Lauren lifted a shoulder and waved a hand in the air.
“I have a good instinct about Casey. Any guy who wants to be friends before he sleeps with you is at least worth getting to know. I mean, aren’t you curious about why he wants to friends first? That’s not typical,” Lauren said wisely.
Regina laughed, totally delighted with Lauren. For the first time in a while, she was hopeful for both her friends, and maybe even for herself.
“Now don’t faint, Alexa—but, well I’m agreeing with Lauren on this one. Casey sounds intriguing, definitely worth getting to know. Of course, it’s understandable if you think you’d be more comfortable with someone older.”
Regina used her toe to nudge Lauren’s leg under the table. “I mean, if you want a man more your own age, I guess Lauren or I could set you up with someone who could take your mind off the fire Casey seems to have lit in you.”
Lauren picked up the hint without missing a beat. “I know several men, and they certainly wouldn’t be intimidated by your success—at least not much.”
Alexa looked between the two women, irritation in her eyes, posture, and the set of her mouth. She tossed back her hair and glared until both of them laughed.
“This is only about Casey,” Alexa said tightly.
“You know, it’s good to see you heated up about a guy again, Alexa. I’ve been worried about you,” Regina went back to her food, happy at least one of her friends was taking chances and really living.
Lauren leaned forward to Alexa, not able to hold in her excitement about it all. “We can see you have it bad for Casey, honey. It’s all over you. Just do him, and then come back and tell us how great it was. Regina and I can date vicariously through you.”
Regina dropped her fork and had to scramble to keep it on the table.
“Do him? Did you just tell Alexa to do him?” Regina burst out laughing at Lauren’s enthusiastic nod. “Wow, I’m speechless, Lauren.”
“Alexa is inspiring me,” Lauren said, dreamy-eyed over imagining Casey demanding he and Alexa become friends. It was such a romantic thing for a guy to do, especially a guy who was much younger than the woman he wanted.
“Do him?” Alexa repeated the phrase, all too easily imagining herself being with Casey. Her frustration level grew with every fantasy she allowed herself.
She came back to reality again when Regina’s and Lauren’s laughter became loud enough to draw the attention of everyone sitting around them. Alexa’s face flushed as she realized she had drifted away on them like she did with Sydney. Fantasizing about Casey was addictive.
“Fine,” she said. “I don’t think I have a choice anyway. Just cross your fingers Jenna doesn’t find out and kill me.”
Chapter 8
While Alexa was having dinner across town, Casey was in the kitchen of Seth’s condo loading the dishwasher for the third time, trying to escape the crowded living room and the press of bodies everywhere. Though Seth had said he’d simply forgotten to tell him about the cocktail party, Casey suspected the oversight was probably intentional given the much higher ratio of females to males in attendance tonight.
Several of the older women had wandered into the kitchen, perched at the breakfast bar and talked to him for a bit. They were nice enough, but none of them were Alexa Ranger, so Casey had a difficult time paying attention to them for long.
Casey didn’t feel bad about his lack of interest. He hadn’t seen Seth hanging on anyone he’d invited either, and he damn well knew it was because of Jenna. Why would Seth think Casey would be tempted? Neither of them worked like that.
Tired of being social, Casey retrieved a humidor from the pantry and withdrew a cigar from it. The polished mahogany humidor had been the last gift Susan had bought for him. Though she hadn’t liked the cigars, his wife had wanted him to have the beautiful cigar keeper.
Casey clipped one end of his last cigar, clamped it between his teeth, and lovingly tucked the humidor back into the pantry.
Slipping out the door off the kitchen, he walked away from the private patio to a quieter area of the condo’s shared courtyard. There was a wooden bench in a gravel circle under a magnolia tree about to bloom. He sank down on the bench, grateful to get the pressure off his hip.
Casey lit the cigar lovingly, sighing in ecstasy with the first puff. He hadn’t been there three minutes when Seth walked through the darkness to sit beside him.
Casey looked at him through a grayish-brown cloud of pungent smoke, grinning when Seth wrinkled his nose and swiped at the smoke with his hand.
“That’s a disgusting habit,” Seth pronounced. “I can’t believe Susan never made you quit.”
“Yes. It is disgusting. I’m using it to discourage the women you keep sending to me,” Casey said, flicking the ash off into the gravel around the bench.
“What’s wrong with them? Didn’t you meet anyone you liked?” Seth leaned back and put an arm up on the bench.
Casey knew Seth meant well, that he probably didn’t understand, or at least was pretending not to get it.
“Is there anyone here you’d go out with?” Casey challenged, taking another deep pull on the cigar.
Seth pulled his arm away and stood. “No. There isn’t, but that’s different.”
“How so?” Casey asked. “Hell, Alexa and Jenna are practically twins.”
Seth frowned. “You can’t seriously be interested in a woman who’s over a decade older than you,” Seth said, running his hand through his hair.
“You know last month when I met her? I shook her hand and got an instant hard-on. It was the first time first woman since Susan. Even if you set aside the fact Alexa is gorgeous, she’d have to be butt-ugly before I would pass on the chance to figure out why I had that strong reaction,” Casey told him. “I realize her being Jenna’s mother makes it a little complicated for you.”
Seth nodded. “Well, it would if I was still seeing Jenna, but I guess that’s not the case. I guess I get you have an unexplainable sex thing for her, and I know you’re a damn pit bull when you have your mind set on something. Whatever—I just came to tell you that you don’t have to hide out here in the dark and smoke. Everyone came by just for drinks. They’ll all be leaving shortly.”
“I’m fine,” Casey said. “Enjoy your guests. I do appreciate the thought.”
Seth started walking back toward the patio, head down, hands in pockets. Casey thought he looked like a disappointed kid.
“Seth,” Casey called out. When Seth turned back, he asked, “Are we good?”
Seth shook his head yes, lifted a hand, and headed back to the house at a faster clip.
Casey sighed into the darkness and closed his eyes. When he opened them a couple minutes later, Alexa Ranger was walking toward him with a frown on her face. She was wearing her usual jeans and a silky white shirt that practically glowed in the dark. She looked like a sexy girl next door and Casey’s body said hello before she even got close to him.
“That’s a disgusting habit,” Alexa told him in greeting, taking a seat beside him as far away from the cigar smoke as she could get.
Casey sighed again. “So I’ve been told. How did you find me?”
“Seth showed me how to find you,” Alexa said. “He didn’t seem very surprised to see me.”
“Probably because we just had a discussion about you a few minutes ago,” Casey said, flicking ash into the gravel again, taking another drag from the cigar.
“Would it have anything to do with the number of women I had to swim through to get out here?” Alexa asked, crossing her arms.
“It had to do with me telling him I wasn’t interested in anyone but you,” he said, reaching out a hand and poking her in the side with his finger until she uncrossed her arms.
“Maybe Seth has the right idea about the age range you need to shop in for female companionship,” Alexa said in irritation, as Casey just laughed.
“Too bad. I’ve found all the companionship I’m going to want for a while,” Case
y said, “but it will have to wait until some other time. Even Susan would never let me near her when I smoked one of these.”
“Your wife was a smart woman,” Alexa said, smiling for the first time since she sat down. No woman in her right mind would tolerate the cigar stink.
“Next time I marry, I’m having a cigar tolerance agreement put in the contract,” Casey informed her.
“You better go back in the living room and look for someone dumb then. That search may take you a few years. Hurry. You better get started tonight,” Alexa said to him, almost laughing now herself.
Casey sighed heavily, the third time he had done so since sitting on the bench.
“Okay, true confessions. I do like cigars, but gave them up when I was injured. Tonight it was the only thing I could think of to keep the women away,” Casey explained. “Before the cigar, I was forced to load the dishwasher multiple times just to avoid engaging in boring conversations.”
Alexa’s laugh echoed through the courtyard. “Am I supposed to feel sorry for you because you had to be social and make conversation?”
“No, you’re supposed to be impressed I’m not interested in other women,” Casey said, peering intently at her through the smoke. “I’m interested in you, Alexa.”
Alexa swore, a nasty habit Casey seemed to bring out of her more frequently. “You know, I have done absolutely nothing to be alluring to you. If I wanted to hold your attention, it would not be difficult to do. You wouldn’t be able to look at another woman if I—oh, hell Casey. Flirting with you is not why I came here. I came to tell you something I didn’t tell you last night because I didn’t want to ruin the fun evening we had.”
Casey smiled around his cigar. He’d had a good time last night, too.
“I’m listening,” he said, puffing on the cigar.
“I own the restaurant where we ate last night,” she said dully, crossing her arms again.
Casey thought about it for a moment, and then laughed.
“Okay. I admitted you were right about the wings there being the best in town, and I paid for dinner as agreed. What more do you want from me, woman?”
When Alexa looked off in the dark, the genuine worry on her face did start to concern him.
“Just spill it, Alexa. Put what you’re thinking out there. Let’s see how bad it is,” he ordered softly.
“I also own more than half of the restaurant where I had dinner tonight with Regina and Lauren,” she said, her gaze finding his in the dark.
“I own interests in several businesses around Falls Church, including Sydney’s. All that isn’t even counting my own business, which now is at least three separate businesses rolled into one. I own multiple vehicles: two cars, two SUVs, and the pick-up you saw. My house is not a mansion, but it is a fortress for my private life. I have a security gate and only give the code to family and very, very close friends. I’m not Donald Trump, but I’m doing pretty well for myself.”
Casey took his cigar out of mouth and studied it, not meeting her eyes. He had assumed she was more wealthy than he was, but hadn’t really given much thought to what it meant to them dating. His interest in her was more basic than what either of them owned or did for a living. On some level, Casey felt sure that Alexa had to know how it was between them, know he was interested in her just for her. She just didn’t trust it.
“Do you think I’m interested in your money more than you, Alexa?” Casey asked flat out. He wanted to laugh when she swore again using the f-word.
“I never gave it a thought,” she said angrily.
“Me neither,” Casey replied, rolling his cigar and putting it back in for one final puff. “I’m too busy thinking about how to get into your pants, especially after you almost got into mine. Now I admit to worrying about exceeding your previous sexual experiences. In fact, I’m wrestling like hell with that one.”
Alexa swore again, using every word she knew.
“I’m confused,” Casey said, bending to grind the cigar butt out on the metal strap holding the bench in place. “Are you trying to scare me away or are you telling me about your wealth to make me want you more?”
Alexa lifted a hand to inspect her French manicure in the dark. “You said you liked me, Carter. I guess I’m telling you the various truths about my life to see what’s going to change that.”
“Hard to say,” Casey said. “Your money situation certainly doesn’t change what I plan to do to you once I get you in bed.” He studied her in the dark. “Does it change your attraction to me that I’m a retired military man who only makes thirty-five thousand a year?”
“I have never needed a man for his money,” Alexa said, her eyes hot.
“Then what do you need from a man, Alexa?” Casey asked, enjoying the fire he’d started.
Alexa stood, straining the shirt buttons with her breasts as she tucked her hands in her back pockets. She walked away from the bench to pace.
“I don’t know what I need anymore. I haven’t wanted anyone in so long I forgot what it was I used to want so badly.” She looked at the ground instead of at Casey.
“Yet despite your memory lapse, you do seem to want me?” Casey asked, trying to make it sound like a question, instead of just telling her how it was.
He had stood too long in the kitchen, so he had to lean forward to push himself to his feet. His limp was fairly pronounced as he walked to where she paced.
“Yes, I want you.” Alexa couldn’t sound happy about it because she wasn’t. “But I’ve wanted plenty of men I haven’t slept with in my life, Casey. I don’t know if it’s worth taking that step with you.”
Casey held out a hand. Alexa looked at it for a moment, and then took it reluctantly. Just like the first time there was a tingle of awareness leaping between them as they touched.
“Do you feel that, Alexa?” he asked, squeezing and shaking her hand. “I do. I feel it. I felt it the first time I touched you, and I fought it for a bit myself. You have my word that awareness I have every time we touch is the main reason I want you.”
Alexa groaned in defeat and stepped into him, putting her arms around him for a hug. He felt really good to her, and she almost told him.
“You reek,” she said instead, burrowing her face in his shirt and running her hands over his hips, sighing at the solid muscles flexing under her hands. If he didn’t have the cane, you’d never know the man had a physical weakness at all.
Casey pulled her tight against him and felt her body fit along the planes of his as if they had been hugging for years.
“Sorry I reek,” he said casually, kissing her temple. “If I had known you were coming by, I’d have skipped the cigar.”
They stood there for a long time, just hugging in the dark. “Alexa?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“I have a thing tomorrow night at a VA organization in Arlington where I volunteer. We’re supposed to bring our families. Would you like to go as my date? It’s military formal, so I have to wear my dress blues. You can wear any dinner dress. Lots of women wear black.”
“Don’t you want to take Seth?” she asked.
“He has plans. I wasn’t going to go this year, but—well, I just thought if you went with me, I might go after all,” Casey told her.
Alexa pressed her face into his neck. Long moments passed, and then she finally nodded. She kissed his neck and whispered okay.
“Come on. I’ll walk you to the door. You can help fight the women off. I didn’t bring my cane outside,” Casey joked.
But when they got inside, no one was there. Alexa said good-bye at the door, walking quickly away. Casey watched her hips until she disappeared around the corner of the hallway.
Tired, he walked to his bedroom and picked up his favorite picture of him and Susan in its silver frame.
“You’d like her,” he said to the image of the woman who had been his friend and lover for most of his adult life. “I like her a lot. I hope you’re okay with it.”
Then he walk
ed to the dresser, opened a drawer, and tucked the picture and the past away.
Another woman filled his thoughts tonight, a woman who had come to him and who cared about what he thought about her. He went to bed smiling and happier than he’d been in a long time.
Chapter 9
The spring lingerie pre-launch was Saturday afternoon, so early Friday morning Sydney was sipping coffee while overseeing the mannequin bodies and busts being scantily dressed in the latest styles.
Most of Alexa’s designers and marketing staff rushed around helping.
Various textures and colors of female lingerie covered every available surface.
Through it all, Sydney smiled and sipped his full-fat, half-and-half, mocha cappuccino, happy with the world in general. He would be the first to admit that he enjoyed the drama and last minute rush of the buyer open houses, each time and every time.
He had just taken in a mouthful of coffee when he noticed the silence and sudden motionlessness in the open room. All eyes seemed to be focused behind him, so he turned too, promptly choking and spitting coffee on the newly polished wood floor. Someone rushed over with paper towels as Sydney fought to get his breath back.
“Mercy, Alexa,” he said, while one of the women slapped him on the back as he choked. “I forgot you could pack so much punch.”
“Sydney, that’s twice this week you’ve choked because of me,” Alexa said, walking into the room on three-inch black platform heels. The shoes sent a person’s eyes soaring up silky legs that definitely did not end in the short black dress a few inches above her knees. “What? I can’t wear a dress anymore? I have a date tonight and no time to go home and change.”
Sydney motioned to the dress with his hand. “A date with Casey Carter?” he squeaked.
Alexa nodded.
“He’s going to have heart failure when he sees you. I’m gay, and you stopped my heart anyway. Woman, you’re still as stunning as ever,” he said, motioning to the posters on the walls of Alexa modeling her early line of panties and bras.
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