Page 29 of The Billionaire Land Baron

Shelby’s land, annexed. Xander’s call. How had Matt put these pieces together before Jake did? Normally he would have known the second he saw Shelby’s property, but he hadn’t been driving or paying attention to GPS when Greg dropped him off. He simply hadn’t thought about it. He could have, but he didn’t. Since Layla broke down, he had been off his game. Then he met Shelby and it threw him even more.

The property he and Xan had been waiting on butted up against the Sabine. It was where the bridge would land on the Texas side. He hadn’t seen the river from Shelby’s, but then, he hadn’t walked the property either. He pictured the lake and how it disappeared beyond the tree line. It probably connected to the Sabine, a little offshoot of the river itself.

“I’ll take silence as a yes,” Matt said.

Jake did not answer. He didn’t want to believe it, though he knew it was too much of a coincidence.

The lights dimmed and suddenly a slow song was playing, the deep bass of a country singer crooning over the speakers. With a sense of dread, Jake saw Shelby beckoning him onto the dance floor for the slow song he had promised her.

And though he wanted to run and didn’t know how he could stand to look at her knowing what he now knew, she had that power over him. He stood and Matt said nothing as Jake met her on the floor. She called and he came.

Jake felt alternately sick and elated as her arms wrapped around his waist. She pressed her cheek to his chest and Jake wanted to bury his hands in her hair, which brushed over his palms. He wanted to lift her up into his arms and carry her out of The Lucky Line. Out of Lucky altogether. Would she go?

With a sinking sensation he realized that she might be free to leave now, since she would be losing her land. All because of him.

He wanted to be the one to protect her, but he was the reason she needed protection. Jake didn’t know what to do with that. What he should do is tell her now, himself, before she found out from someone else in a much worse way. He thought of Matt, how he would have been happy for Shelby’s happiness, even if that meant losing her. Matt would tell Shelby the truth if it were him. But it was easier for Jake to get lost in the moment. He could feel every place where she made contact with him: her hands on his shoulders, her cheek to his chest, his hands on her back.

She lifted up slightly, trying to circle her hands around his neck, giggling. “I can’t reach your neck, City. How’d you get so tall?”

“How’d you get to be so short?”

“Bad genes, I guess,” she said.

“You don’t have a bad gene in your body,” he said. As soon as the words fell out of his mouth, Jake wanted to take them back.

Shelby stiffened, and he thought she might pull away. Which he deserved, all things considered. Even if she didn’t yet know that he was the one responsible for losing her home. Instead, she tilted her chin to look up at his face. She had a half-smile on her face but her eyes looked serious.

When she spoke, her voice was low and quiet. “Are you hitting on me, City?”

His heart started up like a motorcycle’s roar behind his ribcage. “That depends.”

“On what?”

“Do you want me to?” he asked.

What was he doing? Jake didn’t flirt. He didn’t hit on women he just met, much less a woman who would hate him when she found out he was taking her family’s property to build a bridge to a shiny, new casino. The diamond ring he bought for Hannah was in his front right jeans pocket. If he focused, he could feel it there. Women were trouble. Even ones who didn’t seem to want him for his money. Hannah hadn’t seemed to either. He should be backing away slowly, or better yet, running for the door.

But something about Shelby had him dousing his rulebook in gasoline and happily dropping a match.

“That depends,” she said, a smile playing on her lips.

“On what?”

“On whether or not you—”

“Shelby!” A booming voice interrupted, and a man pulled her out of Jake’s embrace and into a bear hug, lifting her feet right off the ground. Her hands smacked at his back. Jake didn’t know what to do, so he simply stared.

“Put me down, Rhett!”

Rhett was almost as tall as Jake and so Shelby’s feet were off the floor, her cowboy boots flailing as she kicked. “Now, hang on a minute, wildcat! Don’t bruise my shins. I’ll put you down.”

He laughed, but Shelby looked ready to deck him as he set her back down. Immediately she pulled away and looped her arm through Jake’s.

Rhett was the kind of handsome that made Jake feel like the fat kid in gym class again. He had chiseled features and perfectly groomed blond hair. He narrowed his eyes and Jake tried to remember what he’d heard about Rhett. He felt like there were so many pieces of gossip that people had been tossing to him that he couldn’t keep people straight.

“Who’s your date?” Rhett asked.

“I’m not—” Jake started to say.

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