“Aw, family time. That’s cool.” Caleb flashed me a parting grin before turning back to Madison. “What about you, Montgomery? Would you like to continue this little soiree down at the local pub? I’ll buy you a cider...or six.”
She paused for a minute to consider it, then lit up with a smile. “I’d love to.” She looped her arm through his and tossed me secret grin over her shoulder as they headed to the elevators. “Remember to call me after you finish with your parents. I want to know how it goes.”
“Whatever for? They aren’t your parents, Madi,” Caleb chided with a drunken frown. “Leave the girl alone. Not everyone has to report back to you.”
She pinched his arm, grinning even brighter than ever. “Yes, I’m aware, but Della’s family can be a little bizarre. You know what they say about people who are wound too tight.” Her eyes danced with mischief as they met mine. “Things can get a little crazy when they let loose, right, Della?”
Caleb remained oblivious, but I shot her a threatening glare and spat, “Have fun tonight, crazy lady. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“Yes, you will.” She glanced up at Caleb before reaching down to slap his ass. “You’ll find me over at his place.”
I clapped a hand over my mouth to smother my laugher as he looked down at her with a dangerous smile.
“Is that right?” Caleb teased. “I don’t recall inviting you for a sleepover, missy.”
She giggled and walked a little faster, and the giddy two disappeared into the elevator. “Do you want to get spanked, young man?”
Grateful the closed doors spared me from the answer to her question, I headed quickly to my own office to get the rest of my things. I took the same elevator up to the sixty-fifth floor, hoping the two of them hadn’t gotten naked in it.
And just as I was excited to meet a new guy in London, he canceled our date.
“I’m having no luck,” I muttered to myself.
The building was basically abandoned by that hour, with only an occasional custodian or panic-stricken intern running about, hoping to catch up on some last-minute work. I didn’t expect to see anyone as I made my way quickly down the hall. I planned to work late into the night and get caught up on all my work. Because I was pathetic and had nothing better to do.
A soft knock made me turn in my office.
It was Robert.
“Why can’t you just stop being such a fucking tease and give it up?” he asked calmly.
I stopped dead in my tracks, staring back at him in amazement and disgust. “Are you serious? Robert, I said I’m sorry.”
“Is it all about the chase? Is that was this is? You want me to chase you, don’t you? You get your rocks off that way, huh?”
My throat tightened in fear as I took another step back. “No, not at all. This isn’t a game.”
“Then what is?” he asked. “You’d better come up with a damn good explanation, and you’d better give it to me right now. I’m sick and tired of this, Della!” He paced even closer, furious rage twisting the corners of his face. “Well? Aren’t you going to say anything? Speak up—”
The dinging of the elevator behind us cut him off, and we both turned to look at it at the same time. For a moment, everything seemed to be completely still, even time itself, but when the doors opened, the impossible happened.
What the...?
“Robert?” a man called. “The cleaning lady told me you were somewhere on this floor.”
“James? You’re back in town?”
“There you are. Yes, I’m back.”
The man of my dreams spilled out of that elevator, and my mouth practically dropped to the floor. My heart froze in my chest, and I couldn’t feel anything below my face. A dull ringing assaulted both ears as I darted my eyes back and forth between the two men in cartoonish disbelief. They were exactly the same yet impossibly different.
“What the hell?” I said softly. “Who are you?”
“I’m James, Robert’s twin brother.”
“Twin brother? As in...you are twins?”
Robert had a fucking twin?