Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
TEAGAN
As if on cue, snow began to fall just as they took the final exit off the highway.
Thick white flakes drifted slowly at first, increasing in intensity as the truck climbed the winding road up the mountain.
Darkness was just settling along the ridge, providing a storybook setting for the outstanding displays of holiday lights.
Teagan held her breath when they passed the turnoff that would take them directly into her old hometown. Thankfully, Noah was concentrating on the road and didn’t notice.
By the time they pulled off the main road, the wipers were operating at full speed, and Noah had shifted into four-wheel drive. A blanket of white stretched out before them, with dark evergreens looking like someone had slathered them with frosting.
Teagan had forgotten how beautiful these mountains could be. When she’d left, she’d gone south and west. These last few years, however, she’d been slowly working her way back. She shifted at the sudden, overwhelming feeling of being home again.
Just that quickly, they were in a clearing.
A huge, sprawling farmhouse appeared before them, its exterior brilliantly lit with twinkling white Christmas lights and old-fashioned streetlamps outlining the last hundred yards of the drive.
Evergreens and shrubbery were decorated as well, making it look like something right out of a Christmas fairy tale.
“You weren’t kidding about the Normal Rockwell thing, were you?” she murmured.
His response was a small smile, but there was tension around his eyes. Maybe that stuff he’d said about having her around wasn’t complete bullshit after all.
Noah pulled his truck off to the side, parking beside four other similar vehicles. For a moment, they just sat there, each steeling themselves in their own quiet way.
“Ready?” he finally asked.
“No,” she said honestly.
That earned another curve of his sensual lips. “We can do this.”
We, he said. Not you. As if this was difficult for him too.
“But listen, before we go in, I should probably warn you about—”
Noah’s door was thrown open, and a huge pair of hands pulled him out of the truck.
“Welcome home, shithead!” said an exuberant male voice.
“Yeah, we didn’t think you were going to make it!” said another.
No sooner had his space been vacated than a huge, furry mass launched itself inside and promptly tried to sit in her lap. Since the dog was the size of a small bear, she ended up pinned between the seat and the door as he sniffed her hair and face with a cold, wet nose.
The dog seemed curious and friendly, so she remained still and let him do his thing. It was people she had a problem with, not animals.
Teagan peered around the dog and saw that four bodies had converged on Noah, splaying him out on the ground by his limbs. Two held him down while the others bombarded him with snow. Noah fought valiantly, taking one out with a quick sweep of his legs, then using the momentum to flip another.
“Dickheads,” Noah growled, getting his feet underneath him and tackling the largest of them.
Teagan heard the umphfs as he took the guy down, even as more hands reached out.
“Hey,” one of them said, laughing. “What’s Bear doing? Guys, check this out.”
“You bring a pack of steaks with you, Noah?” one asked.
“Oh fuck,” Noah cursed, shaking off the others and approaching the truck. “Bear, down!” he shouted, but the dog completely ignored him and settled half on, half off Teagan’s lap.
“What the hell?” another said, peering into the cab.
Noah ran to the passenger side of the cab and threw open the door. “Bear! Get off!”
The massive head lifted for a moment and regarded him briefly. Then, as if commanded to do so, he licked Teagan’s face with a tongue the size of a full-grown cow’s.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” said an amused voice from behind Noah’s shoulder. “You brought Bear a chew toy. I think he likes it.”
Noah reached out to grab the big dog by the collar. Bear apparently didn’t think that was a good idea because he lowered his head and gave a low warning growl.
Somebody whistled. “Wouldn’t push him if I were you, Noah.”
Teagan delved her fingers into the fur beneath the dog’s ears and scratched. “Who’s a good boy?” she crooned. “You’re just a big teddy bear, aren’t you?”
The dog instantly calmed, his big pink tongue lolling happily.
“Holy shit, it’s a woman,” someone said.
“Noah’s got a woman in his truck? A real one?”
Teagan couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Clearly, the studly Doc Ziegler wasn’t much of a ladies’ man. Or at least he hadn’t been back when he lived here.
“Go on now,” Teagan coaxed, patting the massive animal.
With one more sloppy kiss, Bear leaped out of the truck and sat beside it, tail wagging, waiting.
Noah was instantly right there. “Are you okay?” he asked, looking her over with a doctor’s gaze.
“I’m fine,” Teagan said. “He’s a friendly guy, isn’t he?”
Noah grunted in response. “Your shoulder’s okay? Your ribs?”
“I’m fine,” she reiterated.
A familiar face poked inside the driver’s side. “Wow. She is real. You were right, Eli. Who would have thought?”
Teagan’s eyes opened wide. Noah was next to her, holding her hand. Impossibly, he was also on the other side of the truck, staring at her with unmasked curiosity. Though Other Noah had a different color shirt collar peeking out of his jacket.
Her surprise was obvious.
Other Noah laughed, then looked at Real Noah—or the guy she thought was Real Noah—and said, “You didn’t tell her?”
Real Noah shook his head. “Teagan, this is my brother Alex.”
“His twin brother,” Other Noah—now identified as Alex—clarified.
The two men shared a silent exchange, and Teagan wondered if they had the weird mental connection some twins did.
Alex looked so much like Noah; it was uncanny. Yet when she looked closer, she could see that the angles on Alex’s face were a little harder, his eyes a little more intense, his hair just a shade longer.
“Evil twin,” Noah muttered.
“Harsh,” Alex chided, but his eyes were on Teagan. Despite the easy smile on his face, his eyes were cold and assessing.
Noah put his hand out. Aware of curious gazes, Teagan accepted it.
She slid carefully out of the truck, letting go of Noah’s hand as her boots sank into the fresh, soft snow.
Bear was beside her in a second. He stood nearly waist-high, making it easy for her to scratch behind his ears without bending—something her injured back and ribs appreciated.
“I think you’ve made a friend,” Noah observed.
“He’s wonderful,” she said, treating him to a double-handed scratch behind the ears.
The brute was big and soft and a great diversion. Lavishing attention on him meant she didn’t feel as obligated to address the men spread out in a semicircle around them.
“Hey, what about us?” one of them called out.
“Yeah,” chimed in another. “Eli’s leg moves really fast if you scratch him in just the right spot.”
Beside her, Noah exhaled heavily and muttered, “Here we go.”
“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” someone asked.
Three men, bearing a resemblance to Noah—but not nearly as much as Alex—stepped into the path between them and the house. They had darker hair, but the same amazing amber-like eyes. Two of them were mirror images of each other—another set of twins? Like Noah and Alex, they were tall and well built.
Clearly, there were good genes in this family.
“Teagan, this is my brother Daniel,” Noah said with a half-hearted wave toward the biggest and youngest looking of them.
At least six foot four of solid muscle, Daniel had a boyish grin and dark brown hair peeking out from beneath a beanie. He smiled warmly and nodded.
A gentle giant, she thought immediately.
“And these two knuckleheads are Adam and Eli.”
They grinned in tandem, their smiles eerily similar.
Eli—at least she thought it was Eli—said, “Twins tend to run in our family.”
“That’s no lie,” said his doppelg?nger. “Welcome to the asylum, Teagan.”
“Teagan. Unusual name, that. Irish?” Alex was suddenly there beside her, having moved with the quiet grace of a shadow. The smile never left his face, but there was something more than idle curiosity in his gaze.
Noah stepped closer, shooting his brother a warning look. “Alex.”
“It’s okay, Noah,” Teagan said, shifting her weight slightly.
Alex picked up on the tiny movement instantly, and Teagan swore she saw his eyes grow more intense.
He leaned against the truck, looking casual, but Teagan knew better.
She recognized the stance, felt the ready tension buzzing around her as clearly as the frosty flakes landing on her face, and she knew without a doubt that Noah’s twin was a predator at heart.
If there was one thing Teagan was familiar with, it was dangerous men. Growing up the way she had, she’d developed a sense for undercurrents of potentially violent behavior lurking beneath smiles and calm facades. Alex was better at controlling it than most, but it was there. And it pissed her off.
She hated bullies.
She looked directly into Alex’s eyes, pinning him with a gaze that matched his intensity, flashing with barely concealed defiance. He might be a seasoned predator, but she was pretty sure she had more experience as prey.
“Yes. It is Irish.” She lifted her chin, locking eyes with his. Bring it, she said silently. I’m not afraid of you.
Alex’s only reaction was a slight dilation of his pupils. He held her gaze for a few moments that felt like an eternity, then blinked, effectively dismissing her, and turned back to Noah.
“So, does Mom know?”
“She knows,” Noah said.
Teagan guessed he’d called her one of the times they’d stopped.
Eli shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe Mom held out on us. We could have prepared a proper welcome.”
“Which is exactly why I asked her not to say anything,” Noah said. “We’re keeping this low-key, guys, hear me?”
Alex shot Noah a questioning look, but as far as she could tell, Noah ignored it.
“We’re just going to pop in, say hi, then head out to get a tree. Is the sled out?”
“Go show Mom you made it in one piece, and we’ll have it hooked up by the time you come back out,” Daniel said, grinning. “Assuming she lets you out, that is.”
“Yeah,” Adam said. “Remember when Brandon brought Kinsey home the first time?”
Eli laughed out loud—a wonderful, rumbling laugh—and even Alex’s lips quirked.
“Why?” Teagan asked. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” Noah assured her, though the way he avoided her eyes suggested he wasn’t being entirely truthful.
Placing his hand lightly on the small of her back, Noah led her toward the house, with Bear trotting along happily beside them.