Enchanted (The Accidental Billionaires #4)(68)

And the billionaire thing? Inconceivable.

Who wouldn’t want to be in possession of one of the biggest fortunes in the world? The problem was getting used to it after counting every penny I had during med school and my residency.

I could do anything I wanted to do.

I could buy anything I wanted.

I’d definitely taken the rich-guy thing for a spin when I’d purchased my house, the contents, and a new vehicle.

Problem was, I still felt like a poor resident.

Yeah, I certainly wasn’t complaining about the ability to sit down and pay off every bill I had, including a ton of student debt.

I just wasn’t used to seeing something I liked and realizing that I actually had the power to buy it without putting even a tiny dent into the money I’d inherited.

Being a rich man had never been a big priority for me. A family physician made decent money, but even with all of the help from my siblings, I’d still managed to acquire quite a bit of debt in student loans, so I’d known I wouldn’t exactly be living the high life once my residency was over.

The money I’d make being a doctor was never a consideration when I’d chosen a career path.

All I’d ever wanted was to put my brain to work on treating medical problems.

I have my own practice now.

I shook my head as I continued walking. I guessed I’d known my training was leading to all of this.

It was just weird to be living the life I’d worked for in the last decade.

Dr. Fortney retiring just as I was finishing my residency had been a happy coincidence.

Perfect.

The best thing that could have ever happened, considering I’d wanted to get back to Citrus Beach.

There was only one downside, and it came in the form of one incredibly gorgeous, wickedly smart, and highly disgruntled nurse practitioner.

I’d inherited Layla. She’d been part of the package. Dr. Fortney had called her one of his greatest assets.

I called her a huge pain in the ass.

The woman didn’t like me, even though we’d been close at one time. Somewhere near the end of our senior year in high school, Layla had changed. She’d blown me off like I’d never existed. If she’d carried around some acrimony, she should have gotten over it a long time ago.

It was high school, for God’s sake.

Andie had mentioned that Layla and I were too competitive, but I’d never felt that way toward Layla.

I’ll give it some time. Maybe it will all work out.

I’d only seen Layla a couple of times, since the transition of the practice from Dr. Fortney to me had just been completed.

We’d discussed a couple of cases, and Layla had treated me like a stranger. No, she’d been colder than that. More like an opponent who she was forced to get along with, or she’d get kicked out of a game.

Why was I letting her get to me?

Maybe because I’d been so stunned the first time I saw her again.

Layla had grown into a drop-dead-gorgeous woman. As a kid, she’d lacked confidence, even though she’d had no reason to be self-conscious.

She had grown into her intelligence, and now she carried herself like a woman who knew exactly what she had going for herself.

I hated myself because I was attracted to her, even though I knew I shouldn’t be.

Layla was a professional woman, an associate, and technically, I was her boss now.

Unfortunately, I had all I could do not to imagine her naked, looking at me like she wanted . . . me.

“Fuck!” I cursed out loud.

Not going to happen. She wasn’t going to let me get her naked. Hell, I couldn’t get within five feet of her without her freezing solid.

I think I just need to get laid.

Yeah, that was probably the issue.

Layla was beautiful.

Confident.

Smart.

I hadn’t ever really had sex on a regular basis, or a steady girlfriend.

Makes sense that I’m attracted to Layla, right?

I’d get over it.

I tried to shrug off my strange attraction to Layla as I entered the back gate to Aiden’s house.

It took me all of two seconds to realize that it wasn’t going to be that easy to rid myself of thoughts about Layla.

Not when the subject of my torment was standing five feet away from me.

What the hell is she doing here?

“Owen? What are you doing here?” Layla sounded surprised.

She was sitting all alone in a lounge chair. It looked like everybody else was in the pool.

“Me?” I asked cautiously. “Last time I checked, my brother lived here.”

“Andie said you weren’t coming.”

Okay. Andie had invited her. It pissed me off that it sounded like she wouldn’t have come if she’d known I was going to be here.

I put my hands in the pockets of my jeans. “Change of plan.”

I didn’t have to explain myself.

She stood. “I should get going, anyway.”

“Why? Just because I’m here? I don’t get it, Layla. It’s not like we were never friends. We used to like being around each other.” What the hell happened?

“That changed near the end of our senior year,” she answered icily.

Yeah, something had altered between us, but I’d never really understood why.

“Yeah, about that . . . what in the hell happened? Why did you just throw away years of friendship? I don’t get it.”