Page 102 of Rebel Romeo

She held out her palms.“The one and only. My grandfather started that company.”

I forced my jaw shut. “And your family was okay with you teaching college theater?”

She chuckled lightly. “Not exactly. But they got used to it. I just had to be willing to walk away from it. All of it.”

“You were going to walk away from your trust fund? To do this?”

“No,” she answered honestly with another little laugh. “But I’m an actress. I made them believe I would walk away from my trust fund. It was a giant game of chicken that I eventually won.”

I filtered through her words, stumbling over them as I tried to sort out this information. “So … you’re telling me to gamble my trust fund? Play a game of chicken with my dad?”

She shook her head. “You don’t need to do anything right now. I played the game for you and won this round. But something tells me if you want to pursue a career in theater, you might have a lot of battles ahead of you.” She paused, then leaned forward to add, “But I believe it would be worth it. You have a special sort of talent I don’t see enter through these doors very often.”

I raked my fingers through my hair and blew out a breath. “I like it,” I admitted. “I like being on stage so much more than I ever thought I would.” Slowly, I raised my eyes to meet hers. “You really think I could make it?”

McCay’s eyes glistened brightly. “I really do.”

“What about Katherine?”

There was a pause as McCay considered her answer thoughtfully. Although I didn’t exactly know what there was to consider. Katherine was mesmerizing on the stage. Finally, McCay said, “If Katherine could get out of her head and get out of her own way, she could make it, too.”

I didn’t like the way she said that… like it was an impossibility. Even though her words were encouraging, they also weren’t exactly confident in Kate’s abilities.

“You know,” I said as McCay turned to head back into the theater, “Not many people face off with my dad and win.”

She sent me a smirk, swinging the door to the theater open. With a wink, she turned her back to me and sashayed toward the stage as unease slithered down my spine. From over her shoulder, she answered, “I’ve dealt with a lot of Erik Dorseys in my life,” she said. “I know how to handle men like him.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

I shouldn’t be surprised to see Professor McCay at this party… and yet, I am. At the very least, I thought I could avoid her for the short amount of time I was here.

Stupid, stupid me.

“What are you doing up here?” Holden growls, placing a hand protectively around me. “Shouldn’t you be downstairs, draining all of my dad’s contacts and trying to find your next gig that you’re not qualified for?”

One dark eyebrow lifts over her eyes. Always calm. Always collected. Yep, same ol’ McCay. “You’re one to talk, Mr. Dorsey. Oh, I’m sorry, you go by Mr. James now, don’t you? Trying to pretend that you haven’t used your father’s name to get where you are today.” Her gaze slowly trails over to me.

“Your tune changed a lot over the years, Laurie. Remember the days when you used to boast about how talented I was? How I’d be depriving the world of great theater if I walked away?”

Her responding smile is so brittle, it’s a wonder that her face isn’t cracking into a thousand tiny pieces. “You’ve always been a gifted actor. But plenty of gifted actors never make it to Broadway. Isn’t that right… Kate?”

I snort. “Thanks to you.”

She rolls her eyes in response. “Still as mature as ever, I see. I was merely doing my job, Kate. You can’t fault me for being your professor?—“

“Like hell I can’t,” I snap.

Her eyes widen just the slightest bit, like she’s taking delight in my response. “Well. Look who learned to use adult words. You know, out of everyone from my teaching days, I would have said little Kate Harris would have been the one person who would never sleep with a director to get ahead.” Her eyes flick briefly to Holden before returning to me. “I guess I would have been wrong.”

“We’re not sleeping together.”

McCay clicks her tongue. “Oh, come on. With the chemistry you two had—well, have, I suppose.” She pauses to eye the rumpled coats on the bed. “You expect me to believe you two aren’t?—”

“We aren’t,” Holden interrupts, then takes my hand, weaving his fingers between mine. “Or at least, we weren’t. But I’m hoping that changes. I want the world to know Katherine is mine.”

“So you two are finally a couple. After all these years.” It’s not a question as she stares at us, shaking her head with a sigh. “You stupid, stupid girl.”

I draw back as though she’d struck me across the face. Hell, she might as well have. “What?”

---