Page 43 of Blue Collar Billionaire
“You can’t stop me, Dad. I love him and I have to tell him. I’ve been a certifiable idiot and that ends right now, okay?”
“I wasn’t trying to keep you from going, Lexi.” Her dad swiped off his sunglasses and looked down at her. “I only wanted to wish you good luck.”
“You knew why I needed the helicopter?”
“Your sister and I talk, you know. She tells me everything. She’s the one who told me I had to fix things with Jack in the first place.”
Lexi should’ve known it was Bianca who’d set all of that in motion. Lexi would have to thank her, after she chided her for meddling. “My sister is crazy.”
“She loves you. Just like your mother and I do. Just like we always will.” Her dad pulled her into a hug. “I love you, Alexis. I just want you to be happy. If Jack Bowden makes you happy, I hope you’ll have the courage to try to make it work with him.”
Lexi smiled and sank into her father’s hug. This was all she’d ever wanted from him. Ever. “Thank you, Dad. I’d better go. I don’t want to miss him.”
“Yes. You go on. I had Vi leave you a surprise on board.” Winston shooed her toward the helicopter.
Confounded, Lexi ran over to where the pilot was waiting. He opened the door for her and she climbed inside. There was a small cooler on the seat. She buckled in, then unzipped the container. Inside was a bottle of champagne on ice and two glasses. Her dad had figured it all out. And she was so relieved.
As the rotors gained speed and the helicopter lifted into the air, Lexi looked out the window as Royal became tinier and the details less defined. That was her past, but ahead was her whole future.
It took Jack only a few hours to supervise the items on the punch list. Inspections wouldn’t come until tomorrow, so he’d spend the night on Appaloosa and try to straighten out his head. Yes, this had been a bit of a fool’s errand to come back to the island, but Jack needed the sea air right now. Everything in Royal felt stifling. Even out on his own property, with stretches of open land at his feet, and no one to bother him, he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Life just wasn’t going to be right without Lexi, and he was struggling to figure out what his next step was.
Logic said that he needed to give her space. Again. Now that he’d had a little bit of sleep and was out of the pressure cooker of that stupid cocktail party last night, he knew that he could do that. The question was how long he could keep it up. How long until he started to feel that weight again? A month? Two? He wasn’t worried about meeting or falling for someone else. What worried him was that Lexi might never be ready. She’d had her heart ground into the dirt twice. That might be as much as she could take. Jack had endured it only once, and it had taken him a decade to fully recover. And honestly, he wasn’t sure he had that kind of patience to wait for her to come around. He was staring down his fortieth birthday in a few weeks. It sure would be nice to know that love would be a part of his next decade on the planet. Bottom line? He wanted it all. Marriage. Commitment. Maybe even kids.
But those things seemed like an impossible wish without Lexi. Thus, he was spending his time out on Appaloosa Island, if only to clear his head.
Jack wandered over to the golf cart that belonged to the house he’d rented. He drove along, winding his way down the now-paved pathways, past everything he and his teams had built. After all the hard work they had poured into this project, he was proud of the job they’d all done here and he couldn’t wait for the festival. It would be a true spectacle, a real boon for the entire area, and he was pleased that he’d had a chance to play a part in that.
When he crossed over to the western side of the island, he made his way north, up to the house he’d rented. As soon as he pulled into the driveway, his phone started buzzing like crazy with notifications.
“I must’ve just hit the Wi-Fi for the house,” he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. The first text was from Angie, asking where he was. Jack pinged her his location and replied that he wanted to be left alone for the rest of the day. He didn’t bother with the rest of his messages. They could wait. He needed time to just be, which was exactly why he’d headed to Appaloosa in the first place.
He went inside and ran up to the bedroom to grab a clean shirt. It wasn’t easy to look at that room and think about the electric nights he and Lexi had spent there. That was when he’d first known he was falling for her. Hopefully he wouldn’t be stuck with nothing more than memories when it came to Lexi. It could go either way, and he had to learn to live with that inevitability.
He grabbed a beer from the fridge and headed out to the porch on the front of the house, where the long line of rocking chairs pitched forward and back in the wind. Ahead was the quiet of the private beach and the beautiful blue between Appaloosa and the Texas shore.
He closed his eyes to the rush of salty air as it blew his hair back from his face. If he had to be alone, this was the way to do it. The only trouble was he didn’t want to be by himself. Life would mean so much more if he could just find the right person, or in his case, convince the right woman that he was worth the risk.
The door behind him slid open. Jack jumped out of his seat and turned. Lexi was standing there with those same island breezes blowing back her hair, looking like everything he’d ever wanted. For a moment, he wondered if he’d fallen asleep in the chair and this was all a dream. Lexi didn’t say a thing. She only looked at him, expectantly. Like she wanted something but couldn’t bring herself to utter the words.
“Lexi?” He took a step closer. Her sweet smell hit his nose and that was when he knew that she was real. But he truly knew he wasn’t dreaming when she flung herself at him, nearly knocking him from his feet—quite a feat considering he was twice her size.
“Oh, my God, Jack. I made a huge mistake. I was such an idiot. I never should’ve said that I wanted to take things slow.”
He gripped both of her shoulders and peered down into her stunning face. “Lexi, I don’t ever want you to apologize for asking for the things you need.”
She dropped her head to one side, almost as if she was disappointed. “I need you to stop making excuses for me. I messed up and I’m so sorry. I’m an idiot. Just ask my sister. She’ll tell you all about it.”
He shook his head. “Thank you for apologizing. I appreciate that, but I also know you didn’t mean to hurt me. You were being honest, and that’s not easy to do.”
“But I did hurt you. It doesn’t matter whether it was my intention to do so or not. It only matters that I did.”
“I understand where you were coming from. I do. I had a lot more time to go through the healing process after my big breakup, and you had two to get over. I don’t want you to be so hard on yourself.”
“But that’s the thing. If I’m not hard on myself, I’m not going to get what I want.”
At the risk of repeating himself, he had to ask the same question he’d asked last night. “And what is it that you want?”
“You, Jack. I just want you.”
