Page 40 of Wicked Cowboy
Too good. I took a deep breath that almost popped inside the back of my throat. “Pop, don’t get involved.”
No more pretending our deal was about falling in love. I put my fork and knife down. “Let’s talk.”
“Yeah.” I rubbed my temples and then motioned with my head we should head out.
My father and I excused ourselves and we headed to the office.
Neither of us said anything until I closed the door, and he said, “Something’s going on with you. Don’t ruin the best thing we’ve had in our lives in a long time.”
I motioned for him to sit as nerves ate through me. “Ridley is the better person to raise Bernie’s daughter.”
I took the seat beside him and folded my hands on the table. “Ridley is caring, and sweet, and will be a lovely Mrs. Rockson. You are both going to help Chelsea together. Don’t start changing the plan when we’re close to actually being a family again.”
Ridley was special. No other woman I’d ever met would fit that role. But this was a business deal first and foremost. This wasn’t about love, even if my insides were all twisted.
I blinked and asked, “Pop, you and mom never talked in years, before she died, but that’s never going to be how I live my life. This doesn’t mean I should waste her life here with us.”
“Waste?" Pop let out a long sigh like the words were ones he didn’t want to say. But he swallowed. “You came home to help me. I don’t know what losing friends are like. I never made them. In business, I knew how to make money, but I picked the wrong woman for me. But you… you learned a good lesson from my pain, but if you let Ridley go, you’re just as bad.”
My mother had me believing that women were all about expanding their bottom line. The SEALs had taught me discipline, but money doesn’t let me trust any woman easily.
Ridley was beautiful because she had this wonderful heart and she took things seriously.
“Ridley is sweet.”
“She is.” I ignored how my blood pumped into my cold heart. “But when I met her, I was looking for a way to protect Chelsea and didn’t trust Ridley.”
“Trusting her is a good thing.”
The words rang hollow in my ears. I asked to avoid that mantle and my father should know me.
I leaned forward. “Marrying Ridley meant she could take care of Chelsea’s day-to-day needs and I could ensure they were protected here.”
He laughed at me. “You’re pretending you don’t love her.”
Love bolted through my blood like I’d been given some drug. “I… look love isn’t in the cards for me.”
Pop patted my knee and I glanced at him. “Your grandparents, my mom and dad tried to pay me not to marry your mother.”
I stilled in my seat. “What?”
He coughed. “They both thought she’d ruin me. My mom called Hannah vain.”
My mother had had me in ties and suits as long as I could remember, and she paraded me out to show off how she managed to be a mom and take on whatever project she spearheaded.
Ridley Steel would never use Chelsea as a reason to push an agenda. She’d ensure the girl’s needs were met better than me. “Mom was… yeah, she was that.”
“She gave me you.”
“I’m not a prize.” My father showing me how to run the company had taken up many hours of my teen years, but I’d been hollow inside.
“No, you’re my son.”
I’d also been hollow since I'd returned home from Afghanistan, until Ridley and Chelsea showed up. Memories and guilt locked me in place until I needed to act.
My shoulders were in a knot, but I said, “You shouldn’t have-"
“You were my son and the only thing Hannah ever did for me was have you. So we shared what we both valued.”
