Page 14 of Just the Wrong Twin

It was just as soft and tempting as he’d always thought it would be. The scent of her perfume was stronger, as if she put it behind her ears, and he was starting to find her suggestion of fast and hard very persuasive.

“Tease,” she said, her voice low and breathless.

Nate pulled back a bit and looked down into her eyes. They were almost indigo and the sight of her little smile, her lipstick smudged a bit, sent a jolt right through him. “I am not teasing,” he murmured then winked. “Fast might be inevitable.”

She stepped back and grabbed his hand. “Then, lock your car. It’s tacky to do it in the street.”

Nate had pulled into a legal parking spot, so he locked the car and grabbed the food box, then followed Sonia’s swinging hips as she headed for the steps of the house. That was a view he could have enjoyed forever. Those heels, and those legs. Nate followed her up the stairs to the front door of the brownstone and saw that her hand was trembling when she tried to put the key in the lock.

“You do it,” Sonia said, shoving the keys at him. She took a breath then smiled. “I’m too nervous.”

Nate sensed a warning flag on the field.

“Why are you nervous?” he asked, taking her keys. It was the last chance to turn back, to his thinking. “Isn’t this what you want?”

“Of course, it is, but things always go wrong.”

“What kind of things?” He flicked open the unlocked door.

“Mostly Katia things,” she said with a grimace, then stepped into the house and started up the stairs.

Nate had to wonder what else her twin sister had done, but it didn’t seem like Sonia was going to tell him.

With any luck, that meant it had nothing to do with him.

The foyer of her building was brighter than he remembered. The staircase wound up the middle of the brownstone and there were two units on each floor: one facing the front and one, the back. On Valentine’s Day, he’d arrived at night with Katia, and saw now that there was a skylight in the roof over the stairs. Sunlight angled into it, illuminating the stairs. The ceilings were high, the staircase had a sweeping carved bannister, and there was fancy plaster on the ceilings.

It must have been a real showpiece when it was all one house.

He remembered that Sonia lived on the fifth floor, facing the back, as they started up the second flight of stairs. He was carrying the food box with the Hook and let his hand trail over the bannister.

She pivoted to face him on the next landing, her expression fierce, and he almost collided with her. He put his hand on her waist, looking into her eyes even though he was on the step below. “What happened last time?” she demanded. “With Katia?”

If this wasn’t awkward, Nate didn’t know what was. Was he really going to have to tell her that her sister had tackled him and straddled him, taking off her top... “She must have told you,” he said instead.

“Not Katia. She tends to leave out a lot of detail.” Sonia leaned closer, her gaze intense. “Tell meexactly.”

That was the last thing Nate was going to do. He went for the executive summary. “When we got here, she realized the Hook wasn’t part of my costume and kicked me out.”

“You were Bucky Barnes,” she said. “I saw Meesha’s pictures. You looked so good.”

“Maybe you just like guys in uniform.”

Her smile was quick. “Guilty as charged.” Her eyes lit. “Or Lycra. Either way.”

That made Nate remember Katia’s costume—She-Ra, which hadn’t left a lot to the imagination—which was not what he needed to be thinking about right now. “I’m not wearing either today.”

Sonia ran her hands down his lapels and smiled. “And yet, it still works.” She stole a kiss that distracted him completely.

So did the way her cheeks flushed and her eyes shone when their kiss ended. “You said you switched places with her,” Nate managed to say.

“She went to F5F and I went to her party instead.” Her tone became frustrated. “She always liked switching places.”

“Not you?”

Sonia shook her head. “Part of the reason she convinced me to do it was the costume she had. She almost certainly planned it that way.”

Nate didn’t understand. “How so?”

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