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

“He’s not that good-looking in person,” Naomi assured her. Especially, she added silently, when you added in his personality. His character. Compared to Toby, Gio Fabiani was simply an attractive waste of space.

“Well, he looks good on camera,” Cecelia said. “Except he’s not looking real happy right now.”

Naomi sighed again. She was tired, since she’d been up half the night reliving that argument with Toby. And the other half of the night, her dream self had done the same thing.

This morning, she’d been on the phone handling dozens of things, all the while letting the back of her mind work on what she would say to Toby when she talked to him again. Because they were going to talk. She wasn’t going to let him end what they’d just so recently found because of a stupid lie. Should she have told him about meeting Gio? Sure. In hindsight, it was perfectly clear. But at the time, she’d been trying to handle things on her own. Clear up her past and set up her future. Why was that so hard to understand?

Resting her head against the back of the chair, she stared up at the ceiling and asked listlessly, “Why’s he on the news?”

“Get this,” Cecelia said, clearly settling in for a good gossip session. “There are three different women suing him for child support.”

Surprised, but somehow comforted by the fact that she wasn’t the only foolish woman to have landed in Gio’s bed, Naomi chuckled a little to herself. “Really?”

“Oh, yeah, apparently it’s huge news in Italy. He even left the country to get out of the spotlight for a while.”

“If he’s on the news, doesn’t sound like that plan worked.”

“I know, right? And you know what’s weird?” Cecelia asked, and didn’t wait for an answer. “Some photographer caught him at the airport in Houston. He was running to catch a plane headed to England. He was right here in Texas. Can you believe it?”

And now he was gone, Naomi thought with a pleased smile. Obviously, he’d taken what she said to heart and wasn’t waiting around to see if she’d change her mind. “Well, I hope those women catch up to him.”

“I think they will,” Cecelia said. “He’s got to go home sometime, right? Anyway, I just thought it was weird, seeing him on TV and knowing you’d met him—”

“It is weird.” Beyond weird. But it explained why Gio had been desperate enough for money to give extortion a try. The upside here was, with three other women and children to worry about, the man would certainly be willing to sign over his parental rights, so that was good for Naomi and her baby.

Cecelia was talking, but Naomi was only half listening. Instead, she was thinking about Toby. Maybe she should have stayed at the ranch last night and just had it out with him. But he’d hurt her, damn it. Hurt her by dismissing her when she told him she loved him. It had been a big moment for her, opening herself up like that, and he hadn’t believed her.

Hadn’t trusted her, and that, she thought, hurt most of all. He’d been waiting, or so it seemed to her, for Naomi to let him down. To prove that what they had couldn’t be counted on. Scowling, she thought about the night before, and then something dawned on her.

A part of his mind and heart had been convinced that she would leave him. Walk away. To protect himself, he’d held back, committing to a marriage he didn’t believe would work so that when it failed, he wasn’t blindsided by it.

With a jolt, Naomi sat up straight. And what had she done? Walked away in the middle of an argument. She’d walked away. Just as he’d expected her to do. “Oh, God.”

“Naomi, are you even listening to me?”

She winced. “Sorry, Cec, I’m just really distracted.”

“Everything okay with you and Toby?”

She hesitated and almost lied but didn’t want to get into the habit, so she said only, “It will be. We’re just working out a few things.”

Like our lives.

“Oh, I totally get it. Between weddings and babies and the rush of hormones...we’re all half-crazed these days. I’ll let you go, sweetie. I just wanted to tell you about that Gio guy.”

“And I appreciate the update,” Naomi said. “We’ll talk soon.”

When the call ended, she stood up and walked through the condo, realizing that this wasn’t her place anymore. Her place was with Toby. Whether he knew it or not.

Grimly, she turned her phone on and made a call. When a woman answered, she said, “Scarlett, this is Naomi. Where’s your brother?”

“An hour ago, he was at the ranch, and he was pretty damn crabby, too.”

Naomi smiled. “He’s about to get a lot crabbier.”

“Yay!”

Naomi drove straight to the ranch, telling herself if he wasn’t there, she’d wait. She wasn’t going to leave again without making him see the truth of what they had. What they could have. And if she’d just stayed right there last night, they’d be through this already. Mental note: no more walking out.