Doubling Down

by Bianca D’Arc

  Gemini Project 2

  Doubling Down

  by

  Bianca D’Arc

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Copyright © 2018 Bianca D’Arc

  Published by Hawk Publishing, LLC

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Dedication

  Many thanks to Grace Sandvigen for coming up with the title for this during a little online brainstorming challenge. I truly appreciate your input and support. You’re awesome!

  As always, this is dedicated to my family, especially my Dad, who spent a lot of time on his own, watching TV while I sat in my office and wrote, ignoring him. He didn’t see it that way, but that’s how I felt. LOL. He’s a patient and kind man who will never read one of my romance novels, but supports my work nonetheless.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Alpha Bear

  About the Author

  Other Books by Bianca D’Arc

  Chapter One

  “Nice job,” Jay complimented his teammate out loud, rather than using the pathway between their minds that had been forged by a series of experiments.

  He and Zach had been best friends even before volunteering as a team for an experimental program run on the down-low by the U.S. military Spec Ops Command. They’d been a highly decorated sniper-spotter team before the treatments that had changed their lives forever. They still operated as a sniper team, but they no longer needed to communicate in words.

  They could literally read each other’s minds. Not anybody else’s. This special ability was just between the two of them. As it was between several other pairs of specially selected soldiers in their elite black ops unit.

  Officially, they didn’t exist. Unofficially, they were the go-to group for impossible missions. The ghosts in the machine of the U.S. Special Forces.

  Right now, they were off duty and between missions. They still reported to the base every day for training and the ongoing testing they’d agreed to when they volunteered for this special unit, but their downtime was spent in town or at home.

  They lived together, as most of the teams in their unit had chosen to do. Sharing a brain with someone meant it was a lot easier to share living space, as well. And cheaper, if that was a consideration.

  For Jay, the money didn’t matter as much as to some of the other guys. He’d inherited a bundle, which was split with his older brother, Mike, who was also part of the unit. Mike partnered Peter Foster. There was a long history between the two families. Their dads had been in business together, though Mike and Jay’s dad had been the silent partner.

  When both their dads had passed, Peter ended up with fifty percent of the company that bore his name, Foster Electronics. Mike and Jay had split the remaining fifty, which still amounted to a considerable sum.

  Which was why Jay was footing the bill for the house he shared with Zach. Closer than brothers—even twins—thanks to the experiments they had participated in, it was natural for Jay to share everything he had with Zach. They were two sides of the same coin. Two halves of a whole. What was Jay’s was also Zach’s, and he knew that went both ways.

  Including their taste in women.

  That was the real dilemma. Every team in the unit had watched carefully when Mike and Peter had claimed their woman, Lilly. Somehow, she had gone along with their trio relationship, and the guys had never seemed happier. Jay knew for a fact that Lilly was happy, too.

  Jay thought of her as his sister-in-law, even though she’d married only Peter on paper. Mike had said they’d flipped a coin and Peter won, but Mike didn’t seem to mind too much. She was part of their little family, now, and all three of them lived together.

  They were happy. Which gave the rest of the guys in the unit hope that they might be able to find a special woman willing to put up with the pairings that could never be split up.

  As far as any of them knew, what had been done to them was irreversible. They would go through life as a pair and have to figure out a way to the happy.

  It was a big sacrifice, but all of the guys who had volunteered had been carefully screened. To a man, the pairs had been close friends with complementary skills and points of view. They had shared their outlook on life and had proven their friendships over and over before the Army agreed to take them into the special unit. They’d gone through a battery of psychological testing, as well as physical examinations and extensive genetic and brain scans.

  The teams were forever, and after creating their single unit, the military had stopped creating new teams and had begun studying the results in fine detail. Nobody else would undergo the treatment until the results of this multi-year study were in and had been digested on every level.

  For now, Jay and Zack were part of an elite, top-secret unit. The rules had been bent to allow one woman—and one woman only—to be let in on the secret for each team. Which was why the duos had to be extremely careful about who they dated and who they ultimately chose for a life partner.

  The woman had to be super special and willing to put up with having two men in her life—and in her bed—for the price of one, as it were. Which was why Jay was congratulating Zack on making the first move and finally asking Becky Guthrie out on a date.

  They’d both been eying her for a while now, but they’d held back, studying her, trying to figure out if she could handle both of them. Then, they’d had to work out whether or not she was attracted to one of them over the other. Jay had kissed her last night. Just a quick peck that could have turned into something more, if he’d tried, but he and Zach had agreed to take things slow.

  They didn’t want to mess this up. Becky could be the one, and this was too important to screw up by moving too quickly. So, Jay had kissed her goodnight, and today, Zach had finally asked her out, and she’d agreed.

  Nice work, indeed. Everything was proceeding according to plan.

  Last night, as Becky had been locking up Chez Nous, the restaurant she managed, she’d been glad to have Jay around. There had been a number of late-night robberies in the area over the past several weeks, and Becky felt a bit vulnerable doing the final checks on the building all by herself night after night. But a manager’s job was never done…at least not according to her tight-wad boss, Mr. Livern. He’d hired her about eight months ago, at a decent salary, but had promptly turned over every last little task to her, except running the kitchen.

  The chef ran the kitchen with an iron fist, but everything front-of-house was left to Becky, and she was the one who had to stay to the very end to deposit the night’s take and lock up after everyone else left. She didn’t like being
all alone in the building anymore. Not since the rash of burglaries had started.

  There were a lot of bars and restaurants on this street, and the incidents had happened all up and down the area over the past weeks with no apparent pattern and no clue where the thief, or thieves, might strike next. It was something that worried her every night she walked out of the place with a zippered pouch full of cash to deposit in the bank’s night slot.

  Lately, though, Jay and his friend, Zach, had been sticking around to keep her company. She didn’t mind in the least, happy to have the burly military men around…just in case. They were good company. Nice guys with funny senses of humor and a way of completing each other’s sentences that made her very aware that they were best friends.

  They probably had been for a long time, if their exaggerated childhood stories were to be believed. They and some of their friends and fellow soldiers often came into the restaurant to eat, or just hang out at the bar that ran along one side of the building, talking quietly or playing darts.

  Chez Nous wasn’t exactly a high-falutin’ French restaurant, despite the name. In fact, it was more like a British pub, particularly in the bar area. The restaurant side was a bit more upscale, serving impeccable food turned out by the French chef Mr. Livern had hired at reportedly great expense. The guys seemed to like the place…and not just for the food.

  Jay had kissed her last night, and she’d enjoyed it. He’d then seen her to her car after she made the bank deposit, which was just a few steps away from the restaurant, and let her go without anything more. She’d been a bit disappointed. She’d been hoping he or Zack would make a move, if they were interested. She’d thought they both might be, and she liked them both.

  Not being a forward kind of woman, she’d been waiting to see which one was more interested. After last night, she’d thought that was Jay, but then, he’d sat back and watched Zack ask her out without a peep. Now, she was just confused.

  Had he decided, after that one kiss, that he wasn’t interested in her, after all? Had he given his buddy the all-clear to ask her out or had Zack just gone ahead and asked her out without consulting his friend at all? If so, was that going to cause trouble between the friends?

  That was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid. She hadn’t wanted to set her cap for one or the other and was content to let them decide things, but now, she was rethinking her strategy. But how to choose between them? They were both such amazing men.

  Jay had wavy chestnut hair and wicked dark chocolate brown eyes. He was as tall as Zack—both topping six feet—and they both had physiques to die for. Muscular without being too bulky, they were sleek, strong and moved with a grace she’d only ever seen in men who studied martial arts at high levels, like her brothers.

  Zack, by contrast, had striking midnight blue eyes and slightly lighter hair than his friend. They were both tanned and fit, and both what her high school girlfriends would have called drool-worthy.

  Damn. That’s why she’d been content to leave it up to fate to begin with. There really was no easy way to choose between them. They were both handsome, interesting to talk to, and attractive on every level. The only thing she wasn’t too keen on was their chosen profession, but that was more because she hated to think of them in the line of fire than because she had anything against soldiers.

  Her family was full of men who had served. Even a few women. But she’d never been around any of them while they’d been in active service. It was one thing to think of them as warriors who’d come back home—another to think of them on the battlefield, in danger. The knowledge that Jay and Zack were both active duty military meant that they could be called away at any time. New orders would mean they could leave her, and she was very much afraid her heart would be broken if she never saw either of them again. Even though she’d only kissed Jay that one time. They were both special to her.

  They’d become friends. She looked forward to seeing them on the nights they came into the restaurant. Over the past few weeks, they’d gone from occasional visitors to regulars, and at least one of them had been in until closing time every single night for the past week.

  The news was full of the rise in crime on Restaurant Row, as they liked to call the section of town that had a higher-than-usual number of eating and drinking establishments. Neither Jay nor Zack had mentioned it plainly, but she knew they’d stepped up their presence to help keep her safe. She owed them big for going out of their way like this. They were such sweethearts. Even if they did confuse the heck out of her.

  Chapter Two

  The movie Becky chose was the latest superhero flick, much to Zack’s surprise. He’d been a big comic book fan when he was a kid, so he was happy to go along with her choice, though he did ask her twice if she was really sure that’s what she wanted to see. He wouldn’t subject her to a movie she had no interest in, if she was just being nice. But he believed her when she assured him that she’d been following this comic book franchise turned into a series of blockbuster movies for the past few years.

  “She likes superheroes?” Jay’s thoughts echoed in Zack’s mind as the movie started and Zack had a chance to update his partner about what was happening on his big date, so far. “I knew there was a reason we liked her.”

  “Liking superhero movies doesn’t necessarily mean she’s going to enjoy living with two mutants,” Zack cautioned his partner. “Look, the movie’s starting. Go silent. I’ll update you if anything important happens.”

  “No chance. I want a sitrep every hour, on the hour,” Jay countered.

  “All right. I’ll check in at the mid-way point of the movie and then right before the end, but while I’m supposed to be dashing and coherent, you’ll need to shut the fuck up. Deal?”

  “I can live with that.”

  True to his word, Zack updated his partner twice more before the lights came up in the theater. When they did, he was ready to devote his full attention to his date once more.

  “That was so cool.” Becky turned to him, her eyes shining with enjoyment of the movie they’d just seen.

  It had featured a really big, climactic scene where a major battle had been won by the good guys. It had left a large part of the audience with a semi-euphoric feeling, and it looked like Becky was no exception. She was gorgeous with her wide hazel eyes and expressive face. Her hair was a dark, rich brown, cut in a sassy way with bangs that made her look tougher than she really was. Maybe she cultivated that look so she could act the hard-ass with her employees. He wasn’t sure, but he also wasn’t buying the look. The long bangs made her more adorable than formidable, in his eyes, and he couldn’t wait to run his fingers through her soft-looking hair.

  Zack had been half in love with her for weeks. Being alone with her now was only deepening the attraction. While they hadn’t had much opportunity to talk since entering the theater, they’d spent many hours over the past weeks talking quietly in the bar of the restaurant she managed, and he thought they’d gotten to know a lot about each other in that time.

  She’d confessed to him that the conservative clothes she wore to work were not her favorite, but she dressed the part to do the job. The soft fabrics in warm colors she wore tonight were quite different than her usual attire and he found himself wondering what they would feel like under his fingers…as he undressed her.

  She’d also told him about her family. Little tidbits of childhood stories that had made him laugh. He’d reciprocated, when he could, and they’d formed the basis of what he hoped would be a long and pleasurable friendship.

  He hadn’t realized she was such a fan of comic book heroes, though. Maybe Jay was right. Maybe that meant she’d be more accepting of their own little quirk if, and when, it came time to tell her.

  More and more, he was beginning to think that Becky might just be the one. The single woman they’d be allowed to let in on their secret. The rules were strict. Only one woman could be told, and only if she was willing to commit to a permanent relationship where she woul
d keep their secret. The military didn’t care if they shared a wife. They were willing to allow each man in the unit to make their own decisions on that score, but the guys had been talking about it amongst themselves for a while now, and the strong consensus was that sharing would be much easier than trying to maintain separate relationships with separate women.

  Staying single was also a viable option, but Jay and Zack wanted more. They wanted a real home to come back to and a woman to love, who would give them added reason to do so. They were at the stage of life where they wanted roots and a chance for a family—even if it was just the three of them. Children were great, but they didn’t honestly know if that was an option. Thinking that far ahead could only give them a headache at this point.

  “Great movie,” he agreed, standing and stretching a little. The seats had been a little small for his large frame. He caught her checking him out and smiled inwardly. “How about we top off the evening with ice cream?”

  “Seriously?” Her eyes lit up.

  “Well, I figured we share a drink most every night lately, so we should do something a little different tonight.” He followed her as she preceded him out of the row of seats and headed for the aisle.

  “You drink. I work,” she clarified. “But yeah. Ice cream sounds just about perfect.”

  “Great. I know a little place not far from here.” He held the door for her as they exited to the lobby, then walked at her side until they left the theater completely.

  His car wasn’t far, and they talked about the movie until they reached it. He made sure to open her door first, reaching past her to lift the handle, creating a little triangle of intimacy that made her breath hitch.