Page 30 of Claimed By my Frenemy

"And you’d be in control, right? Just like always. You’d call the shots, and I’d be just another cog in your money-making machine. You might let me make decisions but only as long as they fit into what you want too."

"That’s not fair, Mia. I’m offering a partnership, not a dictatorship."

"A partnership where you get to make all the big decisions and I just nod along? No thanks. I know how you operate, Theo. You think money can fix everything, but it can’t. Not this time."

“How can you know that? You used to know me, but I’m a different person now.”

“Yeah, a person I’m not liking very much.”

“Mia, I’m trying to help. This could be good for both of us. Why can’t you see that?"

"Because you’re not listening to me. You’re just seeing dollar signs and ignoring what I want." Mia takes a step back, and I can tell she’s about to end the conversation. If I don’t get control soon, she’s going to run off.

I take a couple of deep breaths before finally responding to her. "I’m not ignoring what you want. I’m just trying to find a way to make it work for both of us."

She brushes her dark hair over her shoulder, but it falls right back into place. "Well, maybe there isn’t a way. Maybe we’re just too different."

The words hit me harder than I expected. I thought we were making progress, that we could find some common ground. But maybe she’s right. Maybe we’re just too different. Maybe everything that happened last night wasn’t supposed to happen after all.

"Mia, I don’t want to fight with you," I say, my voice softening. "I just want to find a solution that works."

"And I want you to respect me and what I want. Can you do that?"

I lick my lips and let out a long sigh. I don’t have much choice. “Yes, I can do that.”

Mia studies me for another moment, and I know this evening isn’t going to end how I had hoped when she first approached me.

After a moment, Mia turns and heads toward the front porch of her future bed and breakfast. I’m left standing on my property, wishing that conversation had gone differently. Do I have to give up the idea of expanding my resort?

At this point, it doesn’t seem possible. Mia isn’t willing to accept any sort of deal.

15

MIA

I can’t believeTheo suggested that. Offering me a share of the profits, as if that would make everything alright. As if my dreams, my plans, my bed and breakfast could be swayed by dollar signs. I feel a fresh surge of anger just thinking about it. How dare he?

I’ve been home for thirty minutes now, showered, and changed, but I still can’t turn my thoughts to something else.

Theo is cute.

No, he’s more than cute. He’s handsome. The thought of him shirtless turns me on, and I don’t want to be turned off unless it’s by him inside me, groaning my name.

I shake my head. I have to stop these thoughts and calm down.

I make a bag of popcorn and pace the kitchen while it’s in the microwave.

I need something to do, something that will take my mind off this whole problem with Theo and my inability to have self-control around him.

I’ve had my eye on the living room. There is a dusty bookshelf with some trashy romance novels on the middle shelf. I need toclean the whole thing, and I think eating popcorn and cleaning sounds like a good way to distract myself.

Maybe I should turn on some music too—loudly so Theo can’t work.

Once my popcorn is ready, I have a few handfuls and settle into the carpet in front of the bookshelf.

I pull the novels off the shelf one by one and set them in a stack of raunchy and maybe appropriate for families. I want my bookshelf to be a safe space for families, so I can’t have someone staying here and their seven-year-old kid picks up a book that uses ten curse words on the first page.

Once the books have been sorted, I move to the bottom shelf. As I move a stack of old photo albums, a small, dusty box catches my eye. It’s tucked away in the back corner of the bookcase, almost hidden from view.

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