When her vision finally cleared, she looked up into the faces of the judges and a chuckling Rip O'Rourke.
"Cramer, if you'd wanted to make a statement with your salsa, you should have added more peppers." He took the puppy from her arms and handed him to a handsome man who stood beside their table with two others. All wore blue jeans and cowboy boots. "Jesse," Rip said, "take Milo while I help Miss Cramer to her feet."
"You might want one of us to help her," one of the men murmured. "She looks mad enough to spit nails."
"Back off, Tanner," Rip warned, holding out his hand to Casey. "You have a girl. This one's mine."
"Like hell, I am." Casey slapped his hand aside and lurched to her feet, regretting that move as soon as she did it. Her vision blurred, and she swayed.
Rip wrapped an arm around her waist and pinned her to his side. "Are you okay?"
"As okay as I can be, having been sabotaged by you and your puppy."
"Hey, it wasn't intentional. Milo was frightened by Bambi's exuberance. He couldn't help himself."
"No, but you could have." She hated that she needed to lean into him, even for a few moments. The heat of his body made her knees weak and her insides tremble. Why did he have to be so damned sexy and smell so good?
When her head cleared enough she felt she could stand on her own, she pushed away from Rip and stared down at the mess of salsa staining her white blouse and skirt. Immediately, her gaze shot to the official salsa tasters. All of their spoons were empty.
"Please tell me you had a chance to taste my entry," she said, praying for a miracle.
All five shrugged and grimaced at the same time.
"Sorry, we all dove for you when you went down with the puppy." A hefty Hispanic man held up his empty spoon. "Do you have more than what spilled?"
Casey shook her head. "No." Heat rose from her neck to spill across her face. She shot a glare at Rip. This was his fault.
"Rip, honey, are you all right?" Bambi gripped Rip's arm, and then ran her gaze from the top of Casey's head to the salsa stain covering her entire front. With a dismissive smirk, she leaned her cheek against Rip's shoulder. "Please tell me you'll meet me at the Piki Tiki tonight. I'm entered in the wet T-shirt contest." She poked out her massive chest. "You know I usually win."
Casey fought the urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she wiped her hands on a paper towel and shook hands with each of the tasters, forcing a smile to her lips. "Thank you for coming to support the homeless animals of Austin. I hope you enjoy all of the salsa entries here today."
They smiled and shook her hand before moving to the next booth. Once they were out of hearing range, Casey checked the radio microphone to make sure it was off. Then she turned to Rip. "I'm going to perform some damage control. If you're not too busy, could you cover the show?" She tilted her head toward Bambi.
"I've got you covered. And I can do better than that." He reached beneath the booth and pulled out the gym bag he'd brought with him. "I have a clean T-shirt you can wear."
"Thanks, but I'll stick with my own shirt."
He grimaced and pushed the shirt into her hands. "Uh, sweetheart, it's kind of see-through." Rip winked. "By the way, I love the pink lace bra."
Her face on fire, Casey ran to the portable toilets, never more humiliated in her life. Damn him. Damn him to hell.
Rip watched until Casey disappeared into the crowd. Then he extricated himself from the blonde's grip. "Barbie, I'm sorry, but I'm working here. I can't hang out with you."
"It's Bambi." She frowned. "What's wrong with you? We used to go out a lot. Lately, I think you're avoiding me." Her frown disappeared, and she clutched his arm. "When will you be available? I can come back or wait nearby." She batted her eyes. "I'll wait as long as you need me to."
"Uh, Bambi, I have a … " He searched for an excuse, his gaze landing on his friends. "I have a previous engagement with my friends from college. I won't be available at all today."
Her bottom lip jutted out in a pout. "How about tonight at the Piki Tiki?"
Tanner Peschke grinned. "Yeah, how about the Piki Tiki?"
Rip glared at Tanner. "We had plans," he said, gritting his teeth at his grinning friend, "to visit an old teacher of ours in a nursing home. We won't have time to swing by the bar afterward."
"We have plans?" Jesse Jordan gave Rip an innocent, wide-eyed look. His Robert Redford appeal wasn't drawing any of Bambi's attention away from Rip.
Gage Jenkins frowned. "I thought we were going to watch the game."
"We are," Rip said, glaring. "At the nursing home with our old coach."
His friends weren't going to cut him any slack.
Bambi's bottom lip trembled. "How about tomorrow?"
"Tell you what, I'll call you."
Her face brightened. "You will?" She pulled a purple pen from her cross-body purse, grabbed Rip's hand, and scrawled numbers across his palm. "That's my number. I'll answer all day or night. I'll be waiting. I've missed you sooo much."
When Bambi finally left, Rip breathed a sigh of relief. Then he turned to Tanner who'd set the puppy on the ground and was holding his leash. Rip backhanded Tanner in the breadbasket.
Tanner doubled. "Hey, what was that for?" he asked, groaning.
"Thanks for nothing," Rip said.
"Why'd you ditch the blonde?" Tanner asked. "She seemed just your type. And her bikini top goes with your shirt."
Rip snorted. "She's not even close to my type."
"I thought you said the salsa lady was your woman," Jesse noted. "Are you playing more than one lady at a time?"
"No. No." Rip set the table to rights and adjusted the mic. "Bambi is a rabid fan. I made the mistake of going out with her several times. Now, I can't shake her."
"Yeah, you can't afford to date more than one woman at a time if you plan on finding a wife," Gage Jenkins reminded him.
Rip raised a hand. "Look, I'm not so sure I'm in as much of a hurry to find a wife as you guys. It's not that easy to find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with." His thoughts went to Casey and her pert breasts in that lacy pink bra.
Jesse crossed his arms over his chest. "Just what are you looking for in a woman?"
Rip shrugged. "She has to be smart enough to give as good as she gets."
Gage angled his head in the direction of the portable toilets. "Is the salsa lady that woman?"
Again, Rip shrugged. "Could be."
"Then what are you waiting for?" Tanner nodded in the direction Casey had gone and was now on her way back. "Go get her."
Rip's lips twisted. "It's not that easy."
"You mean she's not that easy." Jesse smiled. "Are you telling me the Rip O'Rourke charm isn't working on her?"
Rip's eyes narrowed. "Let's say she's a work in progress." Today's fiasco hadn't helped one bit. He didn't mention the fact that he'd dated her a couple of times, but that she'd called an end to their relationship, which had never really gotten off the ground. Something that still stung. He'd thought they were hitting it off.
Gage snorted. "From what I saw, she can't stand you. And by the frown on her face, that isn't changing anytime soon."
"How hard can it be to change her mind?" Tanner lowered his voice. "Remember when we didn't have two coins to rub together? We promised we'd be billionaires by the age of thirty."
Rip nodded slowly getting his point-if you want something bad enough you have to have a plan.
Rip nodded. "And we have."
"And wives and kids by thirty-five," Gage added.
Jesse shook his head, staring at the messy table. "I don't get the attraction to being a radio talk show host. You make a helluva lot more at your collection of corporations."
Rip grimaced. "Yeah, but I've got the right people in place. The businesses practically run themselves. I have a board of directors and a CEO to fill in while I do my thing. This is my chance to see if I want to get into the communications business."
"Like your father?" Tanner asked.
Rip's lips pressed together. He and his father had never seen eye-to-eye. He'd never trusted Rip to be a part of his business.
Jesse grinned. "You're going to buy the radio station, aren't you?"
"Whether I do or not, being a talk show host gives me the opportunity to prove to my father that I can make it in his business, without him knowing, and I'm succeeding at doing what he considered beneath my abilities."
"You still holding that old grudge?" Gage asked. "The Texas Billionaires Club was partly established to see us through the hard times while we made it to our collective billions. We've done that. Now it's time to focus on getting on with our lives, getting married and having families. Maybe it's time for you to focus on mending fences with your father."
Rip's lips thinned. "Don't push me. I'll get there in my own time. And I'll find my wife-to-be in my own time. Maybe I'm not ready right now." He shot a glance at Gage and Jesse. "Besides, they're no closer to gettin' hitched than I am."