The Virgin Cowboy Billionaire’s Secret Baby(18)
He raised his eyebrows.
She hesitated but then took a deep breath. “Can I ask you something kind of personal?”
“Shoot.”
“Besides the fact that Mom and Dad hated her, why didn’t you and Dara ever date?”
“You don’t think that was a good enough reason?”
“Not when you’re as perfectly matched with someone as you are with Dara.” She folded her arms loosely. “Hell, when you two went to prom, I was sure that was going to be the night you’d finally decide to be more than friends.”
“You and everybody else.” He’d heard the rumors, and he’d been well aware that within about twenty-four hours of prom, they’d switched from “Dara and Matt are definitely going to hook up” to “Matt Coolidge is definitely gay.”
Except dating Dara had never even crossed his mind. The only reason they’d gone together was neither had a date and neither wanted to deal with any drama. Dara had just broken up with Jimmy Caldwell for the fifth time, but she still wanted to go to prom. Matt had only been willing to go with someone who wouldn’t insist on staying until the bitter end, no matter how overwhelming the music and crowd had gotten. So they’d gone, and they’d had a ball. With her there to ground him, he’d handled the party just fine, and they’d stayed until the night was nearly over, which was almost unheard of for him.
And then he’d driven her home, and they’d hugged over the console of his old pickup truck, and that was that.
Matt shook his head. “We were friends. That’s it.”
“Says the man who’s always been a nervous wreck around women except for her.”
“Because she’s been my friend since I was too young to know I was awkward around women.”
“Maybe that should’ve told you something.”
“It did. It told me she was my best friend.” He gestured dismissively and picked up the abandoned batter. As he started whisking again, he added, “It just wasn’t in the cards, I guess. I never thought of her that way.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
Beth raised her eyebrows. “But you’re a straight guy and she’s always been a pretty girl. How in the—”
“But she’s Dara.” He shrugged. “She’s… I mean…” How the hell was he supposed to explain it? Dara had never been “a girl” in the sense that all the others were. She’d just been Dara. His buddy. His best friend. The one who’d gotten suspended for a week after she punched Jennifer Dixon in third grade for hurting his feelings, and the one who’d cried on his shoulder their junior year after that idiot Ben Reilly broke her heart.
“Earth to Matt?”
He cleared his throat. “Sorry. I—”
“You know you don’t have to stir all the lumps out of the batter, right?”
He looked down and realized he’d whisked it within an inch of its life already. “Right. Yeah. Um.” Stove. He needed to turn on the stove. As he did, he said, “Anyway, it doesn’t really matter why. We never dated, and it’s probably a good thing.”
“How so?”
There wasn’t much to do for the pancakes except wait for the burner to heat up, so he had nothing to keep his hands or focus busy except his coffee, and even that was only so distracting. His sister’s scrutiny would crack him soon enough.
So he faced her. “It’s really not something I want to think about. Especially now.” The question was in her eyes, so he quickly said, “The thing is, I already lost her once, and she’s finally back in my life. And now there’s this situation. Whatever happens, I don’t want to lose her again. Bottom line? I don’t want her to be my ex-girlfriend.”
He braced for Beth to push, but instead, she said, “I guess I can see that. To tell you the truth, I couldn’t believe you guys went that many years without—”
“Me too,” he whispered.
They exchanged glances.
She shifted her weight. “Well, I would definitely not tell Mom and Dad about this quite yet. I think they need to get used to the idea of you and Dara even being around each other again before they try to stomach that.”
“Yeah, I agree.” He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “Christ. We’re not kids anymore. I swear to God, one of these days, I’m going to stop giving a fuck what they think about what I do with my life.”
Beth snorted. “Yeah. And that’ll be the same day Mom quits dangling the property of Damocles over our heads to keep us in line.” Scowling, she looked out the kitchen window at the newly renovated barn. “Sometimes I really wish I didn’t give a shit about this place.”