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“Where’s this town you speak of?”
“You’re asking where I grew up?”
Jess pursed her lips and answered indirectly, being careful not to push too far.
She was good, this one. “Just a small town in East Texas. They’re pretty much all the same.”
“Tell me about your childhood. I don’t know anything about you…”
He shifted. Fine, he’d give just a little. He figured she’d earned it. “There’s really not a whole lot to know. My mom got knocked up just out of high school. We didn’t have a lot of money, but she always did the best she could. And then she died when I was sixteen.”
Jess frowned. “How did she die?”
Myles sighed. “A broken heart.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, biting her lip.
“My father… or the guy who got my mom pregnant, I should say, was some businessman who was a bit older and was apparently pretty well off. He was visiting the town she lived in scouting out places to build his next hotel and went into the diner where my mom worked. She waited on him and not long after, fell in love with him. He promised her the moon and stars, and she apparently believed him. He always told her that he was getting things settled back in Houston where he was from and would send for us. In the meantime, he gave my mom money, but not so much that she didn’t still have to pull doubles at the diner. And when I was around two or so, she found out the truth. That he was married with a wife and kids back in Houston. And probably, who knows how many more elsewhere. This was before the internet when it wasn’t as easy to find out so much about people. Anyway, she confronted him and he cut her off. We never heard from him again…”
“Wow. Do you know his name?”
Myles nodded slowly. Did he ever. “Samuel Ingram.”
Jess did a double take. “The Samuel Ingram? As in Ingram Enterprises? The hotelier?”
“That would be the one.”
Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, my God, Myles. Do you have any idea what this means? You’re entitled to a big piece of that fortune.”
He shook his head. “I’ve never been interested in money, Jessica. It’s not what makes people happy.”
She sighed. “Clearly.” She quickly repositioned herself on his lap and then smiled half-heartedly. “Tell me something I don’t know…”
“Okay.” He paused and eyed her. “My mom didn’t actually die of a broken heart… she drank herself to death.”
Jess inhaled sharply. She hadn’t expected that one. “That’s why you don’t drink.”
“That’s one reason.”
She swallowed, suddenly seeing things so clearly. “I see. Why did you leave the Navy?”
He cocked his head to the side. That’s enough. Game over. “You’re full of questions today, aren’t you?”
“So long as you’re full of answers…” She grinned.
Myles lifted her off of him and stood. He needed to fuck her. About twenty minutes ago. “I’m done with this game. Is there anything else you wanted to accomplish today aside from interrogation?”
She considered his question for a moment before responding. “Yeah, actually… I want to repaint the master bedroom. I didn’t choose that color and to tell you the truth, I’ve never much liked it.”
“You want to paint?”
She narrowed her brow. “Yeah, I’ve never p
ainted a room before.”
He snorted. “I figured as much. You don’t strike me as the type who likes to get her hands dirty.”
She glared at him ruefully. “Things change you know, people change.”
