The Rancher's Fake Girlfriend - Leslie North Page 0,26

not running from something, I’m running for the Cattlemen’s Association.”

She didn’t let him off easy. “Come on. You’re hiding who you really are. You’re running from that.”

He frowned. What was she getting at?

“I’m as real as they come. Nothing fake about me.”

She shook her head, looking apologetic. “Sorry, that’s not what I mean. I don’t think you’re lying or being insincere. What I’m trying to say is you’re keeping parts of yourself hidden away, and those are some of the best parts of you! I mean, look at the stuff we’ve been putting on your social media accounts. It’s all you, right? I’m not making things up or saying anything that isn’t true to who you are, am I?”

He shook his head.

“But is it stuff you would have gone around saying to people?” she pressed.

“Not really,” he admitted. “Not my style.” Most of the things she put up on his accounts were comments about the community and what it meant to him. Things he truly felt, but things he might have hesitated to say aloud in a speech or some kind of public format. Social media felt just enough removed to make it okay. And he was pleasantly surprised by the response it all got. He’d thought people would laugh at him if he tried to be sincere. Hell, they had laughed at him when he’d said he wanted to run in the first place. No one took him seriously … until Hannah.

“Exactly,” she said, almost as if she was responding to his thoughts. “But look at how valuable that social media presence can be. And not just to win the seat. You’re sharing parts of yourself that people didn’t know existed. But you’re not manufacturing that stuff. It’s who you are, Chad. The guy giving unicorn riding lessons? That’s you. The guy playing Candyland? That’s you too. I think letting people see the other side of Chad Radford is going to change your life.”

“What do you mean ‘the other side’?”

“Chad, we both know that people think you’re … I don’t know how to say it …”

“Aimless? A flirt? The dumb Radford?”

“Oh my God, stop it.” She chastised him and slapped his shoulder. “You’re a great guy.”

He didn’t like where the conversation was headed. His brothers were the great guys, he was the clown.

“You’re making me look like a great guy online.” He tried to change the subject. “And hey, you’re amazing at it. Have you thought about doing it professionally? Like, charging people to handle their social media?”

Her expression shifted and she shook her head. “I know what you’re trying to do, Chad. Stop trying to redirect. I want you to understand that I see who you are. And it’s wonderful.”

He wasn’t the blushing type, but Hannah’s determination to make him feel good about himself wasn’t something he was used to. Women were quick to say that he was hot, and fun, and amazing in bed.

But great? Wonderful? He shook his head.

“Are we going to fight about this?” Hannah asked with a gleam in her eye. “Because I will take you down, Radford.”

He felt a stirring inside.

Things were getting very interesting.

“Yeah.” He grinned. “I think we’re going to fight.”

Listening to Chad shoot down her compliments was more than Hannah could take.

But she had ways of making him understand.

“What if our fight gets … physical?” she asked him with a teasing smile. She moved an inch closer to where he was seated on the couch, so that their thighs were touching.

“Oh, I’d let you win, of course. A gentleman never puts a hand on a lady.”

“Is that so? And what if she did something threatening? Like, I don’t know, straddling you so that you were powerless?” She quickly slid her leg over his, so she was sitting on top of him, facing him.

The move caught Chad off guard, and she felt his body tense for a moment. The shock of her boldness registered all over his face with a mix of delight and confusion.

“Well, I wouldn’t call myself powerless …” Chad said with a slow, sexy smile. He shifted beneath her and bucked his hips, causing her to bounce up like she was sitting on a mechanical bull.

She hid a smile. “Oh no? Well, what if your aggressor grabbed your wrists? Like this?” Hannah reached out to take his wrists with her hands. They were so big that she could barely wrap her hands around them, but she squeezed them in a laughable show of force. She held his wrists