Losing Control - By Robyn Grady Page 0,20

"and she didn't even know it."

"Selfish female, moving interstate and leaving you behind to pine."

"I got over it. Eventually."

"Wonder if she'll be at the reunion tonight." Brandon glanced up from tossing the cloth in his special blue bike-cleaning bucket. "You're going, right?"

"I received the invitation."

"Don't avoid my question."

Heading down the drive toward his car, Cole lowered the sunglasses perched on his crown onto his nose. "I'm beyond all that."

"Beyond catching up with friends?"

"Everyone's married now. I can do without the questions. When are you settling down? Why haven't you got kids yet? Last reunion, the woman I took along got it into her head I should fall down on one knee and propose."

Brandon's big hands found his jeans' waistband. "I'm sure you can come up with a few more excuses if you really try."

"You're taking someone?"

Brandon was never without a lady on his arm - a little like Dex, only his brother's affairs were usually plastered across the pages of numerous gossip magazines. Brandon was far more discreet.

"I've asked an interesting lady I met a few weeks ago."

"Weeks, did you say?" Cole's lips twitched as he opened the driver's side door. "Must be serious."

"Don't panic. No starry eyes on either side. We have more of a love/hate thing going on."

"Must be going around."

Leaning a forearm along the window edge, Cole spilled all about the delectable, infuriating Taryn Quinn - how he was attracted to her on a number of levels despite the fact that he'd soon need to terminate her contract.

Cole ended, "Then I'll be the one needing a bodyguard."

Brandon's eyebrows hitched. "Fiery, huh?"

"On occasion."

"Sounds interesting. Bring her along."

"She barely tolerates me."

"Oh, and she has brains."

Cole grinned. "As a matter of fact, she does."

"What's her story? Why isn't she attached?"

"That's a question I've asked myself."

Brandon's hands dropped to his sides. "You sound suspicious."

"No. Not anymore. Just curious."

The friends said goodbye. A moment later, hand on the ignition, Cole stopped to wonder. Should he invite Taryn to that reunion? Business issues aside, he did find her intriguing. Certainly she'd doused him in wine and had tried to put him in his place more than once. He'd responded by giving in to her - defending her - in ways that, frankly, astounded him.

Worried him.

Grunting, he kicked over the engine and shifted the gears into Reverse.

He didn't need more trouble. No way would he invite her to that reunion tonight. If the idea ever crossed his mind again, he'd make an appointment to have his head examined.

* * *

Taryn peered down at her cell's caller ID and froze.

She'd survived a whole five days at Hunter Broadcasting. Why was Cole calling her on a Saturday? Unless it was to tell her that the location survey scheduled for next weekend was off...that he'd only been teasing and of course he had no plans to consider her show.

She simply wouldn't pick up.

"Is that your phone ringing, sweetheart?" a voice called out from the kitchen.

Sitting on her modest home's back landing step, Taryn answered her aunt, who had dropped in as she did from time to time.

"Don't worry, Vi. I've got it."

She glared at the buzzing cell for a drawn-out moment and Vi's voice came again.

"Is something wrong?"

She didn't know. Didn't want to know. Then again, she'd go crazy waiting until Monday if she didn't find out.

Taryn braced herself. Stabbed the green key.

Cole Hunter's deep voice echoed down the line. "Sorry to disturb you out of work hours."

Taryn quivered at the same time she shrank into herself. She wanted to say, "Get it over with." Instead she said, "That's okay. I'm not doing anything special."

"It's Saturday."

She frowned. Waited. "Uh-huh."

A few seconds passed, long enough for Taryn to study the phone to make sure they were still connected.

"Thing is," Cole finally said, "I wondered if you were doing anything a bit later."

Slanting her head, Taryn cast a glance around the garden. I'll probably still be sitting here trying to coax a frightened pregnant cat in for shelter before she gives birth.

"No," she said. "Not especially. Did you want to go over my notes for the survey? I have a ton, although I want to keep the location a secret from you until the end."

She wanted Cole to absorb the undiluted impact when they arrived, which would hopefully inspire as well as challenge him.

When he said, "It's not about the survey," a sick withering feeling dropped through her center. Her mouth went slack. This was it. The "don't come back Monday" call. The end.

"You might remember that I mentioned