She’d clearly heard the whole thing, a wry smile tickling the corners of her mouth.
“You’re bringing her home for Christmas, right?”
No, she wasn’t coming home with him for Christmas.
First, because this whole thing was for show. And second, because his mother would be whipping out the baby bathtub photos before Tucker had a chance to pour a glass of spiced rum with his father.
“Everything okay?” Kenzie stage-whispered to him.
“Oh my God. That’s her.” His mother’ssqueewas deafening. “She’s right there. Tell her I loved her inWedding Confidential. It’s my favorite movie. Tell her I’ll fix up the guest room for her when she comes to visit.”
“I’m not doing this.” He scowled out the window, the limousine creeping toward their destination in the line of other limousines.
“Well, she can’t stay at your ranch. Not after what they said about her face in your lap. They’ll twist it all around. Hand her the phone, sweetie,” his mother prodded.
No way in hell.
“We’re here. I’ll have to call you back, Mom.”
“She’ll love Colorado. It’s just like in thatPuppy Lovemovie from a few years back. She was in it with that Gerald…oh, what’s his name?”
“Hello, Mrs. McKay,” Kenzie hollered from over his shoulder.
Dammit. Now he’d never hear the end of it.
“Bye, Mom.” He clicked the phone off.
“Your mom seems sweet.” Kenzie peered at him from beneath a sheet of long eyelashes.
“Sweet like a bobcat.” He shook down the cuff of his white button-up shirt his stylist insisted he wear. God, he looked forward to dressing himself again. The lure of retirement was stronger and stronger.
The limo came to a stop at the beginning of the red carpet.
Kenzie fluffed her already perfect hair. A slight shift and the side of her gown parted at her thigh. All the saliva in his mouth disappeared. He swallowed sandpaper and glanced away.
He should think of something other than the milky skin of Kenzie’s thigh.
Cattle.
He had cattle back home on his ranch in Colorado. Loads of cattle. If there was one thing that was not sexy in the least, it was doing a mental inventory of the heifers he knew by heart.
Less than eight days and he’d be back on the ranch. Back in a world where life made a helluva lot more sense than life under the spotlight of a concert stage and life on a red carpet pretending to be someone he wasn’t.
His heart thumped against the wall of his chest.
Kenzie slipped her hand into his and squeezed. A little signal between the two of them. Like they were the real deal.
4
Chapter Four
Kenzie had her disinterested-yet-interested, charming-yet-aloof, red-carpet walk down to an art.
Step out of the limo. Take Tucker’s arm. Saunter. Saunter. Strut. Saunter. Smile. Laugh. Hand on hip. Turn so all the photographers have an equal chance at selling to the cover ofIn Time. Repeat. Ad infinitum.
A million camera shutters seemed to snap around them like a herd of angry click beetles. That’s what she and Leah called the paps, especially when they twisted things so far even the punctuation of their stories spread their lies.
Tucker’s hand rested at the open back of her gown, his fingertips heating her skin.
