Brianna clicked the end button on her cell. The picture she'd snapped of Jackson as he watched her from the hallway took over the screen. It was the last thing she had been looking at before her cell came alive in her hand, startling her so badly she almost dropped it on the barn floor.
Why did I take that picture? And why can't I quit looking at the dang thing?
She wanted him to look at her as a man would a woman he was interested in; instead he eyed her like used gum he found stuck on the bottom of his shoe. Though, he had been softer in the bathroom, helping her after she had puked up her guts, and wasn't that a great picture to leave with him. He had to think she was a complete idiot on top of suspecting her of conning her family.
Her hand traced the line across her throat before she could stop herself. He pushed every one of her buttons. Buttons she had thought long dead since she hadn't found anyone that interested her since donning her Briony persona.
But it was his voice that called to her. It had been so gentle and patient when he placed a cool compress on her neck. And gruffer as he confronted her about playing the role of Briony. Heck, he could have read the latest veterinarian science magazine, and she would be just as captivated.
When he had gotten gruffer with her, she had wanted to push back. His righteousness taunted her inner vixen to come out and play. She had wanted to soothe his temper, and the vivid images of their tangled limbs and her king-sized bed had quickly inserted themselves as great stress relievers.
Just remembering his callused hands and muscular, tan forearms as he had helped Brianna to her feet made her swallow thickly.
He was her every dream personified.
Midnight hair that brushed the collar of his dark blue shirt. Black jeans that hugged his ass and muscled thighs to perfection. His storm gray eyes lightened to quicksilver when he pushed her for answers about her throat. Those same eyes darkened to slate when he tried to discuss Briony's death with Bianca and hardened to steel when Brianna explained away the scar.
Brushing a thumb across the rugged face on her screen, she sighed and put her phone in her pocket. It took a bit more time to push the sensual thoughts to the furthest recesses of her mind.
It was no use. Brianna knew she didn't stand a chance with the man. Especially after seeing the disgust on his face when Brianna admitted she pretended to be Briony. Sometimes, she really hated the family she had been born into, and it didn't help to discover the role her father had played in trapping Brianna.
Thank God for Grandmother.
"Hey, Bri. You in here?"
A loud snap of fingers in front of her face made Brianna jerk back. "Dangit, Callie!"
"You know, you wouldn't be so distracted and would get those worry lines off your face if you would just let me and Derrick help you get out of that damn contract."
Brianna ducked her head and hid her smile. "Okay."
"Dammit, Bri! You always say no… Wait." Callie gasped. "Did you say, okay?"
"Yes."
"Oh, my God. You said yes." Her friend released a high-pitched squeal.
Brianna had just enough time to set aside the pitchfork she had been using to catch her friend.
"You said, yes!" Callie screamed and tackled her to the fresh hayed floor. "You can't change your mind."
Brianna laughed as she clutched her cell so as not to drop it. "I won't."
Her friend froze on top of her and slowly pushed up. Cat-like eyes were narrowed on her. "Why did you say yes? You've never said yes in the ten years I've asked you." Her gaze fell to Brianna's tight grip on her cell, and a sly smile curved her lips. "What could be so interesting about your phone that you're clutching it in a death grip?"
"I had a call come in, so quite obviousl—"
"That was fifteen minutes ago. You didn't even notice me readying the horses for the trail ride. I know because I was watching to see how long it would take you to wake up. So, now I want to know what's on that phone."
Affronted, Brianna scrambled to her feet and shoved her cell into her pocket. "I have not been looking at my phone for that long."
Callie's grin broadened, and she dove for Brianna's pockets. "Challenge accepted," her friend shouted while trying to dig out Brianna's cell.
With a screech, Brianna stumbled back and turned to dart out of the stall and away from her crazy friend. Even at five-feet tall, Callie quickly caught Brianna by jumping on her back Callie tickled her until Brianna fell back into the pile of hay.
Sputtering and spitting the hay that landed in her mouth, Brianna tried to wiggle out from underneath her friend. "Get off and give me my phone—"
"Ohhh, who's tall, dark, and delicious?" Callie held the cell out for Brianna to see as if she didn't have Jackson's every feature memorized by now. "Is he why you're letting us help you?"
"None ya' and no. It's time." Brianna knew that wouldn't stop Callie from peppering her with questions, no matter if it were her business or not.
A muffled oomph passed her lips when Callie's knee dug into her back as she rolled off, landing in the hay next to Brianna. Propping her head in her hand, Callie crooked a black brow.
Briony had hated Callie, but then again, Callie had just as much hate for Briony. Brianna counted herself lucky the day she met this woman over twenty years ago. She still remembered the black pigtails, big cat-like eyes, and freckled face set in a determined scowl as Callie had gone head-to-head with Briony on the school bus over a spilled box of crayons.
"You're thinking about the day we met." Callie said, very adept at reading Brianna's mind.
Just as she could read Callie's when needed. They had been friends for over twenty years, so it was normal. Sometimes annoying, like now. But normal for them. It had proven useful when they were younger and planning ways to retaliate against Briony and her crew, and even today, it was useful when they wanted to drive Callie's husband and her two boys up the wall with their shenanigans.
However, at this moment, it was irritating.
It wasn't a question, so Brianna didn't answer.
"I'd still have kicked Briony's ass even knowing she would be killed later. She was a spoiled rotten witch and how you two could look so much alike, come from the exact same house and have the exact same parents yet be so different—"
"Why did you defend me that day?" Brianna had always wanted to ask.
Callie's jaw dropped. "You didn't know?"
Brianna shook her head.
"Because I liked you, doofus. Even with Briony telling those two boys to stomp on your crayons after she dumped them on the floor of the bus, you didn't cry. Instead, you got this stubborn, hard-ass look on your face. I knew you'd be an awesome friend." She grinned. "Besides, your maid always packed the best snacks."
Brianna laughed. "The true reason emerges. You just wanted me for Ms. Williams's homemade pudding snacks."
Callie snorted with laughter. "What can I say? I scoped out a lot of lunches before I settled on you."
"More like your mom was in a vegetarian stage."
"Oh, God. That too." She shivered. "I still hate brussel sprouts and cooked spinach. Not to mention all things kale."
That had been so long ago. Before she and Briony had begun attending a private school. There weren't any private kindergartens back then for them to go to, so they went with the 'lesser than' crowd as her mother called them.
Brianna had liked the classroom she was assigned and her classmates. But what she liked the most was being separated from Briony. Being twins, the principal felt they needed to develop their own personalities.
Those early years had been the best of Brianna's life. It set the foundation for her to be herself and not continuously fall under Briony's cruel shadow. Laying her head back on the hay-filled floor, she sighed. "Briony wanted me to cry. She had already torn up my coloring book before we left for school. She was jealous. I was sitting next to Mary Ellen at lunch."
It wasn't like it had been planned. They had assigned lunch tables based on the teache
rs' classrooms, and with Briony and Brianna in separate classrooms, it had worked out that they sat with different people.
"Well, you didn't cry, and Mary Ellen ended up moving, so Briony never got her claws into her. Besides, I hate bullies, and I liked that you didn't give into them." Callie's smile slid into a frown.
Brianna had been lucky that Callie also attended the private school since her mother worked as a cafeteria worker; she got a full ride. Where Briony flourished amidst the vicious rich kids of their area. Brianna and Callie had forged a stronger bond to withstand all the crap those same kids tossed at them and, when possible, deal some of that crap back.
"Don't I know it." Brianna had bailed Callie out of hot water so many times with their principal, given her alibis when Briony had tried to get Callie in trouble by picking on other students. Pushing all of Callie's buttons until the girl would explode.
"So, you gonna tell me about tall, dark, and delicious? Or should I just call Derrick and ask him if he knows the man?"
"Ugh!" This was the downside to having a best friend who knew her.
"I'm hitting the button to call him. You know my hubby will dig until he finds out who he is for me."
Brianna's head jerked to Callie, and she saw her friend's finger hovering over the screen. "Stop. Okay." Taking a deep breath, she waited for Callie to move her finger entirely off the screen. "He's the deputy that came to tell us about Briony."
Callie's eyes widened in surprise as they lifted to meet Brianna's. "The one that looked at you like you were manure on his shoe?"
"Yeah."
"And you took a picture of him?"
Brianna felt her cheeks heat and cursed her fair skin. "Maybe."
Callie snorted and waved the cell in front of them. "Maybe? So what? Your mother took a picture using your phone … or no wait, better yet your grandmother. Or did they take a picture and forward it to you?"
Embarrassment wound through her. "Fine, I did it."
"Why?"
Brianna shrugged. She didn't know why. Well, she did, but it wasn't something she wanted to voice. It had been spur of the moment, something so out of character for her she didn't know what had possessed her to do it.
You would think I learned my lesson in the impulsive decision-making area with the whole contract debacle, but apparently, I haven't.
"He looks exactly like your dream man." Callie flipped the phone around and scrutinized the photo.
"Oh, God." Brianna allowed her head to fall back into the hay pile.
"Well, he does." Callie poked her arm, and Brianna knew if she wanted it to stop, she was going to have to turn and face her friend again.
"He's older—"
"So are you compared to when we planned our weddings at twelve and again at sixteen." Callie pointed to the screen. "He has the same exact features as the models you chose for your groom."
She smiled at those memories. "I still have both those albums we filled somewhere."
"You know I do too, since I used them when me and Derrick got hitched." Callie handed the phone back to Brianna. "The only difference between all those dreams is the picture of your man never changed—"
"I don't remember that." Brianna chuckled. "I remember yours changing when you got that crush on the foreign exchange student from Scotland. Which was why we had to redo our albums at sixteen."
"Oh, yeah. Ian McPherson … " Callie's green eyes hazed as if she were remembering the teenager. "His thick auburn-colored hair was gorgeous."
"His personality wasn't." Brianna had hated the pompous snot, but nothing she said had made Callie quit looking at the guy as if he'd hung the moon. Nothing until Callie caught Briony screwing Ian in the band hall.
"Probably why he hung on Briony's every word. That and her riding his contaminated dick." Callie's grin returned, and she nudged Brianna. "Quit changing the subject. So this is the deputy that you told you were Brianna? On your parents' property? I never thought you'd be that brave after the contract the old bat made you sign. Especially with how much is at stake if your grandmother found out."
Her stomach clenched at the memory of her stupid confession. Then she jolted as she realized she hadn't talked to Callie since Saturday night. "You know I met with Grandmother yesterday to give her notice about the contract."
"You what?" Callie sat up so fast she almost clipped Brianna's face with her balled hands. "Without me for backup? Are you insane?!"
She jumped to her feet and looked around to make sure they hadn't drawn any attention. The two grooms that led the lessons stood next to the horses at the outside corral, ready to greet the group of beginners when they began showing up. No one was in the barn.
Holding up her hands palm out, she focused on calming her friend. She hissed through clenched teeth. "It's not at all what you think. I needed to give her notice you and I also felt like I should let her know about being questioned by the police—"
"And what'd the old bat say?"
Brianna gripped her friend by the shoulders and met her gaze. "She had no idea, Cal. The contract she put together ended a year after I signed it."
"Come again?" Callie grabbed Brianna's upper arms in a tight hold.
"She had no clue. She really didn't."
"Holy mutant donkey balls." Callie shook her. "Tell me everything."
Callie had hated her family, especially after Bianca almost killed Brianna. The second Brianna had left the hospital, Callie had moved her into her and Derrick's guest room and never let her return home.
Grandmother had been the only person Callie had loved. When she had brought the contract for Brianna to sign in the hospital, Callie had felt just as betrayed as Brianna. Especially when they both found out the Donaldson's farm was part of the deal.
To discover it was Father behind the entire thing… it was mind-blowing.
"You need to tell me, Bri." Callie dusted her pants off.
"I will. Help me get fresh hay into this last stall, and I'll fill you in." It didn't take Brianna any time to catch Callie up on what happened yesterday.
"Why the hell didn't you call me?" Callie asked as they washed their hands.
Childish laughter mixed with parents calling encouragement rang out from outside as their beginning riding class arrived. Trusting her men to handle the lesson for today, Brianna swiped her hands dry on the towel hanging above the barn sink before turning to her friend. "I couldn't. You were at Derrick's mother's house for the monthly family dinner—"
Callie frowned. "Oh, yeah, I forgot."
Derrick's mother lived in Cullman, so it took several hours to reach her house, which was why the family always made a day of it.
"I forgive you, then."
Brianna laughed. "That's magnanimous of you."
"Someone's been using the word of the day calendar I got her." Callie teased before growing serious again. "Derrick and I will do anything we can to help. Neither of us wants to lose this place. But you," she jabbed a finger in Brianna's direction. "Need to text me if something this huge happens again."
"What? If I get roped into another contract? Yep, you'll be the first to know."
"No more contracts." Callie growled, but as tiny as she was, it sounded more like a pissed off kitten. Not that Brianna would ever say that to her friend. Then it was Brianna's turn to growl when her friend changed the subject. "As for Mr. Delicious. Well, we need to see if he thinks your hot—"
Brianna turned away. "No, we really don't."
Of course, Callie ignored her. "Weren't you going to call him about that DNA stuff and the fingerprints?"
Why had she shared that with Callie? Just as the question popped into her head, Brianna knew the answer. She shared everything with Callie.
"That was why Grandmother called me this morning. I'm supposed to go pay—"
"You? Why?"
"Because Grandmother was headed out of town and needs it handled. She wants the results as more concrete evidence. Mother's doctors think the more irrefutable facts we have,
the more her mind will finally settle."
"First, your mother isn't going to accept squat. She put the cray in crazy and if she comes anywhere near you after this stuff is settled…" Callie bounced on the balls of her feet. "Well, let's just say trespassing is illegal. Oh, and you will be getting a restraining order because again… the woman is nuts."
"Let's see what her doctors say first."
Callie huffed. "Fine. But I'm going with you when you visit Deputy Delicious."
"No, that's not necessar—"
"I'll ask him out for you—"
"Callie! He's probably not even going to be there." Brianna stumbled out of the stall and hurried to catch up to Callie's retreating form. "We don't even know if he's single." Callie ignored Brianna's shouted statement.
"You'll definitely need a different outfit," she said, veering out the door and racing across the yard to the backdoor of Brianna's two-story house.
"He's probably not going to be there! Callie, are you listening to me?" Brianna watched as her best friend darted into her house and sighed. She knew Jackson would be in because her Grandmother had already confirmed it with Sheriff Brigston. As if that wasn't embarrassing enough having her grandmother all but asking the sheriff's permission for Brianna to see Jackson, Callie would be the icing on the proverbial cake.
"You know she never listens when she gets an idea in her head."
"Jesus!" Brianna whirled around, a hand against her pounding heart. "Dangit, Derrick! You scared the bejesus out of me."
He chuckled. "I'm not surprised when you two get together. It's like a bomb could go off next to you, and neither of you would notice since you're too busy chattering away."
"Your wife is the chatterer … or chattery person. Gah. Even my English is bad when she messes with my head."
Derrick patted her on the back. "She has that effect on people. So you're headed to the courthouse?"
"How do you know that? And what the heck are you doing here? I thought you were headed over to the Johnson's today to begin inoculating their herd."
"I was in the barn." He held up a hand. "Don't worry, it was only you two and me. I needed to restock the supplies in the veterinary truck before heading out."
The Twin Contract (The Contract Series Book 1) Page 6