Falling for the Wrong Twin (13 page)

He was starting to pull his hand away, but she drew him back to her. “You’re amazing,” she said, and she meant it. She’d seen in the first five minutes how desperately he loved his family but he just couldn’t keep up with the demands. “They’ll find their feet. You don’t have to do it all for them. In fact, you probably shouldn’t.”

He held her gaze then. Their fingers were intertwined across the table, the pose feeling intimate. But then he did it again. He unshuttered the emotion in his eyes. One second, he was big brother trying to fill his father’s shoes. The very next second, he was a man who wanted her. Not just wanted in the simple lust way, but in a powerful game of domination and surrender. It was intense and it made her breath catch in her throat.

“So,” he said, his voice low and seductive, “ did you find out what you wanted to know? About me?”

She gulped. Damn, he was smart. Only thing to do was deflect. “Did you find out what you wanted about me?”

He arched a brow. “A little, I think. You?”

“A little. But not the real dirt.” She leaned forward, and her eyes narrowed as she studied him. “I don’t get it. You’re good looking, have a good job, and you’re great father material. Why haven’t the women been banging down your door?”

“What makes you think they haven’t?” he shot back.

“I spent half the morning with your mother and aunt. I know they haven’t.” He cursed under his breath, but that only made her smile. “So what gives?”

He picked up his fork, but didn’t use it to do anything. He just held it, then looked up at her, a dark expression in his eyes. She stared at him a moment, deja vu sending shivers down her spine. This was the vampire look from her dream. Intense, dark, and filled with secret desires.

“Mike?”

“I’m just intense,” he finally bit out.

“Intense?”

“In bed.”

Oh.
Oh!

Then his lips curved into a slow smile. “You’ve been seeing me on vacation, Anna, when my brain is filled with my mother and sister and all those kids running around. You haven’t met the non-family me.”

“I like the family you. I’d kill to have someone help me with my taxes.”

“Hire an accountant. I hated that.”

She laughed. “You did a good job anyway.”

He tossed down his fork–again—then leaned back in his chair. “So do you want to?”

She blinked. “Want to what?”

“Meet the real me.”

Vampire him? Hot secret,
intense
lover him? “Um, yeah.”

He nodded. One quick dip of his chin. “Still want dessert?”

“Nope.”

“Good. Me neither.” Then he signaled for the check.

Chapter 9

Anna pushed up from the table, consciously forcing her legs to work correctly. Excitement trembled in her blood, like little bubbles of nervous anticipation. It thrilled her and made her giggly.

The
real
Mike. Whatever could that mean? She glanced at him, wondering if he were as effected as she, but his relaxed expression gave nothing away. Nothing, that is, until she looked into his eyes. His normal light green was now dark, and though his face appeared relaxed, she felt an underlying power in his hand as it smoothed down the back of her blouse.

She walked as he guided her, weaving her through the tables toward the front door. His hand was a large presence on her body, and she felt the hot brush of her linen pants on her legs. She should have worn a dress. Things were much more fun in a skirt.

Too late now.

A moment later they were outside. The sky was still gray but at least it wasn’t raining. The boardwalk was wet, the pavement dark and slick, but none of that had any effect on the simmering excitement in her blood. She had no idea what they were doing or where they were going. In this, she had decided to hand him the reins. So she walked in a growing state of anticipation while admiring the quaint lanterns along the boardwalk and the warm yellow glow they cast.

Until they came to the end of the boardwalk and turned up the street. They’d been walking in silence the whole time, the quiet between them feeling more and more alive with every step. Then she saw it, and it made her breath catch.

“Oh my God!” she gasped as she stopped dead then backtracked two steps. She stood in front of the alley.
The Alley
. The one from her dream where she’d been nearly caught by the bad guys. She couldn’t even remember the bad guys clearly, except that she’d kicked their asses. And one was a clone or something. What she did recall clearly was the alcove a little more than halfway down. The secret place where her vampire lover had hidden her.

“I can’t believe this is real.” She started to walk down the alley. She had to see if the doorway was there. Everything else looked the same, all the way down to the pile of trash next to an overflowing dumpster.

“Anna?”

“Bear with me a second,” she said as she stepped away from him. “I dreamed this place.”

“What?”

“This alley. I was running from…I don’t know. Evil minions or something.”

He was following her. She could hear his measured footsteps behind her. Then she found it--the half hidden doorway--right where it had been in her dream.

“I was right here, pressed up against the wall by…” She turned and looked at him. She couldn’t say by him. That would reveal too much. “By a vampire lover.”

His expression turned shocked, then abruptly stony. “Have you been talking to my brother?”

She blinked, completely confused. “About what?” Then she shook her head. “Look I know it’s silly, but sometimes my dreams incorporate stuff I read.” She looked at the surrounding alley and laughed. “I must have seen this place somehow, but I don’t know when.” She started to move out of the doorway, but his hand shot out, blocking her in.

“You dreamed this. Right here, just like this.” Statements, not questions, but she answered anyway.

“Well, I dreamed I was being chased and that my savior had this Terminator vibe:
Come with me if you want to live.
” She did her best Arnold-robot voice, then smiled up at him, her expression slowly fading at his dark look. “Mike? What’s the deal? Why are you looking so serious?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“But--”

He crowded her deeper into the alcove. “Shhh,” he said as she bumped up against the door.

Meanwhile, he reached down and tested the doorknob. It was locked. Probably the side door to the dark curio shop. Then stepped even deeper in. It was as tight as when they’d been hiding from the evil baddies.

“Were you facing…your vampire guy?”

She frowned, trying to remember. “I--”

“Or were you pressed against the door?” He touched her shoulders and firmly twisted her around. She complied as best she could, her body brushing against his as she moved to face the door. At least it wasn’t dripping here. The alcove sheltered them from the drizzle and from view. It was dark and the door was set deeply enough that she doubted anyone could see them even if they looked. That’s why it had been such a great hiding place from the--

He pressed his body flush against hers. She felt the broad muscles of his chest and the thick, hot pressure of his cock against her bottom. She had a thin coat on--just something to protect her from the rain--but it faded to nothing with the press of his body against hers.

She gasped in surprise, her mind stuttering into silence as she waited to see what he was going to do.

Then he leaned down, his mouth a seductive whisper against her ear. “You are going to do exactly as I say,” he said.

She shivered at the erotic heat of his breath by her ear. “Um…exactly?”

“Exactly.” His hands moved down from her shoulders to underneath her arms. Then he gently lifted them and pressed her hands against the doorframe. “Stay there and don’t move.”

The wood frame felt old and damp against her hands, but she gripped it nonetheless. Part of her wondered about splinters, but most of her was centered on the way he pressed his groin against her backside. He was huge, she realized. Even taking into account his clothing and hers, the bulk of his cock was a surprise as he slowly rocked himself up and down the crease of her bottom.

He slid his hands up her arms slowly. She felt her belly tense and her heart pound, but she didn’t stop him. She hadn’t the breath.

“If this gets too intense for you,” he continued, “just say the word.”

“What word?” Then she twisted slightly, her gaze meeting his. “Vampire?”

He pinched her nipple. Hard. She cried out in shock. She hadn’t even realized he could move that fast.

“I said don’t move.”

She swallowed, her breath easing out of her in a stuttered whisper. She was facing forward again, an instinctive recoil from his pinch, but now she settled. Her shoulders eased down and her hands planted again. Her nipple was throbbing and her legs felt tense, but between her thighs she was wet and achy.

“Android,” he said, the word stark between them.

“What?”

“The word. Android. Say ‘android’ if you want me to stop.”

Something about that teased the back of her mind. Something important, but there were so many other things to focus on, she had no brainpower left over for that.

“Do you understand, Anna? Do you understand what is happening here?”

She swallowed. “The real you is into domination and control.” She paused. “You’re not going to spank me or anything, are you?”

She felt his hand on her cheek, rough callouses that stroked along her jaw. His face was on one side, whispering into her ear, and his hand was on the other. She was caged in, surrounded by him, and she found it nearly overwhelming. Nearly. The rest of her was already wet and liquid.

“I’ve never been into pain,” he said. “The giving or the receiving. But if you like it, I could expand my horizons.”

She jolted. “Um, I don’t think so. I’ve never… I mean… My past boyfriends haven’t been so commanding.”

“They haven’t known what to do. They haven’t understood what they want or how to make it good for both of you. I do.” His fingertips eased down her neck, stroking idly over the flesh that tingled at his caress. “But Anna, I do like to be in control.” He stroked his fingers along her neck and then down into the V of her blouse. “Do you like to submit?”

She shuddered. God, what he was doing was so damned hot! “Not as a general rule,” she said, her voice hoarse.

“What about now?” he asked.

“Yes.” She didn’t even hesitate. “Yes, now’s fine.”

She felt his lips curve into a smile against her ear. “Remember the word if things get too intense.”

She wanted to say something sassy back, something flip and irreverent, but her mouth was too dry and her desire was flaming too hot for her to manage the words. So she said nothing, but he wouldn’t let her be passive in this.

“Say the word now, Anna, so I know you remember it.” He started unbuttoning her blouse. “So I know you agree.”

She swallowed, hearing the underlying message. If she said the word now, it would give him license to do whatever he willed right then. Out here in the open, in an alley in the rain. He tugged the blouse out of her pants, the pull of the fabric too tame against her panties. She wanted more pressure there, more friction.

“Anna?”

“Android.”

“Very nice, Anna,” he said. And he made her name into a caress. “Do you know that I’ve been thinking all night about your breasts?”

She jolted, surprised by his words. She didn’t have the kind of breasts guys adored. They were just average, and in her opinion, not her best feature. But the way he stroked over her chest, barely touching her skin, made her breasts swell with awareness.

He nuzzled against her neck, licking and occasionally grazing his teeth across her flesh. He took his time there, making her whimper with awareness while his fingers stroked her skin.

“You’re making me insane, here,” she said.

“You’re not allowed to talk, Anna. Not a word, except for
the
word.”

Nothing? “But--”

He stepped back and away. He abandoned her completely, standing there with her hands pressed to the doorframe and her shirt hanging open.

Holy shit, he really meant this stuff. She played by his rules or not at all. She started to twist to look at him, but then stopped. He’d told her not to move. Not at all.

Did she do it? Did she give over herself to his control sexually? The heat between her legs said yes. She’d never been so turned on in her life. And she still had her safe word.

She swallowed and felt her head dip slightly. He wanted obedience? For now, she would give it to him. For as long as they both enjoyed it.

“Very well then,” he said. He’d stepped up close to her again, but he wasn’t touching her. Hopefully, he’d come back to her. Hopefully he’d come back
soon
. “But you still need to be punished.”

She felt her back ripple in anxiety. He’d said he wasn’t into pain but--

“Take off your top. Coat, blouse, bra. I want you naked from the waist up.”

She lifted her head, her mind spinning. Naked? Outside? In public?

Except she already knew no one could see her. And even if someone chanced to look down the alley, they’d see him, not her. But even the possibility that they’d guess what she was doing had her gut twisting in anxiety.

“You are taking too much time, Anna. Either decide yes or no, but do it now.”

She straightened slowly, taking her hands off the doorframe. But she did it without knowing which choice she’d make. Was she calling it quits? Or did she trust him to keep her safe even bared to the waist?

Of course she trusted him. It was ridiculously stupid of her to think that. After all, she’d only known him a day, but she did trust him. And she did…

Strip off her coat and her blouse. She did it quickly before she changed her mind. The mist cooled her skin and made her nipples tighten. He said nothing. Merely accepted her coat and blouse when she extended it to him. Then he waited. As did she.

Bra next.

She twisted her hands behind her for the clasp, and then abruptly stilled. No reason to make this robotic. After all, if he was going to punish her by making her strip, then she was going to make him pay a little too.