Bidding On The Billionaire (The Sherbrookes of Newport Book 8) (4 page)

“Man, loosen up a little. I’m only joking around. I’d never compare you to Milan. I would’ve compared her to your brother Trent before he got married, but not you.”

Most of the time, he took her comments and jokes like that one in stride. Tonight it irked him, although why he couldn’t say. Maybe all the talk about the bachelor auction and her date with Trevor—he gritted his teeth at the thought of them out together—had put him in a bad mood, because something certainly had. When he’d stepped off the elevator and seen she was home, he’d been happy. Now he was grumpy and wanted to shake some sense into both her and Donovan Novak. He couldn’t do either. Even if he could, he needed to respect whatever decisions Brooklyn made. She’d always done the same for him. Sure, she voiced her opinion, but once she’d done so, she let the matter go. She deserved the same treatment from him now, even if it killed him.

Brooklyn pulled the dress over her head and tossed it into the growing pile on her bed. So far she’d tried on and discarded more than half her non-work wardrobe. Despite all the attempts, nothing looked right for her date tonight with Trevor.

It’s only dinner
, she reminded herself, reaching for the lilac dress she’d picked up earlier in the spring. It was the second time today she’d slipped and thought of the night out as a date rather than a simple get-to-know-you dinner. Evidently a full week of hearing her friends, including Derek, refer to it as a date had taken its toll.

No matter what she called the evening ahead, she wanted to look nice. According to Trevor, he’d made them reservations at Mon Soleil. She’d never eaten at the downtown establishment, but she’d heard only great things about the French restaurant. He’d also purchased tickets for them to see
Hamlet
at the Providence Performing Arts Center afterward. Personally, she would’ve picked a different production for them tonight. Shakespeare had never been one of her favorites. It took her too long to get accustomed to the language to ever really enjoy the show. However, if they did have to see one of his plays, she was grateful it wasn’t
Romeo and Juliet
.
Hamlet
and
The Taming of the Shrew
she could tolerate.
Romeo and Juliet
was another matter altogether. She’d always secretly thought both characters fell into the too-stupid-to-be-alive category. Since she guessed most people disagreed with her assessment, she kept her opinion locked away. Not even Cheyenne, to whom she told almost everything, knew her real opinion.

Depending on how those two events went, she suspected he’d want to go for coffee and dessert when the show let out. At least it seemed like something one would want to do following an evening at a play. Honestly, she’d never attended the theater on a date.
Darn, there I go again.
Brooklyn shook her head at her most recent slipup and pulled on the dress she held.
It’s a night out with another person who happens to be a man, nothing more, nothing less.

Moving in front of the mirror, she studied her reflection. For some reason, this one didn’t look right either, although she couldn’t put her finger on why. Regardless, she’d stick with this dress. The other outfits left in her closet were better suited for the fall and winter, not an early June evening. She didn’t usually have this much trouble getting ready for a night out, and she didn’t know what the problem was tonight. Then again, most of the time when she went out, it was with friends or coworkers. Rarely did she date. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last date she’d gone out on that hadn’t been arranged by either her mom or one of her sisters. Sure, she’d gone out with Derek several times in May. She’d also spent an afternoon in Manhattan with her cousin, Bryan, right before the wedding last month, and back in March she’d had lunch with Noah, someone she’d known since before she could walk, when he stopped in Providence on business. But an actual date out with a man hadn’t happened in a long time. Longer than she’d admit to anyone.

Satisfied with her appearance, she left the bedroom still trying to figure out when she’d last gone out with a man she thought had boyfriend potential. She couldn’t count the night the previous fall when she’d gone out with Paris, Seth, and Seth’s cousin. The simple memory of the evening made her shudder. While Seth was an okay guy, if not a little too self-absorbed, his cousin Liam had been a first-rate sleazeball in her book. He’d made Mr. Wickham from
Pride and Prejudice
, her all-time favorite romance movie, look as wholesome as Mister Rogers. It still amazed her Paris had arranged the whole thing. Her sister had set her up with men in the past she hadn’t liked, but none as creepy as Liam. Even Paris had later apologized, insisting she hadn’t known how ill-suited Liam was for her. Since then, neither of her sisters had attempted to set her up again. She hoped it stayed that way.

Brooklyn pushed the memory of her disastrous evening aside and traveled further back. The last real night out she could find with someone she’d truly liked had been the previous June. She’d met Ted standing in line for lunch one afternoon. While they waited for their turns to order, they’d struck up a conversation. Before they both left the deli and returned to their offices, he’d asked for her number. They’d gone out a total of five times. While they’d been enjoyable evenings, she hadn’t felt any kind of spark and she’d known that while he was a nice man, there was no future for a relationship. She guessed Ted had come to the same conclusion, because after their fifth date, he’d stopped calling. Sometime around Thanksgiving, she’d bumped into him again, at the same deli in fact. They chatted but never again had they gone out.

Most of the time, her lack of a dating life didn’t bother her. She just assumed somehow she’d meet the one and perhaps get married.

And it wasn’t like she was a shut-in or anything. She had a lot of friends and a busy social life. Standing in the living room waiting for Trevor, though, had her reconsidering a lot of things, including how important it was to her dad that she and Trevor click. She hated disappointing him. Although he didn’t always understand her, he supported her decisions. However, right now she resented him for putting her in this awkward position. Getting into a relationship with someone simply so two companies would merge was a poor substitute for love and affection.

Maybe it’ll be a great night
. She let herself consider the possibility. True, Trevor was a little more than a decade older than her, but similar ages didn’t make or break a relationship. The only negative comment she’d heard about him was how boring he was. Boring wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Besides, what one person considered boring another person might view as fun and exciting. Honestly, she’d rather date a boring man who spent his evenings sitting at home reading a history book than one who spent every single night out hitting on random women.

Yep, perhaps this night out would turn out to be the best thing for her romantic life as well as her dad’s company.

Doorbell chimes stopped her from any further thoughts about the night ahead. Since security had called before letting him upstairs, she didn’t bother asking who it was before opening the door.

“Trevor, hi.” Her eyes zoomed straight to the flowers he held.
Okay, so it’s a date.
“Come on in.”

All the comments she’d heard about Mon Soleil turned out to be true. The interior of the restaurant was elegant and reminded her of the fine restaurants she’d visited in Europe. Everyone, from the hostess to the waitstaff, was polite and highly efficient. In fact, no sooner did she finish her water than there was someone there to refill it. The food, however, was what she’d remember the most from her visit. She’d dined at a lot of places, including five-star restaurants in New York City, Paris, and London. Her meal tonight put them all to shame.

“I have a new favorite restaurant,” she said halfway through their meal.

Trevor smiled and paused, his fork hovering over his plate. “I’m surprised you’ve never visited before. I bring my parents here every time they come to Rhode Island.”

Considering the atmosphere, Mon Soleil wasn’t the type of restaurant one would stop in alone. It also wasn’t the type of place you’d go to for a dinner with friends after work. Perhaps if her family visited Providence more, it may be a place to take them, but most of the time she traveled to Connecticut to see them instead. “I certainly plan on coming back.”

“Fantastic.”

Something about the way he said the word had her wondering if he assumed she’d meant they should come back here together. She hoped he hadn’t taken it that way because they hadn’t spent enough time together yet for her to know if she wanted a second date.

“Do your parents visit often?” During the short drive from her apartment to the restaurant and then over appetizers, they’d shared some information about themselves, but the topic of family hadn’t come up. Since he’d mentioned his parents, it seemed like a logical place for their conversation to progress.

“About once a month. They always coincide their visits for the weeks Katelyn is with me. She’s their only grandchild. They love spoiling her.”

“How old is she?” She’d refrained from asking anything about his daughter so far. Some people guarded any and all information about their children and she could understand that. Since he’d mentioned Katelyn though, Brooklyn assumed asking about her age was an unobtrusive question he should be comfortable answering.

“She turned ten last month. I took her down to Florida for her birthday. I wanted to take her to London, but she insisted on Florida. Her heart was set on the parks in Orlando.”

She didn’t know many ten-year-olds, but she guessed most would much prefer a trip to Florida rather than a visit to London. Heck, given a choice between the two, she’d probably rather visit Florida too most days. Cities like London and Rome were fantastic, but there was something about the parks in Orlando that brought out the child in everyone. “I imagine she had a fabulous time. I do every time I go.”

“We both did actually.”

“You sound surprised.” Everyone had fun down there. She’d never met a person who hadn’t.

Trevor adjusted his glasses before he said, “I’d never been before. Even when I was a child, we didn’t take family trips there. So I assumed it was more for children. Turns out I was wrong. Katelyn’s already asking me to take her back. I’m sure Laurie will take her before I get another chance.”

The entire evening his voice had been friendly, but when he mentioned his ex-wife it changed and became bitter. She wondered what type of relationship existed between them. She knew enough divorced couples to know some hated each other following their divorce, making you wonder how in the world they got together in the first place. Others remained friends. The bitterness she heard pointed to the first being the case for Trevor and his ex-wife.

“Although perhaps not. She’s expecting this summer, so a trip down there might be too much for a little while,” he said, the bitterness more or less gone now.

Unsure of the proper response, she nodded in agreement and took another bite of her dinner.

“I’d like for you to meet Katelyn sometime. She spends every other week with me. Right now she’s with Laurie and Declan, but Sunday night they’ll drop her off for the week. Then next Sunday night, I’ll bring her back to Laurie. It’s not a perfect arrangement, but it’s the best we can do considering the situation.”

Meeting the man’s daughter seemed premature, so rather than agreeing to anything, she moved the conversation away from his comment. “Do they live nearby?”

“Yes, on the East Side. When we separated, Laurie kept the house there. Since Katelyn goes to the Wheeler school here in Providence, I wanted to be as close as possible.”

She hadn’t learned a lot about Trevor so far tonight, but it did seem as if he was a devoted dad. In her scorebook, that was a definite plus in his favor.

“Does she ever spend more than a week with you or her mom?” Hopping back and forth each week must be hard on his daughter.

Trevor nodded. “Occasionally, but more often in the summer. Laurie and Declan enjoy traveling, especially to the beach. The past two summers they’ve stayed at her family’s beach house in Key West for a month, and Katelyn has spent the time with me.”

A whole month on the beach sounded fabulous. One of these days she planned on getting a house on the beach herself. It didn’t need to be huge, but it did need to have direct access to the water. For one reason or another, she’d never gotten around to finding the perfect place.

“Katelyn hates the beach almost as much as I do, and she asks to stay with me rather than go with them. The arrangement works out perfectly for everyone.”

How could anyone live in New England and hate the beach? “What types of things do you two do during the summer?”

“She loves amusement parks, so we visit those. Sometimes we’ll head to Boston or New York and visit the museums. We both love art. We often go to the theater together too.”

So far much of what he mentioned involved being indoors. Perhaps that explained his pale complexion. Even though it was only early June, she’d spent enough time outside that she now had a nice golden tan. Trevor, however, looked as though he rarely stepped outside his university office.

“This summer she wants to go hiking. She’s never been before. I promised we’d give it a try one of these weekends.”

Hiking she enjoyed, although not as much as swimming and being at the beach. However, if Trevor enjoyed it, they’d have something in common. So far it didn’t sound like they had many shared interests. “I usually go hiking in the fall. There’s something about being surrounded by the colorful trees. Sometimes I’ll go in the summer too.”

Trevor’s brown eyes widened behind his glasses and he said, “Do you hike a lot? When Katelyn and I go, it will be my first time too.”

So much for finally having something in common.
“Not as much as some people, but yes. I’ve always enjoyed spending time outside, especially the older I get. Maybe it’s because I spend so much of my time in either my office or at the courthouse.”