Read BIG: (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance) for Free Online Page B

gleefully. “I’m really hoping for enough to buy a new car… why are you face-palming?”
     
    “The trust meeting is to release the funds that have been held in trust for you, Leesa.”
     
    “Yes, I’ve got that bit.”
     
    “I don’t think you do.” He leaned on the bar, close, eyes dancing as he looked down at her. “This isn’t small change. We’re talking millions of dollars.”
     
    “M-mill—” She couldn’t finish the word and nearly dropped her glass before setting it on the bar.
     
    Her head spun. She didn’t know whether to be irritated by Ric’s “big brother” tone, be delighted that she could now put a deposit on any flat she wanted in Paris or be afraid of possessing the kind of money she couldn’t even fit into her head as a concept.
     
    “Wow, you had no idea, did you?” Ric hunkered down and put his hands on her shoulders.
     
    “No.”
     
    “Ryker Arms is international. They sell a lot of guns. What do you think my dad was doing all day? Hosting tea-parties?”
     
    “All right, there’s no need to be sarcastic.”
     
    She imagined walking into an unused space just off the Seventeenth Arrondissement in Paris and making it her own, filling the walls with the work of brilliant but, as yet, unknown artists. Artists she would discover.
     
    She’d thought about doing a PhD on the prior influences of the Batignolles artists, but she didn’t have to stop there, not anymore. She could tour art colleges, find talent... as long as the locals didn’t get annoyed with a rich, little new girl sweeping in on their turf.
     
    “Do you think I could fit in on the Paris art scene?” she asked him, her voice sounding far away.
     
    “I think you should make it fit you .”
     
    “You’re such an American—and a megalomaniac.” She smirked. “You’ll make a brilliant CEO.”
     
    “There’s a difference between megalomania and self-respect, Leesa.”
     
    “I was teasing. But at least you believe in yourself now. That’s new. I like it.” Annalesa pushed her glass away and draped her arms round Ric’s neck. They both froze. She was afraid of his initial lack of response, but relaxed when his arms looped round her waist and she sighed in relief when he kissed the top of her head.
     
    “I like it, too.”
     
    “I’ve always believed in you,” she confessed, resting her cheek against the side of his neck, inhaling his warmth. “I tried telling you but... well, you didn’t like to hear it.”
     
    “I know.” He gave her a little squeeze. “Come on, let’s go sit down.”
     
    “In the den?” She didn’t say, ‘After what happened there?’ although she might as well have.
     
    “I’m not a potato anymore, but I have to admit, I still like the couch,” he said and that made her laugh.
     
    He picked up both their glasses in one hand and tugged her over to the sofa. She sat down, taking her drink when he offered it.
     
    “The truth is, I hated myself, Leesa,” he told her softly. “I don’t anymore. But back then, I was always suspicious of compliments. I hated being ‘Big Dick,’ even if the nickname came about not just because I was fat, but because I was strong and protective, too. I thought those were good traits to have. But... well, that didn’t work out, did it?”
     
    Annalesa groaned, but with enough liquor inside her, felt brave enough to at least glance at the elephant in the room. “Are you talking about punching Ryan?”
     
    “He gave you bruises.” Ric’s eyes hardened, like little bits of green glass. “Was I supposed to just stand back and let that go?”
     
    “He needed a beating,” she agreed. Fucking asshole had nearly knocked her down the flight of bleachers at a packed football game just because she’d saved seats in the ‘wrong spot.’
     
    “You should’ve come home with me.” He sat beside her on the sofa, shaking his head.
     
    “Well, I would’ve, but Ric, you broke his jaw! I mean, I couldn’t just leave him