Page 54 of Dopplebanger

The skin between her eyebrows crinkled. “Uh-oh. You’ve got your serious thinking face on again.” She moved her hand to the side of my face. “Look, I know I’ve been a bit more uninhibited than usual tonight, and I worry that you’re drawing all the wrong conclusions as to why. Do you know why I feel like I can let loose like this tonight?”

“Massive amounts of alcohol?” I automatically muttered, and she giggled.

“No, it’s being with you. I’ve never been able to open up to anyone like this before—especially not after what happened with my last relationship—but it’s like you get me in this way no one else does. And not to use a word that’s been overly usedtonight, but over these past few days we’ve had this amazing connection… It was just like,boom, there,sorta out of nowhere, you know?” Her thumb brushed across my cheek. “Please tell me you know.”

I dumbly nodded, warring with myself, because she’d made it clear that the past few days were different. That it was me, not my brother. Now how did I go about telling her that without destroying that connection? “I feel it, too,” I said, another shovel-full of dirt out of my grave and in a mound to the side, where it could later be used to bury me. I opened my mouth, but due to all her speed-talking practice, she was faster.

“It’s just… being accepted for who I truly am and knowing you have my back no matter what, and that you care about me and I can trust you… it makes me free. Makes me feel like I can actually take on the world like you said I could.”

The words were so fucking nice, yet it brought up sobering thoughts I’d rather keep repressing. “I have no doubt that you can do whatever you set your mind to. You’re crazy smart, as well as beautiful and funny and kind, and no matter what happens, this will be one of the best nights of my life—this whole trip was nothing short of amazing. I need you to remember that.”

Confusion flickered across her pretty features. “Why does it feel like you’re pulling away again? You’ve been dropping hints about sex for weeks. Like not even dropping. And I quote ‘just say the word and we can take this to the next level.’ I thought I’d made it pretty clear I want to go all in, and hello, I already had an orgasm.” A rough, lustful edge entered her voice. “Like a really amazing orgasm. But in case you need it spelled out for you, I’m saying the word.”

Did that usually work for Evan?Yo, say the word and we’ll have sex.

And now I was thinking of her kissing my brother. Of his hands on her. Jealousy roiled, growing toxic in my gut, andI wanted to take this part of her that my brother hadn’t. Notbecausehe hadn’t, but because unlike him, I cared about Gwen in much more-than-a-friends way, and it felt like she was slipping through my fingers. Honestly, I’d grasp at any way to keep her in my arms a little while longer.

I wanted her because I’d wanted her the second I’d laid eyes on her and now that I knew her better, I wanted her more than anything I’d ever wanted before.

But because of that—because I held out foolish hope at a chance for all that—I couldn’t have sex with her right now. All I could do was come clean and pray that after I told her the truth, start to finish, that she wouldn’t hate me forever.

I cleared my thought, although it didn’t seem to clear. “You have no idea how badly I want to delay this conversation and give you exactly what you want.” My eyes met hers and a band formed around my chest, squeezing tighter and tighter, even as I tried to suck more air into my lungs. “The truth is, I’m falling hard for you, Guinevere Cosgrave, and because of that… I’m trying not to be a total asshole here.” Even if I was a bit late for that.

Her arms dropped, and I hated the absence of her touch, even as it made it slightly easier to focus on what I needed to say.

The words lodged in my throat, trying to refuse to come out, so I had to force them past my lips. “There are things you don’t know about me, and if after I lay it all out you still want me, I promise there will be nothing that’ll stop me from carrying you to the nearest surface and showing you exactly how eager I am to go all in.”

She blinked at me, her confusion growing by the second. I told myself to just rip off the Band-Aid, but my thoughts were crashing into each other, everything I needed to say getting jumbled up on the tip of my tongue.

There were probably a hundred better ways to do this—not while skinny dipping and not after such an amazing night—but I’d put it off too long and it wasn’t like there were rules for this kind of thing.

“I haven’t told you everything about my family.”

Relief flickered through her expression, making it clear she had no idea how bad the truth was going to be.

“You see, I have this brother?—”

A loud scraping noise broke through the quiet, followed by a gruff voice. “Is somewhere out here? No one’s supposed to be out here.”

Gwen’s eyes flew wide, and we scrambled for the side of the pool as quietly as we possibly could. We yanked clothes over our heads, the fabric not cooperating with our wet skin.

“This area’s off limits! If someone’s out here, I suggest that you show yourselves now, before it gets worse for you.” The beam of a flashlight showed through a couple of slats, and we froze in place. Gwen’s lips parted, and I covered them with my hand, afraid that beautiful mouth of hers would get us in trouble. Everyone knew that “come on out and it’ll be better for you” line was bullshit—it was way easier to defend someone who hadn’t confessed. Or been caught, for that matter.

I gestured to the far corner where there was a table we could use to help us climb and flee away from the security guard—presumably—and she nodded.

Then she looked at the bra and panties she had waded in her hands as if she couldn’t figure out what to do with them.

The gate to the pool rattled, the sound of jingling keys sending my heart rate skyrocketing. I snatched Gwen’s underwear from her, stuffed them in the pocket of my pants, and nudged her toward the table.

She climbed on, and I boosted her up so she could grab the top of the fence. In spite of the fact that we so didn’t have timefor distractions, I took a longing glance up her skirt, thinking I was a damn fool not to have taken more time with that particular area of her body.

Pervy, probably, but I was only human, and it wasn’t like I’d climb over her.And now I’m thinking of how much I’d like to climb over her.

As soon as Gwen cleared the fence and disappeared on the other side, I heaved myself over, hitting the ground next to her.

Behind us, more rattling noises sounded out, along with the repeated phrases about “off limits” and “show yourselves.”

I grabbed Gwen’s hand, and we ran, full-out, across the property, dodging trees and sticking to the shadows as much as we could.

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