Free The Birthday Gift by Lynn LaFleur

Chapter One
     
    He’d been
thinking about it for almost a week. Part of him wanted to do anything to
please the woman he adored. Another part of him…
    Jake picked
up his mug of cooling coffee and took a sip. He’d come outside shortly after
sunrise to sit at the round glass table beneath the huge oak tree in his
backyard. It was the perfect place to think, especially before his wife awoke.
He liked being alone in the early mornings. It gave him the chance to plan the
day on his horse ranch, think about what he needed to do first, and rehash what
he’d accomplished the previous day.
    It also gave
him the chance to formulate his plan.
    If he went
through with this, he’d have to do it soon. Patrick had been here a week and
would be leaving on Sunday. He was the only man Jake could ask to do this. They
shared the same blood, and a closeness that Jake doubted many men experienced.
    But would his
cousin be willing?
    He and
Patrick had experienced some wild times together. Jake smiled to himself as he
remembered one of the wildest—a four-couple orgy during their sophomore year in
college. While they’d each had sex with different women that night, they hadn’t
shared a woman at the same time. Jake didn’t know if Patrick would even want to do something like that.
    He couldn’t
imagine Patrick not wanting to make love with a woman as beautiful and
sexy as Amanda. With her curly blonde hair, huge blue eyes, and incredible
body, he couldn’t imagine any man not wanting to make love to Amanda.
    The sound of
the sliding glass door opening made Jake glance over his shoulder. He watched
his cousin walk toward the table. Looking at Patrick made Jake feel as if he
were looking in a mirror. Jake possessed the same dark brown hair, chocolate
eyes, and muscular build as his cousin. Jake’s and Patrick’s fathers were
identical twins, and they’d passed their looks down to their sons. Jake kept
his hair shoulder-length while Patrick’s hung halfway down his back; Jake had a
mustache, while a mustache and neatly trimmed beard covered Patrick’s lower
face. Other than those two differences, someone who didn’t know them well would
have a hard time telling them apart.
    “Morning,”
Patrick said as he sat across from Jake.
    “Mornin’.”
    “You’re up
early.”
    “I like
early.”
    “Early’s the
only time around here when a person can stand to be outside.”
    Jake
chuckled. Patrick lived outside of Aspen and preferred the cool weather of
Colorado to the hot North Texas summer. “The heat keeps the blood flowing
smooth.”
    “The heat
makes a person crazy. You and Amanda will never give me a second cousin ‘cause
you can’t stand to get close to each other.”
    “Hey, don’t
push for a second cousin yet. We’ve only been married two years and we aren’t
ready to start a family. But getting close to Amanda is no problem. Air
conditioning is a wonderful invention.” He grinned. “And we have a big ceiling
fan over our bed.”
    “I’ve noticed
you have a ceiling fan in every room of the house.”
    “Sex isn’t
just for the bedroom.”
    “True.”
Patrick took a mug from the tray in the middle of the table and poured coffee
from the thermos-style carafe. “You’re a lucky man, cuz. Amanda’s really
gorgeous, as well as sweet. I’m sorry I haven’t had the chance to meet her
before now.”
    “Me too. I
wish you could’ve been at our wedding. You were supposed to be my best man.”
    “My lungs had
other ideas. It was a lousy time for a bout of bronchitis. But I’m here now,
and I’m glad I finally got to meet Amanda. It’s obvious by the way she looks at
you how much she loves you. Although why, I’ll never understand.”
    “She has good
taste.”
    “Shit. Don’t
make me sick so early in the morning.”
    “You’re just
jealous.”
    “You’re damn
right I am. I’m a year older than you. I was supposed to find someone like
Amanda first.”
    “No
prospects?”
    Patrick shook
his head.
    “Man,