Jade stared back, and for a minute, he thought she’d tell him to forget it. He’d be fine with that, but he really was just trying to help. Call him a fool, but that underlying vulnerability she so desperately tried to hide had gotten to him.
Maybe they were more alike than he thought. Cash understood the need to keep weaknesses a secret.
“You don’t even have anything to wear,” she added.
Cash smiled, letting the victory settle in. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“I’m serious.”
“Let’s worry about finding civilization.” He started walking again, and dragging that damn suitcase behind him. “What time is the wedding tomorrow?”
“Five, but I have to be there for pictures at three.”
Two hours of smiling for a camera. He’d rather be hit up the side of the head with a kettlebell. Another reason he found weddings to be a waste of time and money.
“Plenty of time for me to find something,” he stated. “It’s Nashville. How hard could it be?”
They walked along in silence, and Cash couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking. What would it be like to come from such a shallow, loveless home? Cash’s father may be a deadbeat now, but he was once a robust, strong man. The untimely death of his wife had sent him spiraling out of control into a world of darkness and empty bottles—booze and pills.
Cash still loved the man, though. He took nearly every dollar he made to keep his father on the road to recovery. One day his father would get over this addiction. Cash wouldn’t settle for anything less. He had enough energy to fight for the both of them.
The silence grated on his nerves. He wasn’t used to the quiet. In the gym the music blared, weights clanged together. In the plane he usually talked to his passengers, and there was always the roar of the engine. But right now, the silence hovering between Jade and him was making him twitchy and he didn’t like being alone with his thoughts.
“Would you rather read the book or watch the movie?” she asked.
Cash glanced at her. “What?”
“Just trying to pass the time,” she mumbled. “I keep checking my phone for service, but until there is, I figure we could at least talk. So, would you rather read the book or watch the movie?”
Answering random questions was fine by him. He had nothing else to do. “Always the movie.”
“I figured you’d say that,” she replied. “Okay, would you rather eat sushi or pasta?”
That was easy. “Both.”
“You can’t answer both,” she informed him.
“I’ll try to do better.”
Jade let out an unladylike snort. “How about would you rather vacation in a cabin in the mountains or an oceanfront house?”
“I love the mountains, but I?
?d vacation at the beach.”
“That was just you skirting around saying both again, but I’ll let it slide.” She took a few steps and hummed as if she was thinking. “I think I’d take a cabin in the woods. In the winter, though. Being snowed in and surrounded by beauty like that sounds relaxing.”
His body stirred. He wouldn’t mind being snowed in with her . . . if she was asking, which she wasn’t.
“I’ve got another one,” she said with a smile. “Would you rather be rich or smart?”
“Why can’t I be both?”
“Because that’s not how the game works,” she scolded. “Pick one.”
“I’d rather be smart, because then I can make good business decisions and get rich.”
Jade laughed again. “Still dodging and not answering directly.”