A feminine voice added, "Casey, if you don't want him, my number is 355-2412."
"Sometimes kissing them is the only way to get them to shut up," an amused male observed.
"You go, girl!"
"About damn time."
13
"Hey, buddy, wanna talk about it?" Hank asked, without taking his gaze off the glass he rubbed with a bar towel.
"Not really," Rip replied. What man wanted to admit a woman had made a fool of him?
"Okay." Hank whistled tunelessly in accompaniment with the band's ukulele rendition of "Brick House".
Rip took a long pull of beer from his mug. After the morning show, he'd ducked out of the station and driven over to his corporate offices, hoping he could regain a sense of control over his life. He'd sat in two meetings so boring they made him want to stab himself in his eyes. Yeah, he was good at rebuilding dying businesses, but once they were on track, his team took over and kept things running smoothly.
Maybe he needed another project like another languishing business about to go bankrupt to put fire back into his blood, to give him purpose. He loved the challenge and loved winning. What was kicking him in the teeth was that he wasn't winning with Casey. Oh, she made his blood burn, but he wasn't getting where he wanted to be with her.
Rip heaved a sigh. "Ever feel like you were on the verge of something big about to happen in your life, and then have it hit the brakes?"
Hank continued to polish. "Kinda like a train wreck you can't avoid?"
"No, it's more like I've been derailed," Rip said morosely.
"This have anything to do with that little blonde you brought in the other night?"
"Yeah."
"The one the whole city of Austin heard you doin' a little tongue-tussle with this morning?"
Rip winced. "You heard that?"
Hank grinned. "Who didn't?" He hung the towel over his shoulder and leaned on the bar. "You ready to hear the truth?"
Rip sucked down more beer. "Hit me."
"Old buddy, you're in love."
Rip felt like he'd been sucker-punched. All this time he'd been thinking Casey was the one, he had avoided attaching the "L" word to what he was feeling. His parents had been together for forty years, but what they had wasn't what Rip considered love. How was he supposed to know what love was based on their relationship? He shook his head. "No way." He didn't believe in that stuff. And with Casey Cramer?
"Yup. You've got it bad. You have that deer-in-the-headlights look. I've seen it too often not to recognize."
Rip shook his head. "You've got it wrong, Hank. In lust, maybe. I can't possibly be in love."
His friend continued as if he hadn't heard Rip's denial. "Can't say as I blame you. She's hot."
"Nope. Not in love. Not me."
Hank's smile held a tinge of pity. "Never thought I'd see the day Rip O'Rourke would fall for a woman like a ton of bricks."
Sweat broke out on Rip's forehead. "I told you, it can't be love. She's all wrong for me."
"Why? Because her bra size isn't bigger than her IQ?"
Rip's glared at his friend. "There's nothing wrong with her bra-size."
"Not sexy enough for you?"
Rip snorted. The mere scent of the woman made him hard as a rock.
"Well, if it's not love why don't you jump her bones? Get her out of your system."
"That was the plan. Thing is, I'm not sure I can. Get her out of my system, that is."
"Buddy, she's starting to sound like the plague."
"All I'm saying is, she's not my type. Too up-town." Rip warmed to the subject. "And she's too opinionated. Thinks she's right all the time."
"Now that sounds like someone I know."
Rip flipped his middle finger at Hank. "It doesn't matter, anyway."
"Why's that?"
Rip pushed the mug away and sighed. "She's engaged."
"That certainly throws a twist into it."
"To a doctor."
Hank whistled. "Tough competition. How long's she been engaged?"
"Three weeks. And she never said a word."
Hank's eyebrows rose. "Now, there's something you can work with.
"What do you mean?" Rip looked up, a frown creasing his brow.
Returning to the glasses, Hank set them in a line behind the bar. "Only reason a woman doesn't announce her engagement to the world is that someone's got cold feet."
"Is that so?"
"Most women who are crazy about someone announce it all over social media the day their guy pops the question. Not announcing means she has doubts."
"Or she needs time to plan a blow-out wedding." Rip sat straighter on his stool. A glimmer of hope broke through the melancholy that had hung over his head for the past day. "You really think she's not sure?"
"Look, I see and hear everything in my line of business. No one really in love could keep the engagement secret for long."
Rip pondered that, then remembered how Casey had trembled when he'd reached for her. He'd recognized the thrill of passion because his own hands had shaken with it.
"Something to think about," Hank continued.
Rip shoved off his stool.
"Leaving so soon?" Hank asked.
"Yeah, got some thinking to do." Tossing his keys in the air, Rip headed for the door calling over his shoulder, "Thanks, Hank."
Hank chuckled. "Don't mention it."
As Rip pointed his Mustang home, he thought loving Casey, and worse, admitting his feelings to her, would be like peeling off a layer of his skin. He'd worn his freedom like a cloak, warding off the chill of responsibility. Could he risk throwing it off to expose himself? He needed to talk to the other members of the TCB.
The knock on her door was insistent. Casey peered through the peephole and groaned. Leona stood on the stoop, her expression difficult to read through the distortion of the curved glass. Although she loved her mother dearly, no one could make her crazier, except for Rip of course.
Besides, she was in no mood for company. After the searing kiss Rip had given her during "Something to Talk About", the man had promptly exited the sound booth, leaving Casey to stammer through the closing comments. She hadn't seen him for the remainder of the day. Casey suspected that was the reason she was so confused. This on-again off-again tug-of-war with her emotions was wearing her down.
In addition to her emotional turmoil, her head was beginning to pound and her throat was as scratchy as sandpaper. During the "Home Show", Casey had felt her strength giving way. By the time she'd signed off, it was all she could do to drag herself home and crawl into bed. She'd slept until the knocking started.
Opening the door, Casey stepped aside as her mother marched in.
Leona's sharp gaze swept over her. "You look like hell." She placed the back of her hand to Casey's forehead. "And you have a fever." Leona breezed past her into the living room. "Come along. You need to sit down before you fall down." Leona pressed Casey into a chair then busied herself in the adjoining kitchen.
When she returned, she held out a glass of water and two aspirin to Casey, who knew better than to protest Leona's actions when she was in her mother hen mode. Casey swallowed them down, and then let her mother tuck a blanket around her before taking the seat opposite her.
"All right Casey, tell me what's going on."
Casey stalled, hoping her muzzy brain would catch up with the conversation. "Um, could you be more specific?"
"Well, I already know about Ferrence. He called me last night. Why I heard it first from him rather than my own daughter is only part of why I'm here."
Casey bit her lip. Her mother looked genuinely hurt. "I'm sorry, Mother. I should have stopped by last night, but I needed some time."
"He said it was a mutual decision."
Casey nodded her head, not wanting to give more details than Ferrence might have wanted known to Leona.
Her mother waved her hand in the air. "Oh, he told me about that woman he's seeing. What I want to know is whether you took it so well for his sake, or because it really didn't hurt you, dear."
Casey was surprised that Ferrence had been so candid. "You aren't angry with him, are you? It really was a mutual thing. I'm all right with it, really, and I'm happy for him."
"So he said." Leona leaned forward in her seat, her gaze boring into Casey. "Now, tell me about that kiss the whole city witnessed today. Are you involved with Rip O'Rourke, or is this just another publicity stunt?"
Casey shut her eyes. She really didn't want to discuss that with her mother. "It wasn't something either of us planned, or at least I didn't know it was coming."
Her mother appeared to be satisfied with her answer and relaxed against her chair. She sighed. "I must admit I'm disappointed, but I can't say I'm really surprised. He's a handsome fellow. Neither one of you could keep your eyes off each other the other night."
Casey's expression must have mirrored her astonishment.