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Gabby frowned. "It wasn't a hot and heavy sex thing?"
Oh, God. "No, it wasn't. We were just friends. It was nice."
"Nice? That's it? Nice? How did it go from nice to getting naked?"
"Naked?" Sofia raised her brows. It had been so much more than "nice." But not nakedness, not until the end.
Gabby held out her hands innocently. "Since I exist, I'm making the assumption that it went from nice and friendly to naked. No?"
Sofia couldn’t tell the rest of the story. She couldn’t possibly explain to her daughter what had happened. She still ached in her heart for how it had ended so quickly and so terribly between them. Of what that one night had unleashed in her life over the next few years, until she'd run for her life and her daughter's in the middle of the night, praying that they'd never be found again.
No. She wasn't going back there. She'd made it out, she had her awesome kid, and her career was a gift that took care of them and kept them safe. "Gabriella, I will never regret what happened with him or afterwards, because it gave you to me."
Gabby's face softened. "Mom, I know that. I love you, too. What happened next?"
Sofia took a breath. She couldn’t admit to her daughter what had happened next. But she hadn't promised the entire story. She'd promised only one thing. A name. "The homeless kids he lived with, under the bridge, all took the same last name. They created a family."
Gabby sucked in her breath, her eyes wide with anticipation. "What name?"
"Hart."
"Hart," she repeated. "Hart?"
"Yes." Sofia waited for a heartbeat. Then a second one.
Gabby suddenly bolted to her feet. "Hart? As in the tech geniuses who sold their company for billions? The ones who are always in the press because they're rich as hell? And now they own a massive horse ranch in Eastern Oregon? My dad is one of those Harts?" She didn't wait for Sofia to answer. "It is those Harts, isn't it? I remember now that they were homeless kids living under a bridge. Every article about them mentions their story. Holy crap, Mom! My dad's a Hart! He's a freaking billionaire!"
"Yep." Sofia's chest tightened. "Gabby, don't forget what I said. I doubt he even remembers me. So many people try to get into his life because he's a rich celebrity. There's no way he'd remember me, or believe you—"
"Which Hart?" Gabby interrupted. "Brody? The one who just married the country music star, Tatum Crosby? Or Dylan, that private detective? Or Colin, that smoke jumper? Which one? Mom, which one's my dad?"
Sofia let out her breath, the name sticking in her throat. It was a secret she'd held for sixteen years, for so many good reasons.
"Mom?"
As soon as she spoke it, she would be unleashing Pandora's Box. She tried one last time. "Are you sure you want to know?"
"Mom!"
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then spoke the name she'd held in secret for so long. "Keegan," she said softly. "Keegan Hart is your biological father."
CHAPTER THREE
Keegan sat down on the floor across from his new dog, who was sitting on the armchair he'd dragged into the kitchen for her. "I have a question."
The eight-pound shaggy rescue cocked her head at him.
"You didn't eat the pumpkin bread. Are you just not a pumpkin fan? Or is it so bad that even a dog who has lived on the streets won't touch it?"
The dog, who he was contemplating calling Millie, thumped her freshly washed tail at him, clearly not wanting to crush his soul.
He sighed. He'd been working on the recipe for weeks, and he couldn’t get it right. He was tired of working on it and getting nowhere.
Baking had once been his joy, but now that he'd finally opened the bakery he'd dreamed of, the magic was gone.
"On the plus side," he told his dog. "Your tail is impressive. We owe my little sisters for my skills that got those mats out." As kids, he'd been the brother to help the girls untangle their hair when things got too difficult.
Millie's tail looked good. Fluffy and speckled. More than he would have expected based on Millie's state when he'd first plucked her out of the alley yesterday.
