Inheritance

Ariel had already blocked Eddie's phone, so it was no surprise when Eddie called Brady's phone a couple of minutes later.

"You do realize you've probably called the absolute worst person you could have?" Brady said when he answered. "I divorced your mother-in-law because she was a cheating slut. If you were here right now I'd rip your spleen out through your fucking nose!"

"Ummm..." was all he said before he ended the call.

A solid pre-nup was in place before the wedding, so neither Ariel nor Eddie would get hurt financially. Ariel just had the hard decision of whether she wanted to give Eddie a second chance, or was one enough. Brady didn't offer his daughter any unsolicited advice, but Traci felt free to fight for a second chance for Eddie, which to Ariel seemed like she was taking Eddie's side.

"I guess it takes one to support one," Ariel said after one such call from Traci.

Brady hadn't initiated any contact with Traci since the divorce, so she was more than a little surprised when she saw who was calling her.

"Wow. This is certainly surprising. What can I do for my stupid Boy Scout ex-husband?" Traci answered harshly.

"Do you love your daughter... and more important... do you want to be shut out of her life and Justin's for a long time?" he asked with venom in his voice.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she snapped.

"Look, I know you want Ariel to forgive Eddie so you can feel more justified in your hatred of me, but you're not seeing the forest for the trees... because you don't want to. He cheated on her. She's hurt. You don't get it. You've never gotten it. But she's hurt, and you pushing her to give Eddie another shot just makes it seem like you're taking his side against her... against your own daughter. I'm telling you this is not going to go well for you.

"Now you're going to do what you want, but I'm telling you, you will lose Ariel if you keep doing this. Just let Eddie sink or swim on his own. Stop being his advocate," Brady said.

There was silence on Traci's end of the line for at least a half-minute. Brady quietly ended the call.

******

She was stretching on the padded floor area of the gym usually reserved for the exercise classes, but considering it was New Year's Day at 9 AM, there were no classes being held. He didn't expect anyone else to be there, let alone a woman.

Brady watched her surreptitiously as he removed his sweatsuit. She was wearing a cute, stretchy, tight workout top and pants, and the top wasn't totally hiding a nice pair of tits. The bottoms couldn't have been any tighter, and he noticed that her ass was to die for. He chuckled to himself, noting that he needed to stop thinking with his dick and start working his muscles.

At 54, Brady knew his way around the gym and looked it. He did his program without paying too much attention to the woman, who had moved into the weightlifting area of the club but kept her distance from him. He was impressed, however, when she started to do squats on the Smith machine.

"Old school. Nice. Don't see many guys doing that anymore, let alone a woman," he called out to her while he was on break between sets of biceps.

She nodded at him once she finished the set she was on.

"Old school for an old woman," she said.

"Ha. That's good," Brady laughed. "What are you, 35?"

She smiled brightly, and Brady noticed the big black almond-shaped eyes, the perfect almond-colored skin and the straight black ponytail that reached almost to her waist.

"Add 14 to that, you charmer," she said.

Brady returned the smile, and got back to his next set.

When Brady finished lifting, he went over to a wall of treadmills and got on one. A couple of minutes later, the unknown woman got on the treadmill next to his. He strained to use his peripheral vision to get a better look... until he realized she was looking straight at him while walking.

"Ahhh. I apologize. I'm not really a creeper," he muttered quietly while returning her gaze.

"Then I will take your attention as a compliment," she said brightly. "I'm Annie, by the way. And you can stop looking down my top."

Brady blushed deeply. He had been looking down her top, but part of that was the fact that he was 6-1 and she was only about 5-2.

"Are you really 49? You seriously don't look like you could be in your 40s," he gushed.

"Hard workouts and good genetics from my people... I'm Scandinavian on my mother's side," she grinned.

Brady laughed and almost stumbled while walking.

"I did not see that coming," he said.

"Most don't, but it's true," she replied. "Chinese and Scandinavian. Several of my ancestors helped built the Transcontinental Railroad."

"Wow. That's pretty cool. I don't think any of my relatives were even in this country until the turn of the 20^th century," he said.

"Newcomers!" she said flippantly, causing him to laugh again.

"I'm Brady, by the way. What brings you here on New Year's Day? I would have expected someone like you to have been partying late on New Year's Eve," he said.

She gave him a noticeable frown, causing him to flinch.

"Someone like me? You mean Chinese-Scandinavian people?" she harrumphed.

Brady knew he stepped in it, and Annie saw the wheels in his head turning. He decided to go with truth.

"I mean, I would have expected someone who looks as good as you to have a date on New Year's Eve," Brady said.

"Once upon a time, Brady. Once upon a time. But that was another time and place," Annie said. "I haven't been out on New Year's for the last three years.

"So what's your excuse? And don't tell me it's because you're shy."

"Not shy. Divorced and not trustful," Brady said. "Greatest marriage ever, so I thought, until I found out it wasn't. Twenty-two years. Took the ring off eight years ago."

"I'm sorry for you. I guess we're just a couple of losers," Annie said, drawing a frown from Brady.

"Nah. Not losers. Hardcores, babe. We're hardcores," Brady said.

"Yeah. Hardcores. I like that."

"Tell you what, the Zoas are on me," Brady said.

He got off his treadmill, went to the concession machine and bought energy drinks for both of them, passing one to his new friend. The two sat down and continued to enjoy each other's company.

"So, for how long was there a Mr. Annie?" Brady asked.

"Not a mister. A misses. I play for the other team," Annie said.

She looked into Brady's eyes and was surprised at what she didn't see: his surprise. He noticed.

"This is the 21^st century, Annie," he said. "Maybe 30 years ago I would have been surprised. Not anymore. She has good taste, or at least had."

"Seventeen years, then I found out she'd been stepping out with a co-worker of hers," Annie said.

"I get it, totally. You take vows, you honor them," Brady said. "My wife gave herself a hall pass for a weekend, just because she wanted it and thought she could get away with it. I raised another man's child before finding out.

"But she's still my daughter, even if I'm not the sperm donor. My wife thought that since it had happened more than 20 years ago, I should just forgive and forget. Wasn't going to happen.

"And now I'm drinking a sports drink with the most beautiful Asian-Nordic lesbian I've ever met. Funny how life works, isn't it?"

Annie smiled brightly. Brady knew he wanted to see more of that, even if he would never get to sample those lips.

The pair became lifting partners and fast friends.

"Brady, can I ask a big favor?" Annie said during a lift about six months later.

"Anything for my Chinese Viking queen," Brady said.

"I need a date for an important event at the bank in a couple of weeks. I'm tired of going solo and having to fight off wandering hands... and looking pathetic," Annie said.

"So you're talking hard shoes and a jacket and tie, on my day off?" Brady asked.

"How about if I promise to wear something low-cut, you pervert?" she responded.

"Deal. God, I really am a lech," Brady said.

"Hell, I got off easy. I was prepared to go all the way to short dress, as well," Annie said.

"Shit. I got snookered. Can I renegotiate?"

Brady stared open-mouthed when Annie answered her door two weeks later. Her little black dress was tastefully low-cut and the hemline was only halfway down her legs.

"Where would a short dress have come to?" Brady inquired.

Brady's presence as Annie's date attracted interest from several of Annie's co-workers, all of whom knew she was a lesbian as she had worked at the bank for 12 years. For his part, Brady treated Annie the same as he would have treated his ex-wife on a night out.

"This charming gentleman thing is really annoying," Annie said. "I don't know how your ex put up with it for more than 20 years."

Brady chuckled as the others at the table shifted in their seats uncomfortably. The two sometimes played rough with each other in public.

Being the gentleman he was, Brady walked Annie to her door at the end of the night. Annie could see he had an internal argument going on as they got to the door. He shook his head slightly, then leaned in and kissed Annie gently on the lips. She surprised herself by not stepping back, and actually closed her eyes during the kiss. She smiled at Brady's back as he walked away--somewhat jauntily, she thought.

Annie hadn't kissed a man on the lips in more than 30 years, she noted to herself as she went inside her apartment. Actually, Devin Mossberg wasn't a man, he was a boy, and it really wasn't much of a kiss. It was wet and sloppy, and the boy actually made a poor attempt to put his tongue into her mouth. It was the second and final time she would let a male kiss her.

Two weeks later, Annie got her first kiss from another girl, and it was lust at first taste, so to speak. She never went back to the other side of the street.

Brady's kiss was much different than Devin's. Annie thought about it long after Brady left her.

"Why?" she texted Brady an hour later.

"Felt right," he texted back.

"Yeah," she texted back.

Nothing was said the next two times the pair worked out. An hour after the pair finished their workout on the second day, Brady texted Annie.

"Salerno's tomorrow at 6? Short dress this time?"

"U perv. Yes," she texted back.

"Pick you up at 5:30," Brady finished.

The short dress was red, and finished maybe three inches under her ass, Brady observed. It showed just as much cleavage as the black dress. Brady was mesmerized.

"Where are my prom flowers?" Annie squealed.

Brady felt like he was 17 again. Dry throat. Butterflies in his stomach.

"We... we need to go," he practically whispered, reaching for Annie's hand.

Salerno's was the best Italian food in the city and lived up to its rating that night. Both Brady and Annie thought the company was every bit as good as the food. Annie was ambivalent. Brady was smitten.

After the after-dinner drinks were served, Annie looked across the table at a wide-smiling Brady. It would be up to her to start, she figured.

"I'm confused and scared, Brady. Can we take this slow... like glacially slow?"

"We can take it at any pace you want. I want to keep you as a friend... the rest would be gravy on the cake," Brady said.

"I hope you mean icing on the cake. Gravy would be kind of disgusting," Annie laughed.

Brady smiled. Annie got him. He got Annie. The only problem they seemed to have was that Annie didn't necessarily get herself.

******

"I don't understand what is happening, Brady," Annie told him a few months later when they were at his apartment. "I've never had an attraction to a man before. I guess this means... I'm bisexual, not lesbian."

"So does that mean I could have twice the competition in the future?" Brady said, sudden shock appearing on his face.

Annie didn't comprehend the look on Brady's face. She was in the middle of her own internal retrospection.

"This changes everything I based my life on. I was in a relationship with another woman for 17 years. I've only ever been with women. What if I change my mind again?" she asked.

Brady's face took on another unreadable expression as he realized Annie's confusion wasn't necessarily about her confused gender identity. Like Brady, she was afraid of commitment.

Brady walked over to Annie and engulfed her in a hug. She held him back just as tightly.

"Do you feel that?" Brady asked.

"Yes," she said.

"That's our connection. It has nothing to do with your past, or whether I am a man or woman. It has everything to do with us... just you and me."

Brady gave her a passionate kiss and walked her into his bedroom. He began undressing her slowly as he continued kissing her lips. She began to remove his clothes, stopping when she came to his hard dick.

"I've never had a real one of these before. Be gentle, please."

"Of course," he whispered.

Annie lay asleep, nestled into Brady's arms. He thought she looked angelic as she breathed in and out smoothly. Brady smiled as he thought back a couple of hours.

After spending long minutes with the two locked in intimate kissing, Brady had used his fingers and tongue to bring Annie to several screaming orgasms. He enjoyed her enthusiasm and volume.

"Aarrgghh! God! Oh God! Braaadyyyy!" she cried out. "Pleeeease take meeee!"

Brady had always been an attentive lover. He rubbed the head of his hard dick up and down Annie's wet folds before slowly pushing inside. While he knew she wasn't a virgin at having toys inside her, he knew the real thing was different and was as careful as possible. The two started slowly in missionary and gradually built up speed. Her second noisy orgasm with Brady inside her pulled him over the edge as well, and the pair spent the next minute in mutual climax.

"Oh, fuck, you just took my virginity... again," she whispered. "That was fantastic."

Brady kissed her hard. She kissed him back just as hard before a series of aftershocks shook her body. She snuggled in before drifting off to sleep.

Forty-five minutes later, Annie opened her eyes to see Brady looking down at her with a big smile.

"Because it felt right," he whispered.

"Oh yeah," she responded just as quietly.

The two laid together in silence for several minutes before Annie finally spoke.

"That was great," she said. "Very different, yet sort of familiar, know what I mean?"

"Not really, but I'll trust you on that," Brady said.

"Anyone ever tell you before that you eat pussy like a girl? I am impressed. Where did you learn that?" Annie commented.

"A man's got to have some secrets now, doesn't he?" Brady answered.

The two smiled at each other in silence for a few minutes before Annie took Brady's flaccid dick in her hand and started to gently rub.

"I'm new at this. How long does it take for this to regenerate?" she asked.

"At this age, about an hour," Brady said.

Annie looked disappointed for a second, then her face brightened. She released Brady's dick and worked her fingers into Brady's mouth, taking his tongue between her index finger and thumb.

"How about regeneration on this?" she asked.

Brady made an unintelligible noise as Annie continued to hold his tongue. She released his tongue and he answered again.

"Almost immediately. Your wish is my command, Sexy Beast."

"I guess I've got a lot to learn," she said.

"I'd like to think I'm a good teacher," Brady said.

Six months later the two were living together, and a wedding was scheduled for six months further out. Brady's children were pleased that their father was no longer alone, although both were unsure about Annie, due to her past. Annie and Brady decided they wouldn't hide nor advertise Annie's previous sexual preferences.

"Dad, get real. She was with a woman for 17 years. I don't see this ending well for you," Ariel said. "This is not like a choice between chocolate syrup and caramel syrup on your ice cream."

"Well, to be honest, my last marriage didn't end well for me either," Brady asserted. "And her 17-year marriage would have been a lot longer than mine if I had found out about your mother cheating on me when it happened."

Ariel bowed her head. Her relationship with Brady had suffered since her mother's cheating was uncovered and Ariel's biological parentage was revealed. If she had to admit the truth, most of the problem was her fault. Things only got worse when she changed her last name to honor her biological father.

Inheriting more than $44 million from her biological father had made her life better in most ways, but it did nothing to help her relationship with Brady. Brady refused to let Ariel use any of her inheritance on him and wouldn't participate in anything that Bryan's money helped fund.

"What's the use of having millions if you can't use them," she often thought to herself.

Ariel's relationship with her mother wasn't much better. When Traci tried to get Ariel to forgive her then-husband's cheating, she lost a lot of standing in her daughter's eyes, and gave Ariel a better insight into what her father felt when he found out about his wife's infidelity. While that relationship had improved since then, especially when Brady got Traci to stop advocating for Ariel's husband, it had never returned to what it was previously.

Like many, Traci was confused about Brady dating a lesbian when Ariel and Lenny told her. She figured it was her chance to take a shot at her ex to her children.

"He's replacing me with a dike? Really? Obviously, I was too much woman for him," Traci giggled when Ariel mentioned Annie and her previous marriage.

"Umm. Mom. I think you might want to see this first before you go shooting off your mouth like a homophobic bitch," she said as she waggled her phone at her mother.

Ariel handed the phone with the photo of Annie up to Traci. Traci's eyes got wide, then a frown appeared on her face.

"Ooh. Hell. I'd almost chase her," Traci said languidly. "She's a lesbian?"

"She was. Not anymore, obviously," Ariel remarked.

"You're not going to try to steal her from Dad, are you?" Lenny laughed.

That earned him a frown from his mother, but a grin from his sister.

******

It was a small wedding, exactly as Brady and Annie wanted it. They honeymooned in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Brady let Ariel pay for the airfare after the two argued about it for a couple of weeks.

"Please, Daddy. Let me do something!" Ariel insisted.

******

Brady and Annie spent months teaching each other new things. Brady was amazed at the woman's enthusiasm and flexibility. At one time while they were playing, Brady got carried away, lifting Annie by her ass cheeks while using his tongue deeply inside her pussy. She was hanging almost upside down with just her shoulders and head on the mattress, and right after she came hard on his tongue, she went limp, having passed out.

Brady was surprised and concerned as he lowered Annie back to the bed. He listened to make sure she was breathing. Thirty seconds later, she lifted her head groggily.

"What the hell was that? What just happened?" she timidly asked with glazed-over eyes.

"You passed out after having a big orgasm while just about standing on your head. I think being crunched down like that might have hindered you getting enough air. Sorry," Brady explained.

"Wow! This hetero sex thing can get intense!" she exclaimed.

"Not necessarily a hetero thing, Babe. A Brady thing," he responded.

"Wow again," she said quietly. "Is that part of this 'connection' thing you keep talking about."

"Exactly," he said.

"Got to tell you," he added, "the stereotype about you people being flexible is on the money."

Annie frowned visibly.

"You people? You suddenly got a problem with lesbians?" she cried.

"Huh? Lesbians? What the hell are you talking about?" he responded harshly. "The stereotype is about Chinese gymnasts being as flexible as Gumbys."