More of Me by Samantha Chase

but sit around and wait for her to come home, he was slowly losing his mind.
    The one thing he had managed to do was call his uncle William and tell him that it wasn’t necessary for him to come to the coast, that he had it all under control. Even now Ryder chuckled at how pleased his uncle had sounded.
    â€œAre you sure, Ryder?” William had asked. “I managed to clear a couple of days in my calendar so Monica and I could drive down and help Casey out.”
    â€œIt’s really not necessary,” Ryder had assured him. “The venue is booked, and Gina and Casey have already talked and emailed and Skyped to go over the invitations and programs. They are supposed to have another Skype meeting with the florist today, so really, it all seems under control.”
    â€œYou seem to know an awful lot about how it’s all going,” William said with a hint of amusement in his voice. “I thought you were simply taking care of the venue. Have you been talking to Gina?”
    Ryder knew his uncle was fishing, and although the stories making their way through the family told Ryder everything he needed to know about his uncle’s matchmaking abilities, Ryder wanted to tease him a little more. “I actually talked to Mac. I hear he’s meeting with Christian today before coming back to the States. It’s going to be great to have all of the cousins together for the wedding, don’t you think?”
    â€œYes, yes,” he said absently. “It’s going to be wonderful. I haven’t been with my brothers in far too long. And the thought of all of you kids in one room is enough to make my head spin. Maybe you should tell Casey that we’ll need to put the resort on high alert. You all can be a handful!”
    â€œUncle Will,” Ryder began lightly, “we’re not kids anymore, and we all know how to behave ourselves. Maybe you should tell Gina to handle that.”
    â€œOh, I’m sure that Gina has enough to deal with. Her mother’s surgery went very well and she seems to be recovering nicely. I’m hoping that she and Mac won’t have to stay out in California for too long. But surely you and Casey will have everything under control for them. Heck, you’ll probably be an old pro at it by the time the big day comes! Maybe even pro enough to plan your own wedding!”
    It was hard to simply not bust out in laughter. “Wedding? Oh, you’ve got the wrong guy, Uncle. Once this wedding is done, I’m heading back to San Diego.”
    â€œWhat? But…but…you said that you were going to take a step back from the company. We’ve all been discussing which of your cousins was going to take your place! You can’t tell me that you’ve changed your mind. What on earth is going on down there, Ryder? What about Casey?”
    â€œCasey? What about her? She’s the wedding planner and she’s doing one heck of a job, but…well…that’s it. We took care of the venue, and she didn’t need my help on anything else. She’s pretty efficient at what she does.” Ryder smiled at the images in his mind of how efficient Casey was at nearly bringing him to his knees on a daily basis by simply being in the room.
    â€œTo hell with being efficient,” William said. “You mean to tell me that the two of you worked together and then that was it? No sparks? No lingering chemistry?”
    â€œNot really.” Ryder wasn’t sure how he was keeping it all together.
    â€œWell, then you’re clearly doing something wrong, Ryder!” his uncle yelled. “I hope you didn’t treat Casey as some sort of colleague or—”
    â€œBut she is a colleague of sorts. She’s handling Mac and Gina’s wedding, and as such, it would be inappropriate for me to make some kind of move on her.”
    â€œNonsense. She’s a beautiful woman and clearly at one time you thought so too.