His eyes widened, and a crimson flush spread up his neck to his snarky face.
“Penny, calm down,” my father said.
“I don’t seem calm to you?” I perched on the edge of the desk. “I will not be marrying your repulsive ass.”
Dex stood still, his nostrils flaring like a bull about to charge me.
“She knows,” my father said.
Surprise passed over Dex’s face before he shuttered it. “Penny, listen…”
“Nope,” I cut him off, “you two have fucked with me enough. Done being fucked with.” I slid off the desk and gathered the stack of papers. “My attorney will be contacting you to work out the details of claiming my inheritance. Oh and Dex, you can shove that shrimp scampi up your ass.”
Stopping in front of Dex, I balled my hand into a fist and knocked the fuck out of him. He went down quicker than I had on Theo in my dreams. Blood spilled from his nose. “That’s for Theo, asshole.”
I crossed to the door and slammed it behind me.
SIXTEEN
THEO
Everyone I knew could fuck off.
Life is funny. It shows you glimpses, temporary moments of bliss, and then in one single moment of time it pulls the rug out from under you and leaves you wondering what the fuck just happened. How did my life spiral out of control? Where did it all go wrong? Now a shell of a man without Penny, in need of rescuing as I sat watching the train wreck of my life unfold before me. It had been a week since I last saw Penny, and I was miserable.
Every time I thought about the news she laid on me about my daughter I grew more and more pissed until I decided to take action. I couldn’t believe her father. I couldn’t believe any of it. Losing Lucy was not an option. My mind stricken with confusion, testing the waters of my sanity, I tried to make sense of everything. But, I didn’t know what it meant to fail, my pity party was over. I didn’t want to live without either of my girls. I needed to let Penny know I had talked to Blair. Penny could tell her father to fuck off. Who cared if we lost the Lopa? They could no longer threaten me with losing my daughter. I was a great father, and the mother of my child would back me up to prove it. After work today, I would find Penny and tell her this was the end of her and Dex.
I unlocked the doors of the Lopa and headed back to the office. Fiona had called and said she had an emergency and needed me to fill in. Apparently Penny wasn’t answering her phone. God, I missed her. I opened the office door and stopped dead in my tracks. Penny sat behind the desk. But that wasn’t what had me frozen in place. It was her hair. Twisted into buns on each side of her head.
She looked up at me and rose from the chair. “Good news,” she beamed. “I’m a millionaire. Many times over.”
Okay, I didn’t know what she was talking about, because more important than what she said was what she wore. A skimpy gold bikini top and a crimson skirt held up on each side by a thin gold band across her hips. Princess fucking Leia. My fantasy. I couldn’t take my focus off the chain dangling from her neck.
“What are you talking about?” I whispered as she approached me. I fucking studied the hell out of her. Destined to get an A in the course. Memorizing everything about her.
“There will be no wedding,” she said, stopping in front of me.
“Speak, woman.” I needed all the details. The whole nitty gritty truth. I listened as she explained how she discovered her inheritance and confronted her father and Dex. She’d already been in touch with a lawyer. The Lopa was ours. Lucy was safe and this nightmare was over. I grabbed the chain and pulled her to me.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. “Be careful, I hurt my hand punching your brother,” she said.
“Wait, what? You punched him? I wanted to be the one to do that.”
“Yeah he squealed like a little girl.”
That I could definitely believe. She was my dream come true.
My arms grabbed at her waist as I kissed her hard. It felt fucking good to have her back in my arms.
She belonged with me, and I’d never waste another moment being apart from her. All that floated through my mind was the taste of her. Her soft skin. Her smile. Her freckles. Things I would never give up.
When the kiss broke, I pulled away from her, gazing into her copper eyes. “I’m so sorry,” we both said at the same time.
I held my fingers to her lips. “You have no reason to be. I was an idiot and I’m so sorry.”
“No, I should have told you sooner about Lucy.”
“No, I was an asshole. A self-pitying fool and I don’t deserve you, Penny. But, I’m willing to make it up to you.”