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He took the envelope, and his fingers brushed against hers, sending a shock reverberating through his system. Yeah, the attraction was still there, but this time, she wasn't an eighteen-year-old he had to protect from a piece-of-shit stepfather.
She was a woman, and their age difference no longer mattered like it had when she was barely eighteen and he'd been twenty-five.
When his hand touched hers, she sucked her in breath and jerked her hand back. "Letter," she mumbled.
"Letter," he agreed, as he took a step back, folded it, and put it in his pocket. "I'll read it later."
Leila's brows went up. "You need to read it now."
"I'm good. You need anything from me?"
She stared at him. "You're as stubborn and difficult as you were back then."
"Probably."
She folded her arms over her chest. "Read the letter, Dash."
"Nope." There was no chance he was reading Bea's words right now. He missed her like hell, and he wasn't in a place to read a letter she wrote to him in front of Leila. Or anyone. Or even himself. "Anything else you need?"
She stared at him. "Really?"
"Yeah. Whatever you need." This conversation felt awkward and distant, nothing like how he'd envisioned it might be all the times he'd thought about her over the years. "Want a drink? I have water and beer." And other stuff he didn't feel like mentioning.
"Water?"
"Yeah."
She put her hands on her hips. "Dash."
"Leila."
She sighed in aggravation. "Bea didn't leave you the house. She left us the house."
Dash stared at her. "Us?"
"Yes." She pointed back and forth between them. "You and me. Co-heirs. We have to both live in the house together for thirty consecutive nights before either of us can do anything with it. I'm moving in now."
"No." His amusement fled. Oh, wait, he hadn't been amused by anything about her sudden appearance. "It's my house. I've been living here for the last six months. She told me it was mine, repeatedly." He'd been counting on this house, and not just for himself.
"Well, it's also half mine. I need the money from selling it, and we can't sell it until we both live here together for thirty days."
Sell it? No one was selling this house. He couldn't afford to buy out Leila. He swore under his breath, then pulled out his phone and called Clare.
She answered on the first ring. "You read the letter?"
"I'm co-heirs with Leila, and we have to live in the house together for thirty consecutive nights before we can do anything with it?" It had to be wrong. It didn't make sense.
Clare sighed. "Yes, look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but Bea's will specifically said Leila had to be the one to tell you."
All thoughts of his attraction to Leila vanished in a surge of irritation. He ground his jaw. "So it's true?"
"Yes, it is."
He glanced at Leila, who was watching him, chewing on her lower lip. Why did she look so damned adorable chewing on her lip like that? Why did he care? He didn't have time for this. "I need this house. You know I do."
"Thirty days, Dash. You can have it in thirty days, as long as Leila agrees to give up her share."
Fuck. He couldn’t afford to buy her out. "What else is in the will that you didn't tell me? There's more, isn't there? More games that Bea put in there?"
