INTRO:
Cousin Dan’s social life is a mystery to Jake. Jake knows that his Cousin Dan leaves his big ranch every Saturday night and drives into the city. Jake is certain that Dan brings a woman home with him for the night. Why else would he be so secretive about his love life? When Jake decides to sneak into his Cousin Dan’s house before daybreak one Sunday morning so that he can catch his secretive cousin once and for all, Jake doesn’t get very far in his amateur sleuthing before he is met not only by his Cousin Dan, but by his Cousin Dan’s hot temper as well.
EXCERPT:
Jake killed the engine and the lights on his noisy old truck a little ways from his cousin’s home and then coasted until the old truck stopped. Jake could see that his cousin’s brand new truck was parked outside his house, and he could also that there were no lights on in his cousin’s big ranch house. “I’ve got him now.” Jake walked as quietly as he could to the back door of his cousin’s home. He had taken the extra key from his dad’s house when he wasn’t looking, so that he could sneak up on his Cousin Dan and the woman that Jake was certain he had brought home with him. Jake very quietly and very slowly opened the back door of his Cousin Dan’s house, and fumbled in the dark to find a light switch. He turned on only the light by the back door, and tiptoed through the big house. “If I knock something off and break it, Cousin Dan will kill me,” he said to himself. Dan Howell had made a good living ranching, and had spared no expense in furnishing it with Texas’ finest. Jake knew where Cousin Dan’s bedroom was, and he slowly ascended the stairs to the second floor. When the next to the last step creaked, Jake stopped. He listened. Not hearing a sound, Jake took the last step up to the second floor. He slowly walked down the long hallway to Cousin Dan’s bedroom. The door was open partway. He was just about to open the door when someone grabbed the back of his shirt at the collar.
******
As the crowd gathered, Dan looked up to see Marla bending down to welcome him. “Dan, I’m so glad you could make it,” she said. Dan looked up, but just for a second. She was practically falling out of her low cut sundress. Well, if she’s trying to impress me, she is wasting her time, he thought. “Dan, I have a friend you might be interested in,” she offered. “No, thank you, Marla. I can find my own dates.” “I’m sure you can, sugar.” She sashayed away, and Dan almost laughed out loud. “Here, Jake, let me help you with that,” Dan offered, lifting one side of the big freezer of ice cream. Jake looked at him. “Thanks,” he said.
