“You bad girl, you. You tarnished a national treasure.”
“Ha-ha.” She rolled her eyes, but the humor didn’t last long. “I’m pretty certain that’s where the twins were conceived. I was three months pregnant when Trent brought me back to Vegas.”
“Wait, you were pregnant that whole time and didn’t know it?”
“I was getting periods,” she explained. “Or at least I thought I was. And during the second month of traveling, I had morning sickness, but since I didn’t realize I was even late, I figured it was the stomach flu. The third month, I didn’t get a period, so that’s when I finally took a test.”
“Was Trent with you?”
She nodded. “We were at a rest-stop bathroom. We waited for the results together, and the second we saw that pink plus sign, Trent tossed the stick in the trash and said it was time for me to go home.”
Anger tightened his chest. “Are you serious?”
“Yep. He drove me home to Vegas, handed me some cash and told me to get rid of the baby.”
“Fucking asshole.”
“Tell me about it.”
“But you decided to keep the baby.”
“And ended up with two,” she said with a laugh. “Trust me, no one was more shocked than me when Jason popped out after Sophie. He was hiding behind her during every ultrasound. Even her heartbeat overpowered his. Not much has changed since the womb, I guess. Sophie is still the ringleader of whatever shenanigans those two get into.”
Seth sat up and reached for the bottle of water on the nightstand. He took a quick sip, then offered the bottle to Miranda, who shook her head.
“So what happened with Trent?” he asked, realizing she’d never concluded that chapter of the story.
“I called him to let him know I was keeping the baby and he told me he wanted no part in the child’s life.” She shrugged. “I expected that. But what I didn’t expect? Seeing Trent’s picture on the news a month later and finding out he killed a man during a robbery. That’s when I decided that I didn’t want Trent in my kid’s life either. Before, I was open to the idea of letting him visit the child if he ever changed his mind, but after he was arrested, I was all, hell no.”
“I don’t blame you.”
“So remember all the tip money I saved up for college? Well, I used it to hire a lawyer instead. He drew up some papers and I went to see Trent in prison. He signed away his rights, and I haven’t seen or spoken to him since.”
“Do the rugrats ever ask about their dad?”
“Never. I assume as they get older they’ll become more curious about him and start asking questions. God, I’m not looking forward to that day.” She bit her bottom lip, distressed. “What if they want to visit him in prison?”
“They won’t.” Seth didn’t even hesitate. “The rugrats are smart, babe. Smart enough to know that you’re the only parent they need.”
“You think my kids are smart?” She sounded astounded.
Discomfort squeezed his throat. “Yeah, sure. Of course they are.”
Miranda continued to stare at him as if he’d just told her he’d won an Olympic gold medal for synchronized swimming or some shit. “Can I ask you something?” she finally said.
Crap. He knew exactly where this convo was heading, and he needed to derail it. Now. “Uh, yeah, sure,” he answered.
“Why don’t you want children?”
And there it was.
Seth casually raked a hand through his hair, trying to hide his growing agitation. “Not everyone’s meant to have kids.”
Her dark eyebrows furrowed. “So you think you’re not meant to have kids?”
“Yes. I mean, no.” His brain struggled to locate an exit strategy. “I’m just not a kid person, babe. We operate on different wavelengths. They can’t talk to me, I can’t talk to them. And, uh…” He scrolled through the list of reasons he usually provided when people questioned his no-children stance. “I don’t have the patience for them, I guess.”
Miranda’s expression grew more and more doubtful with each word he said, so he decided to quit talking. Christ, he shouldn’t have let this damn pillow talk go on for this long anyway. He didn’t do emotional heart-to-hearts after sex. His emotions were locked up tight. Private thoughts, past mistakes, moments of self-doubt—he’d bottled all that shit up a long time ago and no way would he let Miranda pull the cork.
“I need my nicotine fix.” His voice was full of gravel, so he cleared his throat before continuing. “You want to come outside with me?”
Shaking her head, Miranda slowly slid out from beneath the sheet and rose from the bed. “I think I’ll head to my room.”
Her naked body made him forget every single thing they’d been talking about for the past thirty minutes. Long limbs sculpted with lean muscle tone, dark hair tumbling down her back, curves in all the right places. His mouth grew dry at the sight of her, and all the blood in his body traveled south and settled in his groin.