APHRODISIA

      KENSINGTON BOOKS

       http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

       To Peggy Hamilton-Swire, with much love and gratitude.

       I couldn’t have done it without you, Peg!

       Acknowledgments

      Special thanks to John Scognamiglio—we make a great team! I look forward to working with you for many years to come.

       Contents

       Double Trouble

       Chapter 1

       Chapter 2

       Chapter 3

       Chapter 4

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Double the Pleasure

       Chapter 1

       Chapter 2

       Chapter 3

       Chapter 4

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Chapter 16

       Chapter 17

       Chapter 18

       Double the Fun

       Chapter 1

       Chapter 2

       Chapter 3

       Chapter 4

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Chapter 16

       Chapter 17

       Epilogue

       1

       “N o way in hell.” Ryan Wright squinted in the late afternoon sun at his twin brother, Braedon, and wondered what kind of mess his sibling had gotten himself into this time.

      “Please.” Braedon cleared his throat, and took a draw from the sweating longneck before setting it back on the sun-bleached wood table between them. He glanced nervously around the deck of the deserted ice house before zeroing in on his brother again. “You loved the twin trick when we were kids.”

      “We’re not kids now. We weren’t kids the last few times, in fact.”

      “I wouldn’t ask if I had any other choice. I’ll never ask you for another thing. I swear.”

      “You swore last time.” Ryan stood and threw some bills on the table, trying to ignore the way the hairs on the back of his neck stood on alert whenever he was near his twin brother. “Not only did it cost me several thousand, it damn near wrecked my life.”

      Braedon’s hand on his arm halted Ryan’s exit. “Please. Don’t you think you’re the very last person I’d ask for a favor?” He gave a bark of laughter. “Unfortunately, you’re the only one I can ask. The only one who will do. What do you want me to do? Beg? I’ll beg. Hell, I’ll do whatever it takes to get you to help me, to agree to do this just one more time.” He raked a hand through his short blond hair. “This is my life we’re talking about here,” he added in a strangled voice.

      “My God, what kind of trouble are you in?” Ryan sank back into his chair and gauged his brother’s expression. In his experience, Braedon’s face told him more than his mouth. And right now it was telling Ryan his brother was scared shitless.

      “I made some, uh, less than solid investments, took some chances that didn’t pan out.” He held up his hand. “I know, we all do that occasionally. But I thought I could fix it. I took out a loan. Then another. And another.”

      Dread clawed at Ryan’s stomach. “I get the feeling these loans weren’t from a bank.”

      Braedon scrubbed at his face and shook his head.

      “How much?” Despite his firm resolution to not aid his irresponsible brother again, he reached into his open sport coat for his checkbook. When Braedon remained silent, Ryan looked up, pen poised.

      “More than you can float me, this time,” Braedon said in a choked voice.

      “How much?” Ryan asked again.

      “Eight hundred would get them off my back for a while.”

      “Only eight hundred dollars? Sorry, bro, but I don’t understand how you can be so bent out of shape over eight hundred dollars.”

      “That’s eight hundred thousand dollars… bro. And, like I said, it’s only a payment.”

      Ryan stopped writing.

      “I can’t help you this time,” he said, closing the checkbook and slipping it back into his coat.

      “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, big brother. Like I said, you’re the only one who can. And it won’t cost you anything except a few days out of your life.”

      Ryan wrestled with the pros and cons. He’d told Braedon he was finished with him and his stupid get-rich-quick schemes and shell games, that he was tired of bailing him out every time he turned around.