Faking It with my Billionaire Grump

14. Jake

14

Jake

A few days later, Tilly arrives at the ranch in foul form.

After the disaster with the piglets, things have gotten back to normal, and we’re thankfully on better terms. In fact, I’m kind of enjoying having her around. It should be worrying, but I’m ignoring the alarm bell ringing in my mind.

“What’s going on?” I say when I see her face. She looks like thunder, and for a second, I wonder if it’s something I’ve done.

“He just won’t let up,” she snaps. Okay. I’m in the clear. “The calls and texts are relentless. Look.”

She pulls her phone from her back pocket, taps the screen a few times, and then turns the phone to face me. The screen is full of texts, one after the other. Then she starts scrolling, and my eyes widen at how many there are.

“Exactly,” she says. “No matter how much I ignore him, and I do, he just won’t give up. If the texts and phone calls aren’t bad enough, I arrived home last night to find the house covered in bouquets of flowers. Not one or two, Jake. There were ten. Ten bouquets of flowers,” she rants. “I mean, who does that?”

“He’s not letting you go without a fight, that’s for sure,” I say.

Unlike me, who probably didn’t try anywhere near as hard to make her stay all those years ago. It’s something I regretted back then, and in these recent weeks of her being back here, that regret has returned. Maybe I could have talked sense into her. Maybe I could have convinced her to stay. But I hadn’t tried hard enough.

This Bryan guy, as awful as he sounds, is putting my poor efforts to shame.

“You want to go for a drive?” I ask. “Maybe take your mind off things?”

She shakes her head. “No. I need to be doing something physical. At least for now.”

“Okay. Good. I need to go and check on the cattle. You good to ride?”

Tilly looks a little taken aback. “It’s been a while.”

I give her a smile. “You’ll be fine. It’s just like riding a bike. With legs.”

She grins then, and I feel pleased with myself that I’ve managed to cheer her up.

At the stables, I ready Clover. She’s a beautiful mare. She’s also calm and has a great temperament. If Tilly hasn’t been on a horse since she left, and that’s what she tells me, I need to break her back into it gently.

I take Finn, as usual, and we head over to the fields. It’s still pretty early, but even so, the day is going to get hot. With the sun still rising and the light mist emanating from the cold earth the scenery ahead of us looks pretty magical.

When I turn to look at Tilly, her face is a picture of awe, soaking it all in and clearly enjoying what she sees.

“This is amazing, Jake.”

“It always was,” I say. “You’ve just forgotten.”

She gives me a look that makes my stomach flip. It’s the soft gaze of her eyes that gets me. I also notice that, since my comment the other day, she’s stopped putting that muck on her face. Now, her skin glows, reflecting the bright orange of the sun. She always was beautiful, but in this environment, she looks more alive.

When we reach the field, the herd is lazily grazing, spread across the land and appearing content. Cows are such docile creatures, and for the most part, they don’t give me any trouble. As long as they have something to eat and water, they pretty much look after themselves.

A little while later, when I’m satisfied that the grass in this field will sustain them for a little longer, we head back to the ranch. At the stables, Tilly looks all windswept, with strands of hair that have been tugged loose from her braid. She’s still glowing, and I find myself watching her as she dismounts and leads Clover to the trough for water.

This is only pretend, remember? She’s going to leave you again sooner or later.

It’s nothing I don’t know, and a part of me needs to ready myself for that, and yet, instead of taking heed, I shove my inner voice into a box somewhere in the hope that I can ignore it. I’m a grown man. I can handle it.

Yeah. Right.

“Thank you,” Tilly says, smiling up at me as we head back to the house. “I needed that.”

“You’re welcome. It’s going to get hot soon. You want to work inside with the AC?”

She nods. “Sure.”

“Do you know anything about Excel?” I ask when we reach the porch.

Tilly looks at me like I’ve just grown an extra head. “You use Excel?”

I smirk. “What? You think a cowboy can’t use a computer? You think I run this place by writing everything down on paper? Or maybe I have an abacus tucked away somewhere?”

She giggles then and looks a little bashful. “I… I don’t know what I thought.”

“Jeez, Tilly. You don’t give me much credit, do you?”

We head to my office and I open up the computer. I show her the Excel sheets I have. While she sits at the desk, I’m leaning right beside her, and her scent rises to meet me. It’s an intoxicating, musky smell that is more than distracting.

Concentrate, Jake.

I’m trying. I start telling her that I need all the stock she counted up the other day put into specific columns when Tilly interrupts me.

“I get it. You don’t have to mansplain it all.”

“Mansplain?” I frown. “Is that even a word?”

“It is these days, Jake. It means when a man explains things to a woman when she already knows what she’s doing.”

I shake my head in wonder. “What’s next? Right, well, enough mansplaining, then. I’ll leave you to it.”

I wish I could say that when I went out to feed the animals, my mind was on my job, but it wasn’t. In fact, Tilly is in my thoughts more and more these days. I wake up with her on my mind, and I fall asleep in the same way. I should be worried. I should be more concerned that my heart is overruling my head. If I’m not careful, I’m going to get hurt again.

And yet, I’m fighting it, telling myself that I’ll be fine. That I can handle it. But in all honesty, I don’t really know if that’s true.

After lunch, we head into town to pick up some animal feed. Of course, Tilly doesn’t need to come with me. In fact, her time would be better spent at that computer, doing the job I hate the most. But I want her with me. I’ve used the excuse that people in the town need to be reminded of our fake relationship so that when the time comes, they can help us get rid of her ex.

This is getting bad, right?

“I need to stop by the hardware store first,” I say, driving into the parking lot. “Do you need anything? Paint? Brushes?” I smirk.

She gives me a sarcastic grin. “Funny. What would I need them for? If I recall, I don’t know one end of a paintbrush from the other.”

I chuckle at her and jump out of the truck. “Be right back.”

A few minutes later, I head back to the truck, but Tilly’s not there. I glance around and see her just coming out of the bakery across the street. I wave, and she waves back, readying to cross the street.

“Jake.”

I turn to see George coming after me, and I wonder if I’ve forgotten something in the store. But I notice his hands are empty, so he must want me for something else.

“What’s up?” I ask when he reaches me.

“I meant to tell you that Katie’s birthday is in a couple of weeks. We’re having a barbecue and you and…” He pauses, looking a little unsure.

“Tilly?”

“Yes. Tilly. You and Tilly are invited.” He looks at me warily. “Is it true? Are you guys really pretending to be back together to get rid of her ex?”

I’m about to answer when I hear raised voices behind me. George and I both turn to look, and immediately, I know I need to go. Tilly is still on the other side of the street, only now, she’s arguing loudly with Bryan.

Without looking away, I say, “I need to go.”

“Sure,” George replies, but I’m already walking away.

I take long, determined strides across the street, and upon reaching Tilly, who seems relieved to see me, I look Bryan in the eye.

“What’s going on?”

I’m head and shoulders above him, but that doesn’t seem to deter him as he scowls up at me. “None of your darned business,” he spits, looking at me like I’m something he’s wiped off his shoe.

Throwing an arm across Tilly’s shoulder in a relaxed fashion, I glare back at him. “Actually, it becomes my business when you’re yelling at my fiancée.”

“Really?” Bryan sneers, looking from Tilly to me and back again. “This is what you want me to believe, Tilly?”

“Hey,” I say sharply. “Talk to me.”

He ignores me completely and snorts, looking back at Tilly. “You’re too good for this loser. I mean, look at him. What can he possibly offer you that I can’t?”

“How about a little respect?” I snap.

“You know nothing about Jake,” Tilly cuts in abrasively. “You stand there in judgment, but it’s you who’s yelling at me in the middle of the street. Jake has never done that, and I know he never will. He’s a better man than you’ll ever be. He’s loyal, faithful, kind, and supportive. All the things I want and need.”

“I was all those things to you,” Bryan argues.

“No, Bryan. You weren’t. You never have been, and you never will be. You saw me as competition. Something to control, like a pet. Jake sees me and loves me for who I am. And I love him for who he is. Just get it into your thick head. It’s over.”

“Not yet, it isn’t,” Bryan barks.

But he knows he’s lost this battle, and turning on his heels, he storms away.

“Nice guy,” I quip.

I didn’t notice, with all the hullabaloo, but Tilly has her arm wrapped around my back. She now looks up at me and places her other hand against my chest.

“Thank you, Jake.”

I gaze down at her, and in that moment, I want to wrap my arms around her and protect her from all the badness of the world. It’s an overwhelming feeling that takes me by complete surprise. I loved this woman once upon a time. I’d do anything for her. But I have a very real feeling that my protectiveness now is not just because of our past connection.

“We should go.”

We head to the warehouse and pick up the feed. All the way there, Tilly is quiet, like her mind is working overtime.

“Did he ever raise a hand to you?”

I pray the answer is no, but if she tells me he did, Bryan and I are going to have a whole lot more to talk about.

She shakes her head. “No. He was never violent. He was just a jerk. It’s hard to believe that I stayed with him for so long. I mean, he couldn’t be more opposite to you.”

Her words take me by surprise, and then I think back to what she said to Bryan about me earlier. A part of me believes that she thinks of me the way she described me. But does she really, or was she just trying to get rid of the guy?