Page 74 of Kaden & Keegan
Kaden peered at her in the rearview mirror.
“Besides me, of course,” she added with a sad smile.
“Sorry for your loss,” Kaden said.
Because it was such a small town, the ups and downs of someone’s life were pretty much fair game. He knew her father had passed away many years back, knew she lived alone in the house she’d grown up in. If the rumors were true, her mother had abandoned them when Bristol was young, but that was all he’d heard.
“Thanks.” Her gaze shot to his in the mirror. “I still miss him. Your parents are in El Paso, right?” she asked, her voice coming across somewhat stronger.
Idle chitchat. That was what she was going for. As though they were fucking strangers.
Kaden gritted his teeth, focused on driving.
“They are,” Keegan answered.
“When’s the last time you visited?”
“It’s been a while,” Kaden told her. “But they’re comin’ down for Christmas.”
“Is it hard to be away from them?”
“We get back there as much as we can,” Keegan explained. “At least once every couple of months. Since Ethan and Beau had the babies, we’ve had to cut down on the number of trips. They understand.”
“Now that you’ve got the ranch, I guess you won’t be traveling too much, huh?”
Kaden wasn’t surprised she knew about the ranch. Small towns and all. But he did sense the curiosity in her tone.
“Not anytime soon,” Keegan stated, his eyes shooting over to Kaden. “A lot to take care of.”
“Congrats, by the way,” she said softly.
“Thanks.”
Kaden pulled into her driveway, put the truck in park, and stared at the house. He wasn’t getting out if he didn’t have to. And he didn’t give a shit if it was rude.
This brief interaction was just about more than he could handle.
“Thanks for the ride home.”
He nodded. “You’re welcome. We’ll check in with you tomorrow. About the car.”
“I’ll walk her up,” Keegan said softly before opening his door.
As he sat in the truck, he watched Keegan escort her up to the porch and wished like hell he had the nerve to talk his way into her house and right into her bed.
Because, of course, he was certifiable.
