Cassie laughed. "You make him sound like a spoiled brat. Maybe he just needs some time at home to get his bearings after seeing the things he does when on the job."
Brows lifted, he let out a whistle. "You might be right. I'd not have thought of that. Then there's Adam. You know him." He left the sentence hanging. Neither needed to expand on Adam, who seemed to be recovering from severe PTSD.
"What about you?" She faced him. "Which brother are you?"
His face hardened for a moment and his brows furrowed. Cassie waited for some sort of wisecrack. Instead he surprised her. "The one who wishes he was home more cause he misses out on all the important stuff. That guy that no one outside the family really knows."
"So have I seen the real you?"
His right shoulder lifted and lowered with nonchalance, although the twitch in his jaw said otherwise. "You've seen all the glory that is Jensen Ford." So he was back to being the jackass.
"And I'm in awe," Cassie replied dryly. She'd seen two sides of him; maybe in the midst of it was the real Jensen. It would be interesting to see how he acted at home.
They continued on in companionable silence until Cassie's cell phone rang. She answered without looking at the display.
The voice on the other end took her by complete surprise. Kevin's familiar drawl greeted her. "Hey, Cassie. I'm surprised you answered. How are you?"
She slid a look towards Jensen, who didn't seem to be listening in, and wished she wasn't in the car with at that moment. She'd not heard from her ex-fiancé in a year and now all of times he decided to freakin' call. "I'm good. What's going on?"
"I can't stop thinking about you. I'm hoping we can meet. I can come there to Lovely. Maybe we can have dinner or something, and, you know, talk."
Seriously? She gritted her teeth, biting words like "fuck off" and "go to hell". Instead she let out a breath. "I can't. Right now is not a good time. I will call you when I can talk." And able to loudly tell him to go to hell.
"Oh. Okay." Kevin sounded dejected. "I have some news."
Cassie rolled her eyes. Jensen had turned in her direction now and gave her a questioning look. She smiled as if her phone call was a pleasant one. "I'll call you back and you can tell me all about it." She pressed the end button and dropped her phone back into her purse.
"We're here." Jensen drove through an open wrought iron gate down a bricked drive that led to a beautiful plantation-style home. The house was one story, but it sprawled in both directions. She imagined, it went deep too, to have housed the wealthy family of six.
"Hacienda sweet hacienda," Jensen said once he pulled up, and jumped out of the car. He opened her door and she accepted his hand to get out. It was the first time, other than shoving him out of her way and him pulling her through the hoard of fans, that they touched in a friendly way. His hand was firm and held her in a tight grip, not strong enough to hurt her, but in a way that communicated it was up to him to let her go first.
Keeping her hand in his, he guided her to the front door, and only when he reached for the knob did he release it. A mixture of surprise that she'd enjoyed his touch and the anxiety at entering the Ford's large home made her take a deep breath to calm down.
They walked into a good-sized entryway. Straight ahead was a tall wall with built-in shelving that housed horse statues and family pictures. To the right and left were massive archways to other rooms. Cassie noticed a sitting room on the right, and to the left opened to what looked like a library. They walked through the left archway and she gasped at the enormous kitchen and dining room combination. "We never had a separate dining area. Always eat in here," Jensen explained, once again taking her hand and pulling her through the room to a floor to ceiling windowed wall. French doors opened to a beautiful bricked in patio with loungers under a portico. A long refreshing pool was a few feet away, another set of loungers on one side, and what looked like a bar with chairs on the other. There was a round table and wicker seating on the left side where Tesha and a woman she recognized as Jensen's mother sat. With them was Caden. To the left of the group on a lounger was a teenage girl flipping through a magazine with a bored expression.
Tesha and Jensen's mother got to their feet at the same time. Although his mother gave her a curious look, she addressed Jensen first. "You came. I'm so glad. Adam told me you were going to try to make it." She kissed her son's cheek when he bent to hug her.
With a wide smile, Tesha stood back and waited for the matriarch of the family to speak to Cassie first. Miriam Ford, a striking petite woman, held out her hand and Cassie grasped it. Her bright blue eyes met hers. "Hello, darling. You're Tesha's friend Cassie, right?"
"Yes, ma'am. Jensen was nice enough to give me a ride to Tucker High School today since my car is horribly unreliable." At the mention of the high school, the teenager dropped her magazine and stared at Cassie with interest.
"It's great you're here," Tesha exclaimed, her smile brighter. "We can spend the afternoon together. We're planning the wedding and another set of eyes would be helpful."
"Very true." Jensen's mother took Cassie's arm. "We can't seem to concentrate on the subject. Keep veering off down rabbit trails." Miriam stopped and looked at Jensen. "Honey, go fetch us more lemonade, please. Don't forget to add a bit of bourbon and a mint sprig."
It was astonishing to see the superstar being treated like a normal person, no special treatment by his family. He went to the teenager and ruffled her curly hair. "Hey, shortstop, what you doing?"
The teen glared up at him. "Stop, Uncle Jen. It took me forever to get it under control."
Uncle? Cassie looked to the girl with curiosity. Tesha took her arm. "Cassie, this is Nahla. She is Tristan's daughter." The girl had the most amazing caramel-toned skin, which made her pale grey eyes stand out. She was gorgeous. Nahla gave her a short wave. "Hi."
It was strange to think of Tristan as a father; the man seemed so closed off the times Cassie had seen him. She was dying to ask Tesha about the teen. Once they got back to Lovely, she was going to drill her friend for information.
Before long, she and the other two women were engrossed in bridal magazines and had a laptop between them with more wedding idea pictures.
The French doors opened and two brothers stepped through: first, Jensen, his good looks making her look twice; then, the youngest brother, Caden. They each held two glasses of lemonade with sprigs of mint. Cassie looked to Tesha, who smiled widely. Miss Miriam had taught her sons well. They knew how to serve an attractive cocktail.
Caden's long strides brought him closer. His piercing blue eyes pinned her with a curious look. Jensen handed Nahla the one glass with a cherry marking it as non-alcoholic. Caden handed Cassie her drink and smiled. "I'm Caden, I don't believe we've met."
In spite of herself, she blushed at his close scrutiny. Cassie took his proffered hand. "Cassie Tucker. I'm Tesha's friend, from Lovely."
His eyes slid to Jensen. "So you're not Jensen's friend?"
Unsure of what to say, she swallowed and looked at Jensen, who'd given Mrs. Ford her drink and was watching with a scowl on his face. "I would describe us more as acquaintances than friends," she finally said, taking a drink of the tasty cold spiked lemonade. "This is delicious, thank you."
Caden favored the other two brothers. With dark chestnut brown hair and blue eyes, he had the same large muscular frame and wide shoulders, but unlike Adam and Tristan, this brother seemed easygoing, with a carelessness about him that could trick someone into thinking he didn't have one single monster under his bed.
Cassie studied him, and he must have felt it, because he looked to her and then she saw it. It was brief, but his eyes widened just a bit. He wondered if she could see the shadows that he tried hard to hide. Yes, she'd seen them. It was the same look she saw in the mirror many times.
Jensen came over and sat down on a chair next to hers. He stretched his long legs and looked at the pile of magazines on the table. "Why don't you just hire someone to do all this? Dad s
aid you've been at it for days."
Cassie joined in the circle of incredulous stares directed at the actor whose wide eyes bounced from one to the other. "What?"
"Jeez, Uncle Jen, you don't know anything." Nahla shook her head. "This is the fun part of a wedding. Picking the colors and the theme. We can't let a planner do it."
"What did you pick?" Jensen smiled at the teenager astonishing Cassie at how comfortable he was around different people. Jensen was born to be well-liked. Except for her. She was still not sure if she liked him. He'd not been nice to her before this day.
Nahla jumped to her feet and held out a torn-out magazine page. "I picked the colors. They are going to be Neapolitan."
"What does that look like?" Jensen took the piece of paper and stared at it. "I don't see any color other than brown, pink and white."
He was kidding the teen, but Nahla didn't notice. She put her fists on her hips. "It's a color theme. Like the ice cream. The colors are chocolate, strawberry and vanilla." She huffed. "Duh."
He looked to Cassie. "Which flavor are you?" His voice as low and Cassie knew he wasn't talking about colors. "I would guess vanilla."
Laughter burst from Caden and Adam, who stood at the door. Adam came over and kissed Tesha, then turned to Jensen. "That was the lamest pickup line ever."
"Like you would know," Jensen threw back with a wide grin. "It was a classic."
Adam shook his head. "I would say it pretty much ranked right above the time Tristan bought a girl a hot dog and said..."
"Boys!" Mrs. Ford interrupted. "Let’s ask Cassie what she thought?"
Cassie was sure her face was bright red. Her cheeks on fire she took a gulp of the drink. "I didn't realize it was a line. I think he really did want to know which flavor I liked." She feigned an innocent expression.
Everyone laughed except Nahla, who'd gone back to her lounger, obviously deciding adults were dumb.
Mrs. Ford looked to Adam. "Is Tristan coming for dinner?"
Adam shook his head. "Nope. He has a business thing tonight. He said that he would come by this weekend."
The sons went inside a few moments later and Cassie looked to Tesha, who was cutting out a picture. "What are they up to?"
Her friend gave her a wide-eyed smile. "The best thing about marrying a Ford is that they can cook. Miss Miriam makes the main course and they make the sides. Salad, vegetable dish, that sort of thing."
Mrs. Ford leaned forward and winked. "They can all cook a special dish too. Adam makes the best lasagna. Caden cooks a great pot roast."
"What's Jensen's?" Cassie asked before she could help it. For one, she really could not imagine him cooking.
Mrs. Ford gave her an assessing look. "He's the best cook of all of them. Makes great tacos and Mexican rice. His meatloaf is great, too. Of all the boys, he's the one that spent more time in the kitchen with me. He loves to cook."
"I didn't know that," Tesha interceded. "I wonder how often he cooks now."
They sipped and continued eating. Cassie noted Mrs. Ford did not bring up Tristan, and she wondered if he was the only one that was exempt from cooking, being the oldest. If she couldn't imagine Jensen cooking, the thought of the morose Tristan donning an apron seemed farfetched.
"What about Tristan?"
Mrs. Ford shook her head and smiled. "He's our grill master. Fights over it with his dad."
"Anybody home?" a deep voice bellowed and was greeted by the brothers. The cupcake king had arrived.
The drive back to Lovely was like night and day from earlier. Jensen remained silent, his jaw clenched.
Worried more about whether to call Kevin back or not took precedence over Cassie wondering what crawled up Jensen's butt. She looked to her cell phone and saw a text from Tesha. She was also returning to Lovely, following behind them.
"Tesha needs to stop and use the bathroom," Cassie told Jensen who gave her a stiff nod.
"I think there's a convenience store just up ahead.”
As soon as they pulled into the small country merchant's parking lot, Jensen exited the car and made a phone call.
Tesha came to the car window after using the bathroom. "Sorry about that. I should have gone before leaving."
Cassie looked to Jensen. "Can I ride with you? I'm not sure why I'm in his car. I have to go to your house to get my car, so it doesn't matter who I ride with."
"Sure." Tesha waved at Jensen who stood a short distance away. "I'm taking Cassie away from you."
Jensen gave them a short wave and returned to his call.
Cassie rolled her eyes. "He's in a bad mood."
Once ensconced in Tesha's car she let out a breath. "Thanks, he's acting strange as usual. Not speaking to me."
"I bet he's jealous," Tesha replied with a wide smile. "Caden and Tommy shadowed you the entire time."
"They were was just being nice." Cassie frowned. "Besides, Jensen doesn't like me. He is dating that superstar Selene. Figure the odds of him being attracted to a country bumpkin like me."
"You are a bumpkin, aren't you?" Tesha laughed. "But you're a pretty bumpkin."
"Oh, hush." Cassie let out a snort, which sent them into fits of giggles.
Chapter Six
Jensen was relieved that Cassie left with Tesha. He finished his phone call with his agent and let out a frustrated sigh.
The man wanted him and Vanessa to play out a romance between them to help sell the movie. He'd already arranged for them to take an impromptu trip to Cabo, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for the media. It would delay filming for a couple of weeks, but the publicity team felt it was imperative they fight the rumors of Selene dating her costar and not make him seem less than Alpha male by being dumped. This way it would look like both he and Selene had ended the relationships amicably and moved on.
It struck him that Selene had not mentioned her publicist's media tactic. He understood how the industry worked. Agents were forever pushing a romance between costars to the tabloids. His first reaction was to contact her and let Selene know it was not real so she could tell the tabloids during interviews they were on friendly terms and keep the media guessing. He expected the same in return.
Of course he'd not dated Selene while she shot a movie, so they had not discussed this aspect of it. They'd gotten together after her last blockbuster released.
Jensen dialed her number as he drove toward Lovely. When she didn't answer, he left a voice mail. It was afternoon in Australia, so she was probably working. He needed to reach her before leaving for Cabo. Once he got to town, he'd send her a text as well.
He wondered if Tesha would get on his case again for not speaking to Cassie earlier. Adam's fiancée was fiercely protective of her friend.
Admittedly, he had been rude. But every time he opened his mouth to say something, the first thing that came to mind was to ask whether she was interested in Caden. The two had been inseparable the entire evening. Sat next to each other at dinner, discussing some nonsense television show both watched. Laughing at inside jokes no one else got. No sooner than Caden would move away, Tommy took his place. Jensen didn't get a chance to even blink toward her.
Even his mother had made a comment about how well the two got along. As if Caden deserved a good woman like Cassie. The womanizer would probably use her and move on without a backwards glance.
He hit the steering wheel and let out a grunt. Why should he give a crap? It wasn't as if she couldn't take care of herself. Besides, the woman had more spunk than he'd given her credit for. When she'd taken her shirt off in the car, he'd almost pulled over to watch her get dressed. Her generous breasts were barely held back with the flimsy material of the bra she wore, and all that satiny skin on display made it almost impossible not to stare.
How had he not noticed how sensually appealing she was? He knew she was pretty and something about her called to him from the first day he they'd met. However, now that he'd had a sneak peek at what she hid under her clothes, Jensen wanted more. He wanted to see the lon
g legs on full display, her perfectly round ass free from any type of covering.
"Shit." Jensen pulled his car to the side of the road. Blue lights flashed into his mirror. "Damn that woman."
Mark Smith was the name of someone boring and with no personality. But this agent was anything but. Wearing jeans, a crisp white shirt and a sweater vest, the slender but fit blond man looked more like a model than a Hollywood agent. With pale eyes and a gaunt face, he gave the impression of gentleness. However, those that knew him would consider him more a pit-bull than a poodle. Once he sank his teeth into something, he didn't let go. He'd represented Jensen for five years, and in that time, he'd been the main one responsible for catapulting him to mega stardom.
Right now Mark sat in a lawn chair at Adam's house in Lovely. In the screened-in porch, the crisp air made the early evening a comfortable time of day to be outside. Blending into the casual setting with a tall glass of club soda, Mark's eyes went from Jensen to Vanessa. "What we need is a lot of PDA. But at the same time act like you're hiding from the cameras. You know, look around before kissing, that kind of thing."
Vanessa leaned forward with a pinched brow. "Could you pick a location more original than Cabo? How about England? It’s so romantic."
"I think we should stay on this side of the planet," Jensen said, bored with the conversation that had lasted hours longer than necessary. They'd already gone over what to wear, locations where they had to be, posing, times and dates. "If I'm leaving in a couple days, I need to talk to Selene and let her know."
"I'm going to pack." Vanessa stood and kissed Mark on each cheek. "Maybe you and I can go to England sometime." She gave a short giggle and walked away.
"Is she serious?" Mark's eyes followed Vanessa's departing figure. "I'd bang her."
Jensen kept to himself that the actress didn't seem to be too choosy. She'd already slept with some the onsite crew. "She's energetic. You should."
"Have you?" Mark lifted a brow. "Don't want to piss in your puddle."
The Last Hero: Fords of Nashville, Book 2 Page 4