The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [309]
Blankly, her mind in a muddle, she stared at him. “I have to go find a job. I have to…I don’t know. I have to do something.” Then, before she could stop herself, she whispered, “Jordan, what am I going to do?”
His expression softened, and she wondered if what she saw in his eyes was pity. Details whipped through her mind with the speed of light. Scheduled dental checkups for the kids. The premium on her mother’s health insurance. The gas and electric, the mortgage…. She hadn’t had a chance to save up much money yet. She’d been too busy making repairs. And now…
The sheet fell to the floor, forgotten as she covered her face with her hands, knowing she’d failed yet again. “I have to find a job.” She said it once more, hoping to make herself understand. But she’d already looked everywhere before accepting the work at the bar. Nowhere else had paid enough. For a high school dropout who could only work certain hours because of being a mother, she wasn’t exactly prime employment material.
Jordan’s hands curved around her shoulders, caressing, comforting. “It’s too early to do anything right now. I’ll call the sheriff back in a bit and get all the details, okay?”
The sheriff? Not his brother, so it must have been the one who’d wanted them arrested. She’d known he was watching the bar, that he was fed up with the nightly problems that seemed to erupt….
Jordan interrupted her thoughts. “I have a few solutions, sweetheart. Will you listen to me?”
Georgia realized she’d put her worries onto him; she’d come to depend on him whether she wanted to admit it or not. How had she let that happen?
He’d once offered to let her work for him, but that would be no more than charity and she didn’t think she could stand it. She shook her head as she tried to pull away.
“You will listen,” Jordan stated, and urged her toward his sofa.
“What is there to say? I won’t work for you—”
“You don’t have to.” Jordan gently pushed her into the seat, then plucked up the sheet and handed it to her. Georgia wrapped it around herself; she had all but forgotten she was nude.
“Now just listen.” He caught both her hands and held tight. “You said you wanted options, well here’re two.” He drew a deep breath. “You can marry me.” He waited, watching her closely, and when she only stared at him in shock, his expression hardened. “Or you can teach dance at your own studio.”
That was every bit as confusing as his proposal. Only…he hadn’t really proposed. Not once had he ever said he loved her, only that he wanted her. And last night he’d admitted to respecting her, admiring her…
“Georgia, are you listening to me?”
She blinked. “Yes, but…I don’t have a studio.”
Jordan seemed to be getting angrier by the moment. “I found you one. It’s in the center of town. It used to be a novelty shop, but the owner is retiring and the place is wide and airy and with a little renovation it’d be perfect.”
She sat there, naked but for a sheet, confusion weighing her down. “A novelty shop?”
Jordan grabbed her chin and kissed her hard. He actually trembled he was so furious. “I already agreed to buy the building so you might as well agree.” When she still hesitated, he barked, “You said you enjoy teaching dance, and Misty and Honey assure me there’ll be—”
Incredulous, Georgia shot off the sofa to stare down at him. “You bought me a building?”
He didn’t stand, but instead sprawled back in his seat and put his arms along the sofa back. Every single muscle in his arms and chest and shoulders was defined. “Yes.”
“Ohmigod.” She paced away, but had taken no more than ten steps when she whirled back around to face him. “How can you buy me a building? Nobody buys someone else a building!”
His eyes narrowed. “I also asked you to marry me.”
“No.” Wildly, she shook her head. “You told me I could marry you. It’s not at all the same thing.”
“You want all the fanfare? You want me to go down on one knee?”
“No!” Her head had started to pound and she felt queasy. It would be so easy to marry him, to let him