Page 65 of The Risk Taker
“What happened? Did you steal money?” I purse my lips, picking up a jigsaw piece to study it and trying to act casual.
Maybe if he thinks this is just a friendly chat, he’ll be more forthcoming.
But taking money doesn’t seem right. Not when he’s making money here and refusing to take it from Nandi. Surely if he’d stolen from his billionaire family then he’d be living a life of luxury somewhere. Not working every hour of the day.
He jerks his head in one rough shake. He hasn’t stormed off yet or told me to stop talking, so I press on, trying a different approach.
“Let’s trade. My secrets for your hypothetical secrets?”
He side-eyes me but doesn’t shut me down, so I take a deep breath.
“I guess I’m going first. Okay, well… my father likes my ex better than me. They’re both surgeons. Dad’s the top in his field and Callum’s what he wanted me to be—his protégé. Someone to follow in his footsteps and continue his legacy. But I’m too squeamish.” I wrinkle up my nose at the thought of blood and shiver. “Files are more my thing. I like things to make sense and be where they belong. I created this database for patient records, and it’s now used by thousands of hospitals across the States,and soon it’ll be used in other countries too. I wanted to help people. Just not… not by having to cut them open. Mom’s proud of me. She says I’m living up to my name—Saint Jude. But my father…” I exhale slowly. “I guess he thought I’d do it in a more conventional way. Like him.”
“Families are complicated.” Woody flexes his hands, making his knuckles crack. “Parents especially,” he adds, his brow furrowing into a deep V.
“Yeah. My father loves me, I know that. I just…” I shrug, not knowing what else to say.
“You want him to be proud of you?”
I swallow around the thick lump in my throat as he hits it on the nose. “Yeah.”
“He should be, Jude,” he says seriously, looking at me in a way that steals my breath. “He should be damn fucking proud to call you his daughter.”
I tuck my hair behind my ear, my cheeks heating. I’m not used to being complimented. And not like this. Not with so much… raw intensity.
“You’re only the third guy I’ve slept with,” I blurt before immediately averting my eyes from his.
I was hoping to steer the conversation away from the complicated relationship I have with my father, but wow, my brain couldn’t come up with literallyanythingelse?
I sneak a look at him and he stares so deeply into my eyes, his own darkening, that my breathing quickens, and electricity shoots up my spine.
“You’re the first woman I’ve been with in more than three years,” he says.
I suck in a breath. “Seriously?”
His expression hardens, and he looks away. “Last time was a drunken one-night stand on a bachelor weekend in Miami. Can barely remember it.”
I stare at him in shock. A guy like him surely has loads of opportunities. Especially here, with all the tourists, like Declan does. He could be safe in the knowledge they’re all going to leave one day. Just like he said we wouldn’t have to think of one another again when he proposed I fuck Callum out of my system with him.
“Umm, okay.” I frown, not knowing how to react. “So, um… your turn.” I clear my throat. “What did you do? Sleep with your brother’s girlfriend?”
“I’d never betray my brother or any of my family,” he says.
“You have one then? A brother?”
He presses his lips together, and a muscle ticks in his cheek.
“Did you…?” I blow out a breath, searching for possibilities. “Get diagnosed with a terminal illness and want to spare them the pain of seeing you die?”
His eyes meet mine and he arches a brow.
I roll my eyes. “Yeah. No way could you break my bed like that if you were sick. Your dick’s probably immortal. It’ll live on long after the human race becomes extinct.” I lean my chin on my hand. “Humor me. Let’s say,hypothetically, if you are related to the hot billionaire…”
“Thenhypotheticallyyou’d have just called my brother hot. But yeah?”
“You jealous?”
He blows out a breath. “Nah. If you think we look alike, that means you think I’m hot too.”
