Page 78 of Stone
At least he didn’t storm away like normal, instead closing the distance. “You’re right. Your father offered to pay me anything I wanted to bring you back. Now, if your father was anybody else, I’d say he loved you so much he was willing to sacrifice his entire world to get you back, but it’s your father we’re talking about.”
I thought he’d be furious with me, but seeing the glint in his eyes, I could tell I’d thought wrong. “So how much did he pay you?” His aftershave was even more intoxicating than before. I could easily become drunk in his masculinity and I’d yet to have a drop of alcohol.
“It’s not what he paid me. It’s what I charged him.”
“Hmmm…” I pressed my hand on his chest. “And how much was that?”
“Twenty-five million. But since you were checking my bank statements, you already knew that.” He grinned and not only did his expression make me laugh, but hearing the dollar figure was a hoot. I should be furious, but the fact Stone had extorted money from my father was absolutely fantastic.
“You should have gone for thirty. No, fifty! That would have been perfect. My father went along with the blackmail?”
“Is that what you think I was doing?” He rolled his hand over my shoulder. The move was extremely possessive and brought my nerves to the surface.
“Blackmail. Extortion. Whatever you’d like to call it. So, you’re even richer than before. I applaud you.”
“I didn’t keep the money, Dani.”
“What do you mean?”
“I paid for the expenses, but I split the entire amount between Kage and Maddox.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“No. I don’t want a single dime from your father. I was insulted he thought he could buy me…” He stopped short and sucked in his breath.
“What? What were you going to say?”
“Nothing important. Your father just angers me with his typical demands, but you do need to call him. Just to put an end to him hassling us.”
“Fine, I’ll call him. That’s a lot of money. What are your friends going to do with it?”
He scrubbed his chiseled jaw, which as usual made me swoon. “Kage owns a horse sanctuary and Maddox runs a dude ranch. Don’t even get me started how he got himself involved with a goddamn dude ranch, but he did. They can use the money.”
“Very generous of you and I’d love to visit both. Maybe…” I picked at his shirt, batting my eyelashes on purpose.
The growl he issued sent yet another wave of tingles through me. “Maybe. If you’re a good girl.”
“I’m always good. I guess we should get going.”
“Wait a minute. You asked me my opinion on how you look.”
“I did. What do you think?” I took a step away, pirouetting, but as usual, Miss Graceful I wasn’t. I pitched forward and straight into his arms.
“I think,” he said as he held me upright, “that there needs to be a change.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s just not quite right.”
I brushed one hand down the dress and looked down. “Do I look terrible in it?”
“Nope. But…” With his voice deepening, he curled his fingers around the hem of my dress and in one swoop, yanked it off my body completely. “I think you look much better without it.”
His laugh filled the room and he gathered me into his arms with my breasts right in front of his face. “You are so bad. What are you doing?” My sandals tumbled to the floor, the hard thud creating a mischievous look on his face.
“Well, I am a little hungry.”
“Isn’t there food at a luau?”
