Page 32 of The Billionaire Land Baron

“Daddy, can we talk cheese in the morning?” Shelby yawned. “I’m tired.”

“Sure thing, pumpkin.”

Shelby went through the normal nightly routine: his water, his pills, his blanket. The movements that she could have done in her sleep gave her time to think. Not about what they were going to do—she wasn’t ready for that. Instead her thoughts went to Jake. He had the kindest blue eyes and a smile that made her feel all quivery inside. When she’d jumped on his back at the Lucky Line, he carried her like she weighed nothing. She could still remember the feel of the muscles in his back and arms as he went through the motions of the line dance. She felt safe and cared for.

With a flush, Shelby realized that she was thinking of Jake like he could actually be a potential boyfriend. As if. In a few days, he’d be gone for good. No chance someone from Chicago would want to live in Lucky. She couldn’t leave.

Not that he would ask her to. Jake probably thought she was some weird, hick girl. In her emotional upheaval tonight, she had come on a bit strong. Remembering how she jumped up on his back, she felt incredibly embarrassed. Who does that? Not respectable women, that’s for sure. Definitely not the kind of women that Jake probably spent time with in Chicago.

Shelby had just gotten her daddy settled when her phone buzzed. It was an alert from the rideshare program she’d signed up for months ago. Who in the world needed a ride right now? She had actually forgotten about the program, since no one in Lucky ever needed a ride anywhere. Her car, a Miata with a penchant for overheating and a mostly-duct-tape convertible top, hardly ran. Matt started driving her around after he got tired of having to come pick her up when the thing broke down. The rideshare was just one more thing she’d put on the list for making money. Next she’d be selling macaroni necklaces on Etsy. Anything for a buck.

Not that it matters now.

Shelby sighed, realizing that she didn’t need to work fifty crazy jobs. The settlement from the bank couldn’t replace what they had, but she and her dad would be okay. More okay than they were now. She could stop scrambling and just work at the diner and try to finish her college classes.

She stared down at the app to see who needed a ride from where. It was probably a joke. Slim, maybe, or one of her girlfriends. But when she saw the pickup address, rage filled her, hot and sudden. The phone screen swam before her like even her eyeballs were bathed in lava.

It was her address. And there was only one person who could be wanting a ride.

Jake had feltclaustrophobic the moment he walked through the door of the Airstream. Panic, guilt’s kissing cousin, was starting to hit him now. He needed to tell Shelby. Yet the thought made him break out in a sweat. Shelby couldn’t find out about him while he was still staying here. He had visions of her pushing him into the lake where T-Ball waited. Maybe getting out her daddy’s shotgun and chasing him down the road.

Or the worst possible thing, which would be watching the light in her eyes dim, crumbling into pain and tears. Anger he could take. He didn’t want to see Shelby hurting.

The memory of her laugh rang in his ears. He could still feel the smooth, taut skin of her legs under his fingertips as she perched on his back, showing him how to line-dance. She made him brave. And maybe stupid. He wasn’t here for this. Worrying about Shelby wouldn’t do anything to help secure this deal for Obsidian. That was his job, and there were too many loose ends that might unravel the whole thing. He needed to focus and certainly couldn’t do that if he was worried about the person owning the property that they’d just secured.

The integrity move would be to tell her the truth. But Jake was going the cowardly route—he was going to run. He could pay a service to tow Layla to another town and garage. And if he could get a ride, he’d go to Orange, the nearest town that had actual, normal hotels. Money couldn’t fix everything, but it could certainly get him out of Lucky and fast.

It took five minutes to pack his bags and to set up a call for a ride share. It was shocking that there was rideshare out here at all. He half expected to see Matt’s truck in the driveway when he walked out of the trailer, duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

Instead of Matt’s truck or any other vehicle, he saw Shelby storming across the yard. Instinctively, Jake dropped the bag and put his hands up in front of him. She must have found out somehow. Matt probably told her and now he’d face her wrath. It was almost a relief, just to have the secret breathing out in the open air instead of rotting away inside him.

“Shelby,” he said, but before he could say anything else, she had reached him.

She gave him a shove that sent his back against the trailer and waved her phone in his face. “You want to leave? Right now? Really? Why don’t you tell me! Why are you trying to leave now?” She shoved him again. “Care to explain?”

“What?”

He couldn’t see what was on her phone because her hand was moving so fast. She kept waving it as she yelled. He grabbed her arm, thumb against the inside of her wrist. Her pulse was racing. But almost instantly, he wasn’t thinking about that anymore.

The phone was open to the rideshare app.

Of course. Shelby was the rideshare driver.

Jake dropped her wrist. “You have a car?”

Shelby shoved him again. “That’s not the point, Jake. Why are you leaving?”

Jake ran a hand through his hair and leaned back against the Airstream. He put hands in his pockets and levelled his gaze at her. “I’m not.”

“Then why’d you call for a ride? Why is your bag packed?” She punctuated every question with a finger to his chest.

He tried to take her wrists, but she shook him off. Stepping back, her face hardened. This was the perfect time to tell her. She walked right into it and was already at her worst: flaming mad.

But those words wouldn’t come. “I changed my mind.”

“Now that I caught you trying to sneak off? Now that you realized I was the one you were trying to get a ride from? What happened to change your mind in the two minutes since you walked out of here with a packed bag?”

“You,” he said.

---