Page 30 of Baby for My Enemy Billionaire

I have to raise the rent. The land where the store is located is very profitable, and the rent needs to be appropriate for the land in question. That means I have to almost triple it from what Dad asked Jade. She won’t be able to afford it; I know that much. She can’t get enough for the rent even if it's popular.

I know she’s been calling, asking to speak to me. I’ve managed to get my receptionist to deter her and say that I’m not answering any calls right now, but I can’t hold her off forever. She might come here demanding to see me face-to-face. And I’m not sure if I’m prepared to face her.

Then she’ll find another reason to hate me.

Maybe you should let her hate you. It would be far easier to deal with if she hated me and kept her distance. I’m about to make her jobless and homeless. I wouldn’t blame her for hating me when I do that.

I’m going to have to see her soon. It doesn’t matter that she’s gorgeous and has a body that I can’t get out of my mind; I feel a stirring of intense arousal every time I think about her. I have to stick with my decision. She doesn’t get special treatment because I’m lusting after her.

That would be grounds for a lawsuit, surely.

A knock at the door jerks me out of my thoughts, and I look up to see Kenny entering the room.

“Are you okay?”

“What?”

“You’ve been staring at the screen like you’re trying to move things around with your eyes. I don’t think you’ve moved since you switched it on.” Kenny leans on the desk and frowns at me. “What’s going on with you?”

I sigh and rub my hands over my face.

“I don’t know. I just can’t focus lately.”

“You’ve been like this for a few days now. Ever since you came back from the ski resort.”

“Are you going to be making a connection between them again?”

“Maybe I’m right this time.” Kenny shrugs. “Sounds like you’ve gotten your attention snagged by a certain someone. Someone who frustrates you as well as attracts you?”

I glare at my brother.

“If you’re talking about this Jade woman…”

“Katie told me about going to Jade’s bookstore. The one we own.” Kenny raises his eyebrows. “Does she know that you’re the landlord?”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Why not?”

I’m meant to be the boss, and I’m getting grilled by my brother. This is not helping. I shake my head.

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe I don’t want things to get more tense.”

“You’re worried about tension with a tenant? You’re slipping, Finn.”

I snort and get up from my chair, pacing over to the window.

“I don’t know about that. But I know I’m not in the right headspace. Things have not been the same since that damn trip to the resort. I keep thinking about what might have happened if Jade hadn’t been there if I’d gone down with her. Maybe we could have avoided the accident.”

“That’s something you couldn’t foresee happening, and you can’t blame yourself. Katie is thirteen. She’s going to end up getting into scrapes.”

“You wouldn’t be able to say that it’s normal for teenagers to get hurt if you’d seen her on the snow in such pain.”

I keep thinking back to when I came down the slope and saw Jade with Katie. She hadn’t panicked, hadn’t fretted over anything. She was calm and in command, something I should have been and couldn’t do it. I am so glad that she was there when we needed her.

Is that why I keep thinking about her so much? Why can’t I stop thinking that she’s attractive?

That’s not the reason you keep thinking about her, and you know it.

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