by Tamsin Baker
“Ok, Scott, introduce me to your wife’s cousin and let’s see what happens.”
Panic fluttered inside his belly and something else, a feeling he hadn’t experienced in over a year. Butterflies of excitement. Could this really be happening?
He nodded once. “Let’s go.”
They walked the few steps over to where the women stood. Laura turned towards them as they walked up and moved back so that they could form a circle. Kane’s heart pounded, his breath quickening as he stepped closer to her.
Sam looked at him with interest, her bright green eyes alight as she smiled in greeting.
“Hi.”
She was breathtaking. There was no other word for the way his center melted and his stomach clenched when she looked at him like that. She didn’t even know him, yet her smile was like sunshine, radiating out from her in warm waves.
Scott took over the introductions. “Laura, this is a cousin of mine, Kane.”
Laura smiled at him, too, nodding in a polite way. “Lovely to meet some more of the family, Kane. I’m Tyler and Brandon’s wife.”
She stroked her rounded belly in a protective way, and Kane liked her in an instant. He grinned at her without thought and felt the unfamiliar stretch of his face muscles. It felt good to smile again.
“Nice to meet you, Laura.”
Laura turned to Sam, who was waiting patiently. “This is my cousin, Samantha. She’s a teacher from Toronto. Sam, this is obviously Kane, and you know Scott from the wedding I assume?”
Sam turned her eyes to Scott for a moment, smiling brightly. “I do. It was a beautiful wedding, and I’m so happy for you guys. Especially Ash. She’s just glowing.”
“Thanks heaps.” Scott stuck out his hand in a rather rapid gesture, and Sam laughed, shaking his hand in a polite way.
Then she turned her eyes on him, and his heart squeezed in his chest.
Scott elbowed him, and he looked up at his cousin. “Shake her hand.”
Sam laughed musically, the sound causing goosebumps to break out on his forearms despite the sunshine. “Teaching etiquette are you, Scott?”
Oh, the touch thing. Right.
“I’m trying, but it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.”
Kane elbowed his older cousin back and forced his hand out, his arm shaking slightly as he waited for her to reach out.
“Oh, I think we’re never too old to learn anything. It’s nice to meet you, Kane.”
She reached out and connected with his hand, and an electrical bolt shot right through him. His hand burned, and every nerve in his body tingled as his knees gave out. He dropped to one knee, and Sam ripped her hand away, her breathing changed to a pant.
“What the hell did you do?” She wobbled away and fell into a nearby chair, rubbing her hand along her leg as though she, too, felt the burn he did.
A hand landed on his shoulder, and he looked up to see his brother’s worried face.
“Kane, what happened? You ok?”
He held up his non burning hand, and Reid pulled him up, his knees still too wobbly to let go of Reid straight away.
“She’s ours, they were right.”
Reid frowned, his worried eyes flying over Kane’s face, obviously looking for signs of injury. “What are you talking about? What happened to you?”
Since their wife had died, Reid had lost a lot of his strength and size, but Kane hadn’t forgotten that Reid was the one who wore their brawn. He was the carpenter, the funny one, the hulk, and as Reid squeezed Kane’s biceps and pain began to slide through his skin, he knew his twin’s strength hadn’t disappeared.
“I’m talking about Sam. You need to go touch her.”
Reid’s eyebrows drew together as he glared down at him. “No way.”
Sam staggered over to them. “What on earth are you two talking about, and what did you do to me, Kane? It felt like you were holding one of those old fashioned buzzers in your hand.”
Reid stepped away from her. “We need to go.”
Sam grabbed a hold of Kane’s hand again, and they both gasped, the sensation more bearable this time but still unnatural.
“What’s he going on about?” Sam clung to him, her eyes wide and intense.
May as well be honest. “He’s scared of the electricity thing.”
Sam’s eyes went even wider, though Kane hadn’t thought that was possible.
“He has it, too?”
Without warning, Sam launched herself across the space between her and Reid and grabbed his hand with her own. Reid went down with a gasp, his head thrown back and his eyes closed as he sank to both knees.
“Wow. That is just incredible.” Sam was staring down at Reid with a look of pure wonderment on her face. She let go of the hand she held of Kane’s and put both hands on Reid, shivering with whatever she felt, and bending towards him.
“Can you get up, honey?”
Kane shuddered with longing as his brother forced his head up and stared at the woman whose touch had forced them both to their knees. What on earth had they found here?
****
Reid stared up at the woman above him, electrical impulses of sensation still zinging all over his body. He’d never felt anything like it before and wasn’t sure he ever wanted to again. It was like being on the biggest rollercoaster of your life and swimming through fire, all at the same time.
What had she said again? Oh yeah.
“I’m fine.” He forced out, his voice gravelly and almost incoherent even to his own ears. She was staring at him with a look too close to pity, and he yanked his hands out of her grip, making her cry out and his stomach to roll from breaking the contact.
“Step away.” His voice sounded strangled, but he said the words that were necessary for his own protection. He had to get to his feet, and he couldn’t with her standing so close.
Then, he had to get away from this woman. There was something wrong at work here, and he wasn’t hanging around to find out what it was.
Sam took a few shuffling steps back and continued to stare at him with wide, begging eyes.
Scott grabbed his shoulder, and he brushed it away. “Leave me alone.”
Traitor. How dare you let her touch me?
He lifted one leg, then pushed up, dragging his shocked body upright, the pain in his legs considerably close to having run a marathon. They cramped, they shook, but then he locked them in place, drawing in much needed breath as he straightened up his torso.
He dragged his eyes away from Sam’s rather beautiful face and focused on his brother.
“Home. Now.”
Kane’s face crumpled. Then he opened his mouth to speak. Reid was sure that his brother would want to stop them from leaving and a rebuttal would soon follow. He couldn’t have that.
“I’ll go then. Get a lift with someone else.”
He turned and walked away, though staggered was probably a better word for the way he was moving. He felt completely hollow, weak and far too much alive.
“Fucking … hell…” His legs got stronger with each step towards the front door, his feet no longer dragging as he walked.
His eye caught his reflection in the hallway mirror, and he stopped to stare. His skin was pinker, his cheeks fuller. What had she done to him? He rolled his shoulders and flexed his arms, his muscles strong and tight.
“For God’s sake!” He opened the front door and practically ran to the car, his heart pounding against his ribs, strong and healthy. “How did she do it?”
He’d spent the past year starving his body of all its needs. He had expected to die and had put up no fight, watching his healthy and largely muscled body shrink away. In one single touch, it felt like she’d undone all the past year.
He felt alive, and he was hungry.
Damn.
Reid jumped in his car and drove away, his heart breaking at the knowledge that he might have been wrong. His belief and faith in their legends had bolstered his life, his love for Amanda. When he’d lost h
er, he’d lost his future, but he’d found solace in the legends that promised he would follow her soon.
This woman threatened all that he held dear, and he wished more than anything that they had never come to this bloody town.
He shook his head as he pressed his foot harder to the accelerator, the ghost of the future returning to haunt him like a long forgotten dream.
Chapter Four
Sam’s belly clenched with need for the man in front of her. She’d never been so attracted to a stranger before, and her body seemed to be betraying her with its clenching and throbbing. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
Scott stepped closer, and a buzz of people circled them as everyone drew closer. “Come inside.”
Sam let the men around her lead Kane away, and Laura gripped her elbow, directing her around the house and into a front sitting room that was empty of other people.
“Laura, do you know what’s going on?”
Laura nodded and squeezed her hands. “Yeah, I think I do. What did you feel when you touched Kane and Reid?”
Sam let go of her cousin and lifted both her hands and looked at them, palm up. She couldn’t believe that there was no lingering mark to show what had happened to her.
“It was truly the strangest thing. Buzzing, like being zapped after getting off a trampoline, only a hundred times more full on.”
Laura laughed and rubbed her swollen belly. “Yes, I remember.”
“You remember? Pardon me?” Sam stared at her cousin, Laura’s eyes soft and dreamy as she stared off into the horizon for a moment before finally turning her attention back to Sam. How could Laura remember something that happened to her? She must mean something else.
“The electricity means that you are the perfect match for Kane and Reid, as I am for Tyler and Brandon, and Ashleigh is for Jack and Scott. There must be something special about our genetics because it’s just getting freaky now. I mean, what are the odds that all three of us would be designed for three sets of cousins?”
Sam stared at her cousin, her brain spinning like a top.
That’s impossible.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She couldn’t be a wife to two men she’d never met. They had to be wrong. “No judgment meant in any way, sweetie, but I don’t want two husbands. One would be more than enough for me.”
Laura laughed, slapping Sam on the thigh. “You don’t get a choice, sweetie. It’s preordained by fate.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” Sam shook her head, fear and anger gathering in her belly like a tightly coiled snake. She considered herself a fair, good person, but she wasn’t being told what she had to do, by anyone.
Not to mention the fact that she wasn’t actually available. But they didn’t know that yet.
The men walked into the room, the bustling noise they were making stopping the moment they stepped onto the carpet. Silence. And three sets of staring eyes.
Talk about uncomfortable.
Sam jumped to her feet and stared at the three men approaching her, her traitorous gaze straying to Kane’s beautiful brown eyes and strong jaw. He couldn’t possibly be who they said he was.
“What is this I hear about being some perfect, fated … something?” She crossed her arms over her chest and put as much heat into her stare as possible.
Kane mimicked her action, crossing his own arms over his chest, and frowned. That wasn’t good. What was he so worried about? She was the one feeling adrift in totally foreign waters.
Scott shared a worried look with Jack, then stepped forward.
Sam lifted a hand, stopping the muscle man in his tracks. “And what’s with the non-identical twins in this family? You all don’t match properly. It’s bloody confusing. Scott looks like he should be Tyler’s twin, and Brandon should have been Jack’s.”
The men all smiled a little, a chuckle coming from Jack’s big chest.
“We can explain that later, but yes, you are correct. We believe you are the perfect partner for Kane and Reid.”
Sam’s mouth fell open for a moment before she snapped it shut and stared at the men in front of her. These people were insane. What sort of asylum had her cousins married into? “But … I have a boyfriend! I can’t possibly be what you say I am.”
The room went so deadly silent Sam’s stomach sank with a weird version of panic. She’d just said something terribly wrong, hadn’t she? She glanced around at all the shocked faces, including her cousins.
Laura stared at her then cleared her throat. “Ah, is it serious?”
Sam threw up her hands and wheeled back.
I give up.
She let herself fall onto the couch, her legs sinking down like leaded weights.
“Ah…” What was the question? Right. Her head was so muzzy. “We’ve been together for just over a year. He’s…” Sam couldn’t bring herself to defend her relationship as being serious. They did spend two nights a week together and they got along well, but Bill wasn’t exactly her dream man. But she didn’t feel like giving up that piece of information yet.
“Everyone told me you were single.”
Sam narrowed her eyes at her cousin as Laura fell down onto the couch next to her. “Who did you ask?”
“Ashleigh, she invited most of our single cousins because she thought we … ah…” Laura stopped, blushed, then glanced around at her men.
Sam stared at the people in the room, the pieces of a very strange puzzle falling into place like a clunky old car. Her two first cousins were married to two sets of twins. Ashleigh hadn’t been playing matchmaker, had she?
“Are you telling me that Ashleigh only invited the single girls so that she could set them up with more of her new family?”
Sam saw the guilt in her cousin’s beautiful face and pushed herself up and off the couch, her hands trembling with anger. How dare they?
She glared down at her pregnant cousin, still beached on the soft couch.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Laura? What sort of cult is this?”
She needed to get away from these crazy people. She began to back away, glancing over her shoulder for an exit. There was a door behind her, but she had no idea which way it went or where it would take her.
“No, Sam, please stop. It’s not a cult, but there’s some very special people around here.”
Yeah, special. As in loony bin special?
Sam put her hands on her hips and spread her legs. She may feel like a fucking dwarf in a room with all these giants, but she was no pushover.
“Oh really? And what’s so special about them?”
She tapped her foot and took turns eyeing each of the three men and her pregnant cousin.
Laura motioned to the men to leave with large hand gestures. “Guys, I think I need to talk to Sam alone. You’re only going to make matters worse.”
One of the men, she thought it might be Kane, made a keening noise in his throat that almost broke her heart. He sounded wounded, hurt. Had she done that?
Scott and Jack began to back away. “That’s cool. We’ll go get a drink.”
Kane’s brown eyes were wide and scared as they pulled him away by the elbows. The last look he cast at her almost begging in its intensity, and delivered a deep gut punch more effective than any physical blow could be.
When the men finally closed the door, the room was too big, and Sam collapsed into the chair opposite Laura.
Laura placed both hands on her swollen belly and settled back into the cushion. “Whoa, where do I even start?”
Sam glared at her. “You can start with what’s up with Kane.”
Laura laughed and shook her head. “That’s the end of the story, although I like that you’re focused on him.”
Sam snorted and looked away. She didn’t want to be here.
Laura laughed softly. “I better start at the beginning.”
Sam sighed and looked back at Laura. She didn’t want to listen to what her cousin had to say, but she folded her hands in her lap in a sem
blance of calm while butterflies flapped away in her tummy. She didn’t know if they were a sign of apprehension or excitement, but she knew that something huge was about to happen and she was not ready for it.
Laura took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her hands circling her growing babe in a loving rhythm.
“You were right in your observation of the twins. In Brandon and Tyler’s family, some of the men are born into fraternal twins that they call a Perfect Pair. Exact opposites of each other in both physicality and temperament, but perfect complements, too.”
Sam nodded, understanding on a superficial level. “You mean like one skinny, one muscular, one tall, one shorter?”
Laura smiled. “Yes, but it’s more than that. Like with my set. Brandon is taller, more muscular, gruff, possessive and passionate, and he can joke me out of a bad mood any day of the week. Tyler is shorter, thinner, more intelligent, and more serious. Between them I get the perfect man. Possessive and serious, lighthearted and sensual.”
Sam’s throat caught on a breath. “That sounds,” she swallowed, “perfect.” She’d often known her perfect man list of qualities didn’t exist. “You can’t really get all of that in one man, can you?”
Laura laughed and shook her head. “No, you can’t, and Jack and Scott are similar to my pair, or so Ash says.”
Sam slid to the edge of the couch, her heart beginning to pound like a drum. “And Kane and Reid are the same?”
How incredible would that be, in theory? To get everything she’d ever wanted in a person, just spread out?
Laura’s eyes shadowed as her face grew serious. “Yes, they’re a Perfect Pair.”
Sam frowned, her forehead growing low and heavy. “That’s not what I asked.” Laura was hiding something.
Laura sighed. “Kane and Reid’s wife died a year ago, so they aren’t quite themselves at the moment, or so Tyler told me.”
Sam gasped and put a hand to her heart. “Oh, how horrible.” Those poor men.
Laura agreed with a nod. “Yes, and for a Perfect Pair, they usually only have one mate, so they fully expected to die within the year and follow her.”