Page 102 of Billionaire Unreachable: Wyatt

Shelby shot out of her chair, raced to Marshall, and in her typical, upbeat Shelby fashion, she threw herself into his arms without thinking about her actions.

“I’m so grateful that you saved my life,” Shelby said enthusiastically. “Thank you for designing that special GPS device, and helping to get me back. I’ll always be grateful.”

I watched as Marshall stood there for a few beats before he raised his arms and hugged Shelby back.

For several seconds, I thought about how unusual this moment was, and how I’d never seen a woman throw herself at Marshall for a hug.

Our Last Hope leader was an intimidating guy, and he was usually all business.

Other than Tori and Harlow, he probably intimidated most females because it was rare that he even cracked a smile.

Of course, she’d never been intimidated by me, either, so maybe it wasn’t actually a brave move for her. She was used to assholes with no sense of humor.

“You don’t have to be grateful,” Marshall said in a milder voice than I’d ever heard from him in the past. “Rescuing kidnapped victims is what we do at Last Hope.”

Shelby stepped back and looked at Marshall earnestly. “You took a risk with Last Hope by rescuing me, and it saved my life. That’s a big deal to me. It’s not much, but I made you some cookies. I left them near the door because I wasn’t sure I’d see you. Let me get them.”

She rushed out of the room and went to grab her bag of cookies.

“I wondered what was in that bag,” I said wryly to Marshall. “I want you to know that had I known about the cookies, they never would have made it here to headquarters.”

Marshall smirked. “You’re possessive about her cookies?”

“Once you try them, you’ll know why,” I replied gruffly.

“She’s a good woman, Wyatt,” Marshall said grimly. “Don’t fuck this up.”

I wanted to ask him what the hell he meant, but Shelby came rushing back through the door. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like, so I made a variety. Chocolate chip, snickerdoodles, peanut butter, and oatmeal raisin.”

“Wait a minute!” I barked. “There’s three of those that I haven’t tried yet.”

Marshall took the bag and actually winked at Shelby. “I like them all. I haven’t had homemade cookies in a long time. I’ll let you know how much I enjoyed them, Wyatt. Thank you, Shelby.”

I had no doubt Marshallwouldrub it in later, when Shelby wasn’t around.

“You’re welcome,” she said and beamed at the older man. “If you think it would help, I’d love to volunteer to come in and feed everyone when you’re running a mission. You do have a kitchen, and I’m sure you need to eat after it’s over.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but Marshall cut off my words with a quick reply. “I think everyone would appreciate that. They’re usually starving. Sometimes they go out to grab pizza and bring it back or stop for food after it’s over.”

Marshall didn’t bother to mention that we always invited him when we stopped for food, but he’d always passed.

Shelby wrinkled her nose adorably. “I think I could do better than pizza, and it will be ready here as soon as you’re done.”

“I’m sold,” Marshall said as he actually smiled at Shelby.

“Thank you,” she said appreciatively. “It will make me feel better if I can help in some small way.”

“No volunteer contribution is ever small,” Marshall corrected.

I liked Marshall, and I respected him, but it was starting to grate on my nerves that Shelby had not only thrown herself into his arms, but that she was smiling at him, that dimple in full view, like she adored him.

Hell, she’d even baked cookies for him that I’d never tasted.

It had been so long since I’d touched Shelby myself in any other way but a gentle caress that I’d probably be annoyed by anyone getting more attention than me at this point.

Not that Shelby hadn’t tried to toss her gorgeous body into my arms, but I’d gently set her away from me, concerned that I’d cause her more pain.

She’d needed more time to heal.

---