When the second hand finally hit the twelve, nausea rose in her gut, and her skin tightened.
She slowly withdrew the stick from the box.
* * *
Chad missed Catie.
He finally admitted it to himself. He was going to ask her on a real date. Dinner, maybe a movie, and then sex back at his place.
He chuckled. His brothers would give him three shades of shit for this.
Damn, she was so young. But he’d been ready to hit the hay with Amber, and she was nearly as young as Catie. Funny thing was, he didn’t think of Amber that way. He didn’t remember Amber as a cute little toddler.
He thought of his brother Zach, who had married Dusty O’Donovan, seven years his junior. Dusty had been the daughter of one of the McCrays’ ranch hands. They left the ranch when Dusty was six and Zach was thirteen, and the two met up again seventeen years later.
But Zach hadn’t watched Dusty grow into an awkward prepubescent, a pretty freckle-faced teen, and a drop-dead gorgeous woman. Would it have been different for Zach if he had?
Plus, Catie and Chad were eleven years apart, four more than Zach and Dusty. Hell, what did it matter?
She was a woman and he was attracted to her. Attracted as he’d never been before.
He picked up his cell phone and called the Bay house. Why had he never thought to get Catie’s cell number?
“Hello.”
“Hi, Maria. It’s Chad McCray.”
“Chad, how are you? Are you calling for Wayne?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Harper then?”
“Uh, no. I’d like to speak to Catie, please.”
“Oh. Goodness.”
Clearly, Catie hadn’
t told her mother where she’d spent the night a few weeks ago.
“Is she there?”
“She ran a few errands. Can I have her call you later?”
“Uh…” He wanted to call her. Not have her return his call. He wanted to do this right.
What? Who was that voice inside his head, and what had it done with Chad McCray?
“No, ma’am. Thank you. I’ll call back later.”
“Okay, Chad. Bye now.”
Damn, if only he had her cell number.
He felt like a schoolboy rather than a thirty-two-year-old man, giddy over a first date with a girl he really liked. A girl he wanted more than anything. A girl who could steal his heart.
His heart? Since when had his heart become involved? He’d liked women before, had feelings for them, but never had he felt this yearning for closeness. Not just the closeness of bodies either.