It wouldn’t matter to them that she hit on me.
It wouldn’t matter to them that she suggested we get a room.
It wouldn’t matter to them that she gave me a fake name because she wanted less loose for a night.
I’d said all I’d say. Madi could tell them as much or as little about our history as she wanted them to know.
I tried to hang back to talk to Madi, but her brothers herded me away from her.
The image of three Sheppards herding one man would’ve been funny—if I wasn’t the man.
I’d survived the big-brother lecture from Madi’s three younger brothers the week after the company Christmas party.
I’d sat in three different offices and heard the same message delivered three different ways.
Jamie gritted his teeth through the entire talk. He accepted we knew each other and said he wouldn’t hold it against me two seconds before he warned me to keep my distance.
Jack gritted his teeth less, but he delivered the same message.
Jay ground his teeth so hard, I thought he’d chip a tooth or three. He clenched his fists so tight that I had no doubt his nails left crescent marks on his palms. His threat was rather detailedwhen he explained what he’d do to me if I ever touched his sister again.
Now it was time to face John. The patriarch of Sheppard & Sons.
Madi’s father.
My CEO.
How will he act? What will he say?
I tapped my knuckles on John’s door, causing it to open as I did.
“Come in,” John said, putting his phone down.
I closed the door as I said, “Morning sir, you wanted to see me?”
Thanks to years serving as a Navy SEAL, I looked and sounded cool as a cucumber, even if I didn’t feel it.
“Thank you. Have a seat.” John’s tone was casual, but I obeyed the order nonetheless.
“How was your vacation?” John lobbed a soft ball at me. I’d spent the break in Colorado with Shane, the man who raised me while my father drank himself to death.
Shane was the reason I ended up in the Navy, not juvenile detention. After my father’s addiction cost him his job, our health insurance, and ultimately, my sister’s life, I made some poor life choices.
I was twelve when Tammy got sick, thirteen when my mother left, and fifteen when Tammy died.
When I was sixteen, I got caught stealing. The officer who arrested me understood my family situation and took pity on me. Instead of throwing the book at me, he talked to Shane and arranged for me to work off my debt.
I wasn’t a bad kid, and working off my debt seemed more than fair. Especially since I already worked at the ranch.
Smartest decision of my life.
“It was good. How are you and Mrs. Sheppard feeling?” He looked well-rested after his three-and-a-half weeks off.
“We’re good, thanks.”
Madi’s parents were tough as nails and surrounded by a big, loving family who’d do anything for them. I’d put money on their kids spoiling them while forcing them to rest and recover.
The kind of family I thought I had. Until my mother left us and my father started drinking.
