Page 23 of Dopplebanger

I slowed my steps and glanced up at him. “I’m just about done with the thinking.”

“Temporarily, or for good?”

I dragged a finger down his arm and shot him a smile. “It depends on how good you are at distracting me.”

Heat flared through the blue eyes that ran down my body before slowly coming back up to lock on to mine. Although he’d occasionally flashed me expressions that conveyed desire before, this was like that on crack, and I found myself cheering for crack usage.

Love crack, for the record. I felt like I’d taken a hit of it, too.

Needing to feed my addiction, I leaned in for a kiss and sighed when my lips met his. Intoxicating warmth flooded me, and as he tugged me closer and deepened the kiss, I decided that if there was ever a guy to take a chance on, it was this one.

ELEVEN

I’m definitely going to hell for this.Probably a little faster with each kiss, too—yet I couldn’t stop.

What with the way she fit against me so perfectly, and the amazing things she could do with her lips and tongue, I decided it’d be worth it.

Seriously, how was I supposed to resist this drop-dead gorgeous girl who also made superhero and humping-unicorn jokes?

It was like I’d made her in a lab, only I wasn’t creative enough to mix in some of the awesome things about her. That also sounded a bit too Frankenstein’s monster, so I needed to abandon that analogy. She wanted to be done with thinking, and so did I. I boosted her into my arms, my hands planted firmly on her ass as I rolled my tongue over hers.

She lowered her forehead to mine and made anmmmnoise that made me feel like a rock star. Since there wasn’t anywhere for me to lay her down—probably a good thing, because my self-restraint was crumbling by the second and I’d never be able to resist crawling over her and getting lost for a while—I reluctantly lowered her to her feet.

The slow drag of her body ripped a ragged groan from me.

“Dinner?” she asked, the breathlessness in her voice only making me want to see just how breathless I could make her. “It looks like there’s a burger joint in the middle of that strip of shops, and I bet we could get the ice cream you owe me for dessert, since we survived and all.”

“Maybe now you’ll have a bit more faith in me.” Even as I said it, it stung. Sheshouldn’thave faith in me. She should kick my ass to the curb, and she undoubtedly would if she knew I was an imposter who was standing in for my brother. My brother who had stumbled into a relationship with a perfect girl, but was too stupid to see it, so he was letting her go.

Even worse, I was glad—I couldn’t stand the thought of Gwen being his girl and hugging and kissing him while I stood by and pretended it didn’t tear me up inside. The thought of any guy touching her made toxic jealousy seep into my gut.

Once again, I wondered how I could feel this strongly after knowing her for a couple of days.

How much more fun could we have if we had more time?

But that wasn’t a possibility, and nothing would change the fact that if she found out I wasn’t Evan, she’d be angry, and I couldn’t go on for the rest of my life pretending to be someone else.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, bringing me back to the sidewalk leading away from the carnival and making me rethink whether I could keep on pretending forever. Completely ridiculous, not to mention implausible, but I found the thought more alluring every minute I spent with Gwen.

“I was just thinking this day went by way too fast.”

“I was kinda worried that you’d be sick of me before we even reached Pennsylvania.”

“Sick of you? Pretty sure that’s impossible.”

“Pretty sure it’s not.”

“Oh, are you sick of me, then? Is this your way of hinting you need some alone time?”

She laughed. “Of course not. I just… I don’t know what’s gotten into you these past few days.”

I held my breath.

“But I like it.”

At least that was a small consolation. Did it absolve me? Hell no. I’d always been the rule-follower. The one who did the right thing and walked the line. Evan was the one who left wreckage in his wake, used guidelines as a jump-rope, and took off for this party or that one while I stayed behind to clean up his messes.

I figured if my brother could get away with a lifetime of breaking the rules and doing whatever he wanted no matter the consequences, I should get four little days. One was already mostly behind us, and I wanted to forget all the rules and enjoy the limited time I had with Gwen.

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