A Season in Gemini, Intro by Victoria Danann Read Free Book Online Page A

have it in writing that you’re taking me out again.”
    “ Every chance I get.”
    She placed a kiss on his bare chest as she slid both hands in to the rear pockets of his jeans and gave a suggestive little squeeze.
    “ You comin’ on to me?” He looked down through hooded eyes, but she didn’t miss the twitch of the corners of his mouth.
    “ What makes you think that?” she said as one of her hands casually drifted around to the copper buttons on the front of his jeans.

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER 5

     
    The days of summer went by faster than Garland would have imagined possible. When she’d gotten on the plane for Texas, eleven weeks had seemed like an eternity, but after Brant entered the picture, she found herself wishing it was eleven years. Or eleven decades.
    Whenever an errant thought like that surfaced, she shoved it down hard and focused on something else. Anything else.
    When her father wanted to give small dinner parties at the villa to entertain business contacts, he had Garland stand in for a wife with menu planning, table arranging, and, of course, charm. Occasionally he also “asked” her to join golf outings. She suspected that he liked to show off the fact that she was a damn decent golfer. She liked golf and wouldn’t have minded so much if it wasn’t for the fact that temps were hitting triple digits every day.
    As Brant told her, people who weren’t born and bred to heat had a hard time acclimating.
    She spent every available minute she could with Brant, which meant anytime he was off work and her father hadn’t put in a demand for her time and talents.
    Brant spent his days looking forward to seeing Garland at night. He was teaching her how to cook simple stuff, which was more fun than he would have thought. From his point of view, Garland made things fun just by being present.
    She never spent the night, but the time they had together was good. Whenever Brant thought about the probability that the end of summer meant the end of Garland, he had difficulty breathing.
    One night in late July he made good on his birthday promise of a night out. There was a particular band that he wanted to share with his girl.
    She arrived in a red sundress pretty enough to wear to a cocktail party. She parked next to the Camaro and noticed that it was shined to sparkling perfection.
    Brant saw her from the window and walked out to greet her wearing his sexy smile, a black AC/DC tee shirt he’d gotten at a concert in San Antonio the year before, and black jeans. Garland thought he looked perfectly scrumptious, and would have been okay with skipping birthday night.
    “ You look gorgeous.”
    “ That’s my line,” he said as he drew her into his arms.
    “ You’ll be sorry if you kiss me. This dress-matching lipstick will give you a permanent case of punch mouth.”
    “ Hard choice. The lady or punch mouth.” She smirked. “I’m thinking you wearin’ that could be a spankable offense.”
    “ Not unless you want that to be the last time you touch me.”
    “ Uh oh. Hit a nerve. Let’s get back to kiss talk.”
    “ Tell you what. Give me drinks and feed me. I won’t reapply, which means that after dinner I’m all yours.”
    “ Likin’ the sound of that better.”
    “ So where are we going?”
    “ Your coach awaits.” He gestured toward the Camaro.
    “ I’m thanking the birthday gods that you don’t expect me to ride the hog in this dress.”
    “ No, baby. The only hog I expect you to ride in that dress…” She stopped him in mid-sentence by slapping at his stomach. ”Ow.”
    She laughed. “Do not pretend that hurt, Mr. Steel Body.”
    “ Garland, you say the damndest things.”
    He shut the door after she’d tucked her skirt in.
    “ So where did you say we’re going?”
    As he pulled out he glanced back and forth between the road ahead and his beautiful passenger.
    “ There’s a historic hotel downtown, The Driskill. It’s got a grill and it’s only