Garrett finally made it in to the resort just shy of noon. After this morning’s fiasco at Cora’s, he’d needed to run off some steam before he headed in. Otherwise, he’d end up taking out his frustration on his employees. And that was something he refused to do.

So he’d headed home and gone for a run. Nothing quite put him in the zone like getting in a good six-mile run. Well, that and flogging a submissive, but since option number two wasn’t available presently, he’d take what he could get. It was something he’d learned to love in the army. Not that he hadn’t always been a physical being and active in sports growing up, because he had, but the army had made him push his body to the limits and then take it a few steps farther. There was a solitude and peace he found as his feet pounded the pavement.

Saturdays were always busy days at the resort. There were guests checking in, guests checking out, weekend warrior tourists just coming up the mountain for a spot of lunch, or during the ski season, to ride the slopes, and since they were nearing the end of May and heading toward June, they were in the height of wedding season, with a wedding reception booked every Friday and Saturday night for the foreseeable future.

Garrett stayed in the lobby, greeting guests, overseeing the set up in the ballroom for that night’s wedding reception, directing the caterers, and seeing to any problems that arose—and there always were. So much so that it was mid-afternoon before they experienced any sort of lull.

And through all of it, he considered what it was he did want from Cora. He had shifted his initial idea to temporarily claim her and was pondering a more long term arrangement. A single mother wasn’t normally interested in short-term and had more than just herself to consider. In all his years of dating, he’d avoided women with kids. Not that he didn’t like children, it was more a way to keep distance between them. He admitted, at least to himself, that his first real love relationship had colored his outlook on commitment, on love, and made him rather jaded. Plus, it didn’t help that he and his sister were the heirs to the Brooks Hotels family fortune. It was one of the reasons he’d moved here after his tour of duty finished almost a decade ago. He wanted a place where he wasn’t known and accepted because of who his family was, but was judged on his own merit.

He conducted another check on the ballroom. There was so much pink in the room it looked like the Pepto Bismol factory had exploded. But everything was set for the wedding reception tonight. With that under control, Garrett headed back to the front desk to lend a hand if need be.

Before he rounded the corner, he heard it. A laugh he’d not heard in ages. A ghost from his past. His strides slowed, but he wouldn’t be a coward. He turned the corner and drew in a breath.

Gail.

He’d not seen her in thirteen years. She’d always been attractive. It had been a major part of her appeal when he’d been eighteen. To have a woman twenty years his senior and hot as hell interested in him had gone to both of his heads. Garrett hadn’t put on muscle and height until his senior year in high school. Until then he’d been a pipsqueak, and the female population hadn’t paid him any attention, even with his family name. Then he’d filled out, grown half a foot, and finally come into his own. Gail had sniffed him out, used his gullible need for acceptance from the female population, and blown his world—at the time.

The years had been kind to her in the physical sense of the word. But he could tell she’d had plastic surgery in an effort to maintain her youth. At fifty-six she was still trim and lithe, although the boobs were new.

“Garrett Brooks, how wonderful to see you,” she purred. That was one thing Gail had always done; any time she talked to a man, she made it sound sexual. Eighteen years ago it had thrilled him. Now, not so much.

What in the everlasting fuck was she doing here at his place?

He pasted a smile on his face. “Gail, it’s lovely to see you again. And who is your companion?”

Gail’s presence had caused him to overlook the gentleman at her side at first. Garrett eyed the man. Aloof cockiness rolled off the six-foot-four athletic guy who looked like a GQ model. Only he couldn’t be more than twenty-four, tops. Then again, Gail had always had an affinity for younger men. Garrett should know—he’d been one of them.

“Frank, meet Garrett Brooks. He’s the heir to Brooks Hotels,” Gail simpered.

He shook Frank’s hand. “Pleasure. I must say it is a surprise to see you here.”

She playfully batted his arm. “Well, I just had to get away from the city. My charity work, as you may well remember, keeps me so busy. With the stress of it, I find I need time away now and again. I had lunch with your mother recently and she mentioned your place. I just had to come see for myself.”

Considering his and his mother’s relationship had been strained over the last thirteen years, in large part because of the woman before him, the news that this viper still had her fashionably manicured claws in his mom enraged him. Garrett ground his teeth. “Great. How long are you staying?”

“As long as it takes. You know, so that I can get some real relaxation in.” Gail smirked and there was a light in her gaze that gave him pause. He didn’t trust her, he realized as dread settled in his stomach.

What in the holy hell is that supposed to mean? As long as what takes? Five minutes in her presence and he needed a drink. “What?”

The superior, haughty, knowing smirk she flashed his way gave him pause. Then she said, “We should talk, privately, when you have a minute.”

“I would love to.” Do anything other than that. He’d rather be hog tied and dragged through the mud. Hell, he’d rather give the bull at the club a go than have any type of conversation with the viper.

“Why don’t you and Frank come to my office?” he offered, wanting to get to the bottom of why the hell she was here.

“Oh, it will be just you and me. Frank, darling, why don’t you make sure our luggage gets to our room and order some room service?” She trailed a hand down Frank’s chest in a rather blatantly suggestive manner. Garrett remembered all too well how she’d led him around, by his dick, for five years.

He shuddered at the memory.

Frank didn’t seem to find the move abhorrent. In fact, the younger man looked downright possessive of Gail. Garrett wanted to pull the guy aside and warn him, but he wouldn’t have listened to reason at the time and didn’t foresee anything he said helping Frank in the slightest.

“Don’t make me wait too long,” Frank said.

“I won’t, darling, and be sure to be ready for me,” she purred.

Gag me.

Garrett nearly vomited at the display. Then Gail released Frank and turned all her attention toward him. Made him wonder what prize in hell he’d won.

“Won’t you lead the way, Garrett?” she said, batting her fake eyelashes his way. If his memory served, she tended to spackle on her cosmetics.

Not touching her, he escorted her from the lobby toward his office, although he wished he could lead her right out the door and onto the nearest flight out of Jackson.