Falling for the Wrong Twin (16 page)

“We have to go--ackgah!”

He’d thrown some sort of powder in her face. She felt the sting of it as it hit her skin and back of her throat. She’d inhaled that crap and it hurt! Like tiny spearpoints of fire burning through to her bloodstream. She felt it roll through her like an expanding wave of heat. She knew when it hit her heart and hips, felt the tingle of it reach her fingers, and then…

Oh shit.

Then it kicked into her brain. And not just her brain but her groin. Hot, sweaty, and--this could not be real--horny. Yup. Industrial strength aphrodisiac, burning in her nipples, making her belly liquid, and her body throbbingly empty.

“No. Oh no!”

Oh yes. Suddenly witch doctor looked a lot like vampire Mike, his eyes practically luminescent in the dark cave. His body was broad and beautiful, and that phallus on his face was nothing compared to the organ that was thrusting through his grass skirt.

“I cannot be controlled this way,” she snapped. But apparently, she could. Because her body really, really wanted to strip out of her very confining clothes. She wanted to be naked in this heat and to have--

“Choppers fixed, Anna but we’ve got to go now!” called a man’s voice from the cave entrance.

She turned to see her pilot push into the cave entrance. She tried to call out. She tried to warn him, but there was no time. The witch doctor was faster, and suddenly her pilot was coughing as whatever had hit her, did the whammy on him.

Hell. They were about to become lust bunnies on a volcano. And sure enough, the pilot turned to her, his eyes glowing golden which is when she realized he was Mike. Or was the other one Mike? She didn’t know, and frankly, Real Her had just thrown up her hands in defeat.

Apparently, she was about to have an X-rated dream and really, who could blame her? But which one was Mike? Which one was Rick? And as they two men converged on her, did she really care?

This was sex, pure and simple. Bodies combining in the heat. Her clothes disappeared as she felt hands on her breasts and on her thighs. She felt the thrust of an organ, thick and hard. Someone sucked on her nipples while she tongued a penis. Every position, every caress, every way to be opened and stroked and--

“Cut!”

Anna jolted her eyes open. Not her real eyes. It was her dream eyes as she focused beyond the cave. There were people there. Lots of people! Cameramen, make-up people, prop guys, and in the center of it all was a pirate waving a megaphone.

WTF?

She straightened up. To either side of her, Mike and Rick pulled away too. And suddenly all of them had their clothes on.

“Anna,” the pirate/director said. “We know you’ve been given a magic powder that makes you hot, but you’re playing it too sexy. You’re going to melt the cameras.”

“What?” That was spoken by dream her, but real her was seriously ticked off. After all, what good was an erotic dream if she didn’t get to the erotic part?

“We know you want sex, dahling,” the director continued. “Who doesn’t? But deep down, you need to focus on what you really want.”

She frowned at the man. “Um, off the volcano?”

He waved at the backdrop. She looked behind her at a green screen. So. Not a real volcano. Duh. This was a movie set and she was the lead actress. She looked at her two co-stars, watching as her pilot flashed her a mega-watt grin. On the other side, the witch doctor was scratching idly at the paint on his face, but his gaze was fixed on her. Even though his posture was casual, his eyes were dark and intense.

“Which man,” she whispered to herself. But in this dreamscape, the words were loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Not the man, dahling. You. Picking the man is easy if you understand what you want.”

Well a moment ago, she’d wanted a hot, threesome with twins. But now he was asking her questions, and not a do-you-want-fries-with-that kind of question.

“This is just a dream,” she said loudly.

The director shrugged. “It’s still your life. What do you want?”

“No!” she said, feeling a childish temper tantrum coming on. “Why can’t it just be about sex and--oh yeah--not getting covered in lava?”

The director shot her a frustrated glare. “What about you boys? What do you want?”

Her two co-stars answered in unison. “To do her.”

“Good God!” the man huffed. “Does no one want more? Love? Romance? A meaningful life?”

She huffed. “This is a movie set in a dream. That is the definition of shallow.”

“Is that all you want?”

All three actors answered at once. “Yes!” Just for emphasis, they crowded together. The pilot pulled her hips back such that her bottom settled against his very impressive thickness. Her super-intense witch doctor came right up to the front of her, guided her hands to his organ then placed his on her breasts.

Quite the erotic position, except that the whole thing left her cold. Is this what she really wanted? Hot sex on a fake volcano?

“Wait!” she cried when the boys started to nuzzle either side of her neck. And how cool was that--stereo nuzzling?

The pilot responded first, his words vibrating a seductive rumble against her neck. “We’re on vacation. That’s the best time for a fling.”

The witch doctor was stroking her breasts, but his movements were slow, his expression thoughtful. “This really isn’t working for me.”

The pilot sighed. “Spoilsport.”

The witch doctor shrugged. “The grass skirt itches.”

“Try not bursting through these damn khakis. Wardrobe got the things too tight.” The pilot stepped back and began tugging at his shorts.

“Oh for the love of Pete!” she cried as she threw up her hands. “I can’t even dream right.”

And then her dream kicked into the truly bizarre because a pair of high female voices interrupted things. “Excuse me! Excuse me!”

All three actors turned to the voice, and there they were: Aunt Tilde and Aunt Dee sitting at a table and smiling warmly at them.

Anna woke on a scream.

…

Mike bolted out of bed, his head all but exploding. That was the worst dream ever! Sure having his hands all over Anna had been hot as hell. After what they’d been doing last night, he wasn’t at all surprised when his dreams took on an X-rated tone. But then it had gone from hot to bizarre. The movie set angle had been weird, but to have his mother and aunt appear had slipped the whole thing into nightmare realm.

Jeez, couldn’t he just have a wet dream like any normal guy? That other stuff was just sick.

He sat up in the trundle bed and rubbed his face, trying to scrub the whole thing from his thoughts. It was his brother’s turn in the real bed, and damn this trundle sucked.

“Can’t sleep?” his brother asked. Damn it, couldn’t the man just pretend to be asleep?

“Bad dream,” he answered, his voice thick.

“Yeah. Me, too.”

He glanced over at his twin, then abruptly frowned. The man looked awful. “What’s going on?” he asked.

His brother shifted, then grimaced. “Nothing. Pain killers wore off, that’s all.”

“What? What pain killers?”

His brother shrugged. “The ones that keep me from hacking off my own leg. Those pain killers.”

“Oh. Knee?”

“Yeah.”

“Is it…um, bad?”

“Yeah.”

Oh shit. That was really…bad. And obviously, Mike was really stupid at this time of night. He couldn’t think of a damn thing to say. “Want to talk about it?” he tried.

“Nah. Just want to get laid. It helps with the pain.” His brother flashed him a mischievous grin. “How was the date tonight? Anna’s pretty hot.”

“Like lava,” he answered, then winced as that brought back the memory of his dream.

“So you like her?”

“I…” He swallowed, his mind flashing back to the alley. “Yeah, I do.”

His brother sighed. “Too bad. I was hoping you’d hate her, so I could move in.”

“Don’t you have a supermodel or three?”

Rick grinned, but the expression didn’t last long. “I’m starting to wonder if it isn’t time to be a grown up.”

“A what?”

“Look, don’t get me wrong. I love my life, but let’s be real here. How much more of a career have I got? And when the knees give up the ghost, what am I going to do? What more is there to my life?”

Mike swallowed his suddenly dry throat. This was started to echo his nightmare way too closely. Before the horrifying intrusion of his mother and aunt, the director guy had been asking these same deep questions.

“What’s brought this on?” he asked, doing his best to duck the questions.

“Kym doesn’t want children.”

“What?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said. What woman doesn’t want kids?”

Mike flopped back on his lumpy pillow. “Well, off the top of my head, a woman who has a career looking thin and beautiful. I think pregnancy might screw that up.”

His brother rubbed a hand over his bent knee, the motion seeming unconscious. “Yeah, that’s what she said. But I thought… you know… eventually.”

“Not?”

“Not ever. Her words.
Not. Ever
.”

“Oh. That sucks.” There it was, the brilliant deduction of the night. God, he was such a failure at this stuff. “So you dumped her?”

“So I hopped a plane and headed back here. To sleep in your bed. And wasn’t that the stupidest thing I’ve ever done?”

“Hey, I’m suffering here too. I’m in the damn trundle. “

“You snore.”

“You fart.”

And now they had officially regressed back to six year olds. But funny thing, it felt good to do that. Normal. And a moment later, they were both laughing.

“Women suck,” Rick said as he adjusted himself against the headboard..

“Only if you’re lucky, and they’ve been taught how to do it right.”

His brother flashed him a grin. “So is Anna the one? Are you going to teach her how to do it right?”

Mike was grateful the dark hid his blush because he knew just how perfect Anna was at that particular task. Obviously, sex with Anna wasn’t the problem. Then he frowned, his mind working quietly as he zeroed in on a disquieting feeling.

“Mike?”

“No.”

His brother shifted. “No…what?”

“No, she’s not the one.” He grimaced as he said it, wondering where the certainty came from.

“Oh. How come?”

He sighed, confused by his own words. Some things certainly
felt
right. “Because she’s on vacation and we live in different states. Because she’s just looking for a quick fuck before she moves on.”

His brother pushed up onto his elbows. “Seriously?”

Rick winced, hating that he’d been so crude. It hadn’t been like that between them. And he was damn sure she’d never done something like their alley fun before. And yet, something inside told him she was only here for vacation. He was a fun escape for her, and that the moment they separated, her walls would be back up and Mike would be nothing more than a fond memory.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he said, even as he wondered.

His brother shook his head. “I don’t know. No offense, bro, but you’ve never been real good at judging people’s characters.”

“Not true. I’m just cautious.”

His brother readjusted the blankets. “I don’t know, man. She seems like she could be the forever kind of girl.”

“She’s a fan girl flake,” he said, even though he didn’t really believe it anymore. “She’s been lying to us too. All those stories--”

“Exaggeration and gossip. She’s a party planner. Everything she’s said could be absolutely true.”

Mike folded his arms. “Do you think so? Really think so?”

“I really don’t care. Remember I hang out with celebrities all the time. They’re boring. And if mom gets off on Alan Alda stories, who cares if Anna’s exaggerated some stuff. If she’s never actually met the guy.”

“So you do think she’s been lying.”

His brother threw a pillow at his head. “I said I don’t care. God, when did you become the morality police?”

When his brother started talking kids, and he tried to picture Anna as the mother of his children. God, he wanted it, but she wasn’t going to stick around long enough for something meaningful to happen.

“She’s not the one,” he said firmly.

“You know what? I don’t think
she’s
the problem.” Meaning Mike had the issue. Frankly, that wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. But rather than acknowledge the hit, he threw the pillow right back at his brother.

“You can give me advice when you’ve got a wife, kids, and a real job. Until then, you’re still the kid and I’m still the big brother.”

“By less than five minutes.”

“Still makes me older. And I’m still the one with a real job.”

His brother snorted. “Have you seen my bank account? You look at that and tell me who has the real job.”

Another hit because, yeah, his brother was very well paid. “Who cares? It’s not like it’s real football or anything.”

“It’s not like you’re getting laid by supermodels either.”

Very true. And yet, given the choice between ultra thin, never be a mom Kym and Anna? He’d pick his lady in the alley any day.

So why had he already written her off?

Chapter 12

Mike hoisted his niece into his arms, smiling as she squealed in delight. Yeah, he thought, life without kids would be lonely indeed. His brother needed to ditch the supermodel and get himself a woman who wanted a dozen kids. He grabbed his young nephew by the hand and altogether they headed down the stairs. Munchkins were clearly on his mind because the first thing he saw on the main floor was Bethany in close conversation with a pregnant woman. They both turned and smiled at him as Henry leaped from two steps up to land with a thud and a yeah! on the landing.

“Good morning, Mike,” Bethany said. “This is Megan, the new owner of Miranda’s Place. She’s overseeing the renovations.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Smithson,” the woman said. “Let me know if you or your family needs anything at all.”

He re-adjusted his niece in his arms while his back pulled with the strain. “Another room would be awesome. Sharing with my brother has been a bit of a trial. How soon until one of the upper floor rooms is ready?”

The woman flashed him an apologetic smile. “Sadly, not in time for you, but hopefully within the month.” She bit her lip. “We don’t even have another rollaway because your sister--”