“No, it’s not complicated.” A single curl of Shay’s hair loosened from her tie. It bobbed in front of her face, just waiting for me to tuck it behind her ear. “He’s not getting a goddamned dime. And that’s the end of it.”
“Shay, this is a legal matter.”
“No, this is a family matter.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “But we are family now.”
“Don’t start.” Her eyes widened. Now she realized how badly we fucked up by spending the night together. “We are not family. You’re just an arrogant asshole who thinks he struck it rich. I’m going to make sure you don’t get one cent of my father’s money.”
I don’t know why I did it, but rolling over an IED nearly a year ago gave me some confidence. “Our father’s money.”
Shay reached for her purse, either to beat me or storm out of the office. William leapt up, preventing her from leaving. He clapped his hands together.
“I’ll get us some coffee. Really, now, this should be a time of celebration. Both of you have suffered a loss, but you’re inheriting a life-changing amount of money. This might be the best thing that’s ever happened to you two. Especially since you are family. Neither of you are alone anymore.”
“I don’t want his type of company,” Shay said.
I grinned. “I thought we had a nice time together.”
“Next time I’ll drown in my drink.”
“Wouldn’t have been nearly as fun.”
William faked a smile. “That’s the spirit. I’ll get us some coffee and let you two hash this out before we discuss the will.”
I nodded. “Thank you, sir.”
The door closed. I expected Shay to launch at my neck. She didn’t. Instead, she stung me with a scowl that shamed me so much my mother would have blushed…if she weren’t dead. Though, hell, even when she was alive she botox’d her cheeks beyond human expression. Between the fake tits and whatever the hell she injected in her ass, my mom seduced Darnell Franklin and finally secured a man’s fortune for herself just before the end.
But she did it. She married him, got the money for all the summer homes and prescription drugs she wanted, then died before they built the second home in the Hamptons. Everything passed to me. Shay had every right to be pissed.
I’d still take the money. I needed something to change my luck. This was it.
Shay said nothing. It was better than cursing me out, though I knew she could deliver every profanity she promised. I remembered her sweet and sultry words, teased from a tongue that had no business feeling as good as it did on my cock.
I shouldn’t have gotten hard again, but even angry, she was the sexiest woman I ever saw.
“You…” She gritted her teeth. “You are going to move your ass outta here. By the time you get to your car? You’ll forget everything that my family’s attorney said. This.” She waved around the office. “Is none of your concern.”
“I know you’re mad.”
“Mad? No. Na-uh. I’m not mad.” She pointed me toward the door. “If I was mad, that’d mean I’ve give one goddamned fuck about you.”
“Last time we were together you gave quite a few fucks about me.”
“Are you serious?” Shay edged closer to me. “You think you get to smile and flirt and then take my father’s money and skip out of here?”
She couldn’t intimidate a swatting kitten, but I wasn’t going to give her leverage over me. I stood, and my bulk towered over her.
I couldn’t train while I was in the hospital, and my physical therapy didn’t include a trip to the weight room. But after I recuperated, I didn’t just get back in the saddle. I tamed a new horse and bought the fucking ranch. I trained better, worked harder, and it showed. My strength wasn’t for bragging rights. It saved my ass in the middle of Tikrit. And now I was bigger and badder than ever.
Shay Franklin didn’t scare me, but she’d bring me to my knees for another reason.
“What’s wrong, sis?” I asked. “We’re family now. Cut me a break.”
She hesitated, and I saw the wheels turning. She wondered if she could get away with saying something insulting. Her relationship with her father was no mystery, but I said nothing about my mother during our night together. She left the dead relatives out of our fight.
“So…are you just some big pervert then?” She asked.
“Pervert?”
“We had…” Shay covered her eyes. “Sweet Jesus, we might have committed a felony. I don’t even know if what we did was legal. You’re really sick, you know that?”