A Texas-Sized Secret (Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail 6)

“Excellent. If you could be in town Monday, that would work well for us here.”

“Monday is doable.” Even if

it wasn’t, she’d find a way to make it work. Hollywood? Taking her show national?

People had enjoyed her local cable show, and it was getting more popular, but Naomi knew that her parents considered it more a hobby than anything else. This would convince them that she was so much more than they thought.

There were too many emotions crowding around inside her. Too many wheeling thoughts and dreams of possibilities. She was starting to shake, so she got off the phone as quickly as possible. There was no one there to tell. She needed to tell Toby, but she couldn’t do it over the phone.

So Naomi just sat there in the silence. Alone. Smiling.

* * *

Later that night, Toby listened and watched as Naomi paced back and forth in the great room. She hadn’t stopped talking since he got home, and honestly, he couldn’t blame her. Pretty big deal getting a call out of the blue from Hollywood. Good thing the great room was as big as it was, though. Gave her plenty of space to walk off her nerves.

“Can you imagine?” she asked. “Hollywood? Calling me?”

“Well, why wouldn’t they?” Toby said from his position on the couch. He was slouched low, feet crossed at the ankles, hands folded on top of his belly. “Even California’s got to hear about it when a show takes off like yours has.”

She stopped, threw him a grin that was damn near blinding. “You have to say that. You’re my best friend.”

There it was. Best friend. No lust. No need. Just pals. As it should be. If only his brain would get the memo. “You’re great at what you do, Naomi. Half of Texas is talking about you, and the other half will be soon. Why not Hollywood?”

“You’re right. Why not?” She started pacing again, her steps getting quicker and quicker as her words tumbled over each other. “Tamara,” Naomi said, “isn’t that an elegant name? Very showbizzy.”

“Showbizzy?”

She shot him another wide smile. “I’m rambling and I know it. Heck, I can hear myself babbling and I can’t seem to stop. Until you got home, I was talking Rebecca’s ears off. She was too nice to tell me to be quiet and go away.”

“Maybe she’s pleased for you,” he pointed out.

“She is. I know. But you’re the one I wanted to tell, Toby.” Naomi stopped dead, looked at him from across the room and said, “It about killed me waiting for you to get back from Clay’s, because I just couldn’t tell you this over the phone.”

“Next time you need me,” he said, sitting up, leaning his forearms across his knees, “call. I’ll come home.”

“Okay. Thanks. I will.” She took a deep breath, laid one hand on her rounded belly and sighed. “Toby, this is just so crazy. Am I crazy?”

“Not that I’ve ever noticed.”

“I’ve got to get tickets. And a hotel reservation.”

“For both of us,” he said, and she looked at him in surprise. Didn’t she know that he would stand with her? Didn’t she realize that Toby knew what this meant to her? That everything she’d been working toward for the last few years was finally coming true?

“Really? You’d come with me?”

“I’m not going to let you go alone.” He shifted on the couch and dropped one arm along the back. “Naomi, I get it. This show, it’s who you are. And someone noticing, wanting to talk to you about making it even bigger? I know what it means to you, so no, you’re not going alone.”

“You really are the best, Toby,” she said, her voice soft, almost lost.

He shook his head, smiling wryly. “Who’ll you talk to while you pace a hole through your hotel room floor?”

At that, she stopped pacing, darted across the room and dropped onto the chocolate-brown leather couch beside him, curling her feet up beneath her. She was so close he could see the excitement glittering in her eyes. Feel the warmth radiating from her and the scent of her, drawing him in again.

Laying one hand on his forearm, she admitted, “It was so surreal. Hollywood wants my show, Toby. It’s a dream. And okay, maybe nothing will come of it, after all, and I’m completely prepared for that, but it’s a chance. It tells me people are noticing.”

“I know.” He covered her hand with his.

“You know,” she went on, “when Maverick first started all his trouble, I thought for sure the world was ending, and now look at me. I’m marrying my best friend and going to Hollywood to talk about my show.”