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“I know, Beautiful, I know. It just works like that in my family. My brother went out on one date with his wife before he showed up at her place with a moving truck. Moved her in with him the next day and they have been married for twenty years. My sister moved to Maine after meeting my brother-in-law at the airport. One two-hour flight together, and they knew. I am telling you, Reese, I know.”
“What about your father?” Reese asked curiously. She wondered how one could be an ass-grabbing idiot. The other was such a sweet, caring man who wanted to take on responsibilities he could easily walk away from but didn’t want to. Hell, most men would run in the other direction.
“I have no idea what his problem is. Mom stayed with him when we were kids. She said it was to save the family. When we were all old enough to leave home, she was ready to leave my old man when she got sick. She was gone less than six months later.”
“Cash, I am sorry,” Reese wrapped her arms around him.
“Beautiful, I thought my brother and my sister were off their damn rockers until you walked up the driveway, pulling that suitcase behind you, madder than hell because I was talking to Mav. From that second, I was a goner.”
“I yelled at you,” Reese’s chin began to wobble at his admission.
“Ain’t going to lie, you yelling at me like you did makes me hard as steel. I wanted to bend you over that piece of shit car and fuck you right there in broad daylight in the middle of the driveway.”
Her chin wobble turned into a watery laugh. “You did not.”
“Woman, I got no reason to lie. Next time you yell at me, you’ll see. Something about you spittin’ fire and poking me in the chest makes me hard enough to pound nails.”
“What about Mav and Pappy?”
“Yeah, that sure as fuck doesn’t happen when they yell,” Cash joked, kissing her neck, inhaling deep, and nipping at her shoulder.
“That would be awkward,” she grinned. “Cash, seriously. I am a package deal. I have a teenage son. Pappy lives with me now. Sure, he gets around just fine right now, but the reality is, the man is eighty. It isn’t going to be too many more years before he is going to need help.”
“Beautiful, I know you are a package deal. I want the whole package.”
Reese looked at him with a worried expression. “I don’t know how I am going to go on when they come to take Mav.”
“Reese, I promise you I will do everything I can to keep Mav here with you. The kid needs you, and you need him.”
“I have no idea how to stop them. Obviously, my plan didn’t work out.”
Cash grunted.
“Neither one of them ever had any interest in children. My mother had kids because it was expected of her. I had my grandmother. She showed me how to bake and take care of a house. Pappy let me tag along to help with whatever he was doing. I was at their house as often as possible, which was fine with my parents. There was no need to worry about a babysitter or a nanny when I was off with them. Their social calendars could be as full as they wanted because I was never there. Not that they gave it a thought when I was with them either. It was all about how things looked, and I never fit in with their life. I guess a child with homemaking skills that rivaled their hired staff made them look bad.”
“It is their loss, Beautiful. They are the ones who are missing out.”
“How can you make money parading a teenager around in front of your rich friends? Mav knows nothing about fitting in with those types of people. I am not saying my son doesn’t have a lot of things he is good at, but Mav would fail miserably at sitting in an office all day schmoosing rich people out of money they will most likely never miss. Whatever scheme my father is concocting, I don’t understand. I guess he was right. I have no idea how their world works if he thinks my kid is going to make him money.”
“I think it is a good thing you don’t understand how he works. It’s an even better thing you brought Mav up not to understand it either.” Cash caressed her cheeks with his thumbs as he stared into her eyes. “You are nothing like they are.”
“Mav doesn’t even know them,” Reese continued to unload. It was like once she started, she couldn’t make it stop. “They never sent a birthday card or a Christmas gift. He wouldn’t be able to pick them out of a room full of people. On the other hand, they wouldn’t have any idea who he was either. If you put a group of kids together, they may get lucky and pick him based on how much he looks like me.”
“Sounds like your parents and my dad would get along great,” Cash tried to joke.
“Why Cash? Why do you want to saddle yourself with all this when you have your own business, a new house, and everything else? Why not find yourself a nice woman who isn’t headed for a mental breakdown in two weeks?”
“You want someone else?” Cash growled. He wasn’t going to let her go. He had to make her see she needed him as much as he needed her.
“You already told Officer Franks no,” Reese rolled her eyes at him.
“You want me to go call him? Trade me in for him?” Cash started tickling her.
Wiggling and laughing, Reese tried to get away, but he subdued her with ease. “Please,” she panted. “Please stop.”
Cash rolled them so she was lying on top of him and wrapped his arms wound her, holding Reese just where he wanted her. “You want him?”
“No.”
