“I can see that. Nora’s great.”
She smiled. “Yes. She is. She’s always been there for me, more like a sister than a cousin.”
“What about your parents?”
She realized she was doing all the talking, but since it seemed to lighten the mood, she didn’t mind. “My mom passed away from cancer when I was little. My dad remarried someone I can’t stand, and they now live in Seattle. We’re not very close, unfortunately. I didn’t do what Dad expected, so after high school, he and his new wife kind of faded away.”
“Really?”
She snorted. “You say that is as if you can’t believe it. Trust me, it’s true. When I chose to marry Neal over going to college, my dad cut me off. He and Miranda have never met Simon, and I don’t care if they ever do.” The hurt was there, buried deep, but Becca had made an uneasy peace with the state of her family years ago. “But I’m close to Aunt Sue and Uncle Luke, Nora’s parents. Her mom and mine were sisters, and they loved each other. When Mom died, it hurt Aunt Sue a lot.”
“Huh.” Mitch stared at her, as if seeing something new. “My family’s pretty tight. My folks live in Washington, but Deacon moved here, so I moved to be closer to him. Plus, my parents are at the age where they’re traveling a lot, making up for opportunities they didn’t have when we were younger.”
“That’s nice.”
“It is.” He nodded.
“And about the rest of what you asked me. I actually do have a life beyond my work, Simon, and having sex with you.”That we haven’t had today.She should have grumbled about that but didn’t want him to think that was all she wanted. Was it?
“What’s that look?”
“You confuse me.”
“Ha.Youconfuseme.”
“How so?”
“Becca, you rocked my world. Then you took off. You seem to like being with me, but I can’t tell if you just want sex or something else, and I’m afraid if I ask you, I’ll scare you away.”
They both digested that.
“You do realize you just put it out there,” she had to say. “So if you were trying not to scare me away, you failed.”
He wiped a hand over his face. “Ah, yeah. I hadn’t meant to say it like that, but hell. I’m usually better when it comes to dealing with women.”
“You have a lot of experience, I take it.”Geez, Becca. Don’t mention it like that!
“Yeah, I do.” He frowned. “I know how to wine and dine a woman, how to take her to bed. But when I think we might get closer, I don’t know. I back off. I can tell it’s not genuine. And I refuse to be taken the same way Deacon was. You have no idea what Rhonda did to him. He gave her everything, and she stomped all over him.”
“That had to be rough.” She felt for him. “But you can’t think every woman out there just wants to use you. I don’t.”
“Oh? Then what is this?” He motioned between them. “The sex is great, but maybe we could have more than that.”
She swallowed. That “more” made her nervous. “Like what?”
He didn’t look any more comfortable with the discussion than she felt, which made the awkwardness mildly amusing. “Hell, Becca. I don’t know. It’s not like I’m wanting to wave your panties around, letting everyone know we’re doing each other. But do we keep hiding this, whatever this is between us? Can we go to dinner together? Catch a movie? Spend time together without having to sneak around?”
“I have Simon to think about.”
“I know that. I’m not saying you have to exclude him.” He cleared his throat. “I like the kid.”
“I love him, and I don’t want to do anything to hurt him. What if you and I start dating, and it goes bad? Everyone will know we’re seeing each other. The town isn’t that big, you know. He’ll hear about it at school. Then he’ll have to deal with your brother being his coach. And heck, even you being his coach if you stick around.” She paused. “Are you staying in Hope’s Turn?”
“I plan to.” He frowned. “This is moving way too fast.”
“You’re telling me.” For a moment, she’d imagined them as a real couple, doing things together, including Simon, their families. Weird.
“Look. All I’m saying is I like you. I think you like me. Why don’t we do things together in addition to sex? Because no way I’m saying I want to stop that.”
