Page 37 of The Billionaire Land Baron

She pressed her lips to his forearm, then laid her cheek along it.

“You shouldn’t be able to do that,” Shelby said.

“Do what?”

“Know me so well. After, what—a day?”

“It seems longer. I feel like I’ve known you forever.” Like I want to know you forever.

“It’s too bad. You leaving.”

“I told you I’m not. I’m staying.”

“I don’t mean tonight. I mean whenever your car is fixed, City. You’ll go home.”

Home. This felt more like home to him than anything had in a long time. Not the place—the Airstream with the too-small shower and the tiny house in need of repairs. But being with Shelby. Being with her felt like home. The thoughts going through his head were crazy and he knew it. Yet knowing it and acknowledging that didn’t make him feel them any less.

Silence stretched between them. Her tears had stopped. Jake wasn’t ready yet for the night to end.

“Tonight was fun,” he said. “It was my first time line dancing. Obviously. Also my first time dancing while carrying someone piggyback.”

“If it makes you feel better, it was my first time doing that. Not sure how well it worked as a teaching tool.”

Jake grinned. “I thought I did okay.”

Shelby laughed. “Sure you did, City.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Can you handle it if I am?”

“I can take it,” he said. “Thanks for inviting me. I feel a little more Texan now that I’ve officially been to a honky-tonk bar.”

“Yeah, you blend,” she said with a terrible attempt at a New York accent.

“Was that…My Cousin Vinny? It’s a little hard to tell because you can’t do accents. It’s adorable.”

She poked his bicep. “My dad loves that movie. We watch it every year at Christmas.”

“Why Christmas?”

Shelby shrugged. “I don’t know. Christmas is such an intense time, you know? Family, God, all that kind of aimed at you like a cannon—just BOOM! Merry Christmas. We have a few comedies we watch every year. Mostly non-Christmas, other than Die Hard.”

“You’re one of those people who thinks Die Hard is a Christmas movie.”

“I don’t think it. Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Period.”

“We can agree to disagree on that,” Jake said. “What other movies are on the Christmas list?”

Shelby tapped her fingers on the table. “Okay, so we do twelve. Because, you know, twelve days of Christmas and all. Some are my choices, some are my dad’s, and some are both. We’ve got Die Hard, My Cousin Vinny, Office Space, Waiting for Guffman, Happy Gilmore, The Money Pit, Death at a Funeral (the British one), Lake Placid, The Naked Gun, Mean Girls, Waking Ned Devine, and Return to Me.”

Jake shook his head at the list. Mentally he found himself wondering which were her choices and which were her dad’s. He had seen most, but there were a few he’d never even heard of. “That’s quite a list. Merry Christmas, indeed. Isn’t Return to Me a chick flick more than a comedy?”

“Have you seen it?”

“No,” Jake said.

“It’s got romance and some sweet moments, but it’s definitely comedy. Romantic comedy. The supporting cast is amazing.”

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