Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

C olton didn't want to be clingy, but it was hard not to text Cady every time he thought about her. How did that happen so fast? Colton looked over the firepit at Landon. Once Landon had met Kate, that was it and he was done . He loved her and knew he wanted a future with her. He never looked at another woman again.

Colton looked at his brother-in-law, Nash. Now, Nash was different. He'd wanted Sophie long before he made his move. But once that move was made, there'd been no looking back.

It rubbed Colton the wrong way that his father and uncles thought he wouldn't be good to Cady. When a Davies fell, he fell hard and he fell for life. There was no question. Colton had fallen in love with Cady, but no one seemed to think he'd be good enough for her. There was only one thing to do—prove them all wrong. But that wasn't going to start tonight with a bunch of his cousins. It was going to start at home with Cady.

Once a month, they did a cousins guys' night. The crowd was growing as their female cousins were marrying. Then they also started inviting friends. Now, the group was twenty plus strong from the oldest male Davies cousin, Ryan, to Landon, the youngest.

"So, what's going on with Cady?" Landon asked and then it was on. The married guys smelled blood in the water from the last single male cousin.

"Her ex is being an asshole, but otherwise she's kicking ass at the conference. I'm so proud of her for handling all these things being thrown at her all while putting on one of the best conferences they've ever had. I'm hearing her panels and experts are top-notch," Colton told them proudly.

"What's this about an ex?" Jackson asked. He was FBI hostage rescue. His brother, Ryan, was the head of the FBI in Lexington. The two of them, plus Matt Walz, the sheriff of Keeneston, were all leaning forward with law enforcement type interest.

"Do we need to get involved?" Matt asked.

"I don't think so. I handled it." Colton tried to be cool, but all the guys knew better.

"And how are you taking care of it? Moving in to guard her? That's always a good move," Ryan said, trying not to smile too much. He'd moved in to protect Sienna and soon after married her.

"Hmm, Colton and Cady? I could see it," Deacon, who was married to Colton's cousin Sydney, said with a smirk as he pulled out his phone. Colton knew what would happen next. A bet would be placed and then what little privacy he had with Cady would be over. The excitement caused by the bet from the other night had just died down. The town was still unsure of their connection. Had Colton just been gallant, or was there something between them? However, if a bet came during guys' night, then the whole town would be on him like sharks to blood in the dating pool.

Colton frowned. He didn't want people to know about him and Cady yet. Not because he was ashamed but because he wanted her all to himself. He didn't want his mother and aunts and grandmother to be calling Father Ben and planning a wedding. A wedding would be great, but he wanted to be the one to ask Cady, not the town. And he wanted to spend the night with her in his arms without pregnancy bets being placed or constantly being asked about the status of his relationship. He didn't want to share their love with Keeneston yet. He was selfish. He wanted Cady all to himself until he could prove to her that he was worthy of her love.

There was only one option left for Colton now. "So, who do you think is pregnant? You know there's a good chance it's one of your wives, right?"

"If they're just now taking the test, that means they are newly pregnant and won't be showing," Walker, his cousin Layne's husband, pointed out.

"Jace probably knows, but stupid HIPAA won't let him tell," Parker Davies complained.

"It could be Jace and Stella!" Porter, Parker's brother, exclaimed as they all turned to Jace.

"Want me to hack the medical records?" Sebastian Abel, who was married to cousin Greer, asked.

"You mean have Kale hack them for you?" Jackson, Sebastian's brother-in-law, teased.

"You do realize I became a billionaire because of my computer skills, right? I was hacking when Kale was in kindergarten," Sebastian grumbled.

"So, is it Stella?" Matt, cousin Riley's husband, asked Jace point-blank. Everyone stared to see if Jace gave anything away.

"Not that I know of," Jace answered. "But it could be Riley. Isn't that right, Matt? I mean, Dawson's no longer a newborn so maybe it's her and she hasn't called me for an appointment yet."

Matt's expression was thoughtful as he pulled out his phone to send a text message to his wife. "I don't think so," Matt said a little hesitantly. "I mean, I think she'd tell me right away."

"Oh crap," Porter said, going slightly pale. "What if they haven't told us yet? Like, what if it's one of our wives and she found out that night, but then everything went crazy, and we don't know they're pregnant?"

Sebastian tossed back his drink to try to regain some color. "Greer is off in some country doing who knows what kind of black ops work. What if she's pregnant and gets hurt?"

"Willa was jumping horses this morning before the conference. What if she's pregnant and falls?" Porter asked.

"Same with Tilly. She was also jumping horses."

"Kate's safe, right? I mean, she's at football practice. It's not like the guys tackle her, right?" Landon asked the group. "Right?"

"Sophie was working with explosives when I left." Nash was suddenly looking a little worried, too.

"Reagan is flying a plane. What if something happens to her while she's in the air?" Carter looked worriedly at Matt, Porter, and Parker.

"I don't think it's Piper," Aiden said in his British accent of his wife. "She gets really, um, amorous when she's pregnant." Aiden smiled and sighed happily until Dylan, Piper's brother, punched him in the shoulder.

"I don't need to hear about my sister, okay?"

Aiden smirked. "Could be Abby."

Dylan paled and Colton hid his smile behind his drink. Yeah, they'd started in on him for showing interest in Cady, but Colton knew how the game was played. Babies trumped dating any day of the week in Keeneston.

Cady was both horrified and delighted at her panel with Willa and Tilly about women and bourbon. Most of the crowd had been delightful with thoughtful questions and agreeing that they, too, had seen an uptick in women consumers. Then there was a loud minority who didn't think women could be master distillers because they didn't have the palate or the knowledge to do so. Then they had the nerve to ask Willa and Tilly if their husbands, Porter and Parker, had given them the money to invest after telling them to invest in bourbon. Cady sighed, knowing that it wasn't knowledge or palate that these yahoos thought women lacked but something else altogether.

"Let's get this straight," Willa Davies said, leaning forward. "I invested in Cady because she's the best at what she does. But I didn't invest without doing research. I know the market trends, her business plan, and the projections of not only her distillery but the bourbon industry as a whole. I am VP of a very large and well respected tech company. I don't make bad deals. You'll find women do as much, if not more, research into companies because we don't belong to the good ol' boys' club. We're too busy running our own investment clubs to give a crap who you play golf with. Don't discount women in business or you'll find your business slowly declining. That era is over, gentlemen. Women hold the purse strings to far more than the grocery budget nowadays. Next question."

Cady tried not to smile too broadly at Willa's answer. She appreciated the fact that smirks in the audience outnumbered the frowns. It appeared the bourbon industry was ready to welcome more women into their fold.

"You mentioned investing," Daniel, Cady's rival, asked. "Which aspects of your research hold the most weight? What makes you decide to invest?"

Cady wanted to sneer, but it was a good question. Daniel had been nothing but polite since the incident at the café.

Willa and Tilly answered it and Cady saw people taking notes. The Q&A was still going strong when the time for the panel was up. "Thank you all for such wonderful questions. We'll stick around for another fifteen minutes if anyone wants to talk," Cady told the crowd. "Tomorrow is our last day. We'll be out by one in the afternoon so you'll have plenty of time to get home. See you tomorrow."

Wrapping up the panel took closer to forty-five minutes, but finally Cady, Willa, and Tilly saw the last attendee leave the distillery. "Sorry about some of those questions," Cady said, pulling out a bottle of bourbon and three glasses.

Willa shrugged. "That's nothing compared to the tech bros."

"I think we made a difference with some of them." Tilly took her glass, sat down, and kicked off her heels. "Now, the important stuff. How are you doing? We heard about the ex-boyfriend. Why didn't you tell us about him sooner?"

"He wasn't important. I haven't talked to him in six years, and suddenly, he's here and wants me to marry him and have kids with him while he discounts my distillery as a little hobby. It made me mad. Then Colton saw Jordan grab my wrist and he got involved. I can't wait for Jordan to go home tomorrow."

"You know my father-in-law could have a word with him for you," Willa told her.

"As much as I appreciate Cy doing that, I think Colton handled it." Cady already missed Colton. She couldn't wait to see him again tomorrow.

"Hmm," Tilly said, sharing a look with Willa. "Notice how she said Colton's name and then gave that little sappy smile. Someone has a crush."

"Duh," Willa said, rolling her eyes. "We all know that."

Cady blushed, but kept her mouth shut. However, the women then narrowed their eyes and really looked at her. "Oh my gosh! Something happened. Tell us everything," Willa ordered.

"What? Huh?" Cady stuttered, not expecting to be called out like that.

"Something totally happened," Tilly said, now fully on board with Willa's theory. Her very correct theory, at that.

"If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell your husbands and not to place a bet on it yet?" Cady asked. She already knew asking them this favor was telling them something was going on between her and Colton, but she needed her friends right now.

Willa and Tilly set down their phones in response.

"Tell us everything," Willa said.