Free A Man for the Summer by Ruby Laska Page B

shut up, said he was trying to sleep. In the middle of the day!” he added indignantly.
    Junior straightened. She had a feeling she knew who that was. The Sunrise didn’t have all that many customers mid-week. Or on weekends, for that matter.
    “What did he look like?” she asked.
    “Weird,” Trevor grimaced. “He was wearing…man, I don’t believe this. He was wearing underwear with White Sox on it.”
    Good heavens. Junior arched an eyebrow. So Griff didn’t even have the decency to be a Cub fan. Another strike against him, not to mention a possible genetic issue…she quickly banished that thought.
    “White Sox, huh,” she said. “Oh, dear.”
    “He was probably about as old as you,” Joe said, squinting at her. “Kind of tall. Medium tall I guess.”
    “Ah.” Junior swallowed a satisfying spoonful of the cereal, which was turning the milk in her bowl bright pink. “So, what are you gentlemen doing the rest of the day?”
    Trevor rolled his eyes at her. “Dad’s making me help set up for the party,” he said. “Hey, Joe, you want to come help me? I have to weed and mow.”
    “I dunno,” Joe said through a full mouth.
    The party…Junior had forgotten all about it. It was an impromptu wedding party for Taylor and Raoul, the guy she met at junior college in Sedalia, who was rumored to be from Brazil. Taylor was her brother Mason’s wife’s cousin, not to mention Trevor’s older sister. Everyone in town would be there, no doubt, as much to check out Raoul as to celebrate the young couple’s elopement.
    Normally this could be fun. No doubt her brothers Teddy and Charlie Earl and their families would be driving up for the bash, and she loved being in the thick of her family again, around all the kids and her siblings and their wives.
    Today, however, she didn’t feel much up to it.
    “What all am I supposed to bring?” she said. Nobody showed up at these things empty-handed.
    “Well, Dad’s over in Clarksville picking up the pig with Perry,” Joe said, ticking off his dad and big brother on his fingers. “Mom’s got the cole slaw going. I hate cabbage.”
    “My mom’s making cole slaw too,” Trevor said. “She says your mom puts hard boiled eggs into hers. It’s not supposed to have eggs.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Yeah.”
    The boys glared at each other for a minute, then Joe shrugged. “Anyway, I can’t stand eggs or cabbage,” he said.
    Junior smiled and pushed the cereal box over to the boys for seconds. Kids were so great. Everything was easy with them. They liked stuff, they didn’t like stuff. They argued, they got over it.
    Why the heck couldn’t adults be like that?
    She glanced at her bowl, whose contents were now practically fuchsia, and pushed it away. She’d napped only briefly, but her body felt energized and her mind was racing, and her headache was gone.
    Blushing, she remembered the way she’d had to practically drag Griff into her bed. But he’d more than made up for his reluctance after that.
    She shouldn’t have lied to him. Well, it wasn’t lying, exactly, pretending that she hadn’t felt anything the night before. Pretending that the way he kissed her hadn’t burned right through her champagne haze and spun her heart in crazy circles.
    She wanted him again, and this time she wanted to be completely sober when he touched her. Wanted to feel again the fire that he set deep inside her, the way his hands—those incredibly strong hands, rough and somehow tender all at once—felt as they grazed and seized and caressed her body.
    “Got any Gatorade?” Joe demanded, jerking her back to reality. “It’s hot out there.”
    “Yeah,” Junior said absently. “Got a couple in the freezer. They’ll defrost while you guys are running around, but they’ll stay cold. Take ‘em with you.”
    The boys clattered out as noisily as they’d arrived, leaving puddles of juice and milk on the counter.
    Junior wanted to return to her delicious daydreaming, but there was one