Page 34 of The Billionaire Land Baron

“It’s funny, Jake. You look different, but I can see you in there. Definitely not as bad as you made it out to be. I think young Jake is adorable.”

Blushing was just going to become the norm around Shelby. Jake wished his face and neck would just stay red so it wouldn’t be as obvious when he felt embarrassed or flattered. Basically, anytime Shelby said anything nice, his face flamed. He glanced at her, his heart speeding up. “Just young Jake is adorable?”

She smiled, still holding his hand loosely. One finger traced over the ridges of his knuckles and that tiny movement made every nerve ending in his arm sing. “Current Jake is pretty easy on the eyes,” Shelby said.

“Good to know,” he said. “I’d hate to think that you prefer young Jake. Quid pro quo, Clarice.”

She laughed. “Silence of the Lambs? I don’t know how appropriate that quote is right now…”

Jake loved that whenever he tossed out a movie or book reference she seemed to get it. “It’s highly appropriate. I want to see a picture of you in junior high. Since you basically said you were cute back then, too, I want to see the proof.”

“So, I’m just cute?”

“Current Shelby is more than cute. But it seems a little Lolita for me to say more than that about junior high Shelby.”

She giggled. “Good point. Did you actually read Lolita?”

“Nah. If I’m going Russian lit, I’m much more Dostoyevsky. The Brothers Karamazov, not Crime and Punishment.”

Shelby fanned her face. “City, you need to tone down the literary references. A girl can take only so much.”

He grinned. “Stop changing the subject. Picture.”

“Tomorrow. I’m not going back in there to get it and risk waking Daddy. I can’t promise he won’t come out here with a shotgun if he knows we’re in here alone.”

“Uh…tomorrow’s fine. I’d like to avoid shotguns. I already had some beautiful girl wave a pistol in my face today.”

Now Shelby was blushing. It took her a moment to respond. “It’s not that exciting anyway. I don’t look all that different. I had bigger hair back then, just like the rest of Texas. Thank goodness most of us got over that. My late growth spurt never happened. I am exactly the same height as I was at twelve.”

“I like your height,” Jake said.

Shelby seemed to realize that she was still holding his hand and pulled away. She looked down at the table, picking at her fingernails. “You’re not looking for…someone taller?” She made a face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even ask. Do you already have a girlfriend back home?”

“I don’t,” he said. Shelby didn’t smile, but the corners of her mouth twitched, like she wanted to smile and was trying to hide it. “To answer your question, no. I’m not looking for someone taller. Honestly? I wasn’t looking for anyone at all. But you can’t choose when you find someone. It just happens.”

Xander would be cheering him on if he could hear this conversation. Sure, most of it was talking around how he felt. But Jake was never this flirtatious or bold. Something about Shelby made him want to say more than he usually did. He felt the layers of insecurity falling away.

But he was still avoiding what he should say: that he and his company were responsible for her land getting annexed by the city. A wave of nausea passed over him. For a few moments, caught up in her touch and the banter back and forth, he’d forgotten. Now the realization hit him again. Harder.

As sick as he felt knowing that, he still couldn’t say the words. The fact that Shelby seemed interested in him just made it harder.

You’re leaving in a few days anyway,he reminded himself. What do you think is going to happen here?

Shelby glanced up at him through her lashes. “I like your height too.”

Jake felt a simmering warmth rising in his chest. Gone were worries about the land or him leaving. There was just this moment with this woman and her power to knock him off his feet.

Suddenly Shelby made a gagging sound and started to laugh, putting her head down on the table. “Oh my word. Could I sound any dorkier? ‘I like your height too.’ Please shoot me. I’m not good at this.”

Her laughter was contagious and he found himself laughing too. “You’re not good at what?”

She looked up at him. “Jake. Come on. At flirting.”

He grinned. “You’re flirting with me?”

“Aren’t you flirting with me? Maybe if we have to ask, that’s the confirmation that neither of us is good at it.”

Now it was his turn to laugh. He rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, definitely not my strong suit.”

---