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“She’s a good girl. A little rebellious, but nothing to worry about. Hell, I’d be worried if she wasn’t rebelling in some way.” He shook his head. “Our parents had a shitty divorce and put us in the middle of it. My mom is bitter. My dad is lovesick. When I was at home, I shielded her from the worst of it. It was me passing messages and listening to my mom lament on my father ruining her life and my dad crying over the loss of the love of his life.”
Fascinated with this glimpse inside Lachlan’s life, I climbed on top of him, sprawled out on his chest, and propped my chin on my fists. His hands gravitated to my ass, pushing my shorts up to get at my bare skin.
“How long have they been divorced?” I asked.
“Five years. You’d think that would be enough time to let it all go, but my mom is still angry, and my dad is just as devastated as the day he left her.”
“Wait.” I flattened my palm on his stubbly cheek. “Your dad left your mother and he’s devastated?”
He studied me, his soft eyes sweeping over me. “You really want to hear this?”
“Yes!” I instantly realized my enthusiasm might not have been appropriate given the topic, so I tried to temper it. “I mean, only if you want to tell me. If it upsets you, we can just drink our coffee until we’re ready to have sex again.”
That made him rumble with laughter, which sent my belly fluttering. Lachlan gave the best laughs. They were thunderstorms on a summer night, bursting into a black sky, shaking roofs for miles.
“I’m good. The sex will happen, but I’ll answer your questions first.” He tucked my hair behind my ear. “When they got together, my dad told my mom he was only in California for college and his goal had always been to move to Wyoming and take over the family ranch. But they fell in love. The big kind of love you don’t walk away from.”
I sighed. “This is going to be heartbreaking, isn’t it?”
He pushed up and claimed my mouth in a hard kiss before he lay back against my pillows. “It doesn’t have a happy ending, no. Mom has a legacy too, and that legacy is in California. They agreed to stay until they turned forty. They would raise their kids, Mom would have her political career, then they would move to Wyoming. I guess forty sounded fair to them back then—twenty years, you know? But forty came, and Mom had no intention of moving. Dad started commuting back and forth to Wyoming. He did that for five years until his dad got sick and he had to make a decision. Dad had given my mom five extra years, but she wouldn’t go, and he couldn’t stay. She went back on their agreement after keeping my dad from his dream for twenty-five years. And that was it. That was the end of their marriage. She knew it, but she refused to compromise.”
I’d never been one to cry over sad movies or books. Broken love stories rolled off my back like water. But there was something about Lachlan’s telling of his parents’ shattered dreams that really struck me deep.
I sucked in a shaky breath. “It sounds like you’re on your dad’s side.”
“No, I’m not. My dad knew who he was marrying. It would be ludicrous to expect a politician like my mother to just scrap it all to live on a ranch. That isn’t who she is. I wish she could have been honest with him before they ever got married, but maybe she thought she would change. I don’t know what she was thinking, but I do know there was no malicious intent.”
I knocked my chin against his chest. “I don’t even know your parents, and I’m kind of heartbroken over their marriage ending.”
He scoffed and let go of my butt to palm the top of my head. “Told you you were all sweetness under that venom.”
“Shush.” I slapped his mouth with my fingertips. “You told me a sad story, so I’m having feelings.”
“I have a lot of feelings too. I’m pissed off two adults are guilting a teenage girl. I’m angry they can’t get their shit together after five years.” He hauled me up his chest so he could bury his face in my neck. “I’m not mad I’m in Elena Sanderson’s bed, having coffee, and getting ready to have sex with her for the second time before nine a.m.”
“Oh, is that what you’re getting ready to do?”
He nipped his way up my throat and jaw to find my lips. “That’s exactly what I’m getting ready to do.”
It didn’t take long for Lachlan to kiss away the sad and replace it with all that was good and dirty and so damn addictive, I wondered how much I’d be willing to give up to keep it.
