Page 26 of The Billionaire Land Baron

She didn’t hesitate but tossed it aside to a nearby table where it almost spilled a few beers. “Hey!” The guy sitting there called. She waved a hand without looking and he shut up.

“Better?” she said.

It was. And it wasn’t. Because now her face wasn’t hooded in the shadows of her hat and he could see the full beauty there. Her hair, soft and loose around her shoulders, her eyes big and bright and fixed on his, her lips slightly parted. He swallowed.

“Teach me?” he said and her eyes lit up.

She grinned and hopped up to give him a kiss on the cheek, a hand pressed to his shoulder to steady her. Before he could react, she pulled him back to the floor, leaving a little space between them and the other lines of dancers.

“I’ll stand back here and put my hands on your hips. You follow my touch and my voice,” she said.

Anywhere, his head shouted. But he just nodded as she put her hands on his hips, sending beams of light coursing through his body. She put pressure on his right hip, pushing him to the left as she shouted, “Three steps left!”

Tugged him backwards.

“Two steps back!”

Pushed on his left hip.

“Two steps right!”

Held both tight.

“Three stomps and clap!”

Spinning him sideways.

“Turn left!”

But he turned the wrong way and went crashing into her. She giggled and grinned up at him. The tension left his body as he laughed. “I really suck at this!”

“Who cares?” she said. “Are you having fun?”

“Yes!” he said, surprised by the fact that he was. Only because of her. Otherwise he would have been hiding at a table in the corner, not on the dance floor. “But it’s hard to hear you.”

“I’ve got an idea. You trust me?” she shouted.

Yes. No.

“Sure?”

She spun behind him and he heard her say, “Catch me!”

Then her arms were around his neck as she leaped up piggyback style. His arms went naturally around her legs, the feel of their smooth muscle under his fingertips making it hard for him to breathe.

And then her voice was in his ear. “That’s better. Can you hear me now?” She giggled and he couldn’t keep a smile from his face.

“I’d have to be dead not to. Shelby, what—”

When she lightly squeezed his right hip with her boot and whisper-shouted, “Move left,” he got it. She was riding him like a horse, leading him through the steps, her voice and breath on his neck sending sparks through his skin. He wasn’t paying any attention to the steps anymore or even the people around him, because he was so focused on her closeness, her touch, her body against his back. The feel and weight and smell of this tiny girl who had become so huge in his life in no time at all.

Time.He didn’t want to think about that. Two or three more days and he’d be gone. Then Lucky would find out who he had been and probably hate his guts for turning their town into something new. Never mind how the economy would bloom. Shelby wouldn’t need to work three jobs. But he knew somehow after spending a day around town that people would probably prefer Lucky as is to the grand plans he and Xander had.

His stomach started to sour and he tried to push the thoughts away. Do what Xan does. Don’t think too hard about it.

Jake laughed and followed Shelby’s instructions and kicks and tried to rein in the thoughts and feelings that ignited at her touch.

At the end of the song, there was clapping and whooping and Jake realized that people had circled them, laughing. For a moment he froze. Then Shelby’s voice tickled his ear.

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