Page 61 of The Billionaire Land Baron

She set down the mug. “Okay, you can’t look at me like a kid on Christmas. It’s freaky. And too early. I can’t eat if you’re staring.”

“It’s almost noon,” he said.

“I slept that long? Why didn’t you wake me up?”

Jake shrugged. “You must have needed the rest. And I want today to be all about you.”

“Oh,” she said, heat rising in her cheeks.

“And because it’s all about you, take your time with breakfast, but I do have someone coming up in a few minutes.”

Shelby loaded a plate with some eggs, bacon, and a bagel loaded with cream cheese. It made her uncomfortable to think about how much he spent, but the food was already here. “What kind of someone?”

“You’ll see,” he said, his smile making her stomach lilt. Other people talked about butterflies, but she remembered reading a book that talked about that feeling as hummingbirds. Shelby felt as though her stomach was filled with them, their tiny wings beating too fast to see. She set her plate down.

Jake’s face fell. “Is it not good? I can send it back and get something else for you?”

“No, it’s fine. I’m just—”

A knock at the suite interrupted her. “Be right back,” Jake said.

More room service? Shelby turned toward the door and her mouth dropped open. A woman in a black pantsuit was wheeling in a sliver rack of clothing. Jake followed her, his face smiling, but a little timid now. Shelby stood.

“Jake?”

The woman stopped behind the couch with the rack of clothing. Jake put his arm around Shelby. “This is Maria. Maria, Shelby.”

Maria put out her hand and Shelby shook it, then pulled down the hem of Jake’s big shirt, feeling underdressed and out of place. Her cutoffs were hidden under it and it probably looked like she didn’t have on pants at all.

Maria seemed unfazed. “Pleasure to meet you,” she said.

Shelby looked to Jake, a question on her face. “I knew you didn’t have a bag packed, so I thought you could pick out some things. Depending on what you want to do today, we’ve got a range of casual to dressy. A few things for me as well, depending.”

“Jake—I can’t let you buy me clothes.” Shelby pulled out of his embrace and crossed her arms.

Jake’s face fell and Shelby felt bad for half a second. “Why not?”

Shelby just stared at Jake. She wanted to walk right over to the rack and touch every piece of fabric. She had never had nice clothes. Not even tried them on. Her best dress had been for prom and came from Dress Barn. But her pride pulled in on the reins, hard. He couldn’t just throw his money around and expect…what? What did he want from her?

Shelby stepped away from the rack of clothes. Jake looked surprised. “Don’t you want something?”

Shelby stomped off to her suite and closed the door.

Jake knocked and then came in, closing the door after him. “Shelby?”

She whirled to face him. “Jake, I can’t let you buy me clothes for a day. That’s too much. I don’t need anything from you.”

He came close but seemed to sense that she wouldn’t want him to touch her when angry. When he spoke, it was softly, gentleness in his voice. “Look, I want to spend the day with you. I want to spend money on you. I can see that you feel uncomfortable. Or indebted. I don’t want you to feel either of those things. Please. Whatever we do today won’t make a dent in anything. We could fly to Vegas if you wanted and it wouldn’t matter.”

“You want to go to Vegas?”

He grinned. “Do you?”

She studied his face, seeing his eyes light up, waiting for her answer. If she said yes, he would be making arrangements. “No. But Jake—”

He pressed a finger to her lips, not pushing her mouth closed, but gently tracing her mouth. She fought the urge to kiss his fingertip.

“Shelby, let me do this. Please. I want to and I can. For today, let me spoil you. Relax. And if you just want to hang out and not do anything fancy or fun, we can sit in here in the same clothes all day and watch TV. I don’t care. But I thought we could do some things that would be fun for you. Things you can’t do in Lucky. Please let me. It’s not charity and I’m not trying to buy your affection. Just let me do this because I enjoy it. I think you will too if you can just stop thinking like you owe me or something.”

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