Page 44 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

“We’ve had a good afternoon together, doggies,” she said. She’d left the office at one-thirty and done the rest of her work from home that day. That had allowed her to take the dogs for a walk and shower, catch up on emails, and schedule her June appointments.

Her phone chimed, and Ginny looked at the bright screen on her bed. She didn’t catch the name, and she quickly put Minnie back on the bed with Sarge and Uncle Joe in favor of her device.

Olli had said,Don’t overthink this, Ginny. I love you, and you’re beautiful, strong, and smart.

Ginny’s emotions caught in her chest. She’d met Olli at the perfumery to get a new scent to try that night, and she’d finally confessed to her about the hysterectomy that was seven months old now.

She’d asked Olli how she could possibly tell Cayden, and she’d asked her best friend if she and Spur were going to have children. Olli was in her mid-forties, and she and Spur had been married for ten months, and there hadn’t been any announcements of the two of them having a baby.

“We want kids,” Olli said. “We’re working on it.” She’d given Ginny a sad smile, hugged her tight, and told her to just be herself. “Bold, articulate, and kind. If children are a deal-breaker, wouldn’t you rather know now?”

Yes, Ginny had said. She did want to know now if her ability to have children was a deal-breaker for Cayden.

She quickly sent back a couple of hearts and promised Olli she’d update her tomorrow. As she sent that text, another came in.

Ben had texted a picture, and she stared at the chaotic state of the music room. Everything looked coated in a white dust, and while Ginny hadn’t gone back to the mansion this week, she’d never thought it would be this bad.

Trash littered the floor, along with various power cords. Big, black garbage cans overflowed with what looked like chunks of sheetrock, some large and some small. Splatters of something that looked like mud marred the trashcans, the floor, and the walls.

“It’s like a murder scene,” she said, horror plain in her voice. The text read,Only one more day, and then we’re going to be onto the rebuild!

He seemed so happy about the progress, but Ginny seriously doubted they’d even taken one step forward. It sure looked like they’d taken ten steps backward.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She’d been to plenty of construction sites in the past, and they all looked like someone had opened their hand and dropped a hardware store.

She couldn’t bring herself to send a celebratory text, though. Instead, she typed out,Thank you for all your hard work this week, and sent that.

Her doorbell sounded, and Ginny’s nerves vibrated. She tucked her phone in the pocket of her dress and headed down the hall to the living room. Through that, she entered the lobby and pulled open the door.

Cayden stood there, and he was pure perfection after a few days of not being able to see him in person. Their eyes met, and he said nothing before he swept her into his arms and held her close.

“You’re back,” she said, holding onto his strong shoulders and wondering what good deed she’d done to get this cowboy in her life.

“Mm,” he said. “You smell amazing.”

“I saw Olli this afternoon,” she said. “She gave me a new scent.”

“What’s this one called?”

“Glass Slipper,” she said. “OrMidnight Magic. She’s still working on the name.”

“I likeGlass Slipper,” Cayden said. “Smells really clean and really clear.”

“She calls that blue,” she said. “She usually only puts those kinds of things in her men’s scents, but she used it as the base for this one, claiming Cinderella’s dress for the ball that night was, indeed, blue.”

A smile landed on his face, and Ginny felt herself falling for him. “What else is in there? Smells a bit like pink lemonade.” He leaned closer and breathed her in again.

“She did say lemonade. Not sure if it’s pink or not. But she called it blue-lemonade-seashore.”

“Ireallylike this one,” he said, capturing her waist with one hand against her back and holding her close.

Ginny enjoyed the warmth from his body and the pressure from his hand. He smelled like aspens and clouds and musk, and if Ginny had to guess, she’d say he was wearing Olli’sSaddled and Spurred.

She’d burned herGet Your Mancandles every time Cayden came over, but she’d need to get this new scent in a candle as soon as possible.

“What would you name it?” she asked, and she wrapped him in her arms.

“Let’s see.” He started to sway, his other hand coming up to stroke her hair down her back. “My Perfect Princess.”

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