Free Kiss the Sky by Krista Ritchie, Becca Ritchie Page B

she asks, diving right in.
    “There are only three cameramen,” I explain again. “They
won’t follow me if I’m not with someone else. So if you’re worried about them
coming into this building—”
    “I’m not.” She pulls out her smart phone and simultaneously
types an email while she speaks to me. “I’m worried that this girl is going to
ruin you.”
    “Her name is Rose, and she’s not going to ruin me.” She’s never met her, but
they’ve both been pressuring me about letting them have coffee together or
brunch. I just don’t see what good will come of it. And so I make excuses about
my mother never having time to see Rose. And Rose never having time to see my
mother. It’s a shit thing to do, but I’m certain they’ll hate each other. I
also believe Katarina will try to run Rose out of my life, and I want her
firmly by my side.
    My mother pockets her phone and her eyes darken with
displeasure. “She’s a powerful girl who started her own business as a teenager.
She’s driven, independent, and passionate.”
    All the things I admire, and yet, I know she’s about to turn
every quality into something sinister and wrong.
    “Working women don’t have men. We can’t keep relationships.
We are married to our careers.” She announces each sentence like a nail in a
coffin, pounding down the reality around me. “The children we do have are sent
to boarding schools or are raised by nannies. It’s the life I wanted, even at
the sacrifice of my husband and my child. You don’t want to walk into that,
Connor. You’re smarter than that.”
    I refuse to stare at the table, to look away from her dark
blue eyes. I meet her powerful gaze with one of my own. Her words may affect me
to some degree, but I won’t ever show it.
    I don’t talk to my mother about my relationships very often,
and any mention of Rose usually accompanies some sort of disparaging snort and
blasé brush off. When I told her that I was moving in with Rose, she wouldn’t
speak to me for weeks. She’d prefer that my girlfriend moved in with me . Not the other way around. I was
willing to uproot my life for Rose, and according to Katarina Cobalt, other girls
would have gladly walked into my home. In her eyes, I chose a path that doesn’t
benefit me.
    I had to use Steve Balm as an intermediary just to talk to
her during that time.
    Our communication reopened only after I explained the
reality show and how it can help Cobalt Inc. if I take the right steps.
    “You need to set your sights on a girl like Caroline
Haverford,” she tells me. I internally grimace, but I don’t let on that her
name sends knives into my spine. I dated Caroline. I fucked Caroline. But it was
business. Like my relationship with my mother. Like my life.
    Is it so bad to want something real?
    “I’m with Rose,” I say sternly. “That’s not going to
change.”
    Her nails rap on the table, frustrated. Katarina Cobalt
always gets what she wants, and this is the first time I’ve put on the brakes,
unwilling to give in to her requests.
    “Caroline will be there for you. She’ll have time for you.
Rose won’t. You’ll grow resentful and bitter of each other. And as years pass,
you’ll realize you’re sleeping next to a stranger.”
    “Are we still talking about my relationship?” I ask her with an arched brow.
    Her lips press in a tight line. “Do you love her?”  
    “Love is an irrational feeling,” I say. I hate that I
actually believe these words. “It makes smart people do stupid things. My
relationship with Rose is…stimulating.” I think I’m a sociopath. Fuck. I need to see Frederick.
    “Good,” my mother says with a nod. “No need to make this
into some tragic Shakespearean tale. At least she hasn’t corrupted your mind
yet.”
    My mother rises from her chair and straightens her pencil
skirt.
    “I’d like to meet her,” she tells me for the thousandth
time. “Schedule an appointment with Marci, and if you don’t, I’ll call