Page 47 of Sheriff's City Girl

“And I think if we play our cards right, we can make it work.”

“You’re going to need a good sob story… Get Lucas to tell the entire story of the ranch,” I said, perking up at the idea. “I know that people with money to donate want it to go to someone that they connect with. You need a solid proposal.”

“And you can help me convince Lucas to do it.”

“Uh…” my voice trailed off. “I barely know Lucas.”

“I think the three of us might be able to change his mind,” Mason insisted, his tone growing more desperate. “We’re not going to gang up on him; we’re just going to throw it out there, and you two both know how important it is to keep this town the way it is. I’d put together a whole damn posse, but I don’t want to air Lucas’s financials… I think he’ll understand if you two know.”

“Okay,” Lily agreed with a sigh. “I’ve known Lucas since we were kids, so we might as well give it a shot. Emma has a way with people, too, so maybe she can be a good back up.”

“I don’t know,” I began, feeling uneasy. “This might be like kicking someone when they’re down… Maybe you should just go alone to talk to Lucas, or maybe take Lily.”

“But you experienced the ranch for the first time, and you have firsthand experience as to why an outsider would want to keep the ranch,” he countered.

The worry lines on his face made me feel a little guilty. I knew how much the ranch meant to the community—and I had experienced it firsthand… “Fine,” I said after a few moments of silence. “Just let me clean up and we can go.”

***

“Absolutely not,” Lucas glared at the three of us standing in the entryway of his house twenty minutes later. “I will burn this house down, file a false claim, and spend the rest of my life in prison before I go begging the same rich assholes who came to take my ranch for money.”

I cocked my head at the strange insurance fraud claim. That seems very thought out.

“But the pressure would be put on those assholes to donate money, and then it’s kind of like a fuck you,” Mason reasoned. “And if you approve, we could put together an entire group of people—of all ages—to come and talk about what the ranch means to them.”

Lucas shook his head. “I get that you’re trying to come up with some high and mighty way to save this place, Mason, I know that. I appreciate you thinking about it as much as you have, but this is a battle I’m gonna have to fight on my own.”

My eyes drifted to the pistol fastened in his belt, and I couldn’t help but wonder how he was planning to fight the battle. “Maybe… Maybe we could just do the appeal for you,” I said, grabbing his attention. “Mason is the sheriff, and he’s highly regarded. I run a business and moved here from out of town, so I can provide a fresh perspective…”

“You could go as a couple,” Lily offered and the side gesture made me want to kick her in the shin. She was really pushing it.

“We could, and play on the fact that we wanna get married at the ranch—and how much it means to us,” Mason added, causing my heart to take off in my chest… Was he thinking about us like that? Or was this just a ruse to win over the hearts of the people who might give money to the ranch?

“I mean fake of course,” Mason quickly added as Lucas raised his brows.

Just a ruse.

I ignored the pang of sadness in my chest, as well as the look of irritation on Lily’s. “Yeah, I guess you could bring that up, but it really needs to be community focused, not personally focused.”

“She’s right,” Lily said promptly. “You can go as a couple, and maybe mention that your first date was there… But leave the rest of it out. The town talks too much, anyway. You go talking about marriage and it’ll make it back to Jess.”

Because of Cody…

“Y’all are all crazy,” Lucas grunted, shaking his head. “I ain’t gettin’ involved with any of this. If you wanna go beg the damn assholes then go, but I don’t wanna be involved with it.”

“But you’ll take the money if we get it for you?” Mason perked up.

Lucas’s gaze bounced between all three of us, his eyes weary and halfway annoyed. “Sure. You go embarrass yourselves, and if you somehow can convince them to care, then go for it. But I don’t think it’ll work.”

I looked over to Mason, who nodded, a hopeful glimmer in his eye. He really thought that it would work… And all I could think about was the nausea I was feeling from carrying his baby…

But maybe this would bring us closer.

Chapter Twenty-One

Mason

“What do you want me to do?” I asked Emma as I hovered between her legs, my cock teasing the entrance of her wet pussy. Her legs trembled around me, having just come down from her orgasm.

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