Free Identity Crisis by Grace Marshall Page A

bag and found her lipstick, trying to breathe deeply as she used the rear-view mirror to tidy her make-up. Clearly she just needed to get laid, that’s all. How long had it been now? And all this the result of too many Tess Delaney novels, no doubt. Even when he wasn’t consciously fucking with her, Garrett Thorne was fucking with her. God, he was a pain in the ass. Yet how could she blame him for her bad behavior? And now she’d have to face him Friday night as though nothing had happened, as though what she had done was simply a part of her plan to facilitate their desired end result. She would have never pulled anything so brazen and unprofessional with any of her other clients, and she’d had more than a few who were plenty willing, bigger names than Garrett Thorne, she reminded herself. When she was calm again and her hands had stopped shaking, she started the Mustang and headed back into Portland. She had a dress to buy and all the other accessories she could imagine a glam romance writer extraordinaire might need for an awards ceremony. And, in spite of her best efforts, she couldn’t help thinking of just how her version of Tess Delaney would take Garrett Thorne’s breath away. 

Chapter Seven
    Garrett had gotten lucky. He’d managed to catch Dee and Ellis between travels and meetings and wrangled an invite for dinner at Dee’s place. Well, it was just burgers on the grill, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t care so much about the food. He just needed to talk. Dee met him at the door in cut-offs and a Sportswide Extreme Adventure T-shirt. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. ‘Hope you’re hungry,’ she said. ‘Your brother believes in grilling for the masses.’
    Her ease with him after everything that had happened always surprised him. She certainly didn’t hold the grudge that Kendra seemed to hold. In fact, she’d already accepted him like family. He was outrageously glad for that. Not only because he was sure she would be the dream sister-in-law, but because she had been the balm that had, in spite of everything, eased the way for greatly improved relations between him and Ellis. That had been a gift for which he could never fully repay her.
    She motioned him through to the patio, where Ellis stood over the grill in faded jeans and a black T-shirt. Garrett had to do a double take. He’d so seldom seen his brother at his ease in the past few years, and he could never remember him looking so relaxed. Ellis coughed and moved out of the line of the smoke from the grill, then turned to offer his brother a smile and a wave with a spatula. ‘Hey, bro, beer in the cooler. Grab yourself one and tell us the latest.’
    Dee went about the business of setting the picnic table and Garrett grabbed a beer. ‘How was Paris?’
    ‘Fast,’ Dee called over her shoulder.
    ‘And Spain?’ he asked Ellis.
    ‘ Muy bueno ,’ came the reply as Ellis returned his attention to the burgers.
    ‘Good. That’s good,’ he said, pacing the length of the patio, admiring the rhythm the two had fallen into with each other. He wasn’t sure if they’d worked out a plan for when to be at her place and when to be at his. He didn’t know if they’d decided where they would live after they married. He’d not had time to ask about the future since they officially announced their engagement. He needed to make time. It was important, maybe the most important thing ever – to see Ellis truly happy. But tonight, there were pressing issues.
    ‘Did you see Stacie before she headed off to Japan?’ Ellis asked. ‘I got an email saying she was overnighting here before she left. Plans for the new gallery seem to be moving along.’
    ‘No,’ Garrett said. ‘No. I missed her. So, Kendra does PR?’ The words were out before he had a chance to think about them, and suddenly he had both their full attention.
    ‘You could say that,’ Dee said. ‘Her degree’s in marketing and PR. After she graduated she went