Faking It with my Billionaire Grump

20. Jake

20

Jake

I watch as my closest friends haul Bryan into the barn, Chris throwing a glance over his shoulder at me and raising a hand.

I lift a grateful hand back, and then I turn to Tilly. “Let’s take a walk”

After that kiss, I need to do something. I don’t know what came over me. Fighting wasn’t going to solve anything, but I had to think on my feet. Actually, I didn’t think about it at all. I just knew it would stop Bryan in his tracks. No matter what kind of idiot he is, he was hardly going to throw a punch at me with Tilly in my arms.

Besides, I wanted to show him that she was mine now.

Alright, it’s not like I haven’t thought about kissing her, moreso since our fake marriage. I also imagined it would feel like it used to feel all those years back. But it shocked me that it didn’t. It felt a hundred times better. Parts of me are now awakened that haven’t seen the light of day in a long time. Which is why I now need to do something to get rid of this pent-up desire.

We walk in silence for a while, neither of us knowing what to say. I don’t want to say I’m sorry because that would be a lie. I’m not sorry at all. In fact, if I had the chance, I’d do it again.

But even though Tilly kissed me back, and when I gazed down at her afterward, she looked up at me with those beautiful soft eyes, I can’t know if that reaction was because she was just caught up in the moment. Really, I should have asked first, but there wasn’t time. I just wanted to put out the fire.

And instead start a new one.

Yes. Something like that.

“Bryan thinks you’re a simpleton,” Tilly says after a little while, “but he doesn’t really have a clue who you are or what you’ve accomplished. All he sees is your outer appearance, which, I will admit, fooled me, too, when I first saw you that day in the grocery store.”

Okay. So we’re not talking about the kiss. Good. That makes things a little easier, I think. For now, at least.

“When you left, I was a bit lost. I didn’t really know what to do with myself. If I wasn’t working at the ranch, I spent all my time with you. Suddenly, I had a gaping hole in my life, and I had no way to fill it.”

“I’m sorry,” she says quietly.

I don’t know what to say to that, so I just carry on with my story.

“About six months later, Cal came home to visit Pops. I knew he was making a name for himself, and we got to talking. He sat me down and told me what he’d done and how he’d done it. He was only meant to be home for a few days, but he ended up staying for a month. Every day, he would teach me more and more. By the time he left, I was more educated than I was from all my years in school.”

“You’d definitely thrive in the city,” Tilly says.

I shake my head. “I like my life just the way it is. The idea of living in a concrete jungle doesn’t appeal to me. I’d miss my morning coffees on the porch, overlooking the fields and watching the sunrise.”

“Yep,” she says, flashing me a knowing look. “You definitely wouldn’t get that in New York.”

“I know. I love it here. Things are simple.” I smile down at her. “Well, they used to be.”

Tilly laughs a little, and then she goes quiet for a while longer. I know her mind is running at a mile a minute; I just don’t know what’s going through it.

“I am sorry, Jake,” she says, keeping her eyes ahead of her. “I should never have run away. More than that, I’m sorry for humiliating you that night in front of the whole town. I’ve never forgiven myself for that.”

“I know,” I say gently.

She glances up at me and then looks away again. “I knew you were never with another girl. I just got really scared.”

“Of what?”

Tilly shrugs. “I’d spent my whole life watching my mom let my dad make her decisions for her. Her life just seemed so small. So… boring. So controlled. This fear washed over me that I would become just like her. That my life would never be more than this little town. That I would never get the chance to make a mark on the world. When I let those thoughts run wild, I panicked. I suddenly felt trapped, like I was suffocating and needed to get out.”

“But you’re not your mom,” I say.

“I know that,” she acknowledges. “And I realize now that I was young, and stupid, and foolish. It was an impulsive decision. A decision based on my small worldview.”

“Do you still think Baskington has nothing to offer?” I ask carefully. My question is loaded with underlying reasons, but I don’t want to just come out and say what I really mean.

“No.” She shakes her head. “Not at all. In fact, while I love the city, I’ve really enjoyed being back here.”

“Well, you know the people here. You could always move back.”

Tilly turns and looks at me, her eyes seeming to search my face. She opens her mouth to answer when a sound behind us makes us both turn.

Chris is running over to us, a beaming grin all over his face.

“We’ve got rid of him,” he declares. “He headed off pretty soon after we took him back inside. Come on, guys. Don’t let him ruin your night. You’re missing all the fun.”

While I’m grateful for Chris, Joey, and Phil arriving when they did earlier, Chris’s timing now couldn’t be worse. This is the first time Tilly has ever opened up. There is still so much left to say, but it appears, as we follow Chris back to the barn, that those things are going to have to wait.