Secretly Hers (Sterling Canyon)(38)
“Here you are wasting time with me, right?” He smiled so she knew he didn’t blame her for the sentiment, although it did sting.
“That’s not a slam against you, Trip. Honest. It’s really about me, and whatever it is I do or don’t do that makes me so undesirable.” Little creases formed between her brows, which he promptly kissed.
“Listen up, princess. There is nothing—nothing—undesirable about you.”
She shook her head. “I’m not talking about my body.”
“Neither am I. You’re bright, tough, ambitious, generous, and warmer than any woman I’ve met around here.” He squeezed her waist. “If I ever wanted a wife, kids, and a picket fence, you’d be at the top of my list. So quit selling yourself short. You just haven’t met the right guy yet, that’s all.”
About halfway through his pep talk, he noticed a change in her demeanor. Rather than thinking of her own issues, she’d shifted her focus to him. She rolled onto her side, so they were face to face. “Why are you so dead set against settling down?”
“Let’s just say I didn’t have the same kind of upbringing you seem to have enjoyed with your family.” Mason’s face zipped through his mind, stirring up the unpleasantness that had brought him here in the first place.
“Are your parents divorced?”
“No.” His heartless chuckle caught her attention. “They were never married. My dad was already married when he had an affair with my mother. My mom raised me, until she died just before my eleventh birthday.”
Kelsey reached out to touch his cheek. “I’m sorry you lost your mom so young.”
“Thanks.” That Kelsey had seized on that detail rather than the salacious elements of his response only proved what he’d said about her minutes earlier.
“What was she like?” Kelsey slipped her foot between his feet. He couldn’t deny liking the way she kept physical contact with him while they talked.
“Awesome.” He smiled at his memories. “She worked an admin job in a doctor’s office. But at home she was super creative. Always decked the house out for the various holidays. Made a big deal out of birthdays. She wasn’t a great cook, but hers are still the best chili-cheeseburgers I’ve ever had.” He glanced at Kelsey and grinned at her rapt attention. “We lived in a normal house, a lot like your sister’s. My grandfather lived a few blocks away, so he was around all the time. He and I remained close until he died.”
“So that’s why you don’t want to part with that old cowboy hat.” She looked up at the bookshelf, to where she kept his Stetson.
“Does that mean you’ll give it back now?” Trip looked back at the hat. “And by the way, you should keep it upside-down when you aren’t using it so the brim doesn’t get misshapen.”
“Okay. But no, I’m not giving it back yet. You haven’t won the bet.” She smiled, but he no longer had much enthusiasm for that damn bet. “He must have been like another dad, right?”
“Better, because he was more patient than most men. He never had a son, so he loved taking me fishing and hiking and camping. Got me involved in little league and pee-wee football. He thought I was the most amazing thing on the planet.”
“That explains a lot about your ego.” She bit his shoulder in jest, tempting him to bite her right back in more delightful places. “Tell me more.”
“There isn’t more.” He reached over and caressed her hip, but couldn’t shake the conversation from his mind. “I had a really happy early childhood, which made the loss more painful. Something I hope I never feel again.”
Kelsey’s eyebrow lifted, as if something had clicked into place in her mind. “What about your dad?”
“Like I said, I didn’t know him until my mom got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She’d never told him about me because their brief affair had ended before she knew she was pregnant, and then she worried the news would destroy his family. But when she got sick, she reconsidered.” Trip felt Kelsey’s hand stroking his arm, the way one would caress a child to make him feel safe. Funny thing, it was working.
“Do you get along with your dad?”
“We don’t fight, but we’re not close.”
“So you didn’t see him much after your mom died?”
“Oh, I saw him. He adopted me.” He avoided Kelsey’s surprised gaze. “I’m sure he thought he was doing me a favor when he moved me into his palatial estate, as if a swimming pool or private school could compare with what I’d lost. Unfortunately, his wife and my half brother resented my existence and made my life pretty miserable whenever he wasn’t around, which was often since he was busy building his empire.”