by Anya Nowlan
Chloe swallowed hard, her gaze suddenly stuck on his every move. Placing his elbows on the counter and leaning forward, he let his voice carry the heat spreading through his body.
“I sometimes think about what sound you’d make if I grabbed your face and kissed your breath away. Would you moan, or whimper, or sigh…” he trailed off, looking from her eyes to her lips.
Squirming around in her seat, Chloe was hanging off his every word, unable to get away. There was a glimmer in her eyes that only spurred him on.
“And then I think about what your skin would feel under my fingertips, and where you like to be touched. Would you tell me, or would I have to find out by myself?”
“Dante, stop…” Chloe protested weakly, her voice breathless.
“I thought we were going to be honest going forward,” he shrugged innocently.
“I think there’s such a thing as too much honesty,” she replied after clearing her throat.
“Whatever you say. What would you like for breakfast?” he asked, moving away from the counter and opening the fridge.
From the way Chloe’s body reacted to his words, he knew if he had pressed a little further, she could be in his arms right now… But she wanted boundaries, so that’s what he would give her. Until she begged him to cross them, that was. And she would, sooner or later. That much he was sure of.
“You cook?”
“I’m a man of many talents,” he replied, stacking ingredients on the countertops. “And being able to cook was kind of a survival skill at my house growing up. Dom would never admit this, but he loves my cooking. Always has. He makes fun of me when I make some of my more elaborate dishes, but he cleans his plate every time.”
Dante grinned, spinning a convenient ladle in his hand for good measure.
“Wow,” was all that Chloe said, leaning back in her seat and watching him turn on the stove.
“See how much we’re learning about each other already? You’re probably thinking ‘he’s not as bad as I thought’,” Dante teased.
“I’ll reserve my judgments for when I’ve actually tried the food,” Chloe countered, smiling at him over the rim of her mug.
I knew I’d get her to warm up to me eventually, Dante grinned to himself, hoping Dominic wouldn’t be back for a while. Who knows when I’ll get more alone time with her?
“Pancakes, coming right up,” he hollered, starting to whistle a tune.
This was going to be a good day. He could feel it in his bones.
Sixteen
Dominic
With his muscles warm and loose, and his bear letting out a satisfied purr, Dominic stopped near the house to catch his breath. The cool air forced its way into his lungs, filling him with a calm he wasn’t used to. Shifter Grove was already leaving an impression on him, and he couldn’t wait to start training tomorrow.
Even before he pushed the door open, he could hear laughter coming from inside. Narrowing his eyes, he stomped inside to see Chloe and Dante sitting at the breakfast counter, empty plates in front of them.
They’re up early, he thought, feeling annoyed.
He had hopped out of bed at an ungodly hour so he could specifically get his run in before anyone else woke up. Letting his brother spend time with Chloe alone had been exactly what he had wanted to avoid.
Yet seeing his brother smile and look so carefree as he chatted with Chloe somewhat dampened the possessive anger building inside him. As much as he wanted Chloe to himself, he couldn’t deny his brother happiness.
They were twins, after all, and even though they spent a great deal of their time bickering with each other, they were also an inseparable team, where one would do anything for the other.
And seeing as they had both expressed how special Chloe felt to them, there was a very real possibility neither of them could have her all to themselves…
“Leave some for me?” he asked, drawing their attention to him.
“I kept some warm for you in the oven,” Dante replied, studying him closely.
Chloe was looking as gorgeous as ever, still in her sleep clothes and stealing glances at him. Her long hair tumbled down her back, messy and wild, making him think about what she would look like if she really let loose. It was clear she was as drawn to him and Dante as they were to her, even if she insisted on keeping things professional.
If she would let go of that, go with what feels right… he thought, imagining her getting up from her seat, throwing her arms around his neck and melting against him as he kissed her, slowly and thoroughly.
“How long have you two been up for?” Dominic asked, walking to the counter and sitting down next to Chloe.
“A while,” she replied, holding back a giggle. “Dante was just telling me about how you used to demand your father check under the bed for monsters each night before you went to bed.”
“I was five years old,” Dominic quickly defended himself, shooting Dante a dirty look. “And he was the one who convinced me they were under there in the first place,” he grumbled to himself as Dante put some eggs on a plate and slid it to him.
He could smell the pancakes, but he could begrudgingly eat his protein before he got to the good stuff.
“You were so gullible,” his brother laughed, before turning to look warmly at Chloe.
Resisting the urge to pout, Dominic scarfed down his eggs, even hungrier now after his workout. He was determined to steal Chloe away from Dante. It wasn’t fair that he had her to himself all morning, and he was planning to settle the score.
“I found a great trail out back in the forest. It loops around before leading back to the house. I could show you, in case you want to go for a run sometime,” he said, looking closely at Chloe to gauge her reaction.
She had made it clear she wanted to keep things professional, but he thought the offer sounded innocent enough. All he wanted was to have some time to show her he wasn’t as bad as the stories about him made him out to be.
Sure, he was no angel. But the opinion Chloe seemed to be forming about him was based on little more than hearsay. He wanted her to make up her mind by herself, by spending time with him.
“Stretching my legs a bit does sound nice,” she replied, craning her neck to see outside the window.
She sounded a bit hesitant, but the sun streaming in seemed to make her mind up.
“I’d love to see the trail,” she smiled, before hopping up to clear the plates.
“I can do that,” Dante protested, but she was having none of it.
“You cooked, I clean.”
“I’ll go take a quick shower and then we can go,” Dominic said, throwing Dante a look that said he was definitely not invited.
Dante just shrugged and smirked at him, apparently too pleased at getting to spend the morning with Chloe to intervene. Dominic didn’t know if Dante was just confident that Chloe was more into him than Dominic, or if he’d started to feel the same way as Dominic was.
If Chloe is both mine and Dante’s mate, we’re going to have to get damn well used to sharing, Dominic thought, letting his eyes sweep over Chloe’s luscious frame.
He rolled up three thick pancakes and scarfed one down on his way up the stairs, the other two disappearing by the time he reached the bathroom.
He wondered what she would think about being shared by a pair of Alpha werebears. It was obvious she felt some sort of attraction towards both of them, but would she grow to like one more than the other?
I guess we’ll find out soon enough…
Back in his casual clothes instead of his workout gear, Dominic stepped into the forest with Chloe trailing closely behind. Having her all to himself was exhilarating, and he had to resist the urge to whirl around and grab her into his arms every few steps.
The air smelled of pine, and they were surrounded by green everywhere they looked. The sun was painting the treetops golden, and their steps sounded softly on the dirt, spilling into the quiet of the woods.
“It’s beautiful here,” C
hloe commented, drawing in a deep breath.
She had twisted her hair up, showing off the elegant curve of her neck. Dominic idly wondered what it would taste like if he kissed her there, before forcing his thoughts on the conversation at hand.
“I thought you might like it. I enjoy the quiet.”
“Really,” she said, sounding somewhat suspicious. “I got the feeling you enjoyed chaos, even better if you were smack dab in the middle of it.”
“Yeah, that too,” he grinned. “Can’t I like both?”
“Isn’t that a tad contradicting?”
“And you don’t have anything about you that’s like that?”
The path widened enough for them to walk side by side, their shoulders almost touching. Chloe’s brow furrowed slightly as she crossed her arms over her stomach.
“I don’t think we’re comparable,” she finally said.
“I think you could be a lot like me if you loosened up a bit,” he teased, wagging his eyebrows at her. “Down a couple of shots of tequila, hit the dance floor, take the reins off. I’d like to see that side of Chloe.”
“Are you saying I’m not fun?” she quirked a brow. “Because I’ll have you know, I’m a blast.”
He had to bite the side of his cheek to keep from laughing at that.
“Alright, I’ll bite. Tell me your wildest story.”
Chloe shoved her hands in her pockets, avoiding his gaze all of a sudden.
“What, can’t think of any?” he grinned.
“I can think of plenty,” she shot back, squaring her chin at him. “There are just… so many to choose from, that’s all,” she said, sounding utterly unconvincing.
This ought to be good.
Seventeen
Chloe
Shoulder to shoulder with Dominic, Chloe’s mind was in a jumble as she tried to come up with something remotely on his level of mischief. He had managed to play on her pride, and now she couldn’t back down. The grin on his face as he waited for her to speak only strengthened her resolve.
I promised him a story, so he’s going to get a story.
It wasn’t like she never had any fun. It had just been a while, with work being so busy and all.
“I got it,” she said a bit too gleefully, finally hitting on a vivid memory. “Back in college, my roommate, Amy, and I went to a strip club. I put a dollar in a sexy fireman’s G-string,” she announced proudly.
How about that, she added smugly in her mind.
“That’s your craziest story? You touched a strange man’s butt once?” Dominic laughed, the sound echoing off the trees.
He tried to put on a straight face when he saw how unamused she was, but failed miserably.
“Well, we all don’t have thousands of dollars to blow and an endless supply of groupies and models to get through,” she grumbled.
“Now you’re just trying to change the subject,” he wagged his finger at her. “I’m going to have to show you a better time than that. If that’s your craziest memory, I can guarantee I can blow your mind.”
He smirked and dammit if it didn’t look appealing on him.
The underlying current to his words and the way he was looking at her made her stomach twist with nervous excitement. Here she was, all alone with a man who could easily fill a sexy hockey calendar all by himself, and every cell in her body was practically yanked in his direction.
She recalled the way Dante had spoken to her this morning, about how he would kiss and touch her… The same heat that had run through her then was coursing in her veins now, just as potent and just as dangerous.
She didn’t doubt that Dominic could show her the time of a lifetime, but she couldn’t go there. They hadn’t been exactly as insufferable to live with so far as she had thought. It was actually even kind of nice… But that didn’t mean she was going to fall into bed with either of them.
“Dominic…” she said, stopping under a huge pine tree. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told your brother. I am your agent. Nothing can happen between us. I promised Dante we could be friends, get to know each other better, because that would benefit our professional relationship and make our time together easier. But it has to stop there.”
Dominic was standing so close to her it was hard to get the words out. All carved cheekbones and rugged features, with clear blue eyes the likes of which she’d only seen on one other person, he was practically impossible to resist. Yet, that was what she had to do.
“And Dante agreed to that?” he asked, taking another step towards her until their toes were practically touching.
The thud of her heartbeat almost deafening, she clenched her fists to stop herself from throwing her arms around his neck and letting him show her exactly how he could ‘blow her mind’.
“Yes.”
“Alright. If that’s what you really want.”
“It is,” she replied, willing herself to believe it.
Taking a step back, he continued on the trail, pointing toward a narrow, somewhat grassy path turning right.
“You can turn back here if you want a shorter lap,” he explained, waiting for her to catch up.
If he was disappointed, he didn’t show it. The tenseness of the previous moment evaporated, and he continued on as if nothing had happened. Part of Chloe was relieved at that. She had set her rules with both brothers, and now they were all on the same page.
Yet something about that made her feel restless. Following Dominic until they were shoulder to shoulder again, she looked up to see him smile at her, devilish and sincere at the same time. And she couldn’t help but wonder what a wilder Chloe would look like, exactly.
Chloe watched from the bleachers as all of the men hoping for a spot on the Shovelers team filed out onto the ice. The coach, aptly called ‘Coach’ by everyone and anyone, looked them over with a scowl on his weathered face. The fact that the best of the best all wanted to be on his team of all the teams didn’t seem to impress him much.
“All right, let’s see what you ladies are made of,” he called out, before running them through drills that made Chloe feel exhausted by just watching them.
She kept an eye on Dominic and Dante as the men flew back and forth on the ice, looking like they were born with skates on. There was some article or another she had stumbled upon where they had said their father had introduced them to hockey the moment they could walk, so maybe that was half-true.
Hours passed as she e-mailed updates to Janice and continued to pore through Sally’s files on the brothers, looking up only to watch the twins work their assess off to impress Coach. The man didn’t seem particularly pleased with any of them, but Chloe got the feeling he wasn’t loose with his praise in any case.
Finally, a long whistle signaled the end of the day’s training, prompting Chloe to stuff her things back into her bag. She hadn’t forgotten about Dante’s shoulder, and she wanted to make sure he wasn’t overdoing it.
As the Shovelers themselves appeared on the ice, the doors to the rink flew open with at least ten overly-excited kids bouncing down the steps. Chloe was aware there was a meet and greet scheduled, but she thought the players would get a chance to catch their breath, first. Glancing at her watch, she realized Coach had kept them on the ice almost thirty minutes longer than was originally planned.
That explains it, she thought, sitting back and watching the children jump up and down, trying to get their favorite player’s attention.
“It’s the Double Ds,” one little boy exclaimed loudly enough for her to hear, pointing towards Dominic and Dante.
Chloe chuckled at his innocent enthusiasm. He probably had no idea of the double meaning of that particular nickname.
“Hey,” Dominic called out, waving as he skated to the kid, with Dante close behind.
Watching how they chatted and joked with the kids, Chloe couldn’t help but think that maybe she had jumped the gun a little bit in judging them. Obviously there was more to the twins than just their party boy images. They were so
comfortable horsing around with the kids.
Probably because they’re children themselves, she thought, though she felt bad about the snide remark almost immediately, even if only she herself had heard it.
Sorting through the logs and notes she got from Janice, she noticed that Dominic and Dante made regular contributions to several charities, always insisting they be anonymous.
That definitely didn’t match up with the ego-driven picture of the two she had painted in her mind. She wasn’t about to let go of the notion that they were arrogant, used-to-getting-everything-they-want playboys, but she had to admit that they might have hidden depths.
I can’t believe I’m finding them anything but insufferable, she thought, shaking her head.
Dante was lifting some of the kids over the railing and onto the ice while Dominic was giving out high-fives and hugs. All of the players were busy answering one question after the other, and posing for pictures. She caught one of the Solomon brothers rolling his eyes at signing another autograph, but other than that, everyone looked happy to spend some time with the young fans.
Dominic and Dante were definitely among the favorites. Their friendly, easygoing demeanor drew the kids in, and they looked like they were having a blast skating circles around them and telling jokes.
Chloe had almost missed the woman tasked with accompanying the children, only noticing her when she started to wrangle the kids back into one group, calling out their names.
“It’s time to go, we’ve already taken up more of their time than we should have,” she said, sighing audibly when no one seemed to be paying her much attention.
With the players’ urging and after all the pictures had been taken and all the jerseys signed, the kids finally gathered around the tired-looking woman and headed towards the exit, talking excitedly amongst themselves.
“Does anyone have time for a quick game?” Cannon Wright asked, his voice booming and travelling across the large space.