Page 32 of Sinful Like Us
“You could’ve tattooed it on your ass.”
Thatcher laughs first, the sudden noise deep but light.
Banks smiles into laughter too, and I brighten and realize how somewhere deep down, I knew Thatcher would find humor in this exchange. He’s become less of a mystery, and I’m so incredibly fond of the man next to me.
Or rather…the man I’m sitting on.
I blow out a breath, my heart beating wildly.
He presses a kiss to the top of my head.
I’m in love.
Don’t be frightened, Jane.
I’m trying.
Thatcher nods to his brother. “See that, you had some common sense at fourteen.”
“Yeah. But still less than you,” Banks says, lips upturned. Happy that Thatcher is smarter, but Thatcher already shakes his head like his brother is brighter and better. Their pride in each other and for each other is as deep as the Bering Sea.
Banks swallows a mouthful of beer, then passes the glass back to me. “What else should we worry about?”
He means the twin swap.
“Piercings?”
“None,” they say in unison.
Thatcher let out a frustrated breath.
“That question was forme,” Banks says to him. “She already knows you have no piercings.”
He scowls. “Statazitt’.”
“You shut up,” Banks rebuts.
I smile into another sip of beer, finding their relationship the sweetest as can be. “What about scars? Thatcher has quite a few.”
He actually hasmany. Most are small and scatter his chest.
Banks lifts a shoulder. “I have some, but Tony won’t be able to tell us apart from them.”
Thatcher nods in agreement.
“Your hand,” I mention to my boyfriend.
He removes his left hand off the binder, just enough to touch his bent ring finger. Thatcher looks concerned.
Banks shakes his head. “Barely anyone notices that.”
“Yeah, let’s hope,” Thatcher says strictly. “Or I’m going to kickmytwenty-five-year-old self in the ass for re-breaking the same knuckle.”
We all conclude that it shouldn’t be much of an issue, and I think about another angle. How Banks will be left in Philadelphia pretending to be Thatcher.
“We aren’t planning to tell my parents or aunts and uncles about the twin swap, are we?” I ask. “Because I can’t be certain they won’t tell the Alpha lead.” They’re all very close to Price Kepler. He’s been Aunt Daisy’s bodyguard for over twenty years.
Thatcher frowns at me. “If you asked your parents to keep this a secret, you don’t think they would?”
