Page 58 of Saving the Last Heir
Mentally, I prepared myself for him to have a change of heart.
Jackson looked me up and down, his eyes roving over me with such intensity that it almost felt as though he wasphysicallytouching me rather than looking.
“I think you look great right now, but, yeah, that’s fine,” he said, an easy grin on his lips.
“Yeah right,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m covered in engine grease, motor oil, and probably smell like a locker room, but I appreciate you saying that.”
“Well, either way, I’d love to take you out. My treat, of course,” he said, then pulled his phone out. “Speaking of, does your shop have a payment app or something?”
Frowning, I tugged my own phone out of the pocket of my overalls. With a few quick taps, I pulled up the payment app I used for the shop, and turned the code around for him to scan. “What do you need this for?” I asked.
He looked at me, his smile becoming slightly confused as he scanned the code. “Really?”
“What?” I said, frowning.
Continuing to tap on his phone, he chuckled to himself and shook his head.
“What’s so funny?” I said.
“Good night, Shyanne,” Reggie called.
Glancing away from Jackson, I lifted a hand to wave as the rest of the staff walked out with him.
“Good night,” I said, then turned back to Jackson. I gave him a playful shove. “Are you going to tell me what’s got you grinning like that or not?”
“Did you forget our deal?” he said as he tucked his phone away.
I frowned. The last two days had been ridiculously busy. All I’d been able to really do was work and get as much done as possible. Then, like a lightbulb going off in my head—no, that wasn’t accurate; it was more like a nuclearbombgoing off—I recalled the payment we’d agreed upon.
“Holy shit,” I gasped, pressing a hand to my forehead.
Jackson threw his head back and laughed, then nodded at my phone. “Make sure it’s right. I don’t want to shortchange you.”
With fumbling, panicked fingers, I dug the device back out of my pocket, damn near dropping the thing as I did. My heart roared in my chest, so loud it might have been beatinginsidemy throat rather than down in my chest as I pulled up the app. When the screen refreshed, I almost dropped the phone again, my eyes bulging as I looked at a number I’dneverbefore seen in my account: $225,000.
“This…” I whispered. “Uh… this is a little more than we said. You just said?—”
“I rounded up a bit,” he said with a shrug. “A couple thousand. Use the extra however you want to. Do something good with it.” His face fell when he looked at me. “Uhm, I can add more, if you think you?—”
“It’s good,” I blurted, nearly shouting the words. I didnotwant him thinking I was some kind of money-hungry business owner out for a quick buck. This amount of money was fuckinglife-changingfor me. I wasn’t greedy. There was no need for even apennymore.
Holy shit! What was I going to do with this money? A hundred thoughts scrolled through my mind. We’d made this agreement, sure, but deep down I’d always suspectedsomethingwould happen to make him to go back on his word. That was a ridiculous thought, though. In the short time I’d known him, Jackson had proven to be one-hundred-percent honorable and willing to keep his word. Still, things like this didn’t happen to me. To see almost all of my problems vanish with a few keystrokes was surreal and almost impossible to believe.
“You’re sure? If you think you deserve more, I completelyunderstand.”
“Totally sure.” I tucked my phone away, the small device feeling somehow heavier after seeing the money in the account, as if all that money somehow physically resided within the case of metal, glass, and plastic.
“Okay. Now, about that drink?”
“Yeah,” I said, nodding and smiling like mad. “I’d love that. Can you wait here for an hour? I hate to ask that, but I’m disgusting and need to get freshened up. Is that okay?” I asked, mentally chiding myself for asking the guy who just gave me almost a quarter of a million dollars to sit here in my empty garage while I drove home to shower and change.
Rather than look put out, he shrugged and glanced around. “Seems nice and calm right now. I can’t think of a better place to chill out.”
“Hang on one second, okay?” I said, backing away toward the office. “Before I go, I wanted to give you something.” I gave himan awkward and embarrassed grin. “It’ll, uh, give you something to do while I’m gone.”
Lifting an eyebrow, he crossed his arms and sat on a worktable. “Uh, okay,” he said dubiously.
“Great.” I rushed to my office, snatching up a legal pad, and hurried back to him, handing the pad over.
