Page 38 of Billionaire Unexplained: Kaleb

Anna shrugged. “The press is brutal on women in entertainment sometimes. They notice every single extra pound.”

Mom shook her head. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you aren’t beautiful, Anna. No matter how much you weigh. External appearances change as you go through life. It’s what’s in your mind and your heart that makes you beautiful.”

“I know that’s true,” Anna said thoughtfully. “But it’s hard to remember that when you work in entertainment. The way you look is everything.”

“It shouldn’t be,” Mom mumbled unhappily. “You play the piano and sing like an angel. That should be more than enough to make people happy.”

Anna smiled at her warmly as she answered, “Thank you for the compliment.”

She didn’t contradict my mother, even though I knew the demands on her because of her profession weren’t quite that simple.

It irritated the fuck out of me that Anna was always on display and was expected to be physically perfect at every performance and in every photo or video of her.

I was sure she got criticized all the time, but I wanted to punch every person who had ever said something negative about her.

Mom put her spoon on her empty plate. “Well,” she said in an upbeat voice.

My brothers chortled because they knew exactly what was coming, just like I did.

Mom was rarely subtle when she wanted more information.

“Now that we’ve gotten to know each other a little,” she continued. “Let’s talk about this so-called friendship between you and my very eligible son.”

Anna

“I completely adore your mom,” I told Kaleb as we stood in his kitchen drinking a beer later that night.

We’d stayed at his mom’s house until after midnight, and I’d really enjoyed her company.

Yes, she’d grilled me about my relationship with Kaleb, but it had been fairly easy to deny a romantic relationship because it was the truth.

Strangely, Millie didn’t have any of her own art hanging in her home. She told me that she would much rather enjoy the work of other artists, and that it was her late husband who had loved to have her work on display. After Kaleb’s father had passed away, Millie had eventually taken down all of her own paintings to hang others from various artists she’d collected over the years. We’d spent a great deal of time looking at and discussing her extensive collection of paintings from other artists.

After that, we’d chatted about anything and everything.

Kaleb’s mom was an interesting and easy woman to talk to about almost any subject.

“You still adore her even though she kept trying to marry you off to me,” Kaleb said wryly.

I snorted. “You can’t blame a mother for trying. I think she’s frustrated with all of her ‘boys’ because you refuse to settle down.”

I thought it was adorable that Millie still referred to Kaleb, Tanner, and Devon as ‘boys.’ She had three very wealthy and powerful sons who were in their late thirties and forty, and she still treated them like kids sometimes.

It was also really sweet that those three men treated their mother with a huge amount of respect, even though I was pretty sure they were more accustomed to giving orders than taking them.

“You four are really close,” I said after I swallowed a mouthful of beer.

Kaleb nodded. “Even more so since my dad died. We had to find a way to get through that together. It changed the whole dynamic of our family.”

“Now that your dad is gone, I think you feel protective of your mom as the oldest son,” I said softly.

I didn’t have to ask him how he felt. I could see it in the way he interacted with his mother, and I already knew that Kaleb had an enormous protective streak.

“I think all of us do,” he said thoughtfully. “Not that she needs our protection. You probably saw that for yourself. She speaks her mind.”

She did, and it was one of the things I really liked about Millie. She was extremely kind, but she was also blunt and to the point.

“Why is it that none of you have ever settled down?” I asked curiously.

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