“So?” Casey asked. “What does that have to do anything?”
“She’s given up men,” Jenna told him.
Casey looked at her. It definitely wasn’t safe for him to defend Alexa’s sexuality to her daughter.
“I’m planning to change her mind,” he said, proud of how innocently hopeful it sounded.
“Okay. Explain yourself. What do you mean interested in her?” Jenna demanded.
Casey blew out the breath he was holding and just let the words follow it.
“I want to date your mother. I’m hoping the idea doesn’t bother you,” he said.
“Of course it bothers me—for goodness sakes, I’m dating Seth.” Jenna startled herself with her pronouncement. It didn’t help when Casey just grinned about it. Jenna shook her head as if she couldn’t believe her own thoughts.
“No. Wait, I didn’t mean it. I’m not dating Seth anymore. Damn it, Casey. This is complicated.”
“I agree,” Casey said with a nod. “The connections make it a little bit complicated, but I want to date her anyway.”
“So what do you want from me? I’m not her keeper,” Jenna demanded, her frustration taking over. “Wait. Are you asking for my permission?”
“No. And hell no. I’m not asking for your damn permission. I have enough problems getting Alexa’s permission. I’m asking if you’re going to be okay with it,” Casey said, exasperated. “I know your mother worries about what you think about her. She’s not chasing me. I’m chasing her. If you’re going to be mad at someone over this, be mad at me.”
Despite her initial repulsion, it was very interesting that Casey was willing to confront her.
That certainly hadn’t been the case before. Most the men her mother dated couldn’t have cared less what she thought about the situation.
Jenna rose from her chair to pace behind her desk to the window and then back to sit at her desk again as her brain struggled to take it in.
She looked at Casey, who now sat with his gaze on her desk while he waited on her to respond.
Well, this would teach her to be so self-absorbed, Jenna thought. Just when she was sure she’d reached adulthood, something always catapulted her back to childish behavior.
Jenna hated feeling like a child. Now she had let both the Carter men make her feel that way.
So don’t, she scolded herself. Stop reacting the same way. You’re a logical woman. Think logically.
She turned to face Casey and crossed her arms while he studied him. When had Casey even talked to her mother enough to be attracted. It had taken her a couple of months just to introduce them. Wait, she thought. Was Casey the reason for her mother’s flushed face when she first met him? If so, it must have been some meet and greet between them.
Jenna looked at Casey, watched him toying with the end of his cane. If that was the case, then why hadn’t her mother said anything about being attracted to Casey?
Probably because she knew you would be upset, her inner voice concluded.
Jenna sighed. Had she really told Casey her mother was menopausal? Childish, she thought. Very, very childish. Jenna closed her eyes in embarrassment.
She had to get over this thing about her mother dating. It wasn’t about Casey. Casey was a good man. There was no reason to be all crazy about a few dates anyway. Look how it had worked out between Seth and her.
She had even made her Mama promise to start dating again, which Jenna knew was the right thing for a concerned daughter to do.
Time to be a real grown up, Jenna thought. She took a deep breath. “So does Mama know you’re here?” Jenna demanded.
Casey flushed and shook his head no. “I’m still walking, aren’t I?”
Well at least Casey understood the soggy ground he was standing on. It made Jenna laugh. “Boy, are you going to be in trouble when she finds out,” Jenna informed him.
“Thanks, but not a news flash. I was kind of hoping if you didn’t want me dead, you might be willing to just keep this little visit between us,” Casey said, smiling.
Jenna ignored his pleading look. Seth had made her impervious to the Carter charm.
“Did Mama tell you I have a test for men who want to date her?” Jenna asked.
“A test, huh?” Casey echoed, not for moment believing her story, but grateful Jenna was starting to be friendly to him again.
Jenna shook her head. “What’s the thing you most like about my mother?”
“Her sassy mouth,” Casey said, not missing a beat, and giving Jenna a hard glare, which she merely returned with a knowing grin.
“What’s the thing you hate about her?” Jenna asked with a laugh.
“Who are you? Freaking James Lipton? Same thing, especially when she’s flirting,” he said, gripping the end of his cane. “Want to hear what my favorite curse word is next?”
Jenna laughed loud and long. The man was already jealous. Great, she’d let Casey Carter dig his own grave. Her mother hated jealous men.
“Congratulations. You passed the test. You may now date my mother.”
“I can tell you’re still pissed. Why are you not killing me?” Casey asked, surprise overriding his common sense.
“I’m trying to grow up,” Jenna said truthfully. “Run while you can. My attempts at maturity usually don’t last long.”
“Not yet. I need to know some other stuff. Why are you not bringing up our age differences, the fact that I’m unemployed, or the obvious?” Casey asked, patting the cane.
Jenna bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing again. Well, damn. Maybe she wasn’t as impervious to Carter charm as she thought. The man was insecure, but brave as hell. It was hard not to be impressed.
“Okay, you’re right. Maybe we should talk about those concerns. First, I figured eventually Mama would have to stop dating stuffy older guys with no fun left in them. Second, neither Mama nor I need a man for money.”
Jenna put both arms on her desk and met his dark brown gaze with her own direct blue one.
“Lastly, I’m absolutely sure a cane hasn’t slowed you down much. The satisfied look in your eyes already tells me you’re pretty sure my mother is just as interested in you as you are in her.”
Jenna only liked him more for the wicked twinkle in his eyes that confirmed what she was saying.
“I’m not blind, Casey. I can see why Mama would like you. Besides, you look like an older version of Seth,” Jenna said with a shrug, thinking Casey ought to know his own appeal.
“I genuinely like your mother, Jenna,” Casey told her, meaning every word. “I think your mother likes me back. I don’t want to be a man Alexa won’t tell her family and friends about. I also don’t want to make you or Seth uncomfortable, but it’s not like I planned to be attracted to her. Seth has already tried to hook me up, but I’m not interested in other women.”
Jenna sniffed and looked away. “Great. I guess Seth thought Mama was too old for you?”
“Yes. I think our age difference bothered him more than the family connection,” Casey said.
“He obviously doesn’t know my mother. She’s ageless where men are concerned. I can see in your face you don’t think she’s too old,” she said.
“No. I think she’s just right,” Casey said truthfully.
Jenna shrugged. If Seth was against the relationship, that was just one more motivation she had to make herself okay with it. She would not let Seth hurt her mother’s feelings with his disapproval.
“If Mama wants to date you, I’m going make myself be okay with it one way or the other,” Jenna said with absolute sincerity. “I love my mother, Casey. I’m done giving her a hard time about the men in her life.”
Casey sighed, feeling even more genuine regret that Seth and Jenna had broken up.
“You know, Seth arranged a cocktail party with fifteen or twenty women trying to get me interested in one of them. They were all attractive and very nice women. You know what I asked him?” Casey waited a moment to be sure Jenna was complete
ly hearing him. “I asked Seth why he thought I’d be interested in any of them if he wasn’t.”
Jenna held Casey’s gaze for as long as she could, any longer and he’d see the truth about how she still felt about Seth. The relationship was over between them, but she wasn’t yet over Seth.
Casey stood. “The thing you need to know about the men in my family is we bond to the women we choose. Maybe you’re not interested in Seth anymore, but I can vouch for the fact Seth isn’t interested in anyone but you.”
Jenna smiled and stood to see him out. “If Seth was ever interested in me, I could never tell it, Casey. He mostly ignored me while I worked hard all the time to get his attention. It was emotionally exhausting and I had to stop.”
Casey nodded his acceptance of her explanation and walked to the door. He stopped at the threshold.
“So about me and your mother—if you happen to stop by your mother’s house this weekend and I just happen to be there—?” Casey asked.
“I’ll try to be an adult,” Jenna answered, biting her lip to keep from laughing. “Stop worrying. I’m sorry I got so upset when you first told me. I’m going to be okay whether it works out or you go down in flames.”
“Just for the record, I am not going down in flames. I’m a very positive thinker,” Casey told Jenna. He was thinking he positively was getting back inside Alexa first chance he got, but he wasn’t telling her daughter. “Thanks for seeing me, Jenna. I just wanted—well, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jenna said, patting his arm. “I won’t even call to harass Mama until tomorrow. That will give you the rest of the day to confess about coming to see me.”
“Gee, thanks.” Casey said with laugh. “I don’t suppose we could keep this a secret.”
“Oh, please,” Jenna said with snort. “This is way too good. Mama will be embarrassed beyond belief you came to see me about dating her. I’m not above enjoying seeing Alexa Ranger squirm. Kiss my Mama for me, Casey—if she lets you.”
Casey just sighed and walked away. His discussion with Jenna had gone better than he had anticipated, but now he had to tell Alexa what he’d done before Jenna did.
There would probably be more hell to pay with mother than with daughter.
He could only hope the makeup sex would be good.
Chapter 16
In the waiting area of Alexa’s office, Casey dropped the duffle with his clothes into one chair and himself into another. He was beat from running all over town and trying to get back to her office by noon.
There was no one manning Sydney’s desk and no activity at all anywhere. He was trying to decide what to do when he spied the intercom. Casey got up and walked to the desk to sit in Sydney’s chair, and then pressed the button.
“Yes?” Sydney said, answering.
“Honey, you need to get this intercom replaced. You’re starting to sound like Sydney,” Casey said, grinning as he listened to Sydney laugh.
“Alexa, I think this heavy breather is your pervert, not mine,” Sydney told her.
Casey laughed, and yelled through the intercom, “I hope like hell there’s not a room full of people back there.”
“Relax, Gunny. Get your ass back here. I’m tired of trying to cheer this woman up. She’s been nothing but gloom and doom all morning without you.”
“Right away,” Casey said, releasing the intercom and rising.
He walked slowly back to the office and found Sydney and Alexa at the conference table pouring over notes and what looked like advertisements.
“I’m doing it again,” Casey said. “You can tell me to wait, you know. I don’t mean to keep interrupting your work.”
“You’re not,” Sydney said firmly. “I’m running her off and handling the rest of this myself. Alexa’s too depressed to handle anything today. Take her home and put a smile on her face.”
“I am still in the room, Sydney. You don’t have to arrange everything in my life,” Alexa said, looking up from her work, her eyes softening when they landed on Casey.
“You need a keeper and Carter seems to want the job. Be nice to him, Alexa.”
Sydney started gathering up the papers on the table, stacking them in neat, orderly piles.
Casey smiled at Alexa as he walked to the conference table.
“If you can absorb the money loss on your investment, the offer I made you on our first date is still good,” Casey said, coming over to run a hand down her hair.
Alexa looked up at Casey’s twinkling eyes and laughed. “No. I need the money. It keeps me in sexy vehicles so can I lure younger men to my bed.”
“Wow, tough call. Hard to believe any guy would look at you and only see a great car in his future,” Casey said, piling the various stacks into Sydney’s arms.
“Alexa has been a sour mood since she came in without you this morning. So I’ll just leave you two alone with your innuendo and head to my desk. Alexa, see you on Monday. You can be late. I moved all the morning meetings to after lunch. Have a good weekend, you two.”
Sydney vanished out the door.
Alexa wilted in her seat. She put her arms on the table and laid her head on them. “I need a nap.”
Casey looked at her. “Hmmm…are you too tired to fight with me?”
“Why? Did you do something in the last four hours that might make me want to hurt you?” Alexa asked, but without much venom.
Casey walked to the other side of the table and sat. He reached across and could barely touch her fingertips. Stretching a couple of times in different directions to be sure, he finally settled in the chair.
She laughed. “What are you doing?”
“Just making sure you can’t reach me.” Casey leaned back and grinned.
“Spit it out,” Alexa ordered. “You have the guiltiest expression I’ve ever seen.”
“Do you want the band-aid peeled off slowly, or should I just rip it off?” he asked, stalling.
“How bad is the news?” Alexa asked, narrowing her eyes.
“I told Jenna about us,” Casey said, watching the information being processed and anger light up her eyes.
Oh hell, he thought.
“Look, I didn’t want to get caught at your house and it be one of those awkward moments where Jenna rushes out crying, or worse, yells at you. So I thought I’d just go see her and let her yell at me first, maybe get it out of her system,” Casey explained.
Alexa rose from the table and walked across the room to the farthest wall, as far away from Casey as she could get. Several minutes ticked by while she tried to think of a rational way of telling a man who gave her the best sex of her life to go to hell. Nothing came to mind, but she was still working on it.
“What were you thinking?” Alexa demanded, turning to glare at him across the room. “Do you honestly believe I need anyone’s permission to sleep with a man, much less my daughter’s? You obviously don’t know me if that’s what you think.”
“That’s not what I thought,” Casey agreed, trying to keep his tone soothing. “I just thought I would spare you criticism about me. I wanted Jenna to know this was more my idea than yours. If she was going to be upset about it, I wanted her to be upset at me, not at you.”
“Well, don’t do me any more favors,” Alexa spat. “I wasn’t worried about telling her. I was just waiting until I was sure it was going to be necessary.”
“That’s why I did it. I thought it was necessary,” Casey said, wincing as he realized too late his statement was like pouring gasoline on a fire. Just because he thought it was necessary didn’t mean Alexa did, but damn it, she should be agreeing.
“I didn’t mean to butt in between you and your daughter. I just didn’t want to be secretive about dating you. I wanted to spend the weekend with a clear conscience about your family.” Casey crossed his arms. He could be as stubborn as she about something this important to both of them. She needed to get used to it.
“I’m so angry I could throw something at you, and at the same time, I’m incred
ibly embarrassed you would do this behind my back,” Alexa said, crossing her arms.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” Casey said. “Jenna even warned me you’d feel that way.”
“Great. Even my daughter gets that much. Why can’t you? What else did Jenna say?” Alexa asked, throwing her hand up on the wall, leaning on it with face buried and with her back turned to Casey.
“Jenna said she wouldn’t call to give you a hard time until tomorrow. She told me I had the afternoon to confess,” Casey said softly, worried when Alexa wouldn’t even look at him.
“Did you tell her I’d slept with you?” Alexa asked.
“Give me some credit,” Casey said harshly, “I told her I wanted to date you and I hoped she’d be okay with you if we did.”
“You asked my daughter’s permission to date me? I’m fifty damn years old!” Alexa declared, her voice squeaking. She did turn back then, shock on her face. All anger was wiped away in utter disbelief.
Casey couldn’t help but laugh and wished he could take a picture of how she looked. He was sure Alexa would laugh about it one day.
“No. Hell no. That’s what I said to Jenna when she asked the same damn thing. I told her I liked you. I was not asking her permission to date you.”
“I’ll never hear the end of this. She’ll tell Regina and Lauren. She might even report it to the papers just to spite me. Oh, dear God.” Alexa put her face in her hands and shook her head back and forth.
Casey laughed because he couldn’t help it. “You’re being too melodramatic. Don’t you even want to know what she said about us?”
“No,” Alexa said through her hands.
Casey laughed more. “She said she would be okay with us dating if you were okay with it. She said she loved you.”
“I love her too,” Alexa said, lifting her face and dropping her hands to her side. “You, I hate right now.” The last was delivered with an icy blue glare.
Casey grinned, trying to stifle a laugh, but lost.
“Fair enough,” he said on a sigh. “How long are you going to hate me?”
“Until I get over being angry,” Alexa told him righteously.
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