Taking Chances (The Chances and Choices Duology - Book 1 of 2 - Contemporary Romance)

by Omasta, Ann

  Sam seemed to know the way to my house, which I didn’t question. After he turned on to my street, he looked at me with those gorgeous green eyes and said, “Please go get a new cell phone today. I doubt yours is fixable, and I need a way to get ahold of you.”

  I was overjoyed by his request, which I made no attempt to mask. “Yes, Sir!” I said jokingly, beaming at him. My mind silently added that he could get ahold of me any time, any place and any way that he wanted.

  The suddenly serious look on Sam’s face caught my attention. “What the hell is Seth doing here?” he asked me.

  All of the color drained from my cheeks as I turned to look. Sure enough, Seth’s green Jeep Wrangler was sitting in my driveway.

  Chapter 31

  “I… I don’t know,” I stammered. There was a ball the size of a cantaloupe in the pit of my stomach. What was Seth doing here?

  Even if he had come to do the decent thing to give our relationship closure and apologize for blowing me off the way he had, I didn’t know if I could face him after spending the night banging his twin brother’s balls off. I was suddenly ashamed of my carnal behavior with Sam as the cantaloupe-sized ball made its way up into my throat.

  I hadn’t thought through what it would be like to face Seth after being with Sam. What Seth had done to me had been wrong, but nothing compared to what I had just spent the night doing. And doing. And doing.

  Sam was glaring at me, watching the emotions roll over my face. “I guess things aren’t quite as done with my brother as you thought?” It was more accusation than question, so I didn’t answer.

  “It’s probably best if I don’t go in,” he decided. “He and I will have it out later.” I briefly wondered what ‘have it out’ meant, but my mind quickly turned back to the unpleasant confrontation I was about to be forced into.

  I completely abhor any kind of conflict, and even if this went well, it was bound to be one of the most awkward discussions I would ever have.

  Maybe I don’t have to tell him. I can just let him say what he came to say, then show him to the door. My mind was searching for any way out of the hideousness that was about to ensue.

  If Sam and I were going to have any kind of relationship going forward, I knew that I would have to address it with his brother. Why hadn’t I planned this out better or at least waited a decent amount of time? Who was I kidding? What exactly was a ‘decent amount of time’ to wait before bedding your lover’s identical twin brother? I doubted there was one, but even if there was, I definitely hadn’t reached it.

  I finally said, “I guess I should go in,” but I made no move to do so. I just wanted to rewind to last night and live the rest of my life in that state of oblivious-to-the-rest-of-the-world sexual euphoria.

  Sam’s look finally softened. He reached out to touch my cheek as he said, “It will be okay. We knew this wasn’t going to be easy, right?”

  I didn’t want to admit that I hadn’t even thought about what it would be like to face his brother. I had assumed that I was another of Sam’s progression of one-night-stands, so the need to tell Seth would never arise. It made me feel fantastic, though, that Sam felt that we meant enough to each other that we would have to address it with Seth.

  After our tender night of lovemaking and the sweet kisses on the lips we had shared, I dared to hope that I might be more than his typical fling. If we were going to be more, I knew that I would have to face his brother. I blew out a breath before saying, “No time like the present,” and moved to get out of Sam’s Porsche.

  Sam pulled me back and dotted gentle kisses along my cheek and temple before saying, “Don’t be too hard on him. I’ll give you a call later to see how it went.”

  I nodded quickly and moved to get out of the vehicle before I lost my resolve. Like a true gentleman, Sam waited until I had the front door open before backing out of our driveway. I gave him a quick wave before taking a deep, calming breath and stepping inside.

  Chapter 32

  I could hear voices in the kitchen, so I slowly headed that way. I didn’t want to face Seth, but knew that I had no choice. When I peeked in, I saw him sitting at our small kitchen table with his back to me. Tabitha, the cat who hated everyone except Courtney, was sprawled on his lap, purring loudly. She turned to glare at me in the doorway, then jumped off his lap and sauntered away.

  Courtney looked up, “Oh good, you’re back from Annie’s.” She used the opportunity when Seth turned to look at me to give me a big, over-obvious wink to let me know that she was covering for where I had been.

  I smiled to thank her for attempting to be discreet, and then I turned to look at Seth. That was the only hint that Court needed. She muttered something about heading out to get some exercise, which I knew that she never did, and quickly exited the kitchen.

  “Hello,” I finally said to Seth. He rose and walked over to stand directly in front of me.

  He ran his hand through his dark hair. “I’ve practiced this a thousand times, and now that I’m here, I don’t know where to start.”

  I nodded, but remained silent. I couldn’t think of a kind way to communicate what I needed to say. Maybe if I just let him break up with me, Sam and I can stay on the down-low for a while. My brain was working frantically, trying to come up with a way to avoid admitting the truth to Seth.

  It had been so easy to villainize him over the way he had dumped me; but now that he was standing here in front of me, I was feeling really guilty. He was clearly struggling with how to let me down easily, even if it was over a week later than it should have been.

  He finally broke the silence. “I’m so sorry I didn’t call you sooner.” I nodded. It had been a shitty thing to do, but he seemed sincere in his apology. “When I got your message last night, I was frantic to find you.”

  I tried to remember what I had said on the voicemail I had left him. Had I sounded suicidal or something? I only remembered being annoyed that he hadn’t given me any closure and telling him that I deserved better. I hoped that I didn’t sound too desperate on the message.

  “I shouldn’t have left things the way I did for so long.” I nodded in agreement, and he continued. “When you said that you loved me, it freaked me out a little.”

  “I noticed,” was all I said, so he went on, “I shouldn’t have ran like I did, and I’m sorry for leaving you that way. I just needed time to think.”

  I decided to put him out of his misery. After all, it hadn’t been completely his fault, and I’d been far from an angel last night. “Look, I shouldn’t have said what I did so soon. It scared you off.” He shook his head, so I clarified what I meant. “It would have scared off most men. We hadn’t been dating long, and it was too soon for me to be making declarations of love.” Unwilling to let him completely off the hook, I continued, “You should have officially broken things off with me, though.”

  “No, Abby, you don’t understand.” He grabbed my hand as he said the words. “I needed time to think because things were moving so fast. I have never been in a relationship where I felt so strongly that quickly, so I wanted to be positive that it wasn’t just lust before I responded. I don’t say those words lightly, and I wanted to be sure that they were true. Abby, I love you too.”

  His words stunned me. I hadn’t been expecting this at all. The cantaloupe-sized lump in my throat now felt like it was the size of a watermelon, a burning watermelon. I could barely breathe around it. Tears welled in my eyes.

  Seth misunderstood my reaction and pulled me in for a hug. The tears started spilling over. I stood there stiffly as Seth pulled back to look at me. He bent to gently kiss one of the tears trailing down my cheek and a sob escaped. What had I done?

  I was shocked by his declaration and completely speechless. My mind was reeling, seeking both the right words and the appropriate way to say them.

  We stood like that for a long while. He had his arms around me, and I was stiff as a board. I opened my mouth to speak, but words failed me. He was rubbing up and dow
n my back, soothing me, when I finally managed to croak out a sentence. “I thought you had dumped me.”

  He pulled back to look directly in my eyes. “I know, and I’m so sorry for hurting you, Sweetheart. I reacted all wrong. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and it was all moving so fast that I got scared and took a little timeout. I’m here now, though, and I’m not going anywhere.”

  I was struggling, unsuccessfully trying to come up with a way to gently say what I needed to tell him. “Why didn’t you call me to tell me you needed some time to process? I thought we were finished.”

  “If I could take it back, I would handle it all so differently.” He ran his hand through his dark hair again, obviously feeling guilty. What he had done paled in comparison to what I had done. Okay, who I had done. I just couldn’t seem to formulate the words to confess.

  Seth took my silence as anger and continued with his apology. “Abby, please forgive me. I spent the entire week thinking about you as I finished the boat that we christened and took her out on her maiden voyage. I couldn’t wait to get back and call you, but I was already late for Mother’s Sunday brunch when I docked, and she doesn’t react well to tardiness.” I could imagine that Janice would have a frosty side, if things didn’t go precisely her way.

  Seth went on, barely pausing to take a breath, “I decided that a family event wasn’t the best place to try to explain things to you; so I waited to call, even though I was desperate to talk to you, to see you, to touch you.” He tenderly ran a finger along my jawline. I closed my eyes and another tear plopped out and trailed down my cheek.

  Seth continued his explanation, seeming desperate to make me understand. “Before brunch was over, Jessie asked me to watch Katiedid for a while. I think she and Katie’s dad needed to talk through a few things. Jess rarely asks for anything, so I couldn’t turn her down. Katie and I swam and played outside for a long while, and then she fell asleep on my lap. I had left my phone in the Jeep, so I missed your call. As soon as Jess picked up Katie last night, I went to call you and got your message. I’ve been trying to call you back ever since. You probably have half a dozen messages from me.”

  “My phone fell in the water and got ruined,” I responded, feeling numb. Everything that he had said made sense. He shouldn’t have put me through the torture of waiting for over a week with no contact; but considering what I had done last night, I had no right to be angry with him. It didn’t matter anyway. As soon as Seth found out that I had slept with Sam, he would be finished with me for good.

  “Ab, please say you’ll forgive me. I do love you, even though I didn’t show it well this week. If you’ll give me another chance, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I promise to do my best to make sure our life together is what we have both always wanted.”

  I was floored by his glorious words. Why couldn’t he have said them last week before I made such a mess of things? I had to tell him before he said anything else. There was no way to say it delicately. I couldn’t sugarcoat it. I just had to spit it out.

  My mouth was so dry. I licked my lips and took a deep breath, which did nothing to calm my frantic nerves. “Seth,” I started. He was looking at me, his eyes so full of hope. I hated that I had to do this to him, but I didn’t have another choice. He deserved the truth. My voice was barely above a whisper, but I got the words out. “I slept with Sam.”

  Seth moved back as if I had physically punched him in the gut. His face registered shocked disbelief, so I nodded in confirmation as tears ran freely down my cheeks. I saw his features change to disgust, then anger before he whirled around, muttering the words, “I’m going to kill him.” Then he left me standing alone in my kitchen.

  It took a moment for my wits to return. I called out for him to stop and chased after him, but he was already gone. I silently prayed that the brothers would be able to forgive each other.

  Chapter 33

  I had never been so appalled with myself, specifically with my lust-filled body. How could I have let this happen? How could I have made such a horrible mess of things?

  I had met two of the most sexy, amazing, wonderful men on Earth, and I had managed to screw things up with both of them. I was sure that the twins would fight, and I was also certain that once that fight was over, they would realize that I wasn’t worth it.

  I prayed that their relationship wouldn’t suffer any permanent damage from my lack of morals. They were both better off without me in their lives. I vowed to try to move forward with my man-free life, and to try to forgive myself for screwing things up so royally.

  I could be happy without a lover. I had a great life before I met the Davis twins, and I would try to get back to that point. It would take a while to forgive myself for my indiscretions, but I would work on it.

  Right now, I needed Court and Annie. I could use some unconditional love, and I knew those two would dish it out, even if I didn’t deserve it.

  I had sat there with my mind spinning for so long that I was now late for work. I was normally extremely punctual, so I used our home phone to call Annie. “Sorry I’m late.” I started in as soon as she picked up. “I’ll be there in a few.”

  “Take your time, Love. I’m just glad to hear you’re okay.” Annie was already doling out the unconditional acceptance. Most bosses would at least want an excuse about why you were late. Not my sweet Annie, though. All she cared about was that I wasn’t sick or injured.

  My next call was to Court, asking her to meet me at the shop in half an hour. “I’ll be right there,” she responded. Again, no questions asked. These two ladies were truly there for me, and I was so grateful to have them in my life.

  I raced up the stairs to take a quick shower before heading in to work. When I walked into the boutique, Courtney was already there chatting with Annie. She had obviously already filled Annie in on what she knew of the horny details of the last 24 hours because they both held their arms out to me.

  I rushed to them for a soothing group-hug. As we stood there holding each other, I thought about how happy I was that the two most important women in my life had begun to forge a solid, caring relationship with each other. I needed both of these fabulous, nurturing, wild, lovely women, and I wanted them to be able to lean on each other as well.

  Courtney was the one who finally broke the silence. “I can’t stand the suspense any longer. Did you tell Seth about Sam?”

  We broke the three-way hug, but stayed close to each other. It was my triangle of solace as I nodded in answer to her question, unable to utter the word. Tears began to pool in my eyes as the guilt over what I had done washed over me.

  “Oh, Sweetie, it’s okay.” Annie put a hand to my cheek as she said the words. Court grabbed my hand as she nodded in agreement. I didn’t feel judged by either of these wonderful women, even though I knew that what I had done was despicable.

  “I know that I have ruined my chance of being with either of them, but I just hope that I didn’t destroy their relationship with each other.” I managed to get the words out despite my sniffling.

  Annie reached for the box of tissues as she said, “Honey, why in the cosmos would you think that you’ve lost your relationship with both of them?” She seemed genuinely perplexed.

  I knew that Annie was flighty, maybe to the point of being occasionally ditzy, but I couldn’t imagine that she didn’t understand this. Maybe Court hadn’t fully explained the situation to her. “I slept with both of them,” I said simply.

  She shook her head as if still not getting it, so I continued. “Seth hates me because I slept with his identical twin, when we hadn’t officially broken off what we had. Sam is furious because I told him that Seth and I were finished, when evidently we weren’t quite done yet.”

  Court was the one who answered. “None of that was your fault. You tried to reach Seth, and he ignored you. You had every reason to believe you and Seth were over when you were with Sam.”

  Annie nodded her agreement with Courtne
y’s words. “The way I see it, you have a monumental choice to make.”

  I shook my head. They weren’t getting it. “No, you don’t understand. Neither of them wants to be with me after what I did.”

  “Are you sure?” Court was the one who posed the question. “Maybe you should consider who you would choose, if they both want you.”

  “When they both want her, you mean.” Annie tucked a stray brown curl behind my ear as she amended what Courtney had said. “How could either of them resist her?”

  I was still shaking my head. These two ladies loved me too much to see the writing on the wall. I had let my lusty body take over my brain, and I had ruined my chances of having a relationship with either of the near-perfect Davis twins.

  My thoughts were interrupted by the tinkling of the bells on the front door of the shop. All three of us turned to look as Mr. Finley, the owner of Treats walked in. His bakery was where Seth and I had gone with the dogs on our first unofficial date, the day we met in the park. That seemed like an eternity ago now.