even date.
When his gaze settled on her, something that looked almost like relief lifted his lips and she felt warm all over.
“Back in five,” she told Zippy Rogers, a young woman whose thick dark hair practically begged to be placed into a sexy twist.
Cassidy wove her way through the small area just off the main ballroom of Spring Gulch Country Club, loving the energy in the air. With each step closer to Tim a different kind of excitement filled her. Embracing the sensation, she sidled up to him.
“Hi.” Cassidy cursed the odd breathlessness that attacked her whenever he was near. To compensate she offered him a cheeky grin. “Word on the street is you’re up for bid on the meat market tonight.”
He winced.
She could almost see his mind spinning like a hamster wheel as he attempted to come up with the proper response to her not-so-proper comment.
“Liam had an allergic reaction.” He shifted from one foot to the other. “Right now his face is puffed up like the Incredible Hulk.”
Liam, an all-around nice guy, was a child psychologist who’d recently returned to Jackson Hole to set up practice. Cassidy felt a stirring of sympathy. “Poor guy.”
“He hated to back out at the last minute.”
“If he resembles the Hulk, it was a wise move,” Cassidy said matter-of-factly. “For these events, handsome, not hulk, is what brings in the money.”
Tim’s gaze lingered for a moment on the pretty blondes, sensual brunettes and one dazzling redhead getting their hair and makeup done. It slid to the group of young men standing together talking.
Other than Liam-the-absent, the guys on the chopping block tonight weren’t his buds. These men were businessmen and ski industry people, at least five or six years younger than Tim. His social circle—and hers—was composed primarily of medical professionals and young entrepreneurs with a few attorneys and social workers tossed into the mix.
Cassidy fell into the entrepreneur bucket. She owned a successful hair salon—Clippity Do Dah—in downtown Jackson. In the past year she’d expanded into doing hair, nails and makeup for events, such as weddings and other special occasions.
“I’m not sure exactly what I’m supposed to do.” Tim shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Liam just told me to show up.”
“Lexi Delacourt is coordinating tonight’s fund-raiser. You know Lexi.”
“Of course.” The lines of strain on Tim’s face eased.
Lexi was a mutual friend. She was also as classy and elegant as they came. The pretty social worker brought that class and elegance to anything she touched, which meant the auction wouldn’t be sleazy. Or at least as non-sleazy as bidding on another human being could be.
“I’ll take you to her.” Cassidy looped her arm through his, congratulating herself on so quickly finding a reason to touch him.
As always, being this close sent blood coursing through her veins like warm honey. Though Cassidy normally preferred bright colors and flash, Tim’s brown trousers and cream-colored shirt suited her just fine. In fact, on him she found the subdued colors incredibly sexy.
Cassidy glanced down, wondering if he liked her bright orange skirt that resembled a tutu—complete with tulle—topped by a clingy lime tee. The outfit was one of her faves.
“This way.” Cassidy tugged on his arm.
His feet remained firmly planted. “You’re busy. I don’t want to interrupt.”
Cassidy looked at him blankly.
Tim gestured toward Zippy, who was busily applying another layer of color to her mouth.
Cassidy approved of the young woman’s efforts. After all, could lips ever be too red?
“No worries.” She tugged again, more firmly this time, and he moved with her, the faint intoxicating scent of his cologne teasing her nostrils. “Zippy is the last woman up, so I have plenty of time.”
He nodded. “I just didn’t want to disturb you.”
She smiled to herself. What would he say if she told him everything about him disturbed her, but in only the very best of ways? Cassidy barely resisted the urge to ask. Instead, she steered the conversation in another direction. “How are Esi and Elle?”
Tim cocked his head and stared as if she’d spoken a language he hadn’t yet mastered.
“Oh, you mean Esther and Ellyn.” Warmth filled his eyes the way it always did whenever he spoke of his daughters. “They’re well. Spending the evening with Grandma and Grandpa.”
“I bet your mother had a coronary when she heard you were filling in for Liam tonight.”
Cassidy didn’t have to be a fly on the wall to know how that discussion had gone down. Suzanne Duggan, retired schoolteacher, helicopter grandmother and all-around pain in the butt would never approve of her doctor son participating in anything as gauche as a bachelor auction, even if it was for a good cause.
“She didn’t say much.”
Tim may have kept his tone offhand but Cassidy wasn’t fooled. Mama bear had definitely given him a few hard swipes of her tongue.
“What did Jayne think?” This time it was her tone that was carefully neutral. To complete the trifecta, she paired the voice with an interested expression and a slightly raised brow.
“Jayne?”
“Jayne Connors,” Cassidy prompted.
“I didn’t think to mention it.”
Relief surged, as sweet as a bottle of cold beer on a hot summer day. Obviously Tim and Jayne were still casual, though Cass had to wonder for how much longer. It was hard to miss the desire in the librarian’s eye whenever her gaze landed on him. Not-so-plain Jayne clearly had Dr. Duggan in her crosshairs.
“...for such a good cause.”
Cassidy realized that while her mind was tripping down the plain-Jayne path, Tim had been speaking. Thankfully, thinking on her feet was a specialty of hers. After all, as a hairdresser, she spent a lot of time on her feet.
“Raising money for the new Women and Children’s Center is something I fully support,” he continued. Compassion filled those hazel eyes. His caring nature was one more check in his positive column. “For such an affluent community we have so many women and children who struggle...”
For a second, her throat constricted and breathing came hard. Instead of remaining stuffed away in a rarely opened file cabinet in her head, the comment brought her own childhood front-and-square.
Cassidy plucked the disturbing memories from her head, shoved them back into the file cabinet and firmly shut the drawer. The past had no place in her life. She was all about the present and the future.
“Lexi is right there.” Cassidy
