“You mean, would I be cuddled up in the bath with a beautiful woman before ten at night?” He laughed again, shaking his head all the while. “No, not hardly.”
“Why not?” She twisted around so she could see him better. “According to the internet, you live in a virtual palace. You’re smart. Funny. And attractive. I’m sure you have women falling all over you.”
“Thanks.” The smile was real, but it only took a few seconds for it to fade. “To be honest, I’d never be home at this hour. I can’t remember the last time I left the office before midnight. Well, aside from the night I found out about Dylan.”
This time, Lacy turned all the way around. Her legs circled around his waist as she straddled him—stroking the damp curls of his hair away from his face.
“Your adoptive parents didn’t tell you?” she asked quietly.
He shrugged, glancing down at the water with a soft sigh. “They didn’t know. At least, I couldn’t imagine that they knew. They would have told me.”
Lacy nodded thoughtfully, not wanting to pry, but suddenly realizing that despite all their countless conversations, she’d never once talked to Logan Chase. Just his brother.
“So how did you find out?”
Logan’s fingers ran absentmindedly along her ribs, as his lips twitched up with a sad smile. “I got a notification saying my biological mother had died. Cancer. I flew out to Detroit in time for the funeral. Stood in the back. Kept to myself. And then the minister said she was survived by her two sons.” His eyes lit up with a belated bit of wonder. “Two sons. Twins.”
Lacy’s heart melted, as the scene replayed before his eyes. So many different emotions were battling it out, she was amazed he was managing to stay afloat.
“I went to the adoption agency and got a name. Had my PI track down a number. Made a fake social media account so I could do a little pre-game research.”
The solemn mood suddenly broke, and Lacy threw back her head with a laugh. “I can only imagine how that must have gone. I’ve seen Dylan’s facebook page myself. It’s a little...”
“Whorish?”
She laughed again. “Your word, not mine. I probably would have gone with...colorful, myself.”
Logan chuckled, but his eyes were lost in thought. “I couldn’t believe it was him. Couldn’t believe that out of everyone in the world—this guy was my brother. But there he was. Staring back at me in a million photos. Like my reflection had somehow learned to be happy.”
Lacy glanced up suddenly, struck with the profound sadness of the words, but Logan didn’t seem to notice. In fact, he was actually smiling.
“I flew out to Cleveland to meet him. We got drunk. Went dancing. I got groped and slapped by some girl who thought I was him. Probably should have taken that as a sign of a whole slew of other misadventures to come.” He shook his head with a faint grin, looking suddenly very much like an indulgent older brother. “I was all ready to go, when he stopped me. So excited he could hardly speak. Said he had this great idea. We should switch places. Live each other’s lives for two weeks. What could possibly go wrong?”
The story came to an end, as Logan and Lacy laughed again. Quieter, this time. Almost thoughtful. When he told the story like that, when she heard all the details, it was hard to find much fault with him. It was hard to see him as anything other than a comical victim of a hair-brained scheme gone wrong. A man who had unknowingly, unwittingly, stumbled into love.
“Did you really think I would leave you?” she asked quietly, tilting up his chin to look him in the eyes. “Did you really think I would have walked away?”
He stared back for a long moment, every muscle tightening in reply.
“Yes, I did.”
She shook her head slowly, eyes warming over with concern. “But you knew that I was going to find out eventually. Why didn’t you just tell me—”
How could I have told you?” It was so quiet, it almost came out as a whisper. “What could I have possibly said? Hey—by the way—my name’s not actually Dylan. I’m living out some sort of quarter life crisis with my identical twin.”
“...well I wouldn’t have called it a crisis.”
“I couldn’t lose you.” He stared up at her, his voice tight with emotion. “I couldn’t risk that you wouldn’t believe me. Or worse, that you would believe me, but that you’d still walk away. Things were going so well between us, and I’ve never...” He trailed off, looking abruptly shy. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”
Lacy’s heart fluttered in her chest as she squeezed her legs tighter around him.
She felt him stiffen slightly between her legs. “Oh yeah? And how’s that?”
The tension melted off his face with a single smile, as he hitched her up higher onto his waist. “Well...it might be better if I just show you.”
They held each other as they shared a fiery kiss. Her knees threatened to buckle as butterflies swirled in her stomach.
It’s like fireworks! So this is what people mean when they see fireworks!