Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
“Poor thing,” Lizzie murmured softly.
She had been a mother to them all once they moved to the house where she lived in the guesthouse on the property. Her husband had died of a heart attack and when the owner sold it to Alex, he’d made it a condition that he allow Lizzie and her daughter, Brooklyn, to continue to live there. Since their mom had been killed a few years before, Lizzie had taken them all into her heart.
Conversation picked up around them; his brothers, Jared and Aiden, discussing business, while his father turned to Lizzie, leaving Fallon and Dex to their own discussion.
“How’s the gallery doing?” he asked his sister.
“Great! I had a showing for a new artist this past weekend and we had a good amount of orders.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement. As much as she loved painting, she adored discovering new talent. “But I’m curious about Samantha Dare. It’s crazy how you ran into her outside the hotel. You knew her through Ian?”
He nodded, deciding his sister did not need to know about their past New Year’s Eve kiss. “I recognized her. She knew me and begged me to get her out of there.”
“So you played white knight.”
He shrugged his shoulder. “I just helped her out.” He was about to say anyone would have done the same but when he thought about the lengths to which he’d gone… he kept his mouth shut.
“It was nice of you, Dex. I mean, I know you and Ian are friends, now that he’s not your team owner, but still. That was above and beyond.”
He and Ian had developed more of a mentor-mentee relationship in the earlier years of him joining the Thunder, but once Dex reached star status, he felt like Ian’s equal. Their relationship turned into more of a friendship, and continued to this day, which was why the situation with Samantha had always been complicated.
“Is she pretty?” Fallon nudged him with her elbow.
“Who?”
His sister laughed. “The woman you’re thinking about when you aren’t paying attention to what’s going on around you.”
There was no point in lying. “She’s beautiful.” Those unique-colored eyes, the freckles that came out in the sun…
“Ooh and are you interested in her?” Fallon propped her chin in her hand and stared him down.
“Sometimes I think I am.” Okay, that was a whopper. He’d always been interested in Samantha. “But I won’t be anyone’s rebound.”
She nodded. “Understandable. But I know you and you’re charming when you put your mind to it.” She grinned at him and laughed. “I’m joking. You’re always a charmer. But all those reasons you didn’t get involved with women while focusing on football are gone now.”
“What does me being charming have to do with retirement from football?”
“Focus!” She snapped her fingers in the air. “I’m saying if you’re so attracted to Samantha Dare, put your mind to being more than her rebound. Be the man of her dreams.”
“Even if I thought that was a good idea, I’m going to be traveling a lot for the new job,” he reminded her.
She shook her head at him. “Not until September. That gives you plenty of time. What else?”
Persistent little thing, he thought wryly. “Any time I ask myself if I’m ready to give a relationship a try, my early years with my biological parents come back to me.” In vivid living color. “The fighting, the screaming.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure I trust a long-term thing not to turn into a negative experience.”
But did he really see himself fighting with any woman the way his parents had? Fuck, no. And he couldn’t imagine Samantha raising her voice in anger, except at her douchebag ex, but not for bullshit like dishes in the sink.
His parents had been dysfunctional. Before their deaths, they’d been a combustible couple. The soundtrack to his youth had been their arguments. He’d overheard the police tell Alex that a witness said he’d seen the female passenger, Dex’s mother, reach for the steering wheel before the driver lost control of the vehicle. Dex had never mentioned anything to Alex or Gloria but he had no doubt his biological parents had been in one of their rip-roaring arguments prior to the crash. But he’d run back to Remy’s room before he could hear more.
Fallon slung one arm over his shoulders. “Dad and Mom got along really well. I know you remember that.”
“And Dad nearly fell apart after her death. We lived with Nana and Pops for a long time until Dad was ready to handle life again and bought the house.”
“Because he felt guilty that one of his clients was angry that Dad had lost money managing his accounts, and he went after Mom in retribution.” Fallon swallowed hard, picked up a napkin, and dabbed at her eyes. “Life happens, Dex. Nobody knows that better than you. But are you really going to use your biological parents Derek and Sherry’s issues as an excuse not to live a full life?”