One Hot Roomie by Anna Durand

Author:Anna Durand [Durand, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy, virgin, British, Roommates
Publisher: Jacobsville Books
Published: 2020-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Arden

Reese hadn't been thrilled about going to the zoo or museums, but he gets really into it once we're there. I haven't done anything this fun in a long time, since way before I went to Ecuador. I love to have a good time, but my family history can make that difficult. When I mumble something like that to Reese, thinking he won't hear me, he does hear it.

"Don't you get along with your family?" he asks.

"Of course I do. They're amazing, I love them."

"What's the problem? Why does your family keep you from having a good time?"

Reese and I are in the butterfly garden, so I focus on the beautiful critters flitting around in here when I say, "It's nothing they do. It's the fact of who we are."

"I don't understand."

How could he? Everyone in New York knows my family, or at least my grandmother, but Reese isn't from here. I don't know how to start, so I go with the blunt approach.

"My grandmother is Celeste Arnaud."

Once I announce that, most people get it right away. Reese doesn't. He stares at me like I've babbled in another language.

"She's the founder of Bonsoir Beauty Inc.," I tell him. "The second-largest cosmetics company in the world."

"Oh." His brows crinkle with the cutest confusion. "I'm a man. Why would I know what you're talking about?"

"Because my grandmother is famous. Bonsoir is huge, and she's an icon."

He glances at a big orange butterfly, shoves his hands in his pants pockets, and sighs. "Afraid I've never heard of her. She's your mother's mother, right? Her last name is different, so I assume---"

"Nope. Grams kept her maiden name when she married Granddad because her company was already making a name for itself. She's also very proud of her French heritage. She's American, though. No accent."

"She's your father's mother, then."

"That's right. My dad is Marcel Pesti. My mom's name is Tally."

He watches me with a strange expression for a few seconds, then asks the question he's obviously been working up the nerve to ask. "I know it's a cheeky question, but how rich is your grandmother?"

"She's the number three female billionaire in the world. There are over two hundred of them, you know."

"No, I didn't know that." He scrunches his lips and hunches his shoulders. "Your grandmother is a billionaire?"

"Yeah, but she's not super stuffy or anything. Grams is pretty cool, when she's not butting into my life."

His mouth opens, but he seems incapable of speaking.

Yeah, talking about my grandmother often has that effect on people.

Desperate for something to say to break the tension, I announce out of absolutely nowhere, "I don't have any brothers or sisters."

At least his blank expression has disappeared.

He seems genuinely interested when he asks, "None at all? I can't imagine not having brothers."

"You guys are close, aren't you?"

"Always have been. Chance, as the oldest, thinks it's his job to keep the rest of us in line. Dane is the intellectual, the one who invents things. I'm the youngest, and the biggest disappointment.

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