one of the lines you feed your strung-out clients?”
“It works.”
“How? By deluding yourself?”
“Delusions can be very effective in managing tension,” Cassie said.
“Doesn’t mean they’re a good thing. Just ask any exjunkie who tried to make love to a motorcycle.”
“What are you talking about?”
Leo grinned. “I have a date with a biker tomorrow night. Gotta get in the mind-set.”
“Sometimes you frighten me.”
“And you scare me all the time. Obviously, that’s why we’re best buds. A perfect match.” Leo peered out into the crowd, no doubt searching for a man with whom she could bring in the New Year, if the low cut of her sweater and the waggle of her hips was any indication.
“So, any hot dates while I was gone?” Leo’s sordid social life would be certain to distract Cassie from the fact that this dance was supposed to be her first appearance in town as Mrs. Drew Smothers and, instead, she was alone, bitter and barely tan. Or that’s how she probably looked to outsiders. Internally, she was overwhelmed with a genuine appreciation for the wonder that was her life.
“Oh, you know. Plenty of dates. None of them hot enough to satisfy a bitter divorced woman like myself.” Leo straightened her spine and narrowed her gaze on a distant corner. “But now that you’re single, you can double-date with me as we conquer the world of single men.”
Cassie’s smile faltered. “I’ve been single for three weeks. After four years of being in a relationship, I’m not ready to date. Especially a biker.”
“I didn’t invite you on that date. I’m keeping him for myself.” Leo peered at her. “I do, however, think you should get out there again.”
“You’re wrong.” What a ridiculous thing to say.
“Am I?”
“Absolutely.” Cassie folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t need a man.”
“You’re afraid.”
“I am not afraid.”
Burned by having her heart puréed by the lecherous viper she had loved for four years and almost married? Maybe…
Afraid of trusting her judgment when it came to men? Only when it came to those who were actually breathing.
Certain she was going to end up a wobbly spinster who had conversations with major appliances on a regular basis because she had no one else to talk to? Entirely possible.
But afraid of dating? Not a chance.
“Ah-hah!” Leo grabbed Cassie’s arm. “I see two hot guys I don’t know. Let’s go introduce ourselves.”
“Guys?” As Leo led her around the edge of the dance floor, Cassie’s chest tightened and her breath began wheezing in her lungs. She leaned back and tried to twist her arm out of Leo’s grasp. “Let go of me.”
“No.” Leo tightened her grip on Cassie’s arm. “You look like an idiot fighting me. Smile and look sexy.”
“I hate you,” Cassie managed to whisper, just before Leo stopped in the darkened corner where two men—wearing suits and sporting broad shoulders and narrow waists—were standing.
“Hi, I’m Leo.”
Both men nodded and grunted something, but Cassie couldn’t hear them over the pounding music and surrounding babble of neighboring party-goers. All she could do was stare at the man on the right. Taller than his friend by at least a family pack of Oreos, his hair was dark, his eyes coal-black, and the shadow of a day’s whiskers framed his jaw.
And amazingly enough, he wasn’t gawking at Leo, drooling for one of her smiles. He was inspecting Cassie in the way a man inspected a woman. Whew. No one had looked at her like that in years.
It must be her single status. She was subconsciously sending out mating vibes that only the sexiest and most worthy men would respond to. Cassie pheromones combined with her gorgeous tan were obviously a powerful combination. See? She didn’t need to be married. This dating thing would be a breeze.
“We’re going to go dance. See you in a little bit,” Leo said, slipping her arm through the elbow of the other man.
“What?” Cassie squawked. Nice, Cassie. Sound a little more panicked about being left alone with the sexiest man she’d noticed in years. Decades even.
So much for the facade of being suave, sophisticated and mentally sound.
Leo was already gone, whirling into the crowd with her latest conquest in tow.
Cassie cleared her throat and tried to think of what a single woman was supposed to say to a devastatingly handsome man at a New Year’s Eve celebration. For the last four years, while she’d been happily taken, she could rattle off brilliantly engaging conversation with anyone. But now that she was single, it was as if her brain had abandoned her to go play Ping Pong and her tongue had gone off to watch the match.
“I’m Ty.” Obviously not suffering from the same affliction as she was, Ty held out his hand and sounded as if he were in complete control of all his faculties.
“Hi.” She shook his hand, startled by the firmness of his grasp. Like a steel vise under the flesh, a clamp that could bind her and trap her in all sorts of wonderfully interesting ways.…
“And your name is?” Ty prompted.
“Oh. Right. It’s…” Why had she let Leo take the fudge with her? “My name…it’s…Cassie.” Phew. The tough part out of the way.
Ty nodded.
She smiled.
The music blared.
Wow, was she a dazzling conversationalist or what? Scintillating. It was astonishing she’d had only the one marriage proposal.
“So, um…”
He took his eyes off the dance floor. “Yes?”
“I…” Where was her brain? “Nice suit.”
“Came straight from work.”
“Work? But it’s…” She glanced at the watch that hid the evidence of her marvelously bronzed skin. Maybe she should switch it to her other wrist. “It’s almost eleven o’clock on a New Year’s Eve. What do you do?”
“Financial consultant.”
“Oh.” Think of an interesting response. “I had a piggy bank when I was a kid.”
He cocked an amused eyebrow. “Was it pink?”
“Yes. I named her Willemina and…” Cassie stopped.
“Oh, wait.
