Page 34 of Meet Jon, the Billionaire

“I’m not sure we can win the bid, Stan,” I sighed as if I were truly disappointed to say such a thing. “I mean, Breadcetera is like a legacy establishment, and they’ve been looking to expand—”

“So when some other corner lot opens up, they can have that one. This one is all ours.”

“Yes, but the Zoning board has to agree on that before it becomes a fact.”

“Well, Tiger, my old friend, it looks like you’re going to have to dust off that old playbook and figure out a way to make this work. Otherwise, our investors are going to be out a ton of money, and the firm’s going to take a hit. We can’t continue to grow if we’re busy trying to patch up a dying brand.”

“Acme is not a dying brand, Stan. Stop being dramatic.”

“It's not a dying brand yet,” he said. “Yet. It could be. Get off your ass, and do whatever it takes to get that corner lot, you hear me? Acme Bread needs it. We need it. Screw that hometown, small potatoes bakery. So what if they’ve been there for forty years? They are obviously just fine where they’re at, if they’ve been there that long. Get it done, Tiger. The whole firm is counting on you.”

He ended the call, and I tossed my phone down in disgust.

Get it done, he says. Just go ahead and stick a knife in the back of a woman who I’m really, really into… but Stan, Mason, Chandler, they are my childhood friends, they are like brothers to me.

Fuck. What am I going to do now?

I decided I would keep the fact that we were competing for the lot from Amelia for as long as possible. Then, I could at least spend some more time with her before she told me to go to hell.

It wasn’t much, but it was the only hope I could cling to.

Chapter Eighteen

Amelia

I was downright pissed off at Jonathon for not telling me who he was. It wasn’t like I hadn’t given him plenty of opportunities to do so. All those times I joked about what he did for a living, he could have stepped in and said ‘oh, hey, by the way, I just happen to be your biggest competitor.’

Yet, he did not. I knew for a fact that he knew we were competition for the corner lot. I knew it. He hadn’t said a word.

I fumed about it late into the night and woke up the next day with insufficient sleep. If only the sex hadn’t been so incredible… I found myself torn. My heart wanted to be mad at Jonathan, but my body obviously was in a far more forgiving mood. I took a long shower and emerged hoping I was ready to face the day. I dressed in a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved shirt and headed to the bakery.

When I got there, Pedro and Yerkov were already hard at work on their prep. Pedro looked up at me and grinned.

“So, I heard you went out with some rich guy from the tennis tournament.”

“Yes, I did.” I cocked an eyebrow. “What time does Chui come back from his deliveries?”

“In about an hour or so. Are you going to kick his ass?”

“No,” I said with a sigh. “I actually wish he’d have talked to me first though… he might have talked me out of going out on a date with the guy.”

Pedro whistled. “Oh, it was that bad, huh?”

“No, not really.” I shook my head. “The date itself was dead solid perfect. It was what came after that caused me all the consternation.”

“What happened afterward?” Pedro asked, his furry eyebrows climbing high on his face.

“I turned on the news and found out the man I was dating is Jonathon “Tiger” Thomas, the ambush predator of Wall Street.”

“So?” Pedro shrugged. “Who cares what he calls himself?”

“That’s what the press calls him, and I care a great deal because he also happens to be the new owner and CEO of Acme Bread.”

“Acme?” He frowned. “Wait, what’s wrong with that?”

“Acme Bread is one of the companies bidding against us for the corner lot.”

His eyes widened.

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