“I knew you would. You’re the smartest person I know, Princess.”
“Not just a pretty face.”
“Who told you that?” Cash’s eyes fly open. They’re staring at me, locked onto my own. “Was it that douchebag?”
I shrug a shoulder. “Yes. Friends. People see my blonde hair and big blue eyes and think there’s nothing else to me.”
“Really?”
I nod. It’s not something I like to admit. There’s the old adage about dumb blondes for a reason. “I try not to let it bother me, but sometimes it does. I think because of my dating history and the way I look, people think I just want to be a trophy wife.”
Cash sits up, wincing as he spins around to pull me onto his lap. “People really think that?”
I nod but don’t say anything. Maybe not being vulnerable with people makes them think I don’t have much substance.
I don’t want him to see all that, so I focus on his chest.
“Piper.” Cash tips my chin up so I have to look at him. His eyes are blazing. “When I say you’re one of the smartest people I know, I mean it. Sure, you’re sexy as hell, but that’s not the thing that makes me attracted to you.”
“It’s not?”
Cash laughs. “It’s not a bad thing, but I’ve seen how you are with everyone around you. You’re smart. And kind. And you make everyone around you feel like they are the most important person in the room. That’s a hard quality to come by. And I would know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t get a lot of that growing up.”
“You didn’t?”
Cash never likes talking about his childhood. I’ve askedhim in the past, but he’s brushed it off. This is the first time he’s even hinted about it.
“I was good at hockey. When my dad realized that, that’s all I became to him. A means to an end. If I was playing well, I was doing my job. But if I got into fights, I got attention.”
“That’s why you were always causing trouble on the ice.”
He nods. “I’m not proud of it, but it was a hard pattern to break.”
“Because you wanted your dad’s attention.”
“Yeah.” He scrubs a hand over his face. This time, the pained expression isn’t from his injury, but from cracking his chest wide open to me.
“What about your mom?”
“She cut out when I was three. Never saw her again.”
“Cash.”
He pulls me closer, hands drifting up and down my side. “I don’t want your pity. From what I gleaned from my dad, she wasn’t cut out to be a parent. Neither was he for that matter.”
“Still. You shouldn’t have had to fight for attention like that.”
“It’s the only thing I knew how to do.”
“Do you still see him?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “He died when I was in college. But the need to impress him hasn’t really left I guess.”
“Oh Cash.”
