Forbidden Attraction: A Contemporary Romance Box Set

by K. C. Crowne

  “Hello?” I called out to what appeared to be an empty apartment as I stepped inside.

  Usually, my brother was home before me, lounging on the couch in his boxers and a white muscle tee, eating some new Paleo snack or Keto-something. He had no shame. If it were just him and me, it wouldn’t matter. He was my twin brother and I didn’t look at him like that, but my best friend Christina had moved in with us about five months ago. I wasn’t quite sure how she felt about his usual state of dress— or lack thereof. She was usually so neutral, it was hard to tell what she was thinking.

  And just as the thought of Christina popped into my head, she popped her head out of her bedroom, a smile on her face. “You’re home early.”

  “Yeah, we wrapped up sooner than I thought,” I said, plopping down on the vacant for once couch, dropping my butt right where my brother usually sat.

  Christina came out of her room and joined me on the couch. She was still in her work clothes— designer slacks and a button-up shirt. She was a pretty girl and sometimes it felt like she was doing everything she could to cover it up or hide it. I often mused that she did it to make Hollywood take her more seriously. Unlike me, Christina wasn’t in front of the camera, but rather in the offices, handling marketing for the latest movies.

  Her short brown hair barely touched her chin, grazing it just slightly in a trendy bob. She had very large, brown eyes that were incredibly expressive. When you pissed her off, it showed in her eyes first. When she was angry, it was like you could actually see the fire burning bright behind her eyes.

  But I wasn’t about to tell her that. While she was Latina, she hated the stereotype that all Latina women were fiery and feisty. She was feisty, but not in the way most people thought. She was fiercely loyal and could definitely be fiery, but in all actuality, she was one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

  “Hey, have you seen Boone lately?” she asked, biting her lower lip.

  I shrugged. “Not really, no. But I’ve been working a lot so we probably would have been like two ships passing in the night anyway. I was actually just wondering where he was now.”

  “Yeah, me too,” she said as she averted her eyes. “We, uh, we had plans for tonight, and he’s not answering his phone now. I’m getting a little worried, to be honest.”

  “You know my brother,” I said with a laugh. “He’d forget his damn head if it wasn’t attached. He probably didn’t charge his phone last night and it died on him.”

  “Yeah, but this is different,” Christina said. “He hasn’t been home in a couple of days.”

  That caught my attention, but just as concern started to wash over me, my experience took hold and turned back the tide. My brother was known as a bit of a wild card. You never really knew what he was up to. He worked around town, often doing stunt work like me, but also dabbling in a number of other gigs. He wasn’t afraid to hustle.

  Boone was always doing something new. He always had some new adventure or project he was working on that he didn’t tell us about until it failed. We were twins and sometimes we had that secret sixth sense some twins shared that allowed us to sense each other, but most of the time, I had no friggin’ clue what he was up to.

  “And he’s not answering his phone?” I asked.

  I’d been so busy finishing up the show, all I’d done lately was eat, sleep, work, workout, rinse and repeat. I’d been so totally consumed with wrapping the project up that I’d hardly been home in weeks. And when I did manage to find the time to stumble home, worn out and wrung out, I spent most of my time in my gloriously comfortable bed. He was a grown ass man, so I didn’t feel compelled to keep tabs on my brother. I wasn’t his social secretary, for God’s sake. He was a grown man, and for the most part, both of us had a pretty good head on our shoulders. We were smart enough to stay out of trouble.

  But if I was being honest with myself, I’d admit that something about this felt different. I didn’t know why, but something about Boone pulling a Houdini didn’t sit right with me. It was mostly because of the way Christina looked at me. There was more there, something she wasn’t telling me. I could see it and wondered what in the hell it was.

  She just shook her head.

  I reached for my phone, hit his number, then pressed it to my ear. It went straight to voicemail. I spoke when the beep sounded.

  “Hey, dude. Where ya at?” I chirped. “You’re worrying us. Call us back ASAP, alright?”

  She was right; he wasn’t answering his phone. Boone had that thing attached to him at all times, and even though we both hated talking on the phone, we never refused to answer when family called. After losing our mom at a young age, anytime the phone rang and it was from family, my gut clenched up tight as I wondered whether or not it was bad news waiting for me on the other end of that line.

  “I’m sure he’s fine,” I said, waving off her concerns. “He’d talked about going back home for a bit once his work finished. Didn’t he finish last week or so?”

  “Yes,” she said softly. “But he would have told us if he was leaving, right?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe he did and I just didn’t hear him. I’ve been out of sorts and completely distracted the last few weeks. I’ve been more than a little exhausted thanks to the long days the show’s been logging.”

  “But we made plans for tonight. And even if he did forget and go home, why wouldn’t he answer his phone?” she asked.

  “Maybe he doesn’t have a good signal,” I said. “We don’t always have good networks up in the mountains.”

  That should have made her feel better. It calmed me down a bit, at least. I had been exhausted lately, but I normally don’t forget entire conversations. But it was possible. On the other hand, would Boone have left without telling either of us? That was possible too, but it also didn’t sit right with me. Something about both explanations just didn’t add up.

  “I don’t know, it’s just so weird. We had plans tonight, Hazel.”

  I smirked. “Oh yeah? What kind of plans?”

  Christina’s cheeks turned red, and she leaned back on the couch. She wouldn’t look at me, her gaze going everywhere but my eyes.

  “Come on, what kind of plans, Christina? Consider my curiosity piqued.”

  A small grin tugged at the corners of her mouth. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

  “Oh yeah? So you don’t have a crush on my brother?”

  She didn’t answer me. But she didn’t really need to. I saw the way Christina looked at Boone. I saw the stolen glances and longing, lingering stares. She was a shy girl compared to Boone and me, but I never failed to catch the subtle glances and flirtatious, playful conversations between them. My brother was an attractive guy. He was a bit flakey, but overall, a decent man, so I couldn’t blame her for having a little crush.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, patting her arm. “I’ll stop teasing you.”

  “Thank you,” Christina said softly.

  “And if you promise to watch Bill for me, I was thinking of heading back home for a bit of downtime myself anyway. I’ll head out there and check on him.”

  Christina looked across the room at the black and white cat sitting on top of the bookshelf. He looked back at her with a languid expression that was either boredom, haughty superiority, or cool indifference. It was hard to tell with Bill sometimes.

  “Your cat hates me.”

  “My cat hates everyone,” I said, snickering. “It’s nothing personal.”

  “Are you sure you want to go all the way to Colorado?” she asked. “I mean, he might not even be there.”

  “I was planning on heading out anyway,” I said. “Might as well head up there sooner instead of waiting. See if I can find him. You stay here in case he shows back up. I think we have it about covered, don’t you think?”

  Truthfully, I hadn’t had plans to go home. It had been a very long time since I’d gone there. Little reason to go now that my dad and stepmom had moved down to Florida to enjoy the sun and
fun. Our old house sat empty. Boone had talked about going alone more than a few times. I remembered he said something about thinking it might be nice to get away from the city and all the craziness that entailed. But for me, too many memories surrounded home, and I had no reason, and absolutely no desire, to revisit them. Pulling the scab off those old wounds didn’t sound particularly appealing to me.

  But after all the filming and the business of the latest project, the idea of getting away from it all and breathing some fresh mountain air did sound nice. Nice, quiet, and peaceful with no cars and no crowds. Just me and the natural world around me. Yeah, the more I thought about it, the more appealing it sounded.

  There was just one problem— I’d have to avoid Ryder and Wyatt somehow. That wouldn’t be easy considering they lived right next door. Unless I somehow managed to learn the trick of invisibility between now and the time I got there.

  My heart sank as I thought about seeing them again. I often visited my family down in Florida. It was a longer trip, but it had the benefit of not having old ghosts waiting for me when I arrived.

  There would be a lot of potential drama to sort through. After all, old ghosts never die. But I couldn’t avoid forever and figured it was about time to head back, confront it if I had to, and deal with the fallout. I could find Boone and ease both Christina’s mind and mine all at the same time.

  “I’ll head out in the morning,” I said.

  “You going to drive or what?”

  “Nah, I have connections. I’ll call and catch a flight,” I said with a sly smile. “The benefits of working in Hollywood. You should know that by now.”

  “Whose private jet you going to borrow this time?” she asked, a small grin on her face.

  I shrugged. “Figured I’d ask Victoria first, but if she’s busy and needs her plane on standby, I have others I can talk to.” I assured her. “Shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

  As much as I liked to complain about the long days and grueling scenes, there were some decent perks to my job as well— like having access to private jets to get away at a moment’s notice because you’ve made friends with the right people.

  My name might not have been on the billboards or in lights, I didn’t live in a mansion in Beverly Hills, and nobody but industry people would ever know my name, but I still had a pretty good life. It wasn’t exactly the life I’d hoped for, but I knew better than to complain. Things could be worse— I could have to fly commercial.

  Victoria owed me one. I’d helped her intimidate some paparazzi that wouldn't leave her alone at a club one night, so I figured that was worth being able to borrow her jet. Nothing like some simple martial arts moves to warn some pushy tabloid creep who was getting a little grabby to keep his hands off her. I was there, at her side, fending off the creeps before the bodyguards were, and for that reason alone, I knew I could get to Colorado as early as the next day. If her jet wasn’t available, she’d find someone else’s I could borrow.

  The one thing I could say about Victoria was that she never forgot people who did solids for her. I appreciated that about her because not everybody in the industry was that way.

  From Denver, I’d rent a car and drive the rest of the way, since my final destination was a house literally out in the middle of nowhere. No wonder Boone might have skipped town, considering the crazy schedule he’d had to keep the last few months. He probably needed to unplug and get away from the city too.

  For the first time in years, I couldn’t say that I blamed him either.

  “Boone, I know service ain’t that bad up there. You can call me back, or hell, just send me a text. I need you to let me know you’re alright.”

  I paused with the phone still pressed to my ear like he was going to pick up the call. Except voicemail doesn’t work that way. I sighed and pressed on with my message. “Listen, you’ve won. I’m on my way out there,” I growled. “You’ve finally managed to drag my ass home. Happy now? See you in a few hours, bro.”

  I disconnected the call and sighed. It wasn’t like him to keep ignoring my calls. What if I was wrong? What if he wasn’t in Colorado? What if he went somewhere else? But where else could he have gone? And why ditch plans with Christina? I knew he liked her about as much as she liked him. It just didn’t make sense.

  Like me, Boone had two homes— one in Hollywood and one in Colorado. Unlike me, he went to the Colorado home fairly frequently and had been trying to get my ass back there for as long as I could remember. I always resisted though. Always put it off, kicked the can down the road, or just told him no. Maybe this was his backhanded way of finally getting me to go home. I wouldn’t have put it past him. He was a trickster at times and knew how to get his way. I often didn’t see the traps he laid for me until well after he’d already sprung them. It was one of the most infuriating things about my brother.

  What I never understood, though, was why it was so important to him that I go in the first place. It wasn’t like I had some huge sentimental attachment to the place. But I guess I was about to find out.

  I called Victoria just as the plane was pulling onto the tarmac.

  “Hey Vic, thanks again for allowing me to use your jet. I promise to return it to you in one piece and just the way I found it— other than the damage from the little party I had on board,” I teased. “We’ve landed now and it should be heading back to Los Angeles soon.”

  After finishing my message, I disconnected the call. No one answered their phones. I hated voicemail too. But I really did need to thank Victoria for the favor. She did me a solid worth more than intimidating a handsy sleazeball required. But there was no way I wanted to hassle with trying to book a flight so last minute and driving all the way there would have been a pain in my ass.

  I didn’t call in favors too often, especially not one as big as this, and I probably wouldn’t do it again. I didn’t like to take advantage of a situation. But it was nice that I had some friends in high places who were willing to help me when I needed it most.

  I got off of the plane and headed for the desk designated solely for private planes to pick up my rental car. I was super grateful for the convenience of it all. I grabbed the keys and my luggage and headed out to start the long drive up into the mountains from the airport. As much as I was looking forward to a little peace and quiet, I wondered why in the hell it had to be so far away. The drive home was sure to be long, boring, and tedious, but the views kept me awake. There was absolutely nothing else like the glorious mountain views in Colorado. The views were one of the few things I had missed in all the years I’d lived in California. I rolled the windows on the rental car down and smiled as I breathed in the fresh air. With the scent of pine filling my nose and that cool, crisp Colorado air filling my lungs, I instantly felt at peace. The trees that pressed close to the road were green and alive, and so much lushness and natural beauty surrounded me I was ready to burst. California had recently undergone a super bloom, and flowers, bushes, and colorful plantswere growing again, but it was nothing like the mountains of Colorado where that kind of natural beauty and wonder was a part of everyday life. How quickly I’d forgotten how beautiful it was.

  The sky was clear and a vibrant shade of blue you didn’t see in L.A. thanks to all the smog, and as I drove through the winding, crooked roads toward home, I soaked in some of the most gorgeous views of my life.

  The car ride went by quickly— a hell of a lot quicker than I thought it would. Thank God. I pulled into the driveway of my parents’ cabin. Not much had changed over the years. It was well maintained; they paid the local handyman and overseer to come in and inspect the place from time to time, doing the routine maintenance and repairs as necessary. My family had insisted upon it even though they so rarely visited.

  Inside, the cabin was fairly spacious, all things considered. My dad had built it himself, adding to it as our family grew larger. The house was built with love, and I was saddened by how empty it looked, how utterly devoid of life.

  Which
also meant no sign of Boone.

  “Fuck.”

  I reached for my phone again, picked it up, and checked the display. No calls from him. No text messages either. Nothing but his continued radio silence.

  “I would have sworn you’d be here, bro,” I muttered to myself. “Where in the hell are you?”

  I hadn’t checked inside the cabin yet. My survey was from the outside only. Maybe he had been there and was out. Maybe he still was in the area. He had friends in the town nearby, so he could be hanging with them and planned on coming back later. I put my phone away and grabbed my bags from the trunk. Either way, I was home now, and whether or not Boone showed up, I’d make the best of it. I’d relax a bit and enjoy the serene silence around me, getting my mind and body right before heading back to my crazy life in L.A.

  Still, I’d have felt much better if Boone had been there to greet me. I wouldn’t have the burning question in my mind— where in the hell was he? If he’d been there, the mystery would have been solved, my mind would be at ease, and I’d have an answer for Christina. Speaking of which— I dialed her number as I carried my bags into the house, my shoulder pressing my phone to my ear. I heard the call being connected after the second ring.

  For once, it didn't go to voicemail. At least someone answered their damned phone.

  “Please tell me he’s there,” she said as soon as she answered the phone.

  “No, I’m sorry,” I said. “And from your tone of voice, I’m assuming he never came home either?”

  “No,” she said. “I even took the day off and hung out at the apartment, hoping he might return at some point this afternoon. Still no sign of him. It’s like he just fell off the face of the earth. I don’t like this, Hazel.”