He grinned, and her heart did a juvenile little flip. He was so much more attractive when he smiled, so much…safer. Those angular features of his softened, the dangerous glint in his eyes dimmed, and he lost that predatory air.

But she wasn’t foolish enough to believe that beneath Seth’s menacing exterior was a man with an endless supply of smiles and good cheer. Make no mistake—Seth Masterson was not a teddy bear. He was the big bad wolf, and damned if she was going to let him make her his next meal.

“What about you?” Seth asked. “Did you do any rebelling of your own?”

“I got pregnant at eighteen—what do you think?”

He chuckled. “So how did it go down? Strict parents, curfew, a million rules that you eventually decided to break?”

“Not exactly. I lived with my father and grandmother. Neither was strict. Neither acknowledged my existence.” Even so many years later, she couldn’t control the bitterness that rushed to the surface.

He furrowed his brows. “What about your mother?”

“She died three months after giving birth to me. Drunk-driving accident—she was the drunk driver, by the way, and the only casualty in the huge pileup she caused.” Miranda offered a grim smile. “Dad got stuck raising a baby. I have no idea why he didn’t just put me up for adoption.”

“Maybe because he loved you?” Seth said in a surprisingly gentle voice.

“He doesn’t love anyone but himself,” she retorted. “He was hardly home during my entire childhood. Sometimes I wouldn’t see him for weeks.”

Seth frowned. “What does he do for a living?”

“Gamble.” She barked out a laugh. “I have no idea what he does now—I haven’t seen him since I left home—but back then he worked odd jobs, manual labor, landscaping, whatever he could find. Then he’d take his paycheck and cash it at the casino. And then he’d lose every penny, come crawling home and beg my grandmother for money.”

“Is your grandmother still alive?”

She shook her head. “She died a year after the twins were born. Stroke.”

“Shit. I’m sorry. What was she like?” The cushions shifted as Seth leaned forward to put his beer on the simple pine coffee table.

After a second, Miranda did the same, then brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “She was…tired. She worked as a cleaning lady up until the day she died. She made sure I had clothes on my back and food in my belly, but she didn’t show me much affection. My dad was a huge disappointment to her, and I’m the spitting image of him.” Sorrow rippled in her belly. “I think she gave up on me without ever even giving me a chance.”

“I’m sorry,” Seth said gruffly.

“The one thing she did do was pay for my dance lessons. To this day, I’m still baffled by it. Maybe she wanted me out of her hair four evenings a week. And she left me some money when she died, which I also don’t understand.”

“Maybe she cared about you and that was the only way she knew how to show it,” he countered.

“Maybe.”

“Is it that hard to believe that the woman who fed and clothed you and paid for your dance lessons might have actually loved you?” he teased, reaching out to tweak one of her knees.

Miranda jumped the moment he made contact. “Sorry,” she murmured. “I’m just…”

“Determined to keep me at arm’s length,” he finished darkly.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m committing some horrendous crime by not agreeing to sleep with you. You’re a good-looking man, Seth. You can have any woman you want—so go pick one and let this go.”

As usual, he didn’t acknowledge her latest rejection. “Why was it a huge deal?”

She ran a frustrated hand through her hair, tucking the long strands behind her ear. “What are you talking about?”

“That’s what you said after I kissed you, that the kiss was a huge deal.” His gray eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“I don’t know why I said that,” she answered, starting to feel flustered. “It wasn’t really a big deal at all. I mean…I guess…whatever. Can we not talk about this anymore?”

Ha, fat chance. Like Seth would ever drop the subject now. That stupid stammering fest would only succeed in heightening his curiosity, not eliminating it.

Sure enough, his expression took on that familiar mocking light. “So are you going to tell me or should I start guessing?”

She gritted her teeth.

“Guessing, it is. All right…the kiss was a big thing because…you’re in love with me?”

Miranda’s jaw dropped. “What? No.”

“Huh. Not sure if I should be insulted by how fast you shot that down.” He shrugged. “Okay, then it must be ’cause you’ve never been kissed like that before. It was that amazing, huh?”

Aggravation climbed up her throat. “You’re really not going to drop this, are you?”

“Nope.”

She leaned forward and grabbed her beer from the table. A few sips later, she didn’t feel any less embarrassed about the conversation or the confession sitting on the tip of her tongue.

“Come on, baby, spit it out.”

She met his inquisitive gaze. “It was a big thing because it’s the first time I’ve kissed a man since the twins were born.”