She wanted to give all of her attention to Cayden, and her heartbeat pulsed through her body when a few more texts from him came in. She couldn’t read them all until she had a date they could get together, and she swiped them away so she could see her calendar for the upcoming week.
She’d taken the fall festival at Sweet Rose to a new level this year, and their attendance had doubled. The board was happy about that, as Ginny had single-handedly increased the cost of their advertising during the festival, and for the distillery in general.
More companies were keen to buy those ad spots with that many people coming out to Sweet Rose, and Ginny had been working for this event for seven months. She was extremely proud of how it had turned out, but she was also ready for it to be over.
Only two more weeks, and Ginny would have a few days completely to herself. She didn’t want to wait that long, and she told herself that she ate lunch and dinner every single day. Why couldn’t Cayden bring something to her house, where they could talk and eat for an hour?
Guilt tugged against her fingers, because she did live quite a distance from Bluegrass Ranch, and asking him to come for an hour would actually take at least two from his day. He was just as busy as she was, and she didn’t want everything in the relationship to be about her.
Her phone rang, startling her enough for her to drop the device onto her stomach. “Oh,” she said. The ringer quieted among the blankets, and she hurried to pick it up. This late at night, it had to be someone important, and she prayed intensely for two seconds that it wouldn’t be her mother.
Cayden’s name sat on the screen—well, really, the name she’d put in for him.Handsome Cowboy—and she quickly swiped on the call. “Hey,” she said.
“Sorry to call,” he drawled. “I texted, but you didn’t answer, and I…well, to be honest, Ginny, I need an answer so I can sleep tonight.”
She frowned, as his voice didn’t carry that fun, flirty tone she’d heard previously. “I was looking at my schedule for this week to see if there was a time we could get together,” she said “I swiped your texts away for a moment.”
“So you haven’t seen them?”
“No.” She pulled her phone from her ear. “Let me put you on speaker and see what they say.”
“I can, uh, tell you,” he said, but Ginny was already tapping. The call got put on speaker, and she tapped over to her texts. “I just need some clarification on something, particularly the point where you asked me specifically to be your date at all your fancy parties.”
Her eyes scanned and her ears heard. She said, “Oh.”
Why did you ask me to be your date when you know I’m going to annoy your mother?he’d asked. A minute later, he’d sent,Is that the only reason why?
A few minutes after that, he’d sent another message.I really need to know tonight, Ginny. I hope you’re not in bed already.
Then:I’m going to call you.
She took him off speaker and put the phone back to her ear. Ginny Winters always knew what to say. She knew how to steer a conversation away from something awkward or political and turn it onto the other person so everyone would be comfortable. At the same time, she could sit at the head of the conference table and run a meeting with the board of investors without blinking an eye. She could quiet someone trying to take over, and she could present facts without getting emotional.
Now, faced with Cayden’s texts and verbal question, Ginny had no idea what to say.
“I’m not very comforted by your silence,” he said, his voice carrying a deadly edge. “Let’s try a yes or no thing. Did you ask me to come to your parties just to annoy your mother?”
“Not just,” she said.
“So that’s a yes,” he said.
“No,” she argued. “That’s only one reason.”
“You said there would be a lot of pretending. Did you mean the smiling and nodding, or did you mean there would be pretending between me and you?”
“That’s not a yes or no question,” she said, hoping he’d laugh.
He didn’t. “Do you intend to pretend that we’re more serious than we are?” he asked.
“No,” she said, though she couldn’t truly answer that. If she had to hang on his arm so another man would leave her alone, she would. If she had to lean in close and whisper something in his ear to irritate her mother, she would.
“Parties are unpredictable,” she said.
“I’ve been to plenty of parties,” Cayden said. “I run the public relations and fundraising operations for the ranch singlehandedly. I’ve been to dozens of dinners and events, and I know what a fake smile looks like and feels like. I know what a false laugh sounds like and how it feels coming out of my throat.”
“You’ll be perfect then,” she said.
“I know you gave me both a fake smile and a false laugh tonight,” he said.