Handsome Hotshot (Handsome Devils Book 5) Page 14

  Casey’s gaze met his. She could lie, but there didn’t seem much point. “Yes. After all he’s done for this fundraiser, I’d hoped he’d be here.”

  Through narrowed eyes, Nathan appraised her. “Didn’t Michael explain he had to go? You know he wanted to be here.”

  “I can’t help thinking if he’d really wanted to be here, he would be,” she said, hoping Nathan would drop it. Despite everything that had happened, she didn’t want to criticize Michael in front of his boss.

  “No offense, but a fat lot you know about business,” Nathan said, leading her through a series of intricate steps. When they settled back into a normal rhythm, she frowned at him.

  “I may not know about business, but I know people. Michael made a choice. He wanted to impress you, to get another promotion,” she said quietly, the truth of her words causing a new wave of pain to go through her. “That promotion’s worth more to him than I am.”

  Nathan stopped dancing. He ignored all the other couples swirling around them and just stood, staring at Casey. “Excuse me, Casey. I like you, so take this the way it’s intended, but you don’t know diddly-squat.”

  Casey blinked. She should have known another corporate CEO wouldn’t understand. “I think I do. Michael decided to go on the business trip rather than to be here.”

  “So he didn’t tell you why he had to go?”

  She shrugged, feeling self-conscious. “He said it was important, but this is important too.”

  “The trip wasn’t just important to Michael. Around a hundred new jobs will be created, and the folks who already work at Barrett Software will have much greater job security.”

  Stunned, Casey looked up at Nathan. “What?”

  “Casey, Michael went because it was the right thing to do. The guy was in a tough spot, between a rock and...” He grinned. “And you. But in the end, he went because he had to. Sure, you would have liked him here with you, but those employees needed him at these meetings.”

  “Really?”

  He cocked one eyebrow. “Why? Did you give him a hard time about going?”

  A hard time? That was an understatement. “I broke things off with him.”

  “Man, that’s rough.” Nathan took her hand and started dancing again. “I thought you were in love with Michael.”

  “I am.” She swallowed and amended her answer. “I mean, I was.”

  “Was? Past tense?”

  At his dubious expression, she relented. “Okay, I am. I’m still in love with him.”

  “Then you should feel proud of him. He made a tough decision, but the right one. Those employees have families. A lot of people depend on him.” He smiled at her. “Michael’s changed in the last few weeks, Casey.”

  She saw that now. Michael wasn’t a thing like her parents. Her parents had worked so hard because they wanted to get promotions—for themselves. Michael had left her because he’d needed to do this. Or had he?

  “But if he pulls this off, won’t he end up getting promoted?” she asked.

  Nathan chuckled. “You’re one tough lady. Maybe. It’s up to me. But there’s more to being an executive at Barrett Software than just putting in the hours. You have to have heart; you have to care about people.”

  Casey nibbled her bottom lip, suddenly uncertain. Had Michael really gone on the trip to save those jobs or because he thought he’d get a promotion? She wouldn’t know if she didn’t ask Michael.

  “I should call him,” she said, needing to know.

  “No. Michael’s in nonstop meetings this weekend. You should wait until he gets back and talk to him in person.” With that, Nathan finished the dance and then led her over to the table where Emma, Benjamin, and Elmira sat.

  Nathan asked, “You folks ready to do this auction?”

  Casey went to the band, borrowed the microphone, and gathered the group. Then Tommy, who used to be an auctioneer, climbed on stage, cracked a few jokes about the supposedly magical car, and began the auction. Bidding started out slow, and for a while, Casey worried that they wouldn’t earn back the money the center had promised Elmira.

  Then, as if a dam had burst, the bidding took off. Three men were in heavy competition, each upping the amount by several hundred with each bid.

  Finally, the competition dropped to only two bidders, and eventually, it became clear one man would win. The man’s final bid wasn’t as much as Casey had hoped for, but it would do nicely.

  Tommy raised his gavel to accept the final bid when, from the back of the room, a man said, “Fifty thousand dollars.”

  A gasp went through the room. Casey recognized that voice. Or at least, she thought she did. She searched the crowd, looking for the benefactor. Finally, the crowd parted enough so she could see Michael walking toward the stage.

  She borrowed the microphone from Tommy.

  “Are you certain?” she asked Michael, love filling her. He’d come back. To her.

  “I’m positive,” he said loudly enough for Casey to hear.

  Tommy laughed and slammed the gavel on the podium. “That’s good enough for me. I’m calling this before that man changes his mind.”

  Bemused, Casey stepped down from the platform and crossed the room. When she stood directly in front of Michael, she said, “I didn’t know you liked antique cars.”

  “I didn’t,” he smiled down at her, a teasing twinkle in his sexy blue eyes. “Until recently. But I’ve become a believer in the magic of that car.”

  Dancing started again, so the crowd wandered off as Casey continued to stare at Michael.

  “Looks like the evening was a huge success,” Michael said.

  Casey nodded, still unable to believe he’d come back. Still a little uncertain why he had. “Yes. We made more than enough money.”

  Michael took a step toward her, his gaze holding hers. “Casey, I want—”

  She couldn’t stand it anymore. She rose up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. When he didn’t kiss her back at first, she decided he was surprised, so she brushed his lips again. This time, Michael pulled her close, his head bending to her, his lips seeking hers in a deep kiss.

  He’d come back. He’d left his meeting and come back to her. Abruptly, she realized what that meant and leaned back from the temptation of his kiss.

  “The meeting. The jobs,” she whispered, floundering.

  “I hurried things along, but I got it settled enough to leave.” He cupped her face, his eyes glittering as they studied her face. “I had to go, Casey. I didn’t want to—”

  She laid a finger across his mouth. “I know. I realize that now. You made the right choice.”

  Before she moved her finger away, he nipped playfully at it, making Casey laugh. Then he took her hand in his, tugging her close again.

  “I love you, Casey Richards. I’ll do anything for you.”

  Lovingly, she gazed into his eyes. “I love you, too.”

  He kissed her again, tenderly, then said, “But you have to know before we go any further that I’ve decided I don’t want to live together.”

  Her stomach dropped. “If you’re not ready—”

  Shaking his head, he said, “I want to get married. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Say you’ll marry me. I promise I won’t let my career come before what’s really important in life—you.”

  “Now how can I resist a promise like that? Yes, I’ll marry you,” she murmured against his lips. He rewarded her with a thorough and enthusiastic kiss.

  “One more thing,” he said when he ended the kiss. “I hope you didn’t have your heart set on me getting promoted. By leaving the meeting early, I’ll probably get chewed out big-time. In fact, I’ll be lucky if I’m not demoted because of this.”

  “I don’t care,” Casey assured him. “But I know how much it means to you.” She caressed the side of his face. He didn’t look unhappy. He looked ecstatic.

  “Not me. Not anymore. Sure, I want to do a good job, but it’s more important to have a life—a life
that you’re a part of. No more workaholic days for me.”

  A new thought occurred to her. “Michael, with the new center, I may have to put in some long days.”

  He grinned. “Okay, I’ll work late when you work late. Then we can meet back home and see if we can get into trouble.”

  “We can only get into trouble on the nights we work late?” she teased.

  Michael leaned forward and started to murmur something naughty in her ear, but before he could, Nathan said, “Hi, Michael. Hi, Casey.”

  They moved slightly apart and turned to face him.

  “I guess you’ve heard from Glenda that I decided to leave after we worked through the major details,” Michael told his boss. “And I stand by my decision, Nathan, even though I know it will reflect on my career.”

  Michael glanced at Casey. “It was important for me to be here tonight. Glenda will do a great job finalizing the deal. I asked her if she wanted to stay, and she said yes. She’d like to be considered for a promotion.”

  Nathan laughed. “I think that’s great, and I agree, Glenda deserves a promotion. And it doesn’t bother me that you left. I’m all for delegating. I’m a firm believer in sharing the workload so no one ends up having to do everything.” He wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist, then turned his attention back to Michael. Casey could see the love radiating off the other couple.

  “Truthfully,” Nathan said, “I think you did a great job. You’ve always had the brains and the talent, but frankly, I worried that you lacked heart.” He smiled. “I see now, you’ve got that, too. The promotion is yours.”

  Next to her, Casey felt Michael stiffen. “Nathan, I can’t put in crazy hours.”

  “So don’t. Spread the work around. Hire an assistant or two. You’ll need to anyway because Glenda will also be getting promoted. You don’t have to do all the work personally. Live your life at the same time. You only get one.”

  With that, Nathan patted Michael’s arm and headed back to the dance floor with his wife. Stunned, Casey looked up at Michael and laughed when she saw the bemused expression on his handsome face.

  “I have to agree with him. You certainly have a heart,” she said.

  He pulled her close, hugging her. “I do now. Thanks to you.”

  “You are the most perfect man,” she said quietly, cupping his face.

  He chuckled and shook his head. “Me? Perfect?”

  “Yep,” she whispered, standing on tiptoe to press her lips to his. “You’re perfect for me, hotshot.”

  Dear Reader,

  Readers are an author’s life blood and the stories couldn’t happen without you. Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed Handsome Hotshot, we would so appreciate a review. You have no idea how much it means to us.

  If you’d like to keep up with our latest releases, you can sign up for Lori’s newsletter @ https://loriwilde.com/sign-up/.

  Please turn the page for an excerpt for the first book in the The Handsome Devil series Handsome Rancher.

  To check out our other books, you can visit us on the web @ www.loriwilde.com.

  Love and light,

  Lori and Liz

  Excerpt: Handsome Rancher

  As she studied him, standing near the entrance to the city council room, Megan Kendall couldn’t help thinking what a handsome devil Chase Barrett was.

  Everyone in the small town of Honey, Texas, thought so as well. With his drop-dead gorgeous looks and his handsome-devil smile, women fell for him like pine trees knocked down by a powerful tornado.

  Even Megan couldn’t claim to be immune. She and Chase had been good friends for over twenty years, and he still didn’t know she was madly in love with him.

  Yep, he was a handsome devil all right.

  “Picture him naked,” Leigh Barrett whispered to Megan.

  Stunned, Megan turned to stare at Chase’s younger sister. “Excuse me?”

  Thankfully, Leigh nodded toward the front of the room instead of in her brother’s direction. “The mayor. When you’re giving your presentation, if you get nervous, picture him naked.”

  Megan slipped her glasses down her nose and studied Earl Guthrie, the seventy-three-year-old mayor of Honey. When Earl caught her gaze, he gave Megan a benign, vague smile.

  “I don’t think so,” Megan said to Leigh. “I prefer to think of Earl as fully clothed.”

  Leigh giggled. “Okay, maybe that wasn’t such a hot idea after all. Let me see if I can find someone else for you to think of naked.”

  “That’s not necessary. I’m not nervous.” Megan flipped through her index cards.

  Her argument was flawless, her plan foolproof. She had nothing to be nervous about. Besides, as the head librarian of the Honey Library, she knew every person in the room. This presentation would be a snap.

  But with puppy-like enthusiasm, Leigh had already stood and was looking around. She hadn’t spotted her oldest brother yet, but Megan knew it was only a matter of time before she did.

  “Leigh, I’m fine,” Megan tried, but Leigh finally saw Chase and yelled at him to come over and join them.

  Chase made his way through the crowded room. The city council meetings usually drew a big audience, but Megan was happy to see even more people than usual had turned out to listen to her presentation of fundraiser ideas for new playground equipment.

  When Chase got even with Megan and Leigh, he leaned across Megan to ruffle his sister’s dark hair. Then he dropped into the folding chair next to Megan and winked at her. “Ladies, how are you tonight?”

  Megan tried to keep her expression pleasant, but it wasn’t easy. Ever since she’d moved back to Honey last year, pretending her feelings for Chase were platonic was proving harder and harder. At six-two, with deep black hair and even deeper blue eyes, he made her heart race and her palms sweat.

  “Don’t ruffle my hair, bozo.” Leigh huffed at Megan’s right, smoothing her hair. “I’m in college. I’m too old to have my hair ruffled.”

  To Megan’s left, Chase chuckled. “Squirt, you’re never going to be too old for me to ruffle your hair. When you’re eighty, I’m going to totter up to you and do it.”

  “You and what orderly?” Leigh teased. “And just for the record, I like Nathan and Trent much better than I like you.”

  “Oh, please.” Megan rolled her eyes at that one. Leigh loved all of her brothers, but everyone knew Chase was her favorite. When she was home from college, she always stayed with Chase.

  “I love you, too, squirt,” Chase said, not rising to his sister’s taunt. Instead, he nudged Megan. “You okay?”

  “I told her to imagine the mayor naked if she got nervous, but she doesn’t want to do that,” Leigh supplied.

  “I can see why not,” Chase said. “Earl’s not exactly stud-muffin material.”

  “Oooh, I know what she should do.” Leigh practically bounced in her chair. “Megan, if you get nervous, picture Chase naked.”

  Megan froze and willed herself to stay calm. The absolute last thing she wanted to think about was Chase naked. Okay, maybe she did want to think of him naked, but not right now. Not right before she had to speak in front of a large portion of the entire town.

  “I don’t think so,” Megan muttered, shooting a glare at Leigh.

  The younger woman knew how Megan felt about her brother, and this was simply one more not-so-subtle attempt to get the two of them together. In the past few months, Leigh’s matchmaking maneuvers had grown more extreme.

  “I don’t think I’ll need to picture anyone naked,” Megan stated.

  On her other side, Chase offered, “Well, if you get flustered and it will make things easier for you, you go ahead and think of me naked, Megan. Whatever I can do to help.”

  Megan knew Chase was teasing her, but suddenly she realized how many years she’d wasted waiting for him to take her seriously.

  She’d fallen for him when she’d moved to town at eight. Dreamed about him since she’d turned sixteen. And tried like the dicken
s to forget him when she’d been away at college and then later working at a library in Dallas for five years.

  But nothing had helped. Not even seriously dating a man in Dallas had helped. In her soul, Megan believed she and Chase were meant to be together.

  If only she could get him to notice her.

  “Hey there, Chase,” a smooth, feline voice fairly purred over their shoulders. “You’re looking yummy. Like an especially luscious dessert, and I positively love dessert.”

  Oh, great. Megan glanced behind her. Janet Defries. Just what she needed tonight.

  Chase smiled at the woman half leaning on his chair. “Hey, Janet. Do you plan on helping Megan with her committee?”

  From the look on Janet’s face, the only thing she planned on helping herself to was Chase, served on a platter.

  She leaned toward Chase, the position no doubt deliberate since a generous amount of cleavage was exposed. “Are you going to help with this committee, Chase? Because if you are, I might be able to pry free a few hours.”

  Yeah, right. Megan shared a glance with Leigh. They both knew Janet would no more help with the committee than dogs would sing.

  “I’d like to help, but it’s a busy time on the ranch,” Chase said.

  “Shame.” Janet slipped into the chair directly behind him. “I think you and I should figure out a way to spend some quality time together.”

  Her message couldn’t have been clearer if she’d plastered it on a billboard. Megan hated herself for wanting to know, but she couldn’t not look. She turned to see what Chase’s reaction was to the woman’s blatant come-on.

  Mild interest. Megan repressed a sigh. Of course. Janet was exactly the type of woman Chase favored. One with a high-octane body and zero interest in a lasting relationship.

  “Maybe we’ll figure it out one of these days,” Chase said, and Megan felt her temperature climb.

  Okay, so she didn’t have a drawer at home full of D-cups, but Megan knew she could make Chase happy. She could make him believe in love again.

  If the dimwit would give her the chance.