“Why wouldn’t I believe it?” she asked. “You run it now.”
“Of course. Sorry.” His gaze searched the ceiling of the cavern as if he was tracking an imaginary plane weaving in and around the rocks. “I guess what I’m saying is I used to have a lot of expectation from my family to be a certain way, and live by a certain set of rules. Any chance I got to leave the world behind me, I took it and did the things that made me truly happy.” He checked himself, clearing his throat. “But that was a long time ago.”
His eyes twinkled in the dark, and for a split second, she saw Joey in Dane’s features. The sharp line of his jaw. The smooth planes of his face. They were twins, so the thought struck her as ridiculous, but something was starkly different about him. Joey had that tiny scar beneath his jaw…come to think of it, she’d never asked him how he got it. He didn’t have it in high school. Fast-forward a few years, and there it was…along with a shadow in his eyes and a tightness in his lips that wasn’t there before.
Hold the phone. She was hanging on to a rope. In a gigantic hole in the earth. Next to a gorgeous man she hadn’t had much time to talk to in the last couple years. She should’ve been thinking about him, asking about what he wanted to do with her now that he had her down here.
But for some reason, she couldn’t stop thinking about Joey.
“So why isn’t he married?” she asked again, running with the thoughts as they streamed through her head.
His gaze burned as it settled on her. “Because he hasn’t found the right woman.”
“There are a ton of women in Blue Lake who would chew off their right arm to have a chance with him. Are his expectations really that high?”
The corner of his lip lifted, the way Joey’s did when she cut him to the quick.
“Yes,” he said softly. “They are.”
“Know what his problem is?”
“Tell me,” he said, but she was already steamrolling.
“He should forget about settling down and simply jump on chances when he has them. He should act on impulses when he feels them. Every moment is an opportunity to experience life to the fullest, and marriage limits those moments because you always have to put someone else’s happiness above your own.”
He measured her with unreadable eyes. “You mean moments like this one?”
“Exactly. I couldn’t be down here with you if I was married.” She touched his knee. He turned to her, hands gripping the rope. “You and I know about taking a leap. About keeping things light. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”
He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple jumping up and down. “You tell me.”
“You didn’t ask me out to figure out if we were compatible or if I’m the one for you,” she said. “We both know the answer to that.” She leaned back, using his legs to hold her in place, and then spread her arms behind her head. “I wanted fun, and you certainly delivered. I’ve lived in Blue Lake my entire life, but I’ve never been here. How could I have missed it?”
“Lucy, there’s something I’ve missed too, and I don’t know how I didn’t see it when it was right in front of me.”
Tingles spread up her spine from the moment he said her name. From there on, his words were an incomprehensible blur. It wasn’t the fact that he’d said her name, exactly. It was the way he’d said it. Like someone else she knew.
He rattled on, though she couldn’t hear him over the onslaught of sensations racking her.
“Shh.” She jerked upright, and then put a finger to his lips. They were warm and moist, as soft and plush as they looked. “Say my name again.”
“What? Why?”
Because you said it exactly the way Joey had…
“Just say it, okay?
She tried to remove her finger from his lips, but…couldn’t. Wrapping his hand around her wrist, he stroked his thumb along her skin and held her gaze.
“Lucy,” he said, his lips brushing against her fingers. “You’re beautiful.”
Buzzing currents of electricity charged through her body. She’d felt that same jolt when Joey touched her, when his hand brushed hers in the mud.
“I let this go too far,” he said. “I should have said something sooner.”
She heard Joey’s voice. Watched Joey’s expression turn tender.
What the hell was going on? See, this was why people shouldn’t date one twin directly after the other. Way too complicated. She closed her eyes, pinched them tight, and focused on an image of Dane in her mind.
Dane, Dane, Dane.
Ever so slowly, he caressed the palm of her hand. “Are you okay?” His voice drew her in like a moth to a flame. It wasn’t Joey, but damn it, why did she want it to be? “Lucy?”
“Mm-hmm?”
She kept her eyes closed as he traced a slow line around her palm. And then, when she thought she’d explode from the flurry of butterflies quivering in her belly, he released her hand and cupped her cheeks.
Exactly the way Joey had.
Why couldn’t she get Joey out of her mind? She wanted him here. Damn it, she wanted him to be the one gazing at her this way. But she couldn’t be with him, not when he wanted forever. Marriage, 2.5 children, and a house with a white picket fence weren’t in the cards for her.
She didn’t want those things. Never had.
“Kiss me.” The words ripped from her mouth.
It was the only way she was going to get Joey out of her head.
He stroked his thumbs over her cheeks. “Lucy, I’ve been trying to tell you something, and it’s difficult when you keep looking at me the way you do or brushing your leg against mine that way. But—”
She’d heard enough.
She thrust forward and latched onto his rope, and then smashed her lips to his. In one moment they were dangling on two lines, their legs brushing in the dark. In the next, they were tangled in each other, mouth to mouth, chest to chest. His mouth was hot and warm, a rush of molten heat. Her heart pulsed in her ears, and a delicious blush spread over her skin.
Joey.
He moaned into her mouth. She slanted her head to deepen the kiss and he matched her, plunging his tongue into her mouth.
God, he was a good kisser.
He stroked the inside of her cheek. Sucked on her lips and tangled his fingers in her hair. He devoured her mouth until she was dizzy and drunk. And when she pulled back to gasp for air, his tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip.
He cupped her chin in his hands and dragged her back to him.
Images of Joey, gazing into her eyes, cupping her chin, tilting her face to his, invaded her thoughts.
Something was wrong.
Terribly, deliciously wrong.
Dane looked like Joey. Gazed at her with the same tender looks. Touched her skin, eliciting the same buzzing reaction. Kissed and tasted the same. But without a doubt in Lucy’s mind, she knew there was more to it than that.
She pulled back, doubting everything. “Joey?”
“Hmm?” He kissed her again. Wetter and hotter.
Her stomach fluttered with desire and heat pooled between her legs as he swirled his tongue along hers and snatched her around the waist to drag her closer.
Wait.
“No,” she pushed out on a breathy exhale. She planted her hands against his chest and pushed back, the scar beneath his jawbone illuminated in the lamplight. A mixture of shock, anger, and pure elation jolted through her body. “Joey!”
Chapter Twelve
“What the hell?” she screeched, her lips pale from kissing. “Why didn’t you say something?”
There were no words. He stared, tried to speak, but no words came out.
He was absolutely wrong. He couldn’t even argue a point against her. She had every right to be angry. He shouldn’t have kissed her. He should’ve told her he wasn’t his brother from the moment he saw her tonight. But the longer he was with her, the harder it was to broach the topic and say something. Then, by the time she’d asked about him, there was no wa
y out without sounding like an asshole. So he’d gone along, his gut clenching with guilt with each lie he told.
“I’m sorry, Lucy, I should’ve said something.”
“Hell yes, you should’ve!”
In a rush, she unhooked from the line and dropped the few feet to the floor. She stepped out of her harness, mumbling something to herself. He followed, unlatching from the clamp and dropping to the ground. By the time he removed the harness from his legs, Lucy had taken off down a narrow tunnel to the right.
“Lucy, wait,” he said, taking off after her.
The tunnel of rock was illuminated with soft amber lights, but they were few and far between. It was bright enough to see the turns ahead, but dark enough that Lucy was a shadow of movement. If Whipside’s managers were going for a candlelit mood, they’d achieved it.
“Leave me alone, Joey!” she called over her shoulder, her voice echoing off the walls.
“Where are you going?”
She slapped her hands against her sides. “I’m taking a walk. I need to think.”
“We’re in a cave! How far do you expect to go?”
She whirled on him, pointing into his chest. “Why didn’t you tell me from the start? Before I freaking kissed you, thinking you were your brother!”
“I don’t know.” He’d gotten carried away on the taste of her mouth as it worked his. “I already apologized, but I’ll say it again, a hundred more times if you need to hear it.”
“Where’s Dane?” she fired, her green eyes blazing in the amber slivers of light. “Did he send you to tell me he couldn’t make it?”
No, he was going to stand you up completely.
“He got caught up at the store,” Joey said. “The roof caved in and he—”
“Sent you to tell me,” she finished, though she was dead wrong. She planted her hands on her hips. “That was sweet of you, Joey. Come to tell me my date couldn’t make it so I wasn’t waiting here forever. I should’ve known it was you. I can’t believe it took me that long.”
He stepped closer. She stepped back.
“Are you angry because I didn’t tell you, or because you wanted me to be Dane?”
She huffed, blowing waves of ginger hair out of her eyes. “I’m angry because he’s—because you’re—and we—“ She groaned and smacked herself in the forehead. “You let me believe you were him! We talked about the store and we talked about you, for Christ’s sake!”
“I know, I’m sorry.” He couldn’t say it enough. “But everything I said was the truth.”
“Except your name.”
“In my defense, I didn’t tell you I was Dane. I simply didn’t correct you when you assumed it.”
She tilted her head and gave him an incredulous look.
“Okay, no excuses. I’m the asshole you thought I was.”
“You’re not an asshole,” she said softly. “But why didn’t you say something before we made out?”
“I came to tell you he wasn’t going to show,” he said, “and then you jumped up and hugged me. You were so excited to come down here and I couldn’t get the words out. And then when I finally could, I didn’t know how to broach the conversation about it.”
“You mean about a lie,” she corrected, her chest rising and falling more quickly than it had moments before. “You didn’t know how to interrupt the conversation to tell me you lied.”
“Are you going to hold me to the fire forever?”
She backed against the stone wall and let her head drop behind her. “I thought you were Dane when I kissed you. I liked kissing you.” She made a sound from the back of her throat that sounded like it hurt. “You weren’t supposed to be here. You kind of cemented something in my mind and ruined everything all at the same time.”
Joey tried reading between the lines. She said she liked kissing him, but is that when she thought he was Dane? From the way she stared at him now, her eyes warm and inviting, he didn’t think so. She licked her lips and let her tongue linger in the corner. He fought the urge to press her against that wall and suck her tongue into his mouth. She turned her attention to the ground, and her chest heaved as if she were out of breath.
He had to look into those emerald eyes again. Had to read them to know if he was making the right move here.
“Lucy, look at me,” he said.
She sighed and met his gaze. Tension crackled through the air between them. She’d told him he needed to act on impulses and take chances when he had them. And here in the dark, two hundred feet below the surface of the earth, he had the crazy notion that she might’ve been right. Whether it was the desire in her heavy-lidded gaze or the spark of lust in his gut, Joey didn’t know.
But he knew he wanted Lucy. And for a split second during that kiss, she’d wanted him too. They had fire and passion. More than he’d experienced with anyone else. Ever.
“I know what I did was wrong,” Joey said, standing in front of her. “And I know it’s a complicated situation, but I’m about to make it infinitely more complicated.”
“What are you talking about?”
He tunneled his fingers through her hair to the back of her neck and dragged her to him. She gasped, opening her mouth wide, and he slipped his tongue inside. She resisted, stiff and shocked. But when he swirled his tongue along hers, she moaned into his mouth and softened. Her arms flew around his neck and she pushed off the wall to press flush against him. His entire body went hard, blood to bone, as the desire to take her on the floor spiked through his veins.
“I want you, Lucy,” he said as their lips parted.
She shook her head and then kissed him again. Harder. “You may want me now, but I can’t give you what you need.”
He licked her bottom lip, savoring the sweetness. “How do you know?”
“I’m not a forever type of girl, and that’s okay with me.” She kissed the scar on his jaw and the sensitive spot below his ear. Her mouth was wet and hot against his skin. “The question is whether that’s okay with you, and I already know the answer.”
The breath froze in his chest as she nipped at his earlobe. Starbursts of luscious sensation danced down his neck and shot to his groin.
“But,” he said, breathless, “you were right about seizing the moment. I should do that more often.”
A devious smile curled the edge of her kiss-plump lips. “A man who listens? I thought your kind had gone extinct.”
“I listen to everything you say, and some things you don’t.” He skimmed his hands down her back until he reached the firm roundness of her backside. “I want you, Lucy, however you’ll let me have you.” He gripped her hips tightly, the urge to drive into her about to overtake him. “If your rules are one night only, let’s do it.”
Irises flaring, Lucy ripped the hoodie and tank from her body and threw them to the ground. Her breasts were lush and full, overflowing a black lace bra. He reached out to cup them, but she smacked his hand away.
“You can touch, as long as you promise not to call me in the morning.”
He stilled. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” She blinked quickly, innocently. “I have rules.”
He groaned, cock twitching in his pants. “I won’t call.”
She arched into him, her eyes rolling back as he palmed each of her breasts in his hand. He had to kiss her, taste her, and satiate the growing need pounding through him. Their mouths collided. She whimpered. He gripped her tightly, one hand roped around her waist, the other kneading her breasts.
He needed to feel her skin to skin. Press against her and feel those breasts rub against his chest. Driven by lust, he shuffled his shirt up his stomach and tugged it over his head. Her hands found his bare stomach. He flinched from the chill of her fingertips. He shivered as her hands greedily raked over his abs, starting at the top and traipsing lower…lower still.
He popped the button on his jeans and unzipped.
“No,” she said, stopping his hand. “I’ll only touch you if you promise not to as
k me out again.”
“Another rule?” He smashed his mouth to hers and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth. “If this is a good thing, then why—“
She roped a leg around his waist and squeezed. He pinned her against the stone wall and trapped her foot behind his hips. If they were bare from the waist down, he could thrust into her from here. Lift his hips and feel her warmth.
What had he been about to say?
He couldn’t remember.
She gasped as his hips rolled against her, mimicking the motion he yearned to do skin against skin. Her mouth fell open in pleasured surprise as she gripped his thick length over his jeans.
“You can take those off to get a better handle on the situation,” he teased.
“You’re…so”—she stroked him—“generous.”
“Thanks.” He grinned into another kiss. “And you’re sweeter than sugar. Like chocolate. The most decadent I’ve ever tasted.”
She moaned as his tongue dived deep into her mouth, searching out every flavor.
“Now you’re exaggerating,” she said. “Maybe you haven’t had the right chocolate. It can be orgasmic.”
“Mm-hmm.” He swirled his fingers over the seam in her cotton pants. “I’m working on that.”
She made a mewing sound from the back of her throat as she crushed her mouth to his. Blood pumping hard through his veins, Joey slid her pants and panties down her hips. She put her hands on the rock behind her—to steady herself, he assumed—and stepped out of her clothes as he pushed them down.
He couldn’t help but take a mental snapshot of the goddess standing before him.
She was glorious, her skin flawlessly golden tan in the lamplight. Her hair grazed her shoulders in silky waves of crimson, and her eyes were heavy-lidded, crazy with want. Her breasts and hips were curvy, with a little something extra to hold on to around the middle. She was small, but a firecracker, with enough heat flowing off her body to melt a man. And between her legs, she was bare. Clean-shaven.
Joey bit into his lip so he didn’t make a fool of himself with a dying groan. His knees buckled, but he steadied himself. Barely.
Let Me Love You Page 8