More Than Protect You (More Than Words #6.5) - Shayla Black Page 0,19

up for something more… “Tanner. Can I call you that?”

“Sure.” I don’t give a fuck. I just want to know what he’s after.

“It didn’t take me five minutes to dig into you. I know you ran a successful gun range once upon a time, which you had to sell to pay off your soon-to-be ex-wife after you filed for divorce. I know you’re nearly thirty-nine, broke, and don’t have a place to live. I’m guessing you took this job because you don’t know where to go or what to do with your life next.”

He’s mischaracterizing me—and rubbing me the wrong way. “What’s your point?”

“Amanda doesn’t have a dime to her name right now. She thinks she’ll simply cajole me later into paying your fee, and I’ll assure her I will. But how much you make from your time with her is up to you.”

My gut tightens. “I don’t follow.”

“Amanda doesn’t belong in Hawaii with my illegitimate daughter and all my former friend’s offspring. I need to do what I should have after she graduated college, and that’s help her find the right future.”

“Why didn’t you get involved then?” I can’t keep the accusation out of my tone.

“It’s a fair question, especially since it seems you’re looking after her.” He tries to sound reasonable.

I’m not buying it. “I am.”

“To be honest, I thought she was a grown woman. She had a college degree in hand and she’d always been a good girl. Stayed out of trouble. Rarely dated. Never partied. Never gave me any reason to suspect she lacked the common sense needed to sidestep Barclay Reed’s womanizing ways. As such, when she graduated, I let her adult. It was a regrettable mistake on my part since all hell broke loose.”

I understand his perspective. Who wouldn’t think their college graduate able to handle their office job and their love life when they’d never shown any hint of being inept or reckless? But I don’t agree with his notion that Amanda making choices he doesn’t approve of gives him carte blanche to control her life. She was, after all, an adult. It was her life to ruin.

“What are you proposing?”

“There’s a man here in New York, one she’s known since they were kids. Son of a good family. Bruce has been in love with Amanda since, well, probably puberty. He’ll marry her tomorrow and take care of Oliver, too. All she has to do is say yes and come home.”

It may be that simple in his eyes, but there’s a reason Amanda isn’t with Bruce now. “How does she feel about him?”

“You know how women can be. Stubborn mules with lipstick.” He laughs, but it’s forced.

I’m offended on women’s behalf, especially Amanda’s. She’s stubborn, but not without reason. And she certainly isn’t a fucking mule.

“Anyway,” Lund goes on. “She hasn’t given Bruce a fair shake. She’s always considered him more like an older brother. When they were teenagers, that was great. But she’s twenty-six now and a mother. He’s thirtyish and worth half a billion dollars. He’s prepared to take care of her. She just needs the right incentive to let him.”

“So what is it you want me to do?”

“I’ll pay you fifty thousand dollars if you’ll let Bruce visit her there in Maui so he can convince her to come home and get respectably married. There’s an extra ten grand in it for you if she agrees to his proposal in the next three days.”

Is he crazy? “With all due respect, sir, I don’t think—”

“Do us both a favor and save the speech. This is one time you shouldn’t think with your morals, son. Think with your wallet.”

I grip my phone, bristling. “I’m not your son, and I’d appreciate you not telling me how to think.”

He gives me the forced laugh again. “You misunderstand. Figure of speech.”

“Amanda’s future should be her decision.”

“Well, you see how good her decisions are when she’s left to her own devices. It’s come to my attention that she looked to Barclay Reed to be her ‘daddy’ because I didn’t pay enough attention to her as a kid or something like that.”

“That’s Stephen’s theory.” Personally, I think Amanda has felt alone and overwhelmed, so she’s been looking for a partner, not someone to give her milk and braid her hair.

“Maybe he’s right. I was busy with work, and resented the hell out of her mother for tricking me into getting pregnant as an insurance policy against divorce. But none of that was Amanda’s fault, and if I