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“No,” Cayden said, plenty of shock moving through him. “Do you think she’s dating him?”
Conrad took the phone back from Ian, his face an angry, angry mask of himself. “Yes, I do. They’re going to India together.” He looked up and into Cayden’s eyes, pure anguish in his. “I asked her to go to the East Coast with me, and she ‘couldn’t get away.’”
“I know.” Cayden wished Blaine were here. He’d know what to say to help Conrad, and he’d likely pull him into a hug too while he whispered those things.
“You don’t want her,” Ian said.
“Yes, I do.” Conrad glared at Ian and started for the door he’d come in a few minutes ago. “I’m going home. If you want a ride, you’ll have to come now.”
Ian looked at Cayden again, who could only shrug. “I’m coming,” he said, and he quickly followed Conrad. Cayden put his bowl of leftover milk in the sink and leaned into the counter, palms down.
“Help him,” he prayed. “I don’t know what he needs, but if there’s anything I can do to help, let me know, and I’ll do it.” He gazed out the window, the sky already dark. “Help me tonight, too,” he added. “With Ginny.”
He didn’t know precisely what he needed help with, but he knew he needed it. With the prayer done, he grabbed his keys and made the long drive to Ginny’s. Her house glowed with white lights Cayden felt sure would be able to be seen from space, and four valets waited in her massive circular driveway.
“Hello, Mister Chappell,” one of them said as he opened his door. “Miss Winters has asked me to allow you entrance through the front door this evening.”
“Thank you,” Cayden said, feeling himself slip into his alternate persona too. He disliked it as much as Ginny had said she did, when they’d spoken last week. She’d talked to him on a more normal level on the way to the party, but the Real Ginny Winters had disappeared the moment she’d emerged from his truck and taken his arm.
He wasn’t the first to arrive at the party she was hosting tonight, and she’d wanted it that way. He went left toward the front door while a few other guests went right to go around the house to the library entrance. Behind him, the valet said, “Eastwood is inbound.”
Cayden’s step stuttered, but he refused to turn around and ask him what that meant. He went up the steps to the door, unsure if he should knock or simply go in. There was a party inside, and he didn’t need to ring the doorbell.
He twisted the knob and opened the big front door that probably weighed a hundred pounds. The foyer was dark, as was the living room. Light spilled out of the library, along with light music and laughter, and Cayden took a moment to just bask in the quiet out here.
His attraction to Ginny was inexplicable. He’d tried to make it iron flat and make sense, and it simply didn’t. He barely knew her, even after all the events they’d been to, and he wanted so much more than she’d been able to give him.
Maybe you’ll always want more than she can give, he thought, his worry and fear multiplying by the microsecond.
He wondered where Ginny put her dogs when she hosted big parties like this, because he loved her dogs, even though they were small. He’d always considered himself a big dog person, as they had a few dogs around the ranch and none of them weighed less than fifty pounds.
A moment later, someone came through the door leading into the library, and Cayden’s soul lit up at the sight of Ginny.
“Happy New Year,” she said as she came toward him. Tonight, she wore a more casual pair of black slacks, and Cayden smiled at her as she approached. She’d paired her slacks with an off-white sweater with a bright blue star on the front of it, and he’d never seen her dressed like this. The parties required more formal attire, and he suddenly felt overdressed.
He took off his jacket and held it at his side. “I don’t think I need this. You look amazing in that sweater.”
She brought the scent of vanilla, peaches, and something bright with her, and Cayden leaned down to breathe her in as they embraced. “Thank you,” she said. “You look great too.”
“No jacket, though, right?”
“No jacket,” she said. “We’re just chatting and eating and drinking.”
Her chatting and eating and drinking happened in a much different way than his, though, and he couldn’t even imagine his brothers here at all. They’d be wearing jeans and boots, laughing too loud, and double-fisting candied popcorn or M&Ms faster than anyone could refill them.
He and Ginny were so different on so many different levels, but Cayden didn’t care. When he held her in his arms, he didn’t care about the opposite ends of the world they came from.
They breathed together, and Cayden let a real smile drift across his face.
“Is everyone here?” he asked. “Your brothers and their families?”
“Just Drake and Joan,” she said. “The others have their own parties tonight.”
“Your mom?”
“Yes, she’s here,” Ginny said, stepping back.
Cayden quickly secured her hand in his and smiled at her again. “Great.” He stepped forward, and Ginny went with him. He draped his jacket over the back of her couch and they went into the library together.
