Page 11 of Battle with a Billionaire

Grant sighed. She seemed to have an endless supply of patience.

Kyle bobbed his head up and down. “Okay. Bye, Julia.” He spun on his heel and disappeared through the front door into the windstorm outside.

“He just doesn’t know when to quit, does he?” Grant said with a sigh. “I don’t know how you stay so calm with him.”

“I try to remember that this is mostly just his anger and frustration pouring out.”

“I suppose that’s my fault.” Guilt over how the situation had been handled over three decades ago washed over him. Julia likely blamed him for Kyle’s behavior.

“It’s not your fault. It’s not anyone’s fault. He just…needs some understanding. Unfortunately, my empathy has led him to believe he's in love with me.”

“He probably is,” Grant answered. “He’s liked you since he met you.”

She shook her head. “I can never figure out if he really likes me or if he just says that to cause trouble.”

She had a point. He had threatened to destroy Grant and to begin with Julia. Was all of this still part of his plot to lure his lovely wife from his side?

“Either way, I’m glad he’s out of this house. Now, if we could only get Lydia to leave.”

“As nice as that would be, I’m sure Sierra would miss her.”

“I doubt it. She fights with her every chance she gets. She’ll be the first one in line to pack her bags,” Grant said as thunder boomed overhead before fading into a low rumble across the sky.

“Well, I suppose one troublesome houseguest gone is a win.”

“I’ll take it. We’ve had too few of those lately.”

The sound of high heels pounding down the stairs interrupted their conversation. A second later, Sierra appeared in the doorway. “There you are,” she said to Julia. “I went to your room and couldn’t find you. I need to talk to you.”

“Okay,” Julia answered with a nod as she rose.

“Right now?” Grant asked. “We were in the middle of a conversation.”

Sierra snapped her gaze to her. “Was it life-changing?”

Grant pressed his lips together as he took her meaning all too easily. Unless he was talking to Julia about staying with them permanently, she was happy to interrupt. “No…well, unless you’re Kyle.”

“What about Crazy Kyle?” Sierra asked.

“He moved out.”

“Whoa, didn’t see that coming. I thought he’d live here forever just so he could slink around the halls and catch glimpses of Julia from afar.”

“No, he…came on a little too strong with her, and I asked him to leave.”

Sierra raised her eyebrows, her lips tugging into a smile. “Well done, Daddy. Now if you could just get rid of the other freeloader, life would be grand.”

“If you’re referring to your mother, I’m working on it but she’s much more practiced at being a thorn in my side.”

“Who else would I be referring to? Mom is the only other person who doesn’t belong in this house. Keep at it,” Sierra said with a grin as she grabbed Julia’s hand and tugged her along.

Grant followed their receding forms as rain began to patter the windows outside. If it hadn’t been for his daughter’s genuine caring toward Julia, he would have been annoyed that she’d interrupted their conversation.

While he hadn’t been asking her to stay with him outside of the contract, it was these quiet moments that they shared that made him unable to live without her. His past wives hadn’t been anything like this. Those relationships had been built on pretense alone. They’d never have had a meaningful conversation with him that didn’t involve a lavish gift for them or some other need or desire they needed him to fulfill, usually with his money.

He couldn’t have gotten luckier when Julia wandered into the interview Sierra had set up to find him a wife to change his image. A crack of thunder and a bolt of lightning streaking through the sky made him jump, unease pouring over him and smashing the warm moment.

A deep worry burrowed into his brain. What if he couldn’t convince her?

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