Bluegrass Undercover (21 page)

“
I can see what you are thinking. Yes, Her Almost Royal Highness drives a clunker. She’s very attached to it and insists on keeping it. I think she just really likes to rile the king.

“
See, Dani refused to touch her sizable trust fund when she was younger and earned every penny she had. The first thing she bought was this car. It breaks down all the time, has no heat, and can be heard from two counties over. But, it’s hers. The king thought she was a gold digger out to snare his son and was rather mean to her. Then he had to eat crow when he found out she was the daughter of one of the richest winery owners in Italy. She found it all very amusing and even went to pick up the king at the airport in her Nova. He drove all the way to Keeneston in that car, and Dani had never been happier.”

Paige opened the door and hopped out of the truck. Annie slowly lowered herself to the ground and looked at the house. This was the stuff of nightmares: giggling, gossiping, and girlie bonding. She squared her shoulders and took a deep, steadying breath. Hey, she had taken down drug lords, how hard could a girls’ night be?

The front door opened before Paige and Annie had made it up the steps. Annie felt her eyes widen at the sight before her. One of the Rose sisters, probably Miss Lily, was at the door with her white hair pinned tightly away from her green face.

“
Well, bless the Saints and color me happy! Daisy Mae! Violet Fae! Paige brought Annie!” Miss Lily hollered into the house. “Come in, come in.” She opened the door wide as Annie climbed the steps to the porch where two more green colored faces came into view.

“
Annie we are so glad you could join us! Hurry up and take off your coats you two. Ya’ll gotta catch up. We’ve already started the facials,” Miss Violet said as she started helping her off with her coat.

Annie gulped. You can do this. Just stay quiet and listen to the conversations. Maybe she could even learn something. Paige grabbed her hand and led her down the hall and into a cozy living room.

“
Hi, Paige. Welcome, Annie! I’m so glad you could join us. You two have a seat right here and we’ll get started.” With her burgeoning pregnant belly and her auburn hair tied up in a topknot to keep the green gook out of it, Kenna pointed to the loveseat. Annie cringed at the sight of a bowl with green mush in it and the paintbrush in Kenna’s hand.

“
It’s great that we get this chance to talk more. I know we’ve hung out some at the games every now and then, but this really gives us a chance to get to know each other. I mean, you’re dating Paige’s brother – that practically makes you family,” Dani said as she came at her with some gauzy type thing. Oh God, what were they going to do to her?

Paige flopped down on the couch and picked up a piece of fudge from a pretty plate sitting on the side table. “I’m glad we’re doing this too. I needed some time away from Cole and his wedding planning. I swear, if he and my mother come at me with another invitation design, I’m going to scream. I thought guys weren’t supposed to be involved in the wedding planning process.”

Annie looked around as the girls all laughed.

“
And I thought they weren’t supposed to be involved in the pregnancy either, but I too had to escape Will. He’s following me around and practically clucking. We’ve been here thirty minutes, and he’s already texted me three times, making sure I’m okay. I just had to call Ahmed and bribe him with a little known law to get him out of testifying in a committee hearing if he’d lift Will’s cell phone from him tonight.”

Kenna put the paintbrush into the goop and stirred it.Oh God, was she coming at her with that stuff? Annie jumped when she suddenly felt her hair being pulled away from her face.

“
Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just going to put this wrap on so you don’t get that stuff in your pretty hair,” Dani said, holding up a strip of the gauzy stuff.

“
Um, okay.” Annie tentatively sat down and let Dani wrap the gauze around her face. She sat in terror as Kenna came towards her, paintbrush in hand.

“
So, what about you?” Kenna asked as the first glob of green gunk was smeared on her face.

“
What about me?”

“
What does Cade do to bug you?” Kenna smeared some more gunk on her face and waited for her answer. What should she say?

“
Come on, dearie. Don’t be shy. We’ve all been there. Men are simple creatures, and sometimes it helps to talk to your friends about it so you don’t one day smash a freshly made apple pie in his face,” Miss Lily said as she sat in the floral embossed chair across from her.

Annie looked around and saw everyone looking at her. Her mind suddenly went blank. She couldn’t think of anything. Wait, what did he do that ticked her off?

“
Well, he has a tendency to think he has to protect me from, well, from everything.” Annie saw heads nodding and felt some of the tension in her shoulders ease.

“
I once took out a man twice my size with a crepe pan. Men, so clueless sometimes.” Annie whipped her head around to look at Miss Violet, who was sitting so primly on another floral chair, the green gunk on her face having dried into a light lime color. She couldn’t be more than five feet tall and looked pretty much like Merriweather, the short, round fairy godmother in
Sleeping Beauty
.

“
Miss Violet!” Paige exclaimed.

“
Don’t look so shocked, Paige. You, after all, shot an assassin.”

“
Yes, but that doesn’t have the flair of taking him out with a crepe pan.” Paige leaned back against the couch and folded her arms over her chest. Annie would swear she was pouting.

“
Back to Annie. It’s a good sign he’s being protective. It means he cares,” Miss Violet said.

“
Definitely. So, is it true you’re getting married?” Dani asked as she grabbed some more fudge.

“
No! We haven’t discussed the future at all. I’m sure he doesn’t think it’s serious. You never know when I’ll be transferred again.” Did Miss Lily just roll her eyes?

“
Well, then you better hurry up and tell him you love him,” Kenna said as she swiped the goo across her forehead.

“
What?”

“
Oh don’t look so shocked. We all know it already. So, spill.” Miss Daisy gave her a stern look. Annie looked around the room and saw that everyone there, including Paige, all thought that they were in love.

“
It’s too soon. We’ve only known each other a couple of months.”

“
Oh nonsense. You don’t have a man practically living with you when you don’t love him,” Miss Lily told her.

“
He’s not living with me!”

“
That’s not what Father James says.” Miss Violet gave her sister a wink.

“
Yea, and Cade has missed three Sunday dinners at my parents’ house. He’s never done that before.” Paige leaned her head back as Kenna attacked her with the green gunk.

“
Would you care to revise your previous statement?” Kenna asked as she dipped the paintbrush in the bowl. If her tone had been cold instead of joking, Annie could see why she was rumored to be such a good attorney.

“
Okay, so maybe it’s not casual.” That was the closest she was going to get to telling them the truth, the truth that she was starting to feel way more than she had ever felt before. She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard laughter. “What?”

“
Just tell him you love him. It’s so obvious that you both are crazy about each other, but if you want to keep being delusional, I guess that’s your business.” Kenna put the paintbrush back into the bowl. “I have to go to the bathroom again. I swear, this kid is doing jumping jacks on my bladder.”

Paige and Dani started talking about weddings as the Rose sisters started in about a pie contest they were sponsoring. Annie rested her head against the back of the couch and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to show the women the fear in her eyes. They were sharp enough to see it. It was fear that her face was going to be ripped off by whatever this goop was. It felt like her face was pulled so tightly you could bounce a quarter off of it. Who was she really kidding? It was fear they would see the confusion in her eyes. The more she thought about it, the more she thought they were right, all those feelings she was having that couldn’t be defined or explained. Oh no, she was totally in love.

Her eyes popped open and she found the three wise faces of the Rose sisters looking at her. “Told you, you loved him,” Miss Lily said as the other sisters nodded their heads.

Cade accepted the beer Will handed him and took a long slug of it. He was under attack. It didn’t look like an enemy ambush but it was. Instead of the mountains of Afghanistan, it was a bonfire and cornhole boards. Instead of insurgents, it was his brothers and his best friends, which only made it more dangerous.

“
Come on, Cade. Just admit you are in love with her.” Will sat down on the bench next to him.

“
Just because you are whipped by your wife doesn’t mean I’m in the same situation.”

“
I’m sorry, my friend, but I agree with Will. You’re very much in love with her,” Mo said as he tossed a cornhole bag.

“
Yea, Bro, you’ve missed three Sunday dinners. Ma is already picking out places to hold the wedding.” Marshall laughed as his bag knocked Mo’s from the board, and Mo murmured something he guessed was a curse word in his native language.

“
A real man is one who can admit his true feelings.”

“
Give me a break, Ahmed. You have never expressed any kind of feelings.”

“
That is because you are not my true love.” Ahmed turned away from the group and walked away.

“
Deep, but true.” Cade rolled his eyes at Miles. He looked at his watch and hoped it was late enough for him to get home and away from these busy bodies.

“
I’m about to head home. Want me to give you a ride?” Cole asked.

“
That would be great. Thanks for the victory party guys. Good night.”

Cade followed Cole to his Explorer and climbed in. They were at Marshall’s farm, and it was only a matter of minutes to his place, but he couldn’t get there fast enough. The truth was catching up with him and he didn’t want to face it in front of anyone else.

“
You know, I fought like crazy to not love Paige.”

“
You really think this conversation is appropriate with her being my sister and all?” Crap. Now he was trapped in the car. He should have walked.

“
Love happens. It’s what you do with it that matters. If you embrace it, it will give you a joy you have never known was possible. If you ignore it, it has the power to haunt you.”

Thank goodness. There was his house. “Thanks for the lift.”

“
Any time. Think about what I said.”

Cade nodded and practically leapt out of the Explorer. He didn’t want to hear any more about love. He just wanted to have a beer, watch
SportsCenter
, and pet his dog.

Cade set down another empty beer bottle and was still no closer to where he wanted to be. He wanted to be comfortably single again like he had been before Annie. Then he didn’t have to worry about if she felt the same. So, he had set out to drink himself stupid in hopes to forget about his fear, his fear that his love wouldn’t be returned.

He groaned when he heard the knock on the door. If it was Marshall here to give him hell again, he wouldn’t be held accountable for his actions. He gave Justin a pat and got up after he hopped off his lap. His brother just didn’t know when to stop. Cade couldn’t wait until Marshall fell for some woman and then he would have his payback.

Cade yanked opened the door and froze. He wondered if he had drunk too much and was hallucinating his desires. Annie stood in his doorway looking like a vision. He heard himself whisper her name as he reached for her. She came eagerly to his arms as his lips met hers in unspoken desire. He scooped her up, kicked the door shut and carried her upstairs.

He placed her before his bed and gently removed her clothes before shedding his. She reached up and with her finger slowly traced his jaw line.

“
I love you,” he heard himself whisper before he lowered her to the bed.

* * *

Annie gasped for breath. She was sure she was being tortured. She couldn’t breathe and her face was wet. But then something tickled her. She struggled to open her eyes against the attack. When she managed to open them, she came face to face with Justin lying on her chest. His big hairy paws were planted beside her head, and his face was inches from hers. Slurp! She was drowned again in another doggie kiss.

She gave him a pat and encouraged him to get off the bed. Cade was still asleep next to her, but Justin obviously wanted to go out. He jumped off the bed and danced around, waiting for her to get dressed.