Wrong Twin

12. August

12

“ I hope she was worth it because you just cost yourself two games and a fifteen thousand dollar fine,” Coach barked in my ear, doing nothing but sweetening up the pot for me.

Two birds.

I’d pay the fine for my brother. But at least he had an extra few games to get his shit together and wouldn’t be calling me again. He’d still have to show up but at least the pressure of playing was eliminated.

Ryan was pissed too. He’d planned on me finishing the game strong. He and Simon were both convinced that they, in fact, didn’t have the wrong twin playing these last few games.

But the one they should have had all along.

To me, it didn’t matter—whether we won or lost tonight, Harper was going to win.

My chest tightened as I wondered if that was enough. From where I stood, she hadn’t seemed to appreciate it much at all.

No. Harper wouldn’t. Despite her cute efforts last week, she wasn’t the vengeful type. She was hurt and wanted to stand up for herself.

I only hoped I helped get her some closure.

Would there ever be anything that could erase the hurt and humiliation he caused her?

If there was, I wanted to be the one to do it.

Troy was going to be livid, but I could handle him. I didn’t have time to process if I’d gone too far by pulling that stunt on national television, tainting his name and image.

It was close to eleven that night when I knocked on his door. I was no coward, and I needed to get this over with.

My brother pulled the door open roughly. He was wearing a stained t-shirt and sweats. He looked me up and down with disappointment and turned wordlessly to walk back into his apartment.

Yeah, I’m the washout here…

He didn’t need to tell me he’d seen it. I knew he had. I kept telling myself he was meant to.

Letting myself in, I closed the door and followed him into the kitchen, where Troy was grabbing two beers from the fridge.

“How many games?” he asked, handing me one.

“Two.”

His eyes fell as he considered it and nodded.

“I’ll pay the fine,” I added, as if it mattered.

He scoffed then shook his head, popping open his bottle and sliding me the utensil. “My manager called. Said it was brilliant. That this will sell tickets like crazy and I’m basically golden.” Troy’s brows shot up but he didn’t seem sold on the notion.

“That’s…something,” I offered dryly.

“That’s not me, August. I don’t do romantic gestures or apologies. And I didn’t think you did either. Who the hell is she?”

“You don’t know?” I frowned.

“No.”

“It’s Harper.” I had to tell him what this was about. He deserved that much.

“Harper?” The wrinkles in his forehead smoothed and he snapped his fingers. “Harper. That’s right. You always had a thing for her.”

My jaw tightened. “You knew about that?”

He shrugged and walked around me like it meant nothing. “You wouldn’t do anything about it, so I did.”

I set the beer down and followed him around the counter. “Play this out for me again. You knew I liked her and you asked her out in spite of it?”

He set himself on the couch, rubbing his hair back like he was dealing with a teenager. “You were always good at everything. You were the one Mom and Dad were proud of. First twin born. First place at everything . But you couldn’t talk to girls like I could. At least not her. Poor girl was always super sweet to you and you’d one-line her and walk in the other direction. And not very smoothly, either.” He chuckled.

“So you knew and just decided to what? Have something I couldn’t?”

He ignored me and blinked as if this conversation was making him drowsy. “What do you want me to say? You had everything. Everything August touched, he did well—this was one thing you couldn’t seem to get your hands on so…”

My jaw clenched and my stomach churned in disgust. “So you did? You used her, so you had one up on me?”

“Relax. She was a prude. If I couldn’t get to second base, you sure as hell wouldn’t have.”

I held back the urge to punch him but his words gave me some relief. Exhausted and knowing this conversation wasn’t going anywhere good, I turned to leave.

“I’m glad you did it,” he said quietly—and a little gruffly.

“What?”

“Harper. I’m glad you did it. I sure as fuck never could.”

“You wanted to?”

He nodded, head down. “I tried to. But I wasn’t a chaser. Plus, there’s just no apologizing for what she saw.”

I emptied the open beer bottle I barely touched into the sink and tossed it along with the other empty ones in the recycle bin. “I’ve got to go.”

“You’re over her, right?” he asked as I went to the door.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not like still hung up?”

I took a moment before answering—but I had no intention of lying to my brother. I had nothing to hide. “I’ve got too much going on to be hung up on anything.”

He nodded.

Now that Harper had what she wanted, I doubted she’d be coming around anymore anyway.

After a shower, I tossed the wet towel on the floor—which I never did but I was too damn exhausted to care—and crawled into bed, covering half my body with feather-filled covers.

My eyes itched like hell after days of wearing contact lenses. I was responsible when it came to everything else in life, but staying routine with my lenses was always far from my mind. Especially since the last few days—being my brother, who had perfect vision—called for nothing but my contacts.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day of playing catch-up at the office. Between last night’s practice and the game this evening, I hadn’t even touched some of the accounts that needed my attention. And it was only a matter of time before the clients noticed.

And my bosses.

I twisted between the sheets as Harper’s face came to mind, and I tried to shake it. My chest already heavy with the inclination that I wouldn’t be seeing her again.

There was just no reason for it now.

Just as the image cleared, there was a light knock on my door. Expecting it to be Troy, I ignored the first one.

But when the knock sounded again, with a little more force, I turned, alarmed. There was something off about it. That wasn’t the knock of a six-foot-four hockey player with hard knuckles.

It was most definitely a smaller hand. And though tentative, it was unrelenting. Whoever it was, was not going away.

I didn’t bother with boxers and just threw on my thin pajama pants. It occurred to me they were the same ones Harper was wearing when she crashed here last week.

Slipping on my black-rimmed eyeglasses, I treaded down the hall, pulling the door open without a thought.

I would have sworn that my tired eyes were playing ticks on me, but there was no way my imagination would carry me as far as picturing Harper with the rock-hard expression she held right now.

I swiped the frames off my eyes. Her gaze dropped to the spectacles I held between my fingers.

Something shifted between us. At least for her. I could tell by the way she was looking at me.

What I should have done was smile that all-knowing smile Troy carried so well. As if he’d known she’d come around. He’d lean casually on the door frame, shirtless and proud, welcoming her in without a single word.

He was right—he was better at this.

“Harper.” It sounded so desperate coming from my lips because it was torture seeing her again.

“Can I come in?” Sweet with a bite. That's how she sounded if it were possible to mix the two.

I pushed the door against the wall, letting her through. “Is something wrong?” I asked with caution because she seemed like she was about to hurl something at me.

“Yes.” She waltzed in and swiveled anxiously, her dark red boots pacing the few feet of the entry, her trench coat swinging behind her with every pivot. “Why did you do what you did tonight?”

“Because it was what you wanted. Sorry I couldn't do it nak—”

“Why?” she asked again, almost shouting this time.

“Harper.” I reached out to calm her. “Please don’t make more of this than it is.” The last thing I needed was for her to fall for Troy all over again.

“So, it was nothing. Clearing a conscience?” Her brows popped questionably.

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Excuse me?”

“Why did you kiss me, then?” she cried. “That's not something I wanted, but you did it anyway.”

“Harper.”

“Yes,” she shouted. “I’m very much aware that you know who I am. Why would you kiss me?”

Heavens.

“I’m sorry I kissed you.”

Her big eyes looked up at me—a flash of hurt. “Are you?”

Not even for a second.

I turned away from her, pinching the bridge of my nose. “What do you want from me, Harper?”

She stepped forward and twisted me back to face her with zero hesitation. “I want you to do it again.”

“Why would you want anything to do with me?” My eyes narrowed on her. Disappointment clear in my voice, because she shouldn’t want the person she thought I was.

Her mouth opened then shut again, holding back whatever she was going to say in response. Instead, she nudged closer, causing me to step back.

“I’m not going to kiss you again,” I told her flatly.

“Why not? You prefer brunettes? Am I not good enough for you?”

“Dammit, Harper.” Dropping the fist I held against my mouth, I moved in on her, pressing her against the nearest wall and dipping my head. I kissed her. I kissed her furiously —just for that comment. Because no. I preferred blondes. Not all. Just the one. Heck, she could have dyed her hair purple, and I’d be into it.

Something between a whine and a moan escaped her as she welcomed the heat of my body and the degree of my longing for her lips again. Her cool fingers slipped around my neck, kissing me back, holding me like a woman drowning.

I knew I had to stop this. Hell, I’d been condemning myself for this very thing for nearly a week now, but she was like a drug. A sexy, slim, luscious drug and there was no shaking this addiction off.

I released her when we both needed to breathe. “Tell me,” she pleaded, her hands still in my hair, her eyes searching mine.

What the hell was she asking me for? What was she asking him for?

Troy.

Something twisted in my stomach, and my teeth clenched. It was all I could do when I couldn’t very well bite my own fist in front of her. “You should go.”

“You…you want me to go?”

I wanted her to stay more than I wanted my next breath. “There’s nothing I need to say.”

She watched me for a moment and her tone shifted to something slightly more frustrated. “Can we just forget about high school? Can you—can you just be you? The man you are today…and tell me who that is.” There was a break in her voice, almost like a cry, and it gutted me.

What the hell does she want?

I was no idiot. I knew when someone was talking in circles, but whatever she wanted, I wasn’t going to give it to her. Gently, I swiped the side of her beautiful mouth with my thumb, then turned, putting distance between us.

Somehow, I’d made this worse. Somehow, I made my brother a better man in her eyes tonight.

And now she wanted him to what? Tell her he’d changed?

Not. Going. To happen.

My sudden steel expression made her flinch, but she didn’t back down. Instead, she begged me with a whisper. “Please don’t ask me to leave.”

That fucking did it.

I released a breath. “Baby, I don’t want you to.” With two strides, I had her back in my arms, my tongue sweeping her lips apart and sliding in to taste her again. Pushing the coat off her shoulders, I let it fall to the floor. She responded by pressing against me, letting her head fall back to give me more as my tongue slid down her neck.

Frustration and possession taking over, I moved her over to a wall that separated my living room and bedroom. Pressing my mouth back on hers, I worked the buttons of her blouse—snapping off the last one with a sharp tug. I slid the material off and bent to kiss the top of her chest.

It wasn’t until she whimpered that my jaw tightened in fury and I froze for a second. She was too willing, too eager. She shouldn’t want him like this. He didn’t deserve her like this.

I didn’t either. But I couldn’t stop if I tried. I was so desperate to be with Harper that the idea of stopping made every nerve of my body tighten with grief. I was out of my mind with an intense ache to be with her, to feel her skin against mine. I wanted her and I wasn’t going to apologize for it.

Her shirt fell to the floor, and her legs wrapped around my waist when I lifted her, moving us into my bedroom. It wasn’t entirely dark. Between the Brooklyn Bridge and the city skyline through my window, there was just enough light to see where you're going. But the minute we stepped in, Harper’s breathing became erratic—more so than someone panting from being hot and bothered.

This one bordered around nerves; I was sure of it.

Regardless, it was enough to give me pause, so I set her over my dresser and flicked on the small lamp beside us. Something told me she wasn’t ready for my bed.

“What’s going on?” I breathed, my body still leaning toward her, my erection in full effect.

She looked past me briefly, then back to meet my gaze. “Um…you’re…it's um…” She swallowed and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Hey,” I lifted her chin.

Her eyes flew open and dipped to the bulge through the thin fabric pointing at her. She gasped. “Oh.”

“Yeah, I would think if that didn’t happen, you should be worried.”

She released a breathy laugh and it was too cute not to make me smile. “Right. Of course.”

“Is something wrong?” I asked. Having no way of settling my dick, I stepped back a fraction to give her some room.

“N-Not at all,” Harper shook her head vigorously before pulling me back against her.

The urgency in her lips and body language was unsettling. And I wondered if she were afraid she’d change her mind. If there was any chance of that, I needed to stop.

I pulled back and looked at her, swiping locks of her golden hair off her face. Her eyes lifting slowly to meet mine—only because she knew I was waiting.

It took a minute to register all the possible reasons she was holding back. But based on what she was fighting, only one made sense.

“You haven’t been with anyone.” I didn’t bother posing it as a question. The answer was obvious.

She shook her head.

I released a breath, frustration aimed at one aching part of my body that wouldn’t understand that nothing could happen tonight.

She looked utterly humiliated and I laughed, brushing my hands along my face.

“What’s so funny?”

“This explains why you freaked that night in the bathroom stall.” I raised a brow.

She blushed and shoved at my bare chest, a grin finally touching her lips.

“You’re afraid of it.”

“I’m not afraid of anything.” Her response was quick and sharp.

“Oh, you should be.”

She laughed. “And why is that?”

“I’m a tall guy.” I doubted I needed to say much more.

“You think you’ll break me?”

The smirk withered from my face. “Not in a way you’re not going to like.”

She pressed her lips together. Her body language shifting and shying away.

“Relax...nothing is going to happen tonight.” I smirked and backed up off her.

She frowned and jumped off the dresser, moving past me—and toward my bed. “Was it something I said?”

I fucking can’t with this woman . “Harper.”

She waited for me at my bedside, her chest rising slightly above her laced bra. I took small strides toward her, watching for signs that I was making her nervous. But she was steady as a rock, even by the time I reached her.

"You don't have to prove anything." But even as I said it, my hands were reaching for her again.

Brushing my thumb across her lips, I stopped fighting it, she wanted me—I had to believe it was me. Not Troy. He wasn’t the one she was after tonight. It was the way I kissed her, all the things I’d said and done since that night at the bar that made her come here today, offering herself to me.

This was real. Somehow I doubted her plan was to take off with my clothes again. There was no mistaking the lust in a woman’s eyes.

But Jesus, she was a virgin. There was no way I could follow through with everything my dick wanted to do since she walked in here.

Like finishing undressing her and burying myself deep inside her.

I hooked my fingers into her jeans and pulled her against my chest.

“Didn’t your friend tell you it’s impolite to sleep in someone’s bed in your street clothes?”

“Sounds…familiar.” She teased back.

I loosened the button and zipper of the tight denim and pushed them down her legs.

Her brown eyes held mine as my hands took their time sliding back up her bare legs, thighs, and hips as I took in every inch of her, smelling a mixture of coconut and coffee beans. Reaching my full height, I stilled and motioned toward my bed. “After you.”

She was so innocent that the prompt seemed to throw her off. She sat neatly on the edge and I grinned, admiring her skin, the way her hair fell on her bare shoulders. Every crease and curve of her body had me in a fucking trance.

I didn't know what I was waiting for. A hint of doubt? Tension humming beneath her calm surface? Anything to convince me to stop.

But there wasn't a single flicker of her gaze or a twitch of her hands. Harper shimmied further into the center of my bed as I moved in.

Scooping my hands under her knees, I spread her slightly, my eyes fixed on hers as I joined her on the bed—between her legs.

Her breath hitched. But it came with a shimmer in her eye.

“Relax.”

“Easy for you to say, hot shot,” she breathed with a coy smile.

“You’re right. That’s not fair.” I put my hand on the back of her head and softly pressed my lips against hers. The fingers of my free hand traced down the outline of her curves, stopping at the strap that rested against her hip.

"Harper, I’m going to keep my pants on tonight.”

“But—”

I put a finger over her lips. “But you’re not.”

I ran a hand through her hair, lifting it up and across the pillow as she let herself sink into it. Taking hold of one covered breast, I kissed my way down her chest. Reaching behind her, I undid the hooks, loosening the straps.

Her breathing accelerated as she arched her back—waiting for me to unwrap her. But I had other plans.

"Take it off for me, Harper."

Her eyes met mine, biting her lip with a smirk as she tugged on the red straps, pushing them down her arms.

Now I was the one out of breath.

Without giving myself nearly enough time to admire her full luscious breasts, I squeezed one while taking the other in my mouth. Tasting her perfect nipple, my tongue traced over it again and again until the soft moans and restless writhing beneath me began.

Her hands were tentative at first, then everywhere—my hair, my back, my arms. Her moans were hesitant, and I couldn’t wait to break them out of her. To make her shake, scream, convulse with a kind of pleasure she'd never known.

I lifted my gaze. "Okay if I move down?"

"Please," she begged. And fuck, it was beautiful.

I slid off the lace panties, resisting the urge to hold them to my nose because she smelled so goddamn amazing. I tossed them to the side. I bit back a hiss as I took in her glistening pink pussy. "So. Fucking. Wet." I met her eyes. "So pretty."

I caught her clench at the praise and my rock-hard dick ached, practically feeling her doing the same around it.

Harper pulled on the sheet, covering her bare skin. I allowed it for the most part. Because in a minute, she was going to be pushing them off without my having to ask.

I grinned as I kissed her inner thighs, loving the way she writhed and shivered. I blew softly against the wetness, making her gasp. This teasing was not going to last. I was practically salivating to taste her.

I swiped my finger down her slit. She whimpered, bucking her hips for more.

Fuck, I'm going to enjoy this. "I'm making this pussy mine tonight, Harper. Is that what you want?"

She licked her dry lips. "Yes."

I rubbed her clit before giving it a quick pinch. "I'm going to suck on this like I own it."

"Yes." She writhed.

"And you're going to let yourself go. Don't think about the past. Just be here. With me. Rock against me, pull my hair. And whatever you do— don't scream my name—or I will stop."

Harper blinked at the strange command. But something that resembled understanding crossed her features, and she nodded. "I won't. I promise."

Kissing the top of her mound, I moved two fingers inside her and she gasped. So beautifully. So intoxicatingly, I nearly lost myself in it.

Pumping in and out of her, I looked up to watch her. Eyes closed, the sheet cover now far from her body. Her teeth bit her bottom lip as I pulled out of her. A small groan escaped after I’d momentarily left her cold.

She was ready for more. Much, much more.

Finally, my mouth covered her needy pussy. My tongue slid between the plump lips—fucking her the same way my fingers did seconds ago. I devoured her. Tasting her in a way I never realized I wanted more than my next breath. The tip of my tongue played with her clit until she started to shake and groan.

I held her steady, focused on getting her where I wanted. I didn't want to make Harper come.

I wanted to make her explode .

I sucked hard on her clit. It was probably too much for her, too damn intrusive—but I needed to hear her scream.

"Please, please, please. More. Make me come."

Fuck, I underestimated her. I hooked two fingers into her pussy as I sucked, causing her to lift off the pillow with a loud moan.

Harper's back curved, and she gripped onto the pillows behind her as if they were her lifeline on the rollercoaster she was on. Her mouth opened and the most beautiful cries echoed in my ears as she came hard against my mouth.

"Good, God . That was…"

"Mind-blowing?" I finished.

She pressed her lips together, not giving me the satisfaction. "It was…enjoyable."

With a curt nod, I lowered myself to her sensitive pussy. "Then let me try that again."

She flinched at the touch with a giggle. "No. No, no. It was mind-blowing, breathtaking, out-of-this-world-good." She grabbed my face and kissed me hard. "Thank you," she whispered.

I chuckled as I moved up her body, tracing soft kisses as I did—forgetting that my hard cock was poking her along the way.

Her grin was wide enough to rip me to shreds when I reached for her, pulling her into the crook of my arm. She was sweaty and flushed and naked.

My stomach buzzed with a need to tell her exactly what I thought of her at that moment. “You're stunning, Harper. You're perfect.”