Daddy in Disguise (Crescent Cove 7)

He cupped his hand around mine. “Yeah. I got the birth certificate in the mail with her footprint and had this made. Maybe a little bit of personal penance for not being with Jessica when I should have been.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“No, but it didn’t stop the guilt. She actually went out and found a part in a movie where her pregnancy was a way to get the role. Her career was always the most important thing.”

“Nothing wrong with that.” I tucked the chain back into his shirt. “My career is really important to me too. Especially The Haunt.”

“Not saying it isn’t.” He was quiet for a while. My hair was still down and he kept stroking his fingers through it. Lulling me into a soft, dreamy place.

“Is that why you’re so against kids?”

My eyes popped open. I instantly stiffened and he kept up with the smooth strokes.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. I’m not going to say it’s none of my business.”

“Who says it is?”

“I do. I’ll wait you out though. I’ve been waiting you out for a damn long time.”

“You’re iceberg level, buddy. You know you could have made a move.”

“Every time I thought about it, you were so quick to split the damn area. It’s like you didn’t want me to ask.”

“Maybe. Then again, I still didn’t know about Dani.”

He tugged m

y hair lightly. “And look at that, you like her.”

“You still didn’t mention her.”

He sighed. “I didn’t want to know what you’d say, I guess. Everyone knew you didn’t like kids.”

I rubbed my cheek against his hard chest. “That’s not entirely true. I had one once. Kind of.”

His fingers paused and I could hear his heart thundering under my ear, but then it evened out and he resumed the steady strokes.

“I fell in love with one of my brother’s friends. He was always around my house. I kinda always had a thing for Lou, but I figured he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me.”

“You have a brother?”

I lifted my head to rest my chin on my hand so I could look up at him. “Yeah.”

“You never mention him.” He tucked my hair around my ear.

“My family is kind of a mess. Some my fault, some not.”

His gaze was brutally kind. “You can tell me however much you want to. Or none at all if you’re not ready.”

My eyes burned and I took the easy way out. It was so much easier to tell the story without looking at him. Besides, if I saw pity in his gaze, it would kill me. I laid my cheek back on his chest, this time without the buffer of my hand.

His steady heartbeat leveled me out.

“My dad died a few years ago. It was a long, drawn out process that put a lot of stress on the whole family. Nolan—my brother—got out as soon as humanly possible. He hated my dad. Most of us did, to be truthful. But not my mom. She loved him so hard, even at his worst.”

Gideon’s arms tightened around me.

“It wasn’t like he was abusive or anything like that. Unless you count abusing himself. Which he did spectacularly. Drugs, alcohol, you name it, he tried it. But all that junk wasn’t what killed him, at least not directly.”