Page 10 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

Cayden pulled up behind Ginny’s SUV after driving through the blackness of Kentucky for over an hour. Her car was dark, and a trickle of nerves ran down his spine as he picked up his phone. Even he didn’t want to get out of his truck out here.

He dialed Ginny, glad when he saw a white-blue light in her car. A moment later, she said, “Hey, is that you behind me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “I’m getting out now. I just didn’t want to startle you.”

Everything about tonight had startled him. First, watching Ginny stumble and fall. Second, the kissing. His bloodstream heated with the mere thought of the two kisses they’d shared that evening.

He wanted more, but one of the biggest regrets of tonight was actually the kissing. He didn’t know Ginny very well, despite escorting her to parties and events. He knew a fake version of her. A plastic cutout. He wanted to know the real woman behind the makeup, the perfect Southern accent, and layers of lace.

He’d already told himself he wasn’t going to kiss her again until he knew the real her.

He got out of his truck and left the door open as he approached her SUV. She opened her door too and got out, shoeless but still wearing that stained gown. She would steal his breath if she wore a burlap sack, and he managed to put a small smile on his face despite the distress he saw in her eyes.

“I take it the conversation with your mother didn’t go well,” he said.

She shook her head, handed him her purse, and started toward his truck. He went in her wake, reaching past her to open the door and staying close until she was settled on the passenger seat. He handed her the purse and went around the truck to retake his seat behind the wheel.

He had a feeling they weren’t going to be doing much talking tonight. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

Be her friend, he thought, and a friend wouldn’t push for answers the other person didn’t want to give.

“Where to?” he asked.

She swung her head toward him and blinked.

“Did you want me to help you find gas?” he asked. “Fill your car up so you can drive it back? Did you want…to just go home?” He swallowed and looked away. He didn’t want to admit that he’d bring her back here to retrieve her car, but the truth was, he would.

“Get a hotel?” he asked. “Then you can get gas in the morning? Tell me what to do.”

“What would you do?” she asked.

Cayden wasn’t expecting that question, and it took him a moment to think through the situation. “If it were me, I’d probably either get a hotel nearby and call a tow truck in the morning to bring me my car—full of gas, of course. Then I’d drive home tomorrow. Or, since I have a friend here, I’d go home now and call a tow service to bring the car all the way back to Dreamsville.”

“That’s the one I want,” she said, turning back to her window and leaning her head against it.

“Home it is,” Cayden said, easing back onto the road. He went past her car and flipped around, getting them headed in the right direction.

“Cayden?” she asked a few minutes later.

“Hmm?” He’d need coffee or a caffeinated soda to make this drive in silence. He’d also need to put the radio on loud, because he was exhausted, and the steady rhythm of the road was going to lure him right to sleep.

“Can I stay at Bluegrass Ranch tonight?”

He jerked his attention toward her. “Why?”

“I don’t want to go back to my house,” she said simply. “Just for a few nights. Do you think Blaine would care?”

“I don’t think he would,” Cayden said. He hadn’t minded last time Ginny had stayed a few nights in the homestead.

“Then if it’s okay with you, that’s where I’d like to go.”

“Okay,” he said, focusing his eyes back on the lonely road in front of him. “Can I ask what your mother said?”

“It’s a long story,” she said with a sigh.

“We have a long drive.”

She didn’t say anything for several minutes, but Cayden was now too keyed up to think about sleeping. Ginny just needed some time to get the words right.

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