Free The Player by Denise Grover Swank

was on Garrett, who was watching her just as intently as she was watching him.
    “Why do I think there’s something else going on here?” Neil asked, glancing back and forth between them.
    What sucky timing for Neil to suddenly become observant.
    “I think we’re just surprised to see each other in a social setting,” Garrett said, something shifting in his eyes before he picked up his menu. “Especially after our last deposition.”
    “No shop talk,” Debra muttered dismissively.
    Garrett made a mocking face, and Blair had to stifle a laugh. It was no surprise that Garrett didn’t like his aunt. What was surprising was that he and Neil were cousins. Now that she’d had some time to absorb the initial shock, it made sense to her that she’d never discovered the connection. While Neil never really mentioned his nemesis cousin by name, Garrett had never mentioned his cousin at all. And she purposefully steered clear of Facebook, having seen more than one attorney ruin themselves with a poorly planned photo op. One of the associates at her firm had been let go after only a few months on the job. The senior partners didn’t have a problem with the associate attorneys posting vacation photos on social media, but they weren’t so understanding of the pictures of Byron’s vacation to Mexico. While his own photos were mundane, run-of-the-mill vacation pics, his friend had posted photos of Byron swinging from a rope in a pair of bikini briefs. He had a bottle of tequila raised to his mouth while bikini-clad women—none of whom were his wife—stuffed money into his briefs. The caption read “Byron plays piñata before some banging of his own later.” Blair deleted her own account within the hour.
    Garrett’s gaze shifted to her hand, which was currently clutching the menu. “That’s a very pretty ring,” he said. “Can I get a closer look?”
    His request was odd, but she saw no reason to deny him. What she didn’t understand was why everyone else at the table tensed at his words.
    She held it out to him, and he curled her fingers over his hand, leaning over for a closer look at the diamonds.
    It was hard to ignore the way his touch sent tingles shooting through her body, but she made a valiant effort. “Neil says it’s a family piece.” She hoped no one else noticed how breathy her voice sounded, but the look of satisfaction in Garrett’s eyes and the way his grip tightened told her he hadn’t missed it. It only added to her agony.
    Garrett turned her hand so that the diamonds sparkled in the light. “Neil is correct. It belonged to our great-grandmother. However, it wasn’t his ring to give.” His hold on her hand tightened, and something in his eyes flickered before they hardened. He turned to Neil. “It belongs to my mother, which makes it mine .”
    “ What the hell? ” Blair asked in astonishment.
    “You son of a bitch!” Neil shouted.
    “I knew it! You bastard.” Debra’s chair screeched as she pushed back from the table and turned to look at him.
    “About damn time.” Neil’s father’s shoulders shook with suppressed laughter as he grabbed a beer bottle from a passing waitress and took a long chug.
    The waitress stopped and gave him an exasperated glare. “Sir, that’s not yours!”
    “It is now.” He took another long sip.
    Debra looked torn between addressing her wayward husband or her derelict nephew. Her husband won out. “Gene! What the H-E double hockey sticks are you doing?”
    He lifted the bottle. “Seems pretty damn obvious to me.”
    She put her hands on her hips. “That’s the devil’s brew.”
    “And the devil’s a-brewing, ain’t he?” He took another drink.
    Neil’s mouth hung open, and Blair suspected it was because he hadn’t seen his father defy his mother for years, if ever. Garrett started to chuckle. “Uncle Gene, we should hit up a couple of breweries this week before you go home.”
    Gene finished off his bottle and grabbed the sleeve of a