The Maverick - By Jan Hudson Page 0,37
machines, and most of their group walked up onto the pedestrian walkway of the wide bridge. Cass and Griff lagged behind.
“Have you enjoyed this?” she asked.
He put his arm around her waist and kissed her nose. “I’ve had a fantastic time. Makes me feel like a kid again. Thanks for thinking of it. Is this where we see the bats?”
“Yep,” she said. “They should be leaving at any time.”
“Are you sure they won’t suck our blood?”
Cass poked him in the side. “Positive.”
Griff looked around. “I can’t believe so many people showed up to watch bats fly out from under a bridge.”
“Just wait, Mr. Smarty-pants.”
“Smarty-pants?” He laughed. “I don’t believe anybody’s ever called me smarty-pants before.”
“Sorry,” Cass said. “Holdover from childhood. Look!” She pointed to where a few bats were beginning to take flight.
“Is that it?”
“No, that’s just the beginning. Let’s go watch from the bridge.”
They hurried to the railing and watched the sky fill with tiny animals fluttering from beneath the bridge and turning into black, winding streams against the faint pinks and grays of the gathering dusk. As wave after wave took flight, people around them began to ooh and aah and applaud.
“Good Lord!” Griff said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. There must be thousands of them.”
“Told you. There are about a million and a half at last estimate.”
“Are they here all the time?” Griff asked, keeping his eyes on the spectacle.
“Nope. Only from about March through October. Just like birds, they head south for the winter.”
They seemed to go on in never-ending streams for a half hour or more, and when the last bat had left in the growing darkness, Cass and Griff rode with the group back to the assembly area and to Cass’s car.
“Want to have dinner?” he asked.
“Sure. How about some Mexican food at Chuy’s? Since I’m working tomorrow, I need to make it an early evening.”
“Not too early, I hope,” Griff said. “I’m leaving for New York tomorrow.”
Chapter Fifteen
The bottom dropped out of Cass’s stomach. Griff was leaving? Already? Well, it wasn’t as if she didn’t expect him to leave sooner or later, but she’d ignored the reality. She tried to wrap her mind around it, but it wouldn’t wrap.
Damn! She hadn’t thought this would hit her so hard or hurt so badly. She wanted to cry, but refused to let a single tear escape. That’s what she deserved for getting too deeply involved. No way would she let him know how his leaving affected her.
Swallowing back her emotions and trying for a casual tone, she said, “Business here finished?”
“Not on your life. I’ll be back in a few days. Just some things I need to tend to in New York. Will you miss me?”
“Of course. Will you miss me?”
“Cass, I miss you every minute we’re not together,” he said softly. “I’d rather stay in Austin, but this trip can’t be avoided.”
Her heart gave a little flutter. She hoped he meant it. She really hoped he meant it, because she felt the same way. Was she falling in love with another New York lawyer? Surely not.
Later, as they sat in Chuy’s, sipping on frozen margaritas, Cass said, “I’d like to ask you something, if you don’t mind.”
“Ask anything you’d like.”
“Why did you leave so abruptly last night? Was it the talk about ghosts?”
He chuckled. “The talk about ghosts? No, of course not. I left because I knew you were tired, and I forced myself to leave before I stayed and kept you up all night.” He reached for her hand and stroked the back of it with his thumb. Those incredible blue eyes captured hers. “Cass, somehow you’ve wrapped yourself around my heart. I can’t seem to get enough of you, and you’re on my mind all the time. Why do you think that is?”
For a moment she could only stare at him while ripples of tenderness and longing rose up in her like champagne bubbles. “I—I don’t know.”
“I think I’m falling for you.”
She swallowed. “You do?”
“I do. And I’m hoping you’re feeling something special for me, too.”
“I do. I mean, I like you very much, Griff. Too much, perhaps.”
“Too much? How can that be?”
“My last serious relationship left some deep scars. I’m still a little gun-shy.”
“The lawyer?” he asked. “The one from New York who soured you on the profession?”
She wasn’t at all surprised Griff had surmised correctly that she’d had a bad relationship with a lawyer. He was very perceptive. “Yes, but he wasn’t the only reason I soured on the