But Lacey Ward had awakened something in me I couldn’t deny. Maybe it was just the fact that my life had been stolen from me, and she was there. That’s what I’d thought at first, but right now, all I wanted was to sink myself into her lush body and get lost. Forget. Forget that I wouldn’t be going back to Montana. Wouldn’t be going back to my life of working outdoors, riding every weekend, taking each day as it came. Living in the moment.

“I think we need to go back to the bar,” Lacey said. “You need to tell them what you’ve decided.”

I pulled back. “What if I can’t do it, Lacey? What if my father was right about me?”

“Have you considered looking at this a different way?” she asked.

“What other way is there to look at it?” Especially when all I want to look at is you, naked on my bed.

“Your grandfather built Wolfe Enterprises from the ground up. And your father, especially, made it what it is today. Why would he want to sell it off to the highest bidder?”

“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because he’s an asshole who wants to screw over his kids?”

“Okay, fair enough. But think about it, Rock. That company was his pride and joy.”

“True. More so than any of his children,” I said with disgust.

“Maybe it was. He had fucked-up priorities, if that’s the case, but you might be right.”

“Oh, I’m right. Trust me.”

“Would he really want his pride and joy sold off to the highest bidder? Possibly to a rival?”

“Obviously the chance to screw me over meant more to him than his billion dollar company. Seems like classic Derek Wolfe to me.”

“Seriously, Rock. You say yourself that his work meant more to him than his children. This company represents his work, what he considered the most important. He wouldn’t just let it go.”

“What does he care? He’s dead.”

“Maybe, just maybe, he did what he felt would be putting it in the best hands.”

“You’ve got to be kidding. The bastard hated me.”

“Maybe. I don’t know. Or maybe he thought you were the perfect person to run his company. To run your company.”

I thought for a moment. Actually considered her words. But, “Nice thought, but it’s bullshit. Nope, he hated me so much that he put me in a position to either ruin my own life or my siblings’. Classic Derek Wolfe.”

She sighed. “All right. He put you in an impossible situation as a form of punishment. Let’s say you’re right.”

“I am right.”

“Fine. Then rise to the challenge.”

“I don’t have a choice.”