by Sierra Rose
Weeks flashed by—a red carpet premiere in LA where Bella wore a Monique Lhullier ballgown and landed on a best-dressed list, a 5K to benefit a camp for terminally ill kids, a few awards dinners, and another charity auction. One Saturday, Harvey surprised Bella by chartering a hot air balloon to take her on a private picnic. The balloon was majestic—a deep blue to match the Arizona sky studded with stripes of pure white that made the blue seem all the bluer. As it inflated, the slack silken pouch billowing forth and upward as it filled like a great mushroom blooming to life, she gripped Harvey’s hand, amazed and thrilled to share it with him. She stared at the scenic views of the rugged desert landscape of Arizona.
“What do you think?” Harvey asked.
“I think you’ve officially blown my mind. It’s like seeing everything with a birds-eye view. What a magical experience. It’s exhilarating!”
He put his arm around her and kissed her lips softly.
The ride was peaceful and dreamlike.
Fabrice had packed them a lunch fit for kings—a feast of all her favorite delicacies which they would share wherever they landed. The sheer pleasure of drifting along lay ahead of them, with no schedule and no photographers. They could be ‘just us, no cameras’ as they had been that night during their fateful moonlit swim.
As he lifted her into the deep gondola below the voluminous balloon, he gazed deeply into her eyes.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said.
“Thank you. You’re so sweet.”
She felt humbled by his obvious adoration, felt as if they’d been smiled upon by the gods somehow to be so fortunate, and so happy at this moment. They held hands and kissed pointed to the buildings and hills down below them. The view grew ever more exquisite. She took dozens of pictures with her phone, even scrunching her face up beside his for a selfie.
“Are you going to tweet that for all our followers?” he teased.
“No, that one’s just for me,” she said with a sly wink, saving it to her online storage. She cuddled up against him, and he put his arm around her. It was chilly up high.
“I know we’ll picnic when we land, but I think this calls for a toast.”
“Champagne at a thousand feet? How glam,” she teased him, accepting the crystal flute after he poured her a drink. She sipped it gratefully and felt like the luckiest woman alive.
When he offered her more, she shook her head, claiming that the height of the balloon made her dizzy enough. He checked the altimeter and surveyed below for a suitable landing site. Slowly releasing air to lower the balloon, Harvey expertly negotiated the gondola to a gentle landing in an open space. He helped Bella from the basket, and they unpacked the picnic.
A large cashmere blanket was unfolded and spread on the ground. She opened the picnic hamper and unwrapped real china plates and silverware. A parcel of shrimp sat in a small bucket of ice, and she arrayed them on a plate, spooning sauces into the tiny dipping bowls provided. Grilled vegetables filled another plate, and she spread some little toasts with a salty tapenade. They drank fresh lemonade from a glass bottle they passed back and forth and exclaimed over how delicious their luncheon was.
Stretched out on the blanket side by side, they looked up at the white clouds skating across the bright sky. Harvey rose up on his elbow and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. He grinned and started singing, “You’ve got eyes of the bluest kind…” and she giggled. “What, you’ve never been serenaded on a date?” he asked.
“No, I never even imagined it. And if I had, I doubt I would have picked Metallica.”
“Guns n Roses. Sacrilege, not knowing the band who sang that.”
“That was before I was born!”
“Still, a classic is a classic,” he maintained, and she kissed him.
“How long before they come in the Jeep to pick us up?” she inquired.
“Half an hour, why?”
“Make love to me in the gondola?” she said, turning pink with shyness as she suggested it.
“You don’t have to ask me twice.”
“So your attraction to me can survive my inability to remember what Guns n Roses sang?”
“I’ll try to power through in spite of your incomplete education,” he said saucily and kissed her, his hand on the back of her neck, his tongue already plunging into her mouth.
They staggered to the basket, never letting go of each other. The path from the picnic blanket to the balloon gondola was littered with articles of clothing they shed along the way. His vest, her jacket, their shoes kicked off in haste, his belt and shirt; her jeans all marked the trail to their rendezvous.
Peeling off the last of their clothes as they mounted the gondola, Harvey and Bella touched and kissed each other, sheltered from the wind by the high sides of the basket. Stripping off completely naked, they struggled to find a comfortable position in the small gondola, which was crowded by the three propane tanks inside. Finally, Harvey took charge and told Bella to lie on her back.
He lifted her legs over his shoulders and knelt between her hips. The flush of desire already rose up her chest as he pressed her legs toward her shoulders to take her nipple in his mouth and lavished it with his hot tongue. Then, as she tried to catch her breath, her fingers fisting the canvas beneath her, he pushed his whole length inside of her at once, making a high shriek escape her lips. She clapped one hand over her mouth, embarrassed that she’d cried out so obviously, but he removed her hand and whispered, “No, I want to hear you. It’s only us out here, honey.”
Then he draped her leg over his broad shoulder and began to thrust into her soft, eager body. She squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to memorize the sensation of him all around her, the backs of her thighs against his chest, his powerful erection pounding into her, the slickness and the heat and the sweet scent of their arousal filling the gondola.
She opened her eyes, looked at the clear sky above them and at his face, in the intensity of his eyes as he made love to her in this unlikely place just because she’d asked it of him. It was all she could do to keep the declaration from her lips as he coaxed a long keening wail from her with her shattering climax.
Her legs jerked, and her head tossed back and forth as she lost all control with his fingers pressing and rubbing between her legs as he took her. She lay limp and helpless as he finished inside her and she relished it. She loved every second of living inside the body that made Harvey Carlson come so hard he said her name between gritted teeth.
She had given a small moan of pleasure at the sound of her name on his lips. Then he lowered her legs, slid out of her and pulled her to his knees so he could kiss her thoroughly. She draped her arms loosely, sleepily around his neck and let her head fall back across his arm as he kissed her. She was full and sated and weary. She wished idly that they had brought the picnic blanket to cover up with because a post-coital nap would be divine.
Then she heard the honk of a car horn. Her sleepy eyes grew wide instantly. The Jeep was here to retrieve them. They were naked with their clothes scattered on the ground. Mortified, she cowered down in the basket, unsure what to do.
“Guys, could you toss us our clothes?” Harvey shouted gamely, and the men laughed and tossed articles of clothing into the basket. The first to land was his shirt, and he gave it to Bella without a word. She wrapped herself in it thankfully. She wouldn’t be discovered naked by balloon company employees at least. One by one, their outfits were reassembled, and they stepped out of the gondola, him grinning and her shamefaced.
He kissed the top of her head. “Relax, honey, you weren’t just caught by the high school principal. We weren’t doing anything wrong.”
They rode back to the launch site in the Jeep and then switched to her Corvette. She drove him through a fast food joint and made him try his first chicken nugget. He was laughing about how disgusting it was when they swung into the horseshoe drive of his compound, and he said, “Shit.”
“What? Did you drop a fry in my car? Because this thing has t
o stay immaculate,” she said in a joking manner.
“My brother,” he said in a deathly hush.
“You have a brother?”
“I have a twin.”
“Why did that not show up on Google? And, for that matter, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was hoping he’d stay under his rock and not crawl out into the sun. He’s a very—negative individual, Bella. I wouldn’t necessarily call him sociopathic, but I wouldn’t say he isn’t either.” Harvey rubbed a hand over his face in frustration. “Is there the slightest chance you’d go stay at a hotel until he leaves?”
“Are you trying to hide me?”
“No. I’d really prefer not to taint what we have with his presence.”
“You’re being dramatic. I’d love to meet your brother.”
“Fine. I’m probably overreacting. But don’t…just because he’s my brother don’t assume he’s trustworthy,” Harvey said, taking her hand and appealing to her. She was struck by how desperate he seemed.
“Is he going to tattle on all the trouble you got into as a kid?”
“If only it were that. He’s spent the last few years in Europe. Before that, he spent a bit of time in Asia until he was formally asked to remove himself from Thailand’s borders by the local government.”
“Thailand kicked him out? Like that whole country?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Look, Ryan is—very like our mother in that he has an agenda. If the guy orders toast for breakfast, you can bet there’s an ulterior motive, and he intends to—”
“Leverage the toast against me in a hostile takeover?”
“You don’t know my brother,” he said, “I’m seriously nervous about this.”
“What’s he doing here if you hate him?”
“I don’t hate him. I just don’t enjoy his company. He turns up on occasion.”
“Does he need money?”
“Unlikely. My father didn’t exactly leave his sons impoverished. I’ve parlayed my inheritance into a successful corporate career. Ryan is intent on pissing his away on travel and women, but it would take him several lifetimes to actually run through that inheritance.”
“If you have that much money why did you care about losing your job at Bellingford? I mean, you hired me to be your girlfriend why exactly?”
“I didn’t want a stain on my professional reputation,” he said as if it were obvious.
“So quit stalling and let’s go meet your evil twin.”
“You say that like it’s a joke,” he said tightly and led her inside.
Harvey wished the smarmy son of a bitch had stayed gone. He was havoc in a leather jacket and there was no way around it. Having his brother near Bella made his skin crawl. Ryan wasn’t evil so much as he was insinuating. He could make you believe practically anything given enough time. Only those who knew him best—like his twin—knew he was always playing a game, a game he’d always win. So if Ryan decided it amused him to take Bella away, to make her fall for him in a matter of days, to convince the board of Bellingford that he was Harvey, and Harvey was an imposter (a stunt he’d pulled in college that nearly cost Harvey his MBA), it was only a matter of time before it was accomplished.
Harvey loved his brother and hated him. He’d wondered more than once if it would take a silver bullet to kill him. He wondered soberly if one of these days he wouldn’t have to be the one to pull that trigger himself. Because Ryan was destructive, and he took no prisoners. Harvey had been much happier when his brother was drinking and gaming his way through Europe’s finer casinos and brothels. Now here he was, drinking the good Scotch in Harvey’s living room.
He saw how Bella looked from one to the other of them as if stunned at the almost supernatural resemblance. Ryan’s hair was shorter. His posture was tighter, coiled almost. Was there really a threat to the way he was seated on a couch, arms flung wide as if in dominance? Or was that a construct of Harvey’s mind? He felt threatened, felt that his home was invaded. There was only one thing to do.
“Tomorrow you’ll get a room in Phoenix if you intend to stay.”
“Good to see you as well, brother,” Ryan said smoothly, “Who’s your little friend?”
“Bella James, this is Ryan Carlson, my little brother.”
“By four minutes,” Ryan corrected, all slick charm as he bowed over Bella’s hand and kissed it. “Haven’t you heard of saving the best for last?”
“I’m happy to meet you. It’s a surprise,” Bella said graciously.
“Never say my so-responsible older brother failed to inform you of my existence,” Ryan said, “When we both know he’s as proud of me as I am of him. Have a walk with me, show me over the grounds and we can trade stories about Harvey. Such a fine young man,” Ryan said acidly.
“I’m so sorry, but I have some things to take care of. It was great to meet you, and I’ll see you at dinner,” she said, and Harvey breathed a sigh of relief. Her resistance to his brother was a welcome respite. Of course Ryan would get to her, but not now. Maybe he could convince his brother to leave before dinner or maybe he could persuade Bella to go visit someone for a few days. Keeping them apart was crucial.
He watched Bella go upstairs and then wheeled on Ryan, “What do you want?”
“Want? Why, to spend a bit of quality time with my one and only twin. It’s been an age since we saw one another. I’m sure you realize my phone has facial recognition software, and I began to receive the most alarming notifications—my face spotted in some drab American fairy tale with the housemaid. The headlines are everywhere, brother. Imagine how it makes me look.”
“I hadn’t thought it would make you look anything at all, since it has nothing to do with you.”
“You’re walking round with my face, my last name. There’s no chance this wouldn’t affect me. Think how difficult it is to find a woman even in Europe who isn’t taken with this foolish stunt of yours, and refuses to look twice at me because she thinks I’m mad for the maid. No one is willing to jeopardize our love.”
“It’s not you. Just admit you have a twin.”
“Now that isn’t very sporting of you. The least you could do after greatly curtailing my activities of the last few weeks is to give me a go at your fiancée. She’s quite delectable. Despite her background, I commend your classic tastes—blonde, blue eyed, built like a bikini ad.”
“You can’t seriously think I’d let you anywhere near her.”
“Of course, you will. We’ve switched places before.”
“When we were young and foolish. This is disgusting.”
“Didn’t you have your first shag with my girlfriend when we were fifteen? I gave you that, and she was never any the wiser.”
“I was young, dumb, and stupid. I didn’t sleep with her. Just kissed her. It was cruel, and I’ve regretted it ever since, Ryan. You should, too.”
“I offered because I knew you were pining away for her and felt I’d left you behind. You might’ve not slept with her but you had the opportunity. Now give me the same courtesy a decade later, and let me have what I’ve been missing out on.”
“No. And she’d never mistake you for me anyhow. She’s not some silly teenager, Ryan, and she’s a person. She deserves respect, and is not a plaything for us to pass around.”
“We’ll see about that. We used to have such fun swapping lives. It’s time to renew the practice.”
“Get out, Ryan. I can’t believe you’d come into my home and suggest such a thing.”
“I always wondered. Why didn’t you go through with it? My girlfriend was ready and waiting. And you turned her away.”
“Because it wasn’t right! It didn’t feel right. I couldn’t do that to her. How could you pawn off your girlfriend like that to me?”
“Don’t talk to me about morals. Not when you screwed the maid when you came home from college. Knocked her up.”
“It wasn’t like that. She was the same age as me, and we had this amazing connection. We were go
ing to run away together, but Dad put a stop to that.”
“What did you expect? You were going to throw away your entire future for a piece of ass. You’re so lucky Dad paid her off and made her promise to never contact you again.”
“I loved her!”
“Obviously, she didn’t feel the same way if she left you the way she did.”
“Dad made her get an abortion without my consent! I’d never force a woman to do that! She had to be upset and heartbroken. Damn it! I couldn’t even be there to console her.”
“No, she jumped at the chance to be paid off big bucks and never see you again.”
“I can’t imagine why I’m surprised you’re so debased, but I won’t have it. Out.”
“And how will you get me out? Tell your security men that they’re not to allow a man who looks just like you to enter your home and grounds? Complicated bit, that. How would they know which of us it was? I’m hardly likely to stand still for a retinal scan.”
“Damn it, Ryan. Go. Be decent for once in your life and get off my property.”
“I can’t. Mother’s already on her way. She’d be desolate if I took off before her arrival.”
What choice did he have really? He could hardly take Bella and run away. He had a career and responsibilities, and his brother would not get the best of him this time. There was no choice but to brave it out and hope his impossible mother would take his equally impossible twin away from here quickly.
“And of course, she’s concerned about who you’re keeping company with. Obscene really, screwing the help once again. So obvious.”
“I’m calling Mother.”
“To tattletale on me? Much luck there, Harvey,” Ryan scoffed, “While you’re bemoaning my unfairness to Mother, I’ll be unburdening myself to your sweet little maid. Does she wear the cute, frilly maid outfit?”
“Leave her alone! Don’t go anywhere near her.”
“I hardly think she’d be as cold to me as you seem to believe. I also wonder how you intend to prevent me from making the acquaintance of the woman you’ve chosen to become my sister-n-law.”