Page 25 of Smooth Moves
Evan made a face. “Yes and no. When I was little, I didn’t care. But as a teenager, it was a little embarrassing. And then I’d feel bad for being embarrassed. Now Mom is realizing she’s getting up there in age. That’s the reason she’s all over me to settle down. So she can handle a grandkid before…before she can’t.”
Aunt Jane had just celebrated her seventy-first. “I get you. But at least your mom loves you. Mine was too spaced out to do more than blink for most of my life.”
“That’s true. Your growing up wasn’t so good.” Evan didn’t need to say more than that.
Cash shrugged, so tired of having nothing good to look back on except for Reid. “Maybe that’s why I don’t see myself ever getting married. Chicks are a lot of work.” Jordan wasn’t. “Women expect too much.”
“No, they don’t.”
Cash sat up to study Evan, who watched him with compassion. Not pity but empathy. Cash didn’t like it, but he could handle it.
“A good woman can make you feel like Superman,” Evan said. “It’s the ones who want nothing but money or your dick who aren’t worth the effort. Mariah wasn’t worth it, Cash. You know that.”
“I don’t like to talk about her.”
“Suck it up. I don’t like to think about Rita. But she existed. Ignoring her doesn’t make her go away.”
“Doesn’t get you married any faster either,” Cash muttered then wished he could unsay the words.
Evan had paled, and the last thing Cash had wanted was to come down on his cousin, who’d been nothing but nice.
“Shit. I didn’t mean it.”
Evan sat back and propped his feet on the coffee table. “Doesn’t mean it’s not true. Yep. I avoid getting serious with a woman because I don’t want to risk getting hurt again. You avoid women because Mariah was a bitch and you think you’ll never be good enough. Your father was a tool.”
The blunt truth, coming from laidback Evan, shocked Cash into a laugh. “Harsh but true.” He drank to soothe his parched throat. “I appreciate it, but I’d rather not talk about my asshole dad and cheating ex, thanks.”
Evan groaned. “See? This is the real reason I don’t date. I used to be good with people. Especially women. Now I say all the wrong things. Friday night isn’t for lamentation, it’s for enjoying our time off.”
“Lamentation? Been reading again, eh?”
Evan snorted. “You should try it. Broadening your vocabulary impresses people.” He paused then added with a sly smile, “Especially pretty Army vets who have too many men circling them as it is.”
* * *
Evan knew he shouldn’t have badgered his cousin, but he and Reid had talked, and Evan shared Reid’s concerns about Cash. Though Evan hadn’t been around the Vets on the Go! crew much due to work, he’d seen the way Cash responded to Jordan.
From what Evan knew of the woman, she seemed smart, did her job well, and could handle Cash. Something many people couldn’t.
Evan’s oldest cousin had always been someone he’d respected. Cash was big, strong, and bold. When thrown out of the house by his parents—really his father, since Aunt Angela had been clueless about everything—Cash hadn’t broken down. He’d thrived, working on his own, doing well despite all the challenges he’d faced.
Secretly, Evan had been envious of his cousins, wishing he’d had a close brother instead of being an only child.
Despite Cash being older and away from his home, he’d waited for Reid to graduate so they could join the Marine Corps together. There he’d earned accolades and awards for bravery in the face of danger several times over. Cash led people because he was real. He did his best to help others, not to make himself look good but because he cared.
Buried deep down beneath all the bluster and machismo, Cash liked protecting those he cared about. He’d been built to defend the little guy. Probably conditioned into it by having to protect himself and anyone Charles Griffith deemed unworthy.
Mariah cheating on him then stealing from him had been a blow. Especially coming on the heels of a mother who hadn’t loved her sons equally or well.
Yet nothing stopped Cash—except the man himself. He had a big mouth, and Evan doubted he knew the meaning of the wordcompromise.But he loved well and deep. If someday he did find a woman worthy of him, Evan knew that woman would never want for anything.
Maybe Jordan could be for Cash what Rita had once been for Evan. If the big doofus would stop irritating her enough to find out.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about with Jordan.” Cash flushed but did his best to appear stern.
“Yeah, right. I don’t work there. I’m barely around you two. But the few times I’ve seen you guys together, the sparks fly.”
“We don’t get along.”
