“What did you mean with that comment about Dad?”
All I’ve been told since I arrived is how much Meredith meant to him. How important she was to him. She’s even said so herself. Now she admits to doubting her place with him. Is it because of her history with her parents? Mama used to rant about Holly and Meredith’s separate irresponsible fathers. Holly’s dad divorced their mom and never wanted any kind of relationship with Holly, and Meredith’s father felt like he was too old to start again when Meredith came along unplanned, so he and her mom just left, abandoning Meredith with Holly to raise all on her own.
I didn’t pay much attention back then, but I’m really fucking interested now.
“Nothing. It’s just fact.” The aloofness in her tone can’t be hidden.
“You just said it’s my dad’s fault you dated a douche like that.”
She spins. “Really? I revealed part of myself, and that’s what you took from it? You think I’m blaming him?” A frustratednoise escapes her lips. “You were perfect. You know that? To Ransom, no one could come close to you. The eldest son. The self-made man. He talked about you constantly.”
I scoff. Dad barely knew the adult version of me. “What’d he have to say? He only started calling a few years ago.”
“He kept track of all your deals and your net worth. When you started CFC, he gushed about you for weeks. ‘He’s the man in charge, just like I knew he’d be,’” she mimics in Dad’s deep rumble.
Acid chews right through my stomach lining. Why the hell wouldn’t he try to reach out earlier then? Tell me he wanted to be a part of my life? Invite me back home?
“We had a name for you.” She props her hands on her hips. “Me and Sawyer.”
I cock my head, waiting for her to tell me. Dreading it.
“McBossy.” She lifts her chin. “It fits.”
“I like it better than ‘slick.’”
She blinks, and that plump lower lip sticks out. My thumb twitches to caress over it, test the firmness. I could sink my teeth into it and find out how sweet she tastes, but there’s no way I’m getting close enough to her for that.
“My brothers?” I ask. “Do they have nicknames?”
She considers it. “McNerdy and McModel.”
I tip my head back and let laughter pour through me. I haven’t found something this funny in weeks. Damn.Years. Wait until I tell the guys. The names fit them perfectly—fitusperfectly. We can’t be upset at the girls for coming up with them.
She’s stunned, staring at me, her lips parted. A pink hue dusts the apples of her cheeks.
The last bits of a chuckle leave me. “Cat’s gonna get your tongue, rosy.”
She snaps out of her stupor. “Rosy?”
Two steps are all it takes to close the distance between us. I brush the backs of my fingers down her face. “You’re flushed. Just like the roses my mama used to grow.” I’m not supposed to be mere inches from her. I shouldn’t be touching her soft skin, but I can’t stop.
“I don’t get you.” Her voice is almost a whisper. “You give off major asshole energy. You want to sell and abandon your mom’s hard work and the place that’s been my life’s work for most of my adult years. But you want to have a beer with me and chase off my ex?”
“He was manhandling you.”
“What if I liked it?”
My right eye twitches. Not withhim. “You didn’t. And I didn’t like him touching you.”
Surprise flickers in her shining eyes. “Why not? Why do you care?”
We’re a breath apart. I’m towering over her, yet she does not back down. This woman is challenging all my nonsense. It’s exhilarating.
She’s even closer now. I can count every single freckle sprinkled across her nose. “I’m not one of those girls who comes in and bats their eyes at you. I’m not gonna hang on your every word or flash my cleavage at you.”
“You’d have to wear something other than those hideous polos.”
Her indignant gasp prompts a smile.
