Megan’s face lights up, and she turns to watch her man’s approach — just as Lucas, suddenly on his feet, blocks his way. “Holy shit,” I whisper.
All three of us hold our breath at the alpha showdown unfolding before us. Cody’s shoulders go back and his eyes go dark at the challenge. I tense, afraid he’ll try to push his way past. That would not be pretty.
He’s watching Lucas’s face, and then his mouth moves and I’m pretty sure he’s saying “Who the fuck are you?” A few more seconds, and his eyes land on the three of us, warming when he looks at Megan. He lifts his chin toward her and says something else.
Lucas turns slightly and looks at us, and my heart stutters. He’s in uber-alpha “do not fuck with me” mode, and it is so. damn. hot. Megan wiggles her fingers at Cody, both in greeting and confirmation, and I wish I could do the same to my guy.
Mine. Is that really how I feel? Am I claiming the twins, the way they want to claim me? I can’t deny that watching Lucas protect me is powerfully pleasing.
He turns back to Cody, and after a few more moments of conversation, Lucas stands aside and Cody joins us. “Ladies,” he says, looking down at us. His hand rests on Megan’s shoulder, his thumb stroking idly as he looks to me and adds, “Everything okay?”
I shrug. “It will be.” I’m more interested in the fact that Cody’s doing PDA with Megan, no matter how subtly. Maybe the three of them really are going to go public.
“Do you want to stay at the ranch for a few days?” he asks.
“Thanks, Cody.” I smile at him, touched. “I think the guys have it under control, but you could mention it to Lucas if you want to give him a backup plan.”
“I’ll do that.” He gives Megan’s shoulder a squeeze. “What did you eat, MegaMommy?”
She blushes an adorable shade of pink, and Tara and I grin. The Beasts’ nicknames for her are so cute. “I had the tempura,” she says primly. “No raw fish.”
“Good girl,” he says, with a teasing gleam in his eye, and her blush gets deeper. Can you blame me for developing a twin fantasy? “Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah,” she says. “We just need to settle the check.”
Cody turns at her gesture to see that the waitress has come up on his other side and has been waiting patiently for us to get our act together. “I’ll get it,” he says over Tara’s and my protests, taking the little tray with our bill on it.
“Thanks, Cody,” we chorus, and he grins at us. A few minutes later, we’re all ready to go, my friends and I giving each other hugs until next time. Cody gets hugs, too, before he stops to talk with Lucas on our way out.
The men who were in the booth on my left go past us, and I know they’re moving ahead to scope everything out before Lucas and I reach the street. A few moments later, Lucas says to me, “Let’s go.”
His hand comes to the small of my back, as it always does when he’s guiding me somewhere. We move toward the door, and I look that way to see Cody holding it open for Megan and Tara. But he’s not looking at them; his eyes are on me and Lucas.
Then he’s gone, and I have the funny feeling that he knows exactly what’s up.
I get my confirmation the very next day, when Megan calls to invite me to dinner at the ranch. “Bring your men,” she says. “Both of them. The Beasts want to meet them.”
My heart skips a beat and not in a good way. “Megan … I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“You know if you say no my guys will just go looking for them,” she says. “They’re curious. At least this way it’ll be in a controlled environment.”
“Oh god.” I resist the urge to beat my head against the wall. “This has so much potential for disaster. Like Mad Max: Thunderdome without all the leather.”
“I’m sure I could find some biker outfits or something,” she teases.
“Shut up. I’m throwing things at you right now. You better be ducking.”
“Ouch,” she says with a laugh. “See you tomorrow.”
On the way home that night, I tell Alex about the invitation. He frowns, glancing at me before returning his attention to the road. “We can’t socialize with you on the job, Zoe.”
“I know. Believe me, I know. Technically you’d be there as my guards.”
“And why do we both need to be there?”
I consider trying to evade the question, but that would only make things worse. Taking a deep breath, I stare straight ahead. “Because Megan’s men want to meet you.”
22
Ache In My Heart
Zoe
The car swerves. Just for a millisecond, but I feel it. “Excuse me.” Alex’s voice has an edge. “Did you say her men?”
“Yes.”
A pause, then, “You’re going to have to explain that.”
Fuck. At least it’s just Alex; better than trying to tell both of them at once. “You guys follow football?”
“Sure.” He shoots me another quizzical glance, but plays along. “We were hardcore Leopards fans growing up. No real time for it since we got out of the service, because we were busy getting the business going. And then things took off, and we were just busy.”
“Well, Brock and Cody Easton play for the Leopards. And they and Megan are … a thing. All three of them.”
A long silence follows. Then Alex says, very quietly, “Brothers?”
“Yeah.”
Another pause. “Twins.”
“Yup.”
He drums his fingers on the steering wheel. “So that’s why you wanted both of us that night.” I can’t tell what he’s feeling, if he’s mad or not.
“Can’t blame a girl for being curious,” I say softly.
“No, I guess I can’t.” He doesn’t say anything else for the rest of the drive. Once he’s got me inside, he goes back out, and I know he’s calling his brother. A conversation he doesn’t want me to hear.
I don’t have much of an appetite; I start to fix some fruit and yogurt, but it reminds me of Lucas, so I settle for toast with peanut butter. Sometimes I stay in the living room with whichever brother is there that night and watch tv — we have a surprising number of shows we all like — but tonight I get ready for bed and crawl under the covers with a book.
It makes no sense, but I’m worried what they’ll think of me. That somehow, knowing this will tarnish what we have between us. Which makes zero sense, because all we have between us are one amazing night, some teasing, and enough sexual tension to power a starship through hyperspace.
They knew I wanted them both; what does it matter where my fantasy came from? It shouldn’t. Determined not to care, no matter what their response is, I prop myself up against my pillows and bury my nose in the pages.
A few minutes later, Alex comes back in. I’ve been staring at the same paragraph, unseeing, and I keep on doing it. His footsteps, almost soundless, approach, and then he’s standing in my doorway. “We’ll be there.”
I look up, my expression a carefully impassive mask. His face seems harsh in the shadows, but maybe that’s my imagination. “Okay.” I say it like it’s no biggie to me either way. This is so not me, being quiet and careful and — repressed.
And Alex knows it, because he straightens up from where he’s leaning against the doorframe and comes over to me. Immediately, my heart starts to pound. Neither of the Wolf brothers has ever ventured inside my bedroom before, not when I was in it. There’s been an unspoken agreement that this territory is off limits.
He stops by the bed. “Are you all right?”
“Fine.” My voice comes out brusque, and I take a breath and try again. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
He sits on the edge of the bed, bracing his arm on the other side of me so he’s leaning sideways across my body. If I wanted to, I could run my hand along all that muscle, up to his bicep, over and down to his chest.
I want to. Badly.
My other hand is within easy reach of his denim-clad legs. I remember what they felt like between my thi
ghs while he pounded into me. And against the backs of my legs when he took me from behind.
“Zoe?”
It’s too much. All of it — the wanting, the waiting, the unbearable torment. My body acts without any conscious thought. Grabbing a fistful of his shirt, I yank him to me.
He lets me pull him forward until his mouth covers mine and then he’s kissing me, slow and deep, and hunger ignites in me like a bone-dry forest torched by a flamethrower. My hands go to his head, holding him to me, and I kiss him back, desperate, demanding, trying to pour all my need into him.
Alex rises from the bed without losing my mouth, long enough to toe off his shoes and yank the covers down, and then I’m flat on my back and he’s on top of me, grinding against me, his hand moving between us to find my clit. He works me expertly, rubbing and stroking, kissing me urgently while I push greedily against his hand. I’m so keyed up that it seems like no time at all before pleasure shoots through me and I’m arching against him, crying out into his mouth as I find my release.
When he eases back from me, I want to weep. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
“Shhh … shhh.” Alex shifts to my side and turns me to face him, pulling me close and drawing the covers up over us. “It’s all right.”
He doesn’t say anything else, just holds me and strokes my hair, and I begin to calm immediately, his warmth and strength comforting in a way nothing else could be. “Don’t go yet,” I whisper.
“I won’t.”
I fall asleep more quickly than I have since this whole thing started, and deeply enough that I never feel him leave. But when I wake in the morning, alone, it’s with an ache in my heart.
23
Relieved
Lucas
If you had described the current state of my life to me a few weeks ago, I would have thought you needed medication. Or maybe a padded cell.
But here I am, driving with my brother to pick up a woman and take her to dinner … at the home of two brothers who are living with one woman. They’re even twins, like us.
The whole thing is crazy.
Alex and I are quiet, each lost in our own thoughts. And there is plenty to think about. When he called me last night, all I could say was “You are fucking kidding me.”
“Not even a little bit, bro.”
To say that this was a revelation is putting it mildly. It explains a lot about Zoe and her approach to Alex and me, for one thing. She’s not a superfreak; she’s a woman who wanted something very specific and went about getting it. It makes me admire her even more.
Beyond that, though, is the much larger fact that Megan and the Easton brothers are doing this long-term. They’re not just getting their kicks; they’re in what I guess you’d have to call a committed relationship.
She’s even pregnant — I noticed it at the sushi place. Did they work out which one of them was going to father the child? Are they planning on taking turns, or do they neither know nor care whose baby it is?
Since they’re curious about us, I hope they don’t mind us returning the favor. I can think of a few million questions I’d like to ask, but I plan to get a lot of answers just by keeping my eyes and ears open.
Neither Alex nor I was thinking beyond when we’d get Zoe in bed again. Would we go on solo dates, trading off like we have been with her security? Or only go out — and to bed — together?
We never actually said, “This is temporary; it can’t last.” Because of course it couldn’t, so why would we need to spell that out? It makes me feel behind the times, that a permanent arrangement never even entered my mind.
Now … I can’t wait to see what the situation really is with the other trio we’ll meet tonight.
The security threat with Zoe’s father is close to being wrapped up, but we’re not out of the woods yet. I asked for, and received, permission to send an advance team out to the brothers’ ranch, and our guys informed me that they have top-notch security. So everything’s in place, and all Alex and I have to do is act as guests.
We pull up in front of Zoe’s apartment. Jeff, who’s been keeping an eye on things, meets us at the door. “All clear; she’s almost ready.”
“Thanks, Jeff.” We go in, and a moment later Zoe comes out from the bathroom. She’s wearing black jeans and a soft, shimmery top that drapes her form like it was made for her. Gold strappy sandals, since it’s a warm night, and she’s putting in little gold hoop earrings. The whole effect is subtle but classy.
She doesn’t quite meet our eyes, and I realize she’s nervous. I raise an eyebrow at Alex, and he raises one shoulder a hair. “You look nice,” I tell Zoe.
“Thanks.” She smiles, but it’s not her usual smile and it doesn’t reach her eyes. Why is she so uncomfortable about this? I thought this Megan woman was her best friend or something.
Concern for her overrides my intense desire to see what’s up at the Easton ranch. “Zoe.” I take a step toward her. “You don’t have to do this.”
She freezes, her eyes big, her hands still poised at one ear. “He’s right,” Alex agrees. “Say the word and we’ll call it off.”
Slowly, the tension drains from her body and a real smile transforms her face. “Thank you. I didn’t even realize until you said that how railroaded I felt into doing this. I love Megan, but I’ve got too many things in my life right now that are out of my control.”
Crossing to Alex, she puts a hand on his chest, goes up on her toes a little, and kisses his cheek, then comes and does the same with me. “Seriously. Thank you.”
I have the ridiculous urge to pull her against me and just hold her for a moment. I’ve missed her touch ... as if we’d been lovers for years. Crazy.
Then I sift through her words and swallow my disappointment. “It’s all right,” I tell her. “I’ll call them now.”
Zoe covers my hand with hers before I can make the call. “No, we can go.” She smiles again. “Now that I’ve been given a choice, I don’t mind. You know?”
“Yeah.” I smile back and offer her my arm, trying not to think about why I’m so relieved we’re not canceling. “Shall we?”
Alex does the same on her other side, and she hooks her hands through both our arms as we escort her to the door.
24
Harder Path
Alex
The ranch is impressive, but that’s not surprising. I did some research on our hosts, and even though they’re only in their second year in the NFL, they’ve racked up some serious stats and have salaries to match.
Lucas met one of them the other day, so between him and my research I’ve got a pretty good idea what to expect — at least on the surface. Like my brother, though, what I’m most curious about is what lies beneath it.
And in that arena, nothing could prepare me for what I find once we’re through the door.
It’s all so … normal. The main house is like any other home, just bigger than most. Well appointed, well maintained, tastefully decorated. They even have a dog, a shaggy mixed breed who whirls in delight, chasing her tail in excitement at all the visitors.
Zoe and Megan hug like it’s been years before Zoe kneels down to give the dog — Bacon, Zoe calls her — some love. Hugging the furry form, she gets kisses all over her face in return. She’s laughing and looking the happiest I’ve seen her since this whole thing started.
Meanwhile, Lucas and I shake hands with the Easton brothers. The four of us are cautiously cordial, sizing each other up. But except for the undercurrents of tension and doubt, it’s like any other get-together with friends.
Megan, an adorable curvy redhead, greets us like we’re old friends and offers us a drink. “I’d have one with you, but I’m not allowed,” she says, wrinkling her nose affectionately at the men.
They smile gently at her, and the looks on their faces … indulgent, amused, proud. They’re both gone over her and don’t care who knows it. My brother and I exchange a lightning-quick glance. Even though Zoe told us, I don’t think either o
f us really believed it until this moment.
And it’s just as obvious that Megan is with both of them and loves it. She and her men touch each other all the time — not in some crude display, but casually, affectionately, without even thinking about it. Whenever they pass, their hands brush, or whichever brother happens to be near will stroke a hand down her hair or pat her gently on the ass.
She’s got that glow, too, the one I’ve seen before on the wives of some of our military buddies when they’re pregnant. All is well — more than well — in Megan’s world. You could search the globe and not find another woman more content with her life.
There’s a knock at the door, and another couple comes in — a cute little brunette whose name turns out to be Tara, and a tall man dressed in denim and leather whom she introduces as Deke. He’s got a way of carrying himself that says he doesn’t take shit from anyone, and tattoos on both arms — arms that look like they could rip a telephone pole from the ground and snap it in two.
“Anyone vegetarian?” Brock asks when we’re all settled with our drinks in the living room. I half expect Deke to announce that he’s vegan, because it’s that kind of a night, but we all shake our heads. “Good. Steaks it is.”
I’m sitting with Zoe on my right and Megan to my left. Beyond her is Cody, followed by Tara, Deke, and Brock, with Lucas on Zoe’s other side. We didn’t deliberately bookend her, but it’s probably just as well. We’re technically still guarding her, and while we don’t expect anything to happen tonight, that’s exactly why we need to stay alert.
When Zoe excuses herself to use the restroom, Lucas breaks off from his conversation with Brock and follows her. I imagine Zoe rolling her eyes when she realizes he’s tailing her before I turn my attention to Megan. She’s watching me with a little smile on her face, and I raise my eyebrows in silent inquiry and invitation.
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