Page 5 of Make Me Crazy (Loco, Texas 2)

Jake could tell she was stressed by the way she yanked on her braid. It was her tell, her give away when something was bothering her, and, if she’d been any other woman, he’d have reached out to give her a hug. Rand wouldn’t appreciate his finer gentlemanly qualities though, so he just said, “If you want to talk…

“Hell no. I want to watch horror movies, drink beer, and for a few hours, not think about anything except how stupid the victims are.”

“Fair warning, the theme is remake horror. See the next generations take on the classics,” he said, pulling paper plates and napkins from the bag.

“Remakes suck.” She said, making a disgusted face.

“Then you can boo and hiss the whole time.” He countered, giving her a return face.

With a small smile, she picked up the pizza box. “Let’s go then.”

Following her into the other room, he noticed Rand’s legs really were nice. Long and slim, heading up to a firm, tight…

Holy hell, what was he doing? Why was he checking out Rand’s ass all of a sudden? It was all this talk about marriage and commitment. He’d never looked at Rand that way before, except for maybe her senior year, when she had been interested in that jerk wad, Branson Alexander. Jake knew she didn’t like to talk about it, that something big had gone down between the two of them, but he had never asked. He figured if she’d wanted to share, she’d have done so long ago, but for a few weeks, he’d noticed a softness about her that had made her seem…well, at times, lovely.

“Hey, Jake?” Rand broke into his thoughts, standing by the desk in the corner, she fiddled with a paper in her hands. “If I show you something, do you promise not to make fun of me?”

“Never,” he teased, trying to make her smile, but she looked so tense he wanted to kick his own ass for messing with her. “Sure, what’s up?”

She came over and sat down next to him, handing him the paper with a sigh. He could feel the heat of her body so close to him, and the smell of some kind of fruity shampoo. How had he never noticed how good she smelled?

“It’s my list of must haves for my husband,” she blurted, sitting stiffly next to him, waiting for him to laugh.

Under normal circumstances, he probably would have, but she looked so vulnerable, with her big brown eyes pools of liquid chocolate and her lower lip trembling. Looking away from her to peruse the list, he said, “You expect him to have absolutely no interest in the Double C?”

“Yeah, that’s why I wrote he had to have his own career, so he’d stay out of mine,” she said, tugging on her braid. “Should I have him sign a pre-nup or something?”

“I would, and make it very clear from the beginning it’s not an option.” He read the next line and spluttered, “Marriage in name only?”

A deep scarlet hue colored her cheeks. “Sex just complicates things. This is a business arrangement.”

“Yeah, a long ass business arrangement.” Rubbing his neck with his hand, he asked, “So, are you going to

care if he’s seeing someone else on the side? Or is he supposed to just spend his spare time with rosy palm for a year?”

“I don’t care what he does, as long as he leaves me alone,” she said stiffly.

“Okay, so if this is a business arrangement, is there a monetary incentive?” He asked, curiously.

A flash of hurt swept through her eyes so swiftly, if he didn’t know her like he knew himself, he’d have missed it.

“You think I’d have to pay someone to marry me?”

“Hey, you said it was a business arrangement. If that’s the case, then some kind of payment seems logical.” Slipping his arm around the back of the couch, he patted her shoulder and added, “You know, you could spend the next three months trying to meet someone for real. Haven’t you ever thought about marriage and kids?”

“And end up like my mother? No thanks, I’ll pass,” Rand said, shaking his hand off. “You’re probably right about the money. I’ll have to think about it.”

Jake knew that Rand’s parents hadn’t had a happy marriage, if only by the many nights she’d crawled through his window and slept over, but she was way too jaded for a twenty-five year old woman. Surprising himself, he reached out to brush a piece of hair from her forehead and said sincerely, “There are a ton of men in this town who would be lucky to have someone like you.”

He barely had time to dwell on the softness of her skin before, in true Rand form, she started making gagging noises. “Alright, if we’re done with the touchy feely moment, can I start this movie? Disembowelment I can handle, but this sappy chick talk is nauseating.”

“How is it you can be more of a guy than I am,” he asked, watching her get up and head towards the DVD player, silently cursing himself for his craziness. Whatever weird glitch was going on with him, he needed to nip it in the bud. For a brief moment, he was thinking Red wasn’t so nuts to consider marrying Rand. If she was willing to give her future husband some kind of financial help, as long as he stayed out of her business, why not him? He’d been wanting to buy Loco Tack and Feed for several months, had planned on applying for a loan, but with the money from Rand, he wouldn’t need to deal with the bank.

And it wouldn’t be like it was a real marriage.

“I don’t act like a guy,” Rand said, twisting around after putting the DVD in. “I’m just not one of those prissy girls you and Red seem to think are sooo wonderful.”

Red’s idea about fluffing up Rand’s femininity popped into Jake’s head. “What if you dressed up a bit? Put on some make up? Maybe you’d catch someone’s attention.”

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