Page 14 of Caden's Situationship

“I said, don’t make fun of me, Caden. I’m not married or engaged, nor do I owe you an excuse about why I wear my aunt’s ring on my ring finger.”

“Okay, calm down, pit bull.” He lifted his hands in defeat. “I was just asking.”

Only I wasn’t done being feisty yet. There was something about him that always got me riled up and ready to pop him at a moment’s notice. “I may have missed you a little, but I haven’t missed the way you always tease me.”

“You’ve missed me?” he asked, grabbing my forearms to block my movements. “Didn’t know I meant so much to you.”

“You don’t! I meant to say that I didn’t miss you at all and your teasing is annoying.”

Amusement shone in his eyes the longer we went back and forth. “If it’s any consolation, I’ve missed you, too,” he admitted, dropping my arms. “When you showed up to my doorstop in this outfit and that big hat, I wasn’t sure the Cordelia I knew was still in there once I realized who you were.”

His words hit me a little hard because there was an underlying truth to them that I didn’t want to acknowledge. A part of me that was worried I’d never find the Cordelia he knew even if he saw glimpses of her.

He stood up suddenly and announced, “We will get started on the tour of the property tomorrow morning if that works for you.”

I nodded. “That’s fine.”

“Breakfast is at five a.m. tomorrow.”

My eyes bulged out of my head. “There’s no way I’ll be up that early, so I’ll pass. I’m pretty sure I have a protein bar in my bag.”

“Suit yourself.” With one more glance my way, he left the loft and a part of me was grateful to be alone again. Being around him had always been sexually exhausting, but I’d kept my morals back then and we’d built a great friendship in the process.

Now that we were all grown up, things didn’t seem as simple. As much as I tried to ignore it, I could hear Harper’s voice telling me that I needed to take this time to really figure out why I’d been a shadow version of myself lately. Problem was, every solution I had went straight back to Caden Madden.

Five

CADEN

“Wait, wait, wait. So you’re telling me that Cordelia, who we went to school with, is actually the rep from Red Rose Investment Firm?”

I nodded to Houston. “Yeah, man, that’s exactly what I’m sayin’.” After I made sure Cordelia was settled, I sent a text out to my friends who were helping me with the expansion of the ranch saying I needed to call an emergency meeting this morning to catch them up to speed. Although I made sure breakfast was cooked for them every morning, I’d had Pete—a retired veteran—cook up his delicious steak and eggs today, heavy on the steak.

“And this is also the same woman Houston mentioned that you got into an argument with when y’all were in Dallas?” Wade asked. Wade was Houston’s little brother and another good friend of mine.

“Yep. One in the same.” I went on to describe how yesterday had gone, trying my best to get them to focus on the fact that her visit was about partnering with Red Rose and not catching up on old times. I should have known my partner-in-crime, Linc, would focus on the unimportant shit.

“Yo, not to cut you off, but is she the chick everyone in town is talking about?” Linc asked. “The one who was wearing this big ass dress and had folks thinking a costume convention was in town?”

I slowly nodded my head. “Yeah, I’m sure Cordelia is who they were talking about. But like I said, fellas, she will be in town for three weeks, which means, we have to be on our best behavior.”

Linc was the first to laugh, since rarely were we all on our best behavior at the same time.

“Has she ever been on a ranch before?” Wade asked.

“I’m not sure,” I told him. “Based off yesterday’s interaction, I doubt it. She’s more of the city type, so working with us will be out of her element.”

“Damn, that’s messed up,” Linc chimed in. “I think I caught a glimpse of her in my cousin’s Instagram story.”

“For real?” Houston asked. “If it’s still on there, let me see.”

“Listen, it’s safe to say Ms. Rose isn’t your typical southerner,” I mentioned after Linc confirmed the story wasn’t available to view anymore. “But do me a favor and try not to make the ranch look bad. I’ve already had a chat with the rest of the staff and we can’t forget that she’s here representing Red Rose Investment Firm.”

“Her father just retired,” Linc said. “So she probably has a lot to prove.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

Turning his iPhone toward me, he bellowed, “Google, baby,” before resuming his search. “I mean, shit, does she always wear those crazy ass hats? Not a pic of her without one.”

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