“It’s all good,” he said.
“I’m not following. When were you separated?”
“I was put up for adoption at birth, but he wasn’t. Our parents kept him, but not me.”
Her eyebrows pinched together. “Oh, wow. I’ve never heard of that before. How did you guys find each other?”
“Our paths crossed when we both ended up at Harvard. We met freshman year.”
“That must’ve been a shock.” She resumed eating her salad.
“It was. I was stoked, but Dakota struggled with it.” He forked a cherry tomato into his mouth.
“Because your birth parents had separated you?”
He nodded before sipping his wine. “We couldn’t ask them why because his mom had passed years before and his dad had died that year. That’s how we met. I was mistaken for him. But that’s a story for another day.”
“So, you were adopted by the Hott family?”
The waiter returned with their dinners, filled their water goblets, and left.
“I don’t want to bore you,” Sin said to her. He rarely talked about himself and he never spoke of his past, but he wanted her to know the truth…some of it, anyway.
Beneath the table, she stroked his leg and his thigh warmed from her sensual touch. “I’m not asking just to make conversation. I want to know about you.”
Again, they paused to eat. A moment later, he spoke.
“I was adopted by a couple in Delaware when I was an infant. My dad was a police officer. My mom clerked in a department store. I found out I was adopted after my dad was killed in the line of duty.”
Sad eyes met his. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. He died when I was in middle school. My dad and I were close. After that happened, my mom got mixed up with the wrong crowd.” A chill whipped down his spine. “Things got bad, so I took off.”
She stilled, fork in midair. “As in, ran away?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s serious.”
“I hopped a bus heading south, but didn’t make it past Northern Virginia because I didn’t have much money. I ended up living on the streets for three weeks. It was rough, but I got by. When Social Services picked me up, I lied about my name, so they wouldn’t take me back to her. I got fostered out twice, but ran away both times. After that, I was sent to live with a family in Maverick’s neighborhood. His mom had just died and he was a mess. We were both so fucked up. We taunted each other at school, got into some brutal fights. I was headed for a night in juvie when Maverick asked his dad to bring me home with them.”
The gut-wrenching emotions from his childhood came rushing back. Fighting against the lump in his throat, he drank down half his water.
When he set the glass down, she dropped a soft kiss on his cheek. “My God, you’ve been through a lot.”
After clearing his throat, he continued. “A year later, Warren Hott adopted me, though I kept my last name to honor my dad.”
“Thank you for sharing that with me.” Her sweet smile helped alleviate the anxiety coursing through him. Talking about the past jacked him up in the worst way.
When the waiter delivered the check, Evangeline snatched it up.
“Let me pay,” he insisted.
“Hell, no.”
“Thank you for dinner.” Every fiber of his being compelled him to touch her, so he clasped her hand and kissed her silky soft skin.
She shuddered in a breath. “My pleasure. Now, let’s go find Birdie’s lover.”
