by Poppy Drake
She turns to face Alyssa, tears welling in her eyes. “And you, you are so pretty and you could do so much better than this loser. You look like you’re super fun and…” She pauses and shakes her head. “Wow, you are insanely pretty. Trust me, you could do so much better than this horrible, horrible man!”
Her voice rises with each word until she’s shouting. The entire bar is now staring at the three of us. At my side, Alyssa detangles herself from me and lets the kazoo from her mouth drop to the floor. The bar is so quiet, when the plastic kazoo falls to the floor, we all hear it.
No one says a single word. I have no idea where to even start. All I want to do is wrap my arms around Chrissy and comfort her, but I know she’s too angry right now.
But before I have the chance to respond, Alyssa starts giggling. Both Chrissy and I stare at her. When she sees us watching, her giggles turn into hysterical laughter. I want to kill her.
She manages to pause for air as she holds up a hand. “You,” she says, looking at Chrissy, “think he’s my boyfriend?’
Chrissy nods slowly, now looking more confused than angry.
Alyssa laughs and shakes her head. “Oh, you are adorable, but gross. Cole is my brother.” She laughs so hard, she snorts. “He’s my twin.”
Chrissy’s cheeks turn a bright red as she stares at Alyssa, absorbing her words. She then turns to me, before looking back at Alyssa. Her eyes widen as she notices, what I can only assume, is how similar Alyssa and I look to each other. She looks horrified as she takes a small step back.
“Oh my God, I’m an idiot.”
I rush forward, grabbing her hands. “No, you’re not. We’re barely twins. Fraternal. And I was born like seven minutes before her, so I’m technically her older brother.”
Her mouth drops open. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? I just was so sure when she saw us… she looked so…”
“Horrified?” Alyssa interrupts. “Disgusted? Traumatized? How would you feel if you walked in on your brother boning someone?”
Chrissy’s eyes widen into saucers, her mouth still gaping open. She looks again at Alyssa and then myself before pulling her hands from mine and covering her face. Her body shakes and I’m ready to comfort her and take her away from all this when I realize she’s not crying, she’s laughing.
She pulls her hands away and I see that she’s laughing so hard, tears are starting to trickle down her cheeks. “Oh my God! I hated you,” she says, looking at me. “And for no reason! You aren’t a terrible lowlife cheater, are you?”
I smile and shake my head. “Nope.”
“I can’t believe I jumped to conclusions like that!”
“It’s okay,” I reassure her. “You were hurt, I get it. But I would never do that to you, or any woman. I need you to trust that I’m not like that.”
She nods and takes a step toward me. “I do. I do trust you.”
I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear those words. I didn’t realize how much I needed Chrissy until I saw her again, standing in front of me. But I suddenly realize that I never want to let this woman go again.
I take a step forward and pull Chrissy into my arms. “So you forgive me for fake cheating on you?”
She laughs and buries her head in my shoulder. The bar erupts with cheers and whoops of encouragement. “Forgive him! Give him a kiss! Propose already!”
We laugh as everyone in the bar shouts words of encouragement. She pulls her head back and looks up at me, a smile on her face. “Guess I owe you a kiss at least, eh?”
“I would say so. Plus,” I add, gesturing to my crown. “It’s my birthday. So I think I definitely deserve two.”
“Fair enough,” she agrees. And then she wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me toward her. As our lips reunite, the entire bar shouts in excitement. Someone smacks my ass and I don’t even care, because all that matters is that I have the woman of my dreams in my arms, and nothing is going to take her away from me again.
Epilogue
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Poppy Drake writes steamy, sweet and short romances featuring strong Alpha heroes and the women they love!
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