Of course she’d redeemed herself, but Lily had no doubt if she slipped up the media would be all too quick to resurrect that footage her then “boyfriend” had taken of her in the bedroom.
“You can trust me,” Nash told her, sliding his hands up and down her back. “I know you’re worried about the future, but you can trust that I will always take care of you and our baby. Never doubt that.”
The strong conviction in his tone had her believing every word he said. “You must’ve had some really amazing parents for you to be so determined and loyal.”
A sliver of pain flashed through those icy blue eyes. “My mother was the strongest woman I’ve ever known. She’s the driving force behind everything good in my life.”
“And your father?”
Nash swallowed as he paused. Silence hovered between them and Lily realized she probably should just learn to keep her mouth shut. But she wanted to know more about Nash. He was the father of her child, for pity’s sake. They were bound together for life and eventually, little by little, they had to start opening up. “I never knew my father.”
Lily’s heart broke for him as she smoothed his messy hair away from his face. “I’m sorry. My father passed when I was younger, so I know a little about that void.”
Click. Another bond locked into place and her heart slid another notch toward falling for this man.
“So it was just you and your mother, too?”
That scenario would’ve been better, actually. After all she and her mother had lived through, being alone would’ve been for the best.
“No.” Lily slid from his arms and went to her bag to pull out a nightgown. She hated discussing her stepfather. “My mother was a proud woman, but we were pretty poor and she ended up marrying for financial stability.”
A shrink would love diving into her head. The stepfather had virtually ruined her for any man with money and power. Settling down with someone as controlling as that wasn’t an option. Lily would rather be alone than to be told how to live her life.
Lily kept her back to Nash as she pulled her strapless maxi dress down to puddle at her feet before she tugged her silky chemise on. For now her sexy clothes still fit.
“She probably wouldn’t have married Dan had it not been for me,” she told him, turning back around. “Mom was worried how she would keep our house, keep up her two jobs and keep food and clothes coming.”
Picking up her discarded dress, she laid it on the bed and crossed back to Nash. “He was a jerk to her. Treated her like a maid instead of a wife. Treated me like I didn’t even exist, which was fine because I didn’t want a relationship with him anyway. But I loathe him for how he treated my mother.”
Nash pulled her into his arms, surrounding her with the warmth and security she’d hardly known. This sense of stability was something she could easily get used to, but could she trust her emotions right now? Passion was one thing, but to fully rely on someone else, to trust with her whole heart...she wanted that more than anything.
“He’s probably sorry he treated you like that now that you’re famous.”
Lily laughed and eased back to look him in the eyes. “I wouldn’t know. He left my mother several years ago, just as I was getting my start. He took all the money, even what she’d worked for. He was always a greedy money whore. Money never meant anything to me, still doesn’t. It doesn’t define me, but I saw the evil it produced.”
Nash’s arms tightened on her again. “Money isn’t evil, Lily. It’s what a person chooses to do with it that can be evil.”
“Yeah, well I choose to keep my mother comfortable in a nice home that’s in a gated community where she can have her privacy and not worry. Other than that, I don’t need it.”
“So if I were a rich man you wouldn’t have looked my way twice?” he joked.
Lily laughed. “Oh, you still would’ve caught my attention. I’ve just always promised myself I wouldn’t get involved with anyone like my stepfather.”
Nash squeezed her tighter. “Not all men are like your stepfather.”
“Don’t defend him.”
Nash’s chuckle vibrated through her. “I’m not, baby. I’m defending all of mankind.”
Lily snuggled deeper into his embrace, wondering what path they were starting down. The last time her passion had bested her, she’d ended up across the internet, on the news and every magazine willing to make money off her bad decisions. Karma had intervened and her ex hadn’t made it very far in the industry. She couldn’t help but take a little satisfaction.