Chapter 21: Pause

Ripley's POV

If her cell phone went off one more time, she would smash it into a million pieces. She was finally going to start using Do Not Disturb on her phone, this was the last straw.

Ripley rolled over to answer the phone.

"Hello?" she growled, still groggy.

"Rise and shine, Princess," Lucas Roy crooned into the phone.

Absolute moron.

Lucas Roy was the kind of man who knew exactly how handsome he was. He'd been a star football player in high school, and women everywhere fell all over him. He was sandy haired, lean with dark brown eyes, and he seemed to eternally have a tan. There was always a light dusting of freckles across his cheeks that made him look youthful. He and Ripley had been on again, off again, for about a year. Ripley had only recently decided she was done with his type and set her sights on Cory.

She couldn't deny the way her heart skipped a beat hearing that southern drawl on the other end of the line, though.