Reckless Exposure by Anne Rainey Read Free Book Online

also a col-lector, though he didn’t really strike Rand as the type of guy to go antiquing. Damn, helping couples work out their problems must be a lucrative business.
    In the kitchen, Trey tossed him a beer and grabbed one for himself.
    Rand popped the top and drank half the bottle before setting it on the counter.
    “So, what’s eating you?”
    That was Trey, straight to the point. “Lucy wants to move out.” Even saying the words hurt. He couldn’t imagine a future without her. His blood ran cold just thinking of her waking up to someone else every morning. Sharing a pot of coffee and fighting over the last donut with some man who could give her what she wanted. A future.
    Trey leaned against the counter. “She say why?”
    “She seems to think I’m not the marrying kind.” Rand pushed his fingers through his hair as his mind played back the argument with Lucy. “We’ve been together four years. I never figured on her ending it like this.”
    “She wants a ring on her finger, but not your ring?”
    “Not exactly. She’s tried to talk to me about marriage before.
    I’ve gotten good at getting her to change the subject.”
    “So you’re the one with cold feet, huh?”
    “Lucy wants a man who can be a father to the kids she dreams of having,” Rand said. “I’m not cut out for that job.”
    “Why not? You don’t want kids?”
    He knew Trey was just trying to help, but talking about his past wasn’t something Rand was ever comfortable with. He hadn’t even told Lucy everything. He’d skated over the details because he hadn’t wanted to dredge up bad memories. Looking down at the floor, he shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “It’s in my DNA. The Miller men suck at being husbands and fathers. My dad skipped out when I was ten. His dad beat the shit out of him every chance he got. I come from a long line of deadbeat dads. It’s best if I end the cycle here.”
    The silence that followed his speech lasted so long that Rand lifted his head to see if Trey had left the room. He hadn’t.
    “We have to walk our own path,” Trey said, his face devoid of emotion. “ You decide the kind of father you’ll be. No one else.” Rand didn’t agree. “I don’t trust myself with kids.”
    “You’re using the past as an excuse not to deal with your problems. It’ll only make things worse.”
    Trey’s words pricked Rand’s temper. “What the hell do you know about it?”
    “What, you think I just fell out of the sky?” Trey pointed at his own chest. “I know a thing or two about relationships. Besides, I have my own fair share of skeletons. But if I let other people’s mistakes dictate my future, who’s the fool then?” He knew Trey counseled couples in trouble, but Rand’s demons went deeper than most. “Hell, I don’t know. All I do know is that I can’t lose her. I’d be lost without her.”
    “Do you love her?”
    “Yeah, I do, and it scares the shit out of me.”
    “Have you told her that?”
    “She should know how I feel. I show her every day!” Trey crossed his arms over his chest. “Women like to hear the words.”
    But that was part of the problem. Rand couldn’t say the words.
    He’d never been able to say them. The one time his father had said those words, he’d left the next day and he never come back. “I’m not sure it would matter. She’s dead set on moving out. She wants things I’m not sure I can give her.”
    “Then maybe the best thing to do is let her go.” Hearing Trey say what he had already been thinking made Rand sick to his stomach. Lucy deserved better. It was selfish of him to hold onto her. “Damn, this sucks.”
    “Give her a going away present.”
    Was the man insane? “A present? She’s leaving me and you want me to buy her a fucking gift?”
    “Not a gift from a store, bonehead. Something more personal than that. Fulfill her wildest fantasy or something.” Rand shook his head. “Jesus, you really are nuts.” Trey grinned and