Page 25 of Cowboy of Convenience
Grady backed up, snapping the screen door closed in Sasha’s face. "Enjoy your evening." He closed the inner door, feeling a little smug as Sasha scoffed.
He turned around to discover Evelyn's grandmother had a smug expression on her own face. This was a game and she believed she was winning. Based on the slump of Evelyn's shoulders, she thought the same thing. But almost a decade as a cop and a lifetime of being able to read people’s motivations and intents put him of a different mind.
"Are you hungry?" Grady kept his tone light and leaned hard into the unassuming drawl that served him well in his career. "We finished dinner right before our walk, but there's plenty left. I could warm you something up."
Evelyn's grandmother smoothed down the flowing fabric of her blouse. "I'm fine."
Good. He really didn’t feel like dealing with feeding her. And there was nothing he wanted more than to get Evelyn alone so he could let her know this was all going way better than she thought. "Then I suppose we should get you comfortable. Ev and I turn in early since we both get up at the crack of dawn."
Evelyn's grandmother made a strange choking sound. It took him a second to realize she was laughing.
"Evelyn? Up at dawn?" She huffed out a breath as she looked Evelyn over from the corner of her eyes. "I'm not sure I believe that."
"You'll be believing it at five a.m." He snagged Evelyn, pulling her close. "But we’ll do our best not to wake you."
Evelyn was stiff against his side, certainly not selling their story, so he turned her toward the hall. "Let's go get your Gram-Gram some blankets and a pillow."
He could practically see the steam rising off the older woman's head every time he called her Gram-Gram. It was fucking beautiful.
Evelyn walked a little too quickly down the hall, ducking into her bedroom and starting to pace as he closed the door. He caught her as she passed, resting his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to stop. "You need to calm down."
"Calm down?" Her voice started to rise. “How am I supposed to calm down?”
Grady rested one finger across her lips, sealing off whatever was about to come next since chances were good it would be loud enough to carry the short distance to the living room. "Take a deep breath. She's going to be able to tell you’re wound up and then she'll know we’re lying."
Evelyn leaned in, her whisper sharp. "Spoiler alert. She already knows we’re lying. That's why she wants to stay. She's trying to call my bluff. She wants to humiliate me. To force me to admit this is all fake."
Maybe Evelyn understood this situation better than he thought.
"Then don't admit it." It was a simple answer and an even easier solution. The only way anyone would know this was fake was if one of them admitted it. And he sure as shit wasn't going to. This was the only thing keeping his life from being completely miserable. For the first time in forever he wasn't sitting alone staring at the television until he passed out in his recliner. For the first time in forever he actually had something to look forward to while he faced down the heartbreak of his mother’s decline. Was it a perfect situation? No. But it was something.
And something was good enough for him.
"She's going to do everything she can to try to force me to admit the truth.” Evelyn met his eyes, her gaze serious. "She will talk to everyone in town. They are all going to know about this by the end of the day tomorrow."
Grady shrugged. "So?"
"So?" Evelyn's brows lifted. "What about your friends? Your family? They're all going to hear we’re engaged and wonder what the fuck is going on. They’re gonna be mad at you for not telling them. They're going to be—"
She was starting to spin out of control, and he needed to stop it.
"Let me worry about my family." Evelyn didn't know there was nothing to worry about. And not having to think about his mother or be questioned about her current state had been a relief he wasn't quite ready to give up yet. “I think you underestimate the people around here. If you think some strange woman can go around asking questions and they will happily dish out information, then you haven't been paying attention." He slid his hands from her shoulders to her face. "Let’s just ride this out. See what we can make happen."
Someone knocked on the door, but it swung open before either of them had a chance to answer. Acting purely on impulse, Grady lowered his mouth to Evelyn's, claiming another kiss of circumstance.
This one was just as sweet as the last one. Evelyn's mouth was full and soft, and the little sigh she let out as her hands fisted in his shirt sent a blaze of heat crackling through him. There was plenty fake about this, but their kisses sure as hell didn’t fall under that umbrella.
Her grandmother cleared her throat, waiting until Grady broke the kiss and looked her way to speak.
"I came to let you know I won't be needing the blanket and pillow. I sent Bernard out to retrieve some of my things and he will bring back the bedding I need." The disdain she held for him was thinly veiled as she looked them over. "Can I assume there's just one bathroom?"
"There is, but we're happy to let you use it as often as you need." He drawled out the words and pushed on a smile, doing his best to be the clueless cowboy she believed he was.
It wasn’t as easy to lean into his charm when Gram-Gram was involved, especially since her face generally looked like she'd been sucking on lemons. The woman was about as sour as it got, making him wonder where in the hell someone as warm and friendly as Evelyn came from.
"How kind of you." Her tone was dry. Gram-Gram gripped the door, pulling it closed. "I'll leave you to your evening."
Grady waited until the door clicked closed before turning back to Evelyn. "Is she always like this?"
