Page 57 of The Billionaire Land Baron

Shelby looked away, toward the big glass windows where he could faintly see a few scattered stars and a half-moon. He hadn’t shut the curtains when he’d tucked her into bed. In the dim light, she looked worn and haggard. She stood and walked toward the open door.

“Want to show me around? I’ve never been in a fancy suite. By the way, you look really adorable when you wake up.”

Jake’s cheeks heated at her compliment. He followed her out to the suite as though he were tethered to her. Her words seemed like her, but the sound and tone was off. They were forced and missing the normal easy lilt. Even after a few days he could recognize the change.

Shelby stood by the balcony doors, which was part of a full wall of glass. Jake wanted to come up behind her and wrap his arms around her waist, resting his head on hers. Instead he hesitated a few feet away.

“Shelby?”

She turned to look at him and though she smiled, it didn’t touch her eyes. “Can we talk on the balcony?”

“Sure. I’m thirsty. Do you want a water?”

“Thanks,” she said. She slipped out onto the balcony and Jake headed to the fridge to get two cold bottles. He was thirsty, but he also wanted a second to think before he joined her on the balcony. Something was off.

She had come for a reason and while he hoped it was for him, there was something else. He may not have been Matt, who could read everything about her at a glance, but Jake could see the hurt. Had she learned that he was the reason she lost her land? Until she knew, the thought would haunt him. He didn’t know why, but didn’t think that was the reason. He expected anger, not whatever cloud hung over her. Also, she likely wouldn’t have come all this way if that’s why.

Jake only wished he knew her well enough to know how she liked to be comforted. Did she want space? Touch? Words? Silence?

He felt the creeping doubt of his insecurities rising. Other than Hannah, he had rarely dated and had a tendency to overthink everything. Jake blew out a breath and tossed up a quick prayer: Give me the right words.

Shelby perched on the edge of a couch on the balcony, staring out over the water. A boat moved slowly across the water. She startled when he pressed the cold water bottle against her bare shoulder. For the first time he realized she was wearing the same tank and shorts over her bathing suit that she had on earlier in the day. How had he not noticed? Why hadn’t she changed? His concern deepened.

He sat down just beside her, half expecting her to scoot away. When she didn’t, he put his arm around her shoulders and slowly, gently, pulled her into him. She relaxed a little, leaning her head back to him and he could smell her, feeling the silk of her hair against his neck.

“Shelby, I don’t know what’s happening, but whatever it is, I’m here.”

She nodded and the seconds dragged out. During a college business class, his professor had shared research from the education field. Waiting three to ten seconds after asking a question prompts better responses. The professor had made them practice, taking turns coming up to the front of the class and asking a question, then waiting the proper time while doing their best not to count in their head. Three to ten seconds felt like forever. Jake didn’t even remember why they had been teaching this or how it related to business. Corporate meetings? Shelby curled against his chest but did not speak. He stopped counting after thirty seconds.

When Jake was trying to formulate a second question, she finally spoke, her voice heavy and laced with pain. “My mama came home.”

This had not been anything close to what Jake suspected. He thought about what the guys in the garage had said about her mother: that she’d struggled with mental illness, walked out of a facility, and not been heard from in ten years. He had only been gone a few hours—she had come home in that space of time?

“Is she…” Jake didn’t know how to formulate the question. He had too many and they all pressed into his mind at once.

“She seems totally fine. Normal, whatever that means. She’s driving a Toyota Camry for crying out loud. A Camry.” She snorted, as though this was the most absurd part of it. He drove a Camry as his primary car. Now probably wasn’t the time to say that. Jake struggled for words.

“How’d your dad take it?”

“Welcomed her back, arms open. No questions asked.”

Now her voice had an edge of bitterness that shook his heart. He’d heard her angry and it was adorable. Sad and it was painful. Bitterness was something worse.

Jake tried to think about how this would feel. His whole life he felt like he had been waiting for his father to come home. Driving trucks, he was gone most of the time and when he did come home, he wasn’t ever home. When he was, he wasn’t engaged. Sometimes Jake would catch him looking at him and Candace, blinking back surprise like he was trying to figure out who let a couple of kids in the house.

Had his father ever come home like the fathers in TV shows, hanging up a jacket and passing around hugs to his family, Jake would have rejoiced.

He tried to think of Shelby’s situation again. She had been holding down the fort and working odd jobs, trying to keep things together while her mother was…gone. He didn’t know how he would feel, but he ached for her.

“And you feel like…it was too easy?”

She blew out a breath. “That’s an understatement.”

“What did she say about where she’s been?”

“I don’t know. I left.”

“You left?”

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