Page 20 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

Cayden wanted to. He got up, leaving his dinner right where it was, and slid his hand along her face. “Yes,” he whispered. “I’ll kiss you on your birthday.” He did, everything inside him firing hard.

“Mm,” she said against his lips. “Best birthday ever.”

He smiled at the way she ducked her head, seemingly shy with him all of a sudden. He took his seat again, laying the napkin over his lap. “Your mother has run off other men?”

“A few,” Ginny said. “I guess I’m just done with her deciding my life for me. I’m forty-seven-years-old today. I get to decide who I spend my time with, and who I let kiss me.”

Cayden agreed, so he just nodded. He didn’t have to understand the complexities of her relationship with her mother. If he didn’t have to lie, he was okay. It sounded like Ginny had things worked out on her end too, and while a hint of unease ran through him, he’d simply do what she said. He wouldn’t come to her house or her work.

“What about your parties?” he asked.

“I still want you to accompany me,” she said. “We’ll show Mother how professional we are, and she’ll never suspect a thing.”

“We’ll still pretend for all of those.”

“Yes,” she said.

“So…let me get this straight. We’re going to have a real relationship in secret. But in public, we’re going to keep pretending. I’m going to be your escort, as always, to keep the other creeps away and to rescue you from conversations you’re done with.”

“Just like last fall,” she confirmed.

“You’ll get to keep Sweet Rose.”

“Yes.”

“And me.”

“Yes.”

Cayden watched her, trying to find a downfall here. “It might actually work.”

She grinned at him. “It’s going to work, Cayden.” She reached for the knife that had come on the cake plate. “Do you want a piece of cake?”

“Is that a real question?” he asked, and the two of them laughed. He was thrilled he’d get to keep Ginny in his life too, but something buzzed and pestered him for the rest of the night. It wasn’t until he’d kissed her again and sat behind the wheel of his truck, driving away from this cottage in the woods that he realized what he’d been thinking.

“You can’t marry her as long as her mother’s alive,” he said aloud. “You’ll be in the shadows until then.” He turned onto the highway that would take him back to Bluegrass Ranch.

“Are you willing to live with that?” he asked himself. He couldn’t answer that question, and it haunted him all the way back to the ranch, and into his bedroom with him.

* * *

Cayden arrivedin the administration building just after dawn. He’d been distracted by Ginny Winters for days now—weeks, if he was going to be really honest with himself—and he needed to focus.

He and Lawrence were meeting with both of the marketing firms Cayden had hired for their first-ever race at Bluegrass Ranch. Afterward, they were hosting their usual three-year-old sale, featuring several of the horses in the race.

Cayden was used to putting together sales. He’d done them dozens of times, and he’d worked with Tim Fennyson for the past eight years on events like this. But he’d never done a race before, and he’d met with a couple of former executives for the Kentucky Derby before even deciding to take it on.

“I still can’t believe you’re doing it,” he muttered to himself as he took the few paper agendas from the printer. He went down the hall from his office and into the conference room to lay them out.

Besides Tim and his assistant, Lawrence and Cayden, a representative from the second marketing firm Cayden had hired would be there. He’d asked Lawrence to work with The Gemini Group, as they had vast experience with live, ticketed events, including horse races.

Lawrence claimed to have been in touch with them, and they’d confirmed for the nine a.m. meeting this morning.

Cayden would leave in a few minutes to go get pastries and juice, and he was still undecided about getting milk. He himself was somewhat lactose intolerant, and he never thought about milk. Most normal people liked milk with their doughnut, though, right?

He honestly wasn’t sure. He spent a lot of time wining and dining people with a lot of money, and he’d never bring a doughnut to a charity fundraiser or to charm the owner of a stud he wanted to bring to Bluegrass.

He’d entertained men and women from all over the world, and he knew how to dress up while still looking like a cowboy. Today, he already wore a pair of dark, deep black slacks, and a brown, black, and white plaid shirt. He’d put a leather jacket on too, though the weather was getting far too warm for such things.

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