Free Bare Naked: Naked Cowboys, Book 4 by Desiree Holt Page B

moment to admire how much he’d gotten done today. A couple more days and they’d be ready to paint outside. A tiny thrill of excitement flittered through her.
    He waved at her and scrambled down the ladder to help her out of the car. But his smile disappeared when she told him about the invitation.
    “You know they’ll grill you within an inch of your life,” Cade said. “I know those women. They wouldn’t give a gnat any peace.”
    “You’re right.” She chewed on her lip. “Maybe it would be best if I just text Jinx and tell her I can’t make it.”
    “Hell, no.” Cade raked his fingers through his hair. “That will just up their curiosity. Then they really will show up here.”
    Her laugh was slightly hysterical. “Either I have no friends, no one in my love life, or I have all of that and on opposite sides of the fence, so to speak.”
    Cade stared off in the distance. “My being here is really screwing things up for you. Preventing you from having real friends. Establishing yourself in the community. Maybe I should—”
    “Don’t even say it.” She touched her fingers to his lips. “I can handle it. I’ve faced tougher people than them in worse situations. And I’ll leave early.” She gave him a shy look. “If I’m a good girl, will I get a reward when I get home?”
    Cade grinned at her. “You can have your reward tonight, if you want.”
    “Are you sure you’re not too tired?”
    He brushed his hand against his jeans before cupping her chin. “I think I’m up to the task.”
     
     
    “I’m telling you,” Jinx said into her phone, “there’s something she’s not telling us.”
    She had set up a conference call with Amy and Reenie and was busy picking over every morsel of conversation from her lunch with Georgie.
    “We don’t know her all that well,” Amy pointed out. “Maybe we’re just coming on too strong for her. Overwhelming her.”
    “No.” Jinx fiddled with the highlighter she was holding. “It’s more than that. She’s hiding something.”
    “What could she be hiding?” Amy chuckled. “She’s not a wanted felon or anything, is she?”
    “No.” Jinx tapped the highlighter on the desk. “That’s not the feeling I got.”
    “Maybe you should Google her,” Reenie suggested. “She worked for Carlton Enterprises in Dallas. As big as they are, they’d be covered pretty well in the newspapers.”
    Jinx made a face, even though they couldn’t see her. “I’d feel as if I was intruding on her privacy.”
    “But maybe it’s something she could use our help with,” Reenie insisted.
    “Let’s back off a little here,” Amy put in. “We don’t know her well, but she doesn’t seem like a stupid woman. She can reach out to us if she needs help. Saturday night we’ll make sure she feels comfortable enough with us to do that. Let her know we really want to be friends.”
    Reenie’s laugh burst into the conversation. “Just make sure you don’t do it with a sledgehammer, my sweet sister-in-law. You aren’t always known for your subtlety.”
    “Thanks.” Amy snorted.
    “Reenie’s right though,” Jinx said. “We can use Saturday night to help her enlarge her comfort zone with us.”
    “I think one of us should pick her up,” Reenie suggested.
    “She was very emphatic about driving herself. I think she wants us to know she’s independent.”
    “Okay, okay. But—”
    “But nothing. Let’s play it by ear.”
    But Jinx’s reporter’s nose was twitching. Georgie was definitely hiding something. If she didn’t fess up at the barbecue, then Google it was.

Chapter Six
    Georgie was sitting on the big stepstool, using the steamer on the wallpaper in the foyer when Cade came in from outside at the end of the day. He crouched down to ease the slipper and sock from her injured foot and gently checked the toes.
    “Much better,” he pronounced. “Hardly any swelling left and the discoloration’s already fading.”
    “It’s all that ice,” she told