“Oh,” she said, but she didn’t sound so distant now. Just disappointed. Hell, he was disappointed too. Then she seemed to pull out of her frustrations, because her next words were sweet. “Well, I totally understand. I’m sorry you have to deal with all of that, but I know that’s just how it goes.”

“It’s been crazy. I’ve barely come up for air. I’m going to call my sister and let her know I can’t make the game.”

“Well, I better go. I think I’m just going to get the dress anyway. I like it,” she said. “But I do appreciate your input.”

Five hours later, he couldn’t get Casey out of his mind. As he and Tom finished up a round of celebratory drinks with the manager, who’d agreed to the last-minute transfer since they’d agreed to his terms, he couldn’t stop thinking about how Casey had sounded annoyed, then sad, then let down, then deliberately upbeat again. He tried his best to focus on the men at the table with him in the corner booth at one of the nation’s capital’s finest watering holes.

But that dress was taunting him. It was an image he couldn’t shake. It was his sole focus.

And as they polished off a second round, he couldn’t take it anymore. He scrubbed a hand across his unshaven jaw. Hell, this was why he was the CEO. He oversaw the whole company. He hired the right people, trusted the right people, and gave them authority to do their jobs. He’d done his part in convincing his guy to head to the southern hemisphere. Tom could handle the rest.

He had to see Casey. He had a lesson to teach her.

13

New York, evening . . .

As 50,000 fans erupted in cheers, Bryan’s phone rang. The shortstop had just whacked a three-run home run to put the Yankees ahead in the bottom of the eighth. Bryan was ecstatic; he hadn’t been to Yankee Stadium in nearly a year. He couldn’t complain about his prolonged absence as a spectator—he had his two beautiful daughters to thank for keeping him from sporting events, and he wouldn’t trade them for the world. But being here tonight with his wife while his team was winning was an absolute high.

“Man, you don’t even want to know what you’re missing,” he said to Nate as he answered the call.

“I know. Just got an update on my ESPN app.”

“It was a thing of beauty,” Bryan said and then recounted every detail of the home run as if he were a play-by-play sports announcer.

“That’s awesome,” Nate said, but hardly seemed interested in the game. He cleared his throat. “Hey, Bryan. Remember that time nine or ten years ago when you stayed at my house for two weeks the summer after business school, and fell in love with my sister and didn’t tell me about it?”

Bryan furrowed his brow. Of course he remembered falling in love with Kat. But he couldn’t fathom why Nate would bring it up now. “Yeah. Of course I do.”