Page 84 of The Billionaire Land Baron

“You…”

“I’m getting ahead of myself,” he said. “We’ll come back to that.”

“I…” Shelby’s brain felt like mush. Too many questions, too much excitement. “So where did the house go? And where is everyone?”

Jake’s fingers tightened on her shoulder and he sighed. “This part I’m really sorry about, but it couldn’t be helped. McClure made sure we did a full inspection before signing, just to make sure everything was in order. But the house had lost its structural integrity. We had to tear it down.”

When she had seen the empty space on the lot, Shelby knew. But a part of her had wild hope that it had simply been moved. The property was gone, but they kept the house and used a trailer or whatever they do to move things. It wasn’t a great house, but it had been home. All her memories were contained within the walls. She thought then of Gracielynn and how she had said that people were who made a house into a home.

“MASH,” Shelby said. “That’s why you asked?” She gave Jake a sideways glance. He was looking out over the water now, where the light was fading.

“Yes. I wanted…I want…” He ran his other hand through his hair. “I feel like I’m doing this all wrong. I did it wrong and I’m telling you wrong. I’m not good at this.”

Shelby reached across to his knee. The touch startled him and he looked down at her hand with wide eyes, then at her face.

“Jake,” she said. “I’m listening. It’s okay. Just talk to me.”

“I wanted to get you a new house. Have one built. Or…something. But it was all too fast and I started too late. Your dad also told me that I was rushing ahead a little bit, taking things out of order.”

“You talked to my dad?” This is the question she asked, but what she really wanted to know was what things he was taking out of order. “Why didn’t he tell me when I called?”

“I wanted to tell you myself. Since that was a mistake I made before. I didn’t want to make it again.” He took his hand from her shoulder and grabbed for her hand, still resting on his knee. He turned it over, tracing her palm lightly with a fingertip.

“I wanted to make a grand gesture.”

“I think saving my land is pretty grand.”

He beamed. “So, you accept?”

Shelby nodded. “I can’t imagine not living here. But I think we should talk about me paying you back. Just what the bank paid me for this place.”

“We can talk about that, if you want. But I think the money would be better spent on getting your Daddy and Mama a permanent place. It might be crowded with all of us here. Then we just need to get us a house.”

We. Us. The words were tricky and took a moment to settle in Shelby’s brain. Her heart seemed to understand first, picking up tempo until it was racing. Then her cheeks flushed again.

Slowly, Shelby turned to look at Jake. His eyes searched hers and she could see a flicker of worry there, but his mouth was curved up in the white-toothed grin she loved.

“Us? You want to get us a house?”

“That was the other thing I talked to your Daddy about. While I’m not ready to pop the big question—yet—I have your father’s permission. I figured you’ve had a lot of proposals and I needed to make sure that I was going to be the one to get a yes. I know I’m revealing my hand here, but I promise to keep the proposal itself a surprise. For now, though, I’ve rented a house in Lucky. I plan to stay as long as it takes to get a yes out of you. Unless you want to tell me no right now—no to this crazy plan of dating. Or courting, or whatever you call it. I just want to get you to say yes now, and then save a yes again for me later. Not too much later. Soon, but not yet. I want a chance to show you that I love you and just how much.”

It was too much. Shelby stood and City got to his feet, too, watching her to figure out where to go next. The sun dipped below the tree line, leaving everything bathed in the soft, forgiving light of dusk.

“Shelby?”

She heard the sound of Jake getting to his feet. She sensed him standing behind her and knew that she only had to turn and she would be in his arms. City nudged at her leg. Mouth open to speak, she spun around to face Jake.

Jake was waiting, and before she could speak, he pressed his hands gently to her face and drew her face to his. When his lips met hers, the thoughts and worries that had been pinging around her brain disappeared. Shelby let herself get lost in the tenderness of his kiss and the way his hands slid from her face to her neck and then circled her waist, pulling her closer. She pulled away, breathless, and smiled up at him.

“Hey—we can kiss standing up!”

He grinned back and traced the curve of her jaw, sending a rush of blood down her neck to her chest. “Yes…but my back might be sore. I basically have to bend over halfway. Totally worth it, but I definitely can’t kiss you standing up straight.”

“Unless…” Shelby narrowed her eyes and Jake looked startled as she grabbed him around the neck and jumped up, assuming he would catch her. His arms went underneath her hips as her legs wrapped around him.

“You’re not going to make me line dance, are you?”

Shelby giggled. “Only if you stop kissing me.”

He covered her mouth and silenced her giggles with another round of kisses that left her breathless. Only when she heard City whining did they pull apart.

“I think your dog is saying he doesn’t like our PDA.”

“City? He loves PDA. I think he’ll be a good reminder to keep things PG. And he’s not my dog. He’s our dog. Kind of a deal breaker. You want me, you get the dog.”

Jake kissed along her jaw and found her mouth again before pulling back so she could see his eyes. “Moving kind of fast with him, aren’t you?”

She gave him a gentle smack on the shoulder. “He’s not the only one I’m moving fast with. Want to complain?”

“Nope.” Ignoring City’s whining, Jake found her mouth again and Shelby relaxed into the feeling of being swept away.

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