and finished school.”
“You have a brother?” she interrupted.
“Yeah, Ben’s a year older than me.”
Ben? His brother’s name was Ben? She stifled a grin. Last name hadn’t been changed to Bratt, had it?
“I went to Hollywood. He went to Uncle Sam, suppose
dly for four years, but he keeps reenlisting. He’s one of those true blue military guys.” Rob’s gaze grew nostalgic, and Jill got the impression he and his brother had been very close while growing up. Something told her Rob missed that closeness.
“Sounds like a neat guy.”
“Oh, he is. Never a dull moment with Ben around.” He shook his head, laughing. “As I was saying, I went to Hollywood with big dreams. At fifteen, I lied about my age and worked on one of the construction crews for a film JP produced. He needed a stand-in for an actor who failed to show and picked me. Not sure how one thing led to another, but JP took me under his wing and helped me land a few more roles. Money was rolling in. I moved Mom to a big house a year before she died.”
He grew quiet for a few moments and Jill bit her tongue, refusing to ask the questions running through her mind.
