My heart leapt in my chest, and I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning like an idiot.
A sudden tap on my shoulder made me jump, and I whirled around with a start to see Dr. Levinson standing behind me, his eyes twinkling behind the round little lenses of his glasses. “Shall I make the proper introductions for you?” he prompted gently.
“Oh, no, that’s all right.” I blushed a million shades of red as I smoothed my hair and stepped out into open view. “I can do it myself.”
The second they saw me, both brothers shushed. James’s eyes lit up with curious interest, but Robert greeted me with only a sour scowl.
“Nice robe,” Robert finally managed to say with a growl, unable to remove the disgusted expression from his face.
I glanced down in dismay, but I felt better when James stepped forward with a comforting grin on his face, a smile I was sure his brother wasn’t capable of.
“I agree,” he said, then punctuated it with a wink when our eyes met. “Of course, I’m sure you can make anything look good.”
For a second, everything froze, till I heard the sound of a throat clearing softly beside me I stepped aside as Dr. Levinson walked forward to give his official diagnosis.
“Gentlemen, I’m pleased to say your guest is going to survive after all. She will experience some faintness, some lightheadedness, but that should clear up once she gets some food into her system.” He glanced over his shoulder to give me a warm smile. “Let me know if I can be of further assistance in any way.”
I could tell a lot by a person based on how they treated their underlings, the people whose checks they signed. Over the last few weeks, I’d seen Robert bitterly snap at interns, lawyers, and even the poor messenger boy who dropped off our morning mail. On the contrary, the James I remembered called the French chef by name, and I was willing to bet he even knew the names of the man’s family, if not their birthdays as well.
Just as telling was the way the employed treated their supervisors. Levinson and Robert barely shared a glance, while the doctor and James seemed to automatically join for a warm embrace. In fact, they happily enjoyed a flurry of back claps and cheerful farewells before James pulled away with a smile.
“Thanks again for coming, Paul. And staying the night. Sorry for the late notice,” James said, even as those gorgeous, inviting eyes flicked past the doctor and came to rest on me, twinkling with mischief. “We just can’t afford to lose this one.”
I blushed again, spilling my hair across my face as James walked the doctor out to the foyer and to the front door. That same honey smell washed over me again as he passed by, and I found myself momentarily dazed, so dazed that I didn’t even notice Robert staring at me until he cleared his throat.
“So my brother was the one you wanted all along?”
The same horrible chill that had overtaken me at the office enveloped me again now, drenching my skin in a cold sweat as I stepped automatically away from all that unbridled rage. “Your brother and I connected one night. We never exchanged numbers. And when I met you, I thought you were him.”
“I guess everything makes sense now.”
“I’m so sorry. I
really thought you were him. I would never hit on my boss, not ever.”
“It’s why you were so upset when I didn’t have a tattoo? You know, when you had your hands all over my chest.”
“Um...yes.”
He sighed. “I’m connecting all the dots.”
“It’s why it never worked between us. You weren’t him.”
James turned toward me. “You thought Robert was me?”
“Yes. And he didn’t recognize me. And I was crushed.”
“I’m so sorry. But it wasn’t me.”
“I know that now.”
His lips pressed into grim lines. “But you didn’t at the time. You honestly thought I forgot about you. That I forgot about our amazing, magical, memorable night. And I never forgot. Not ever. I thought about you all the time. I couldn’t get you out of my head.”
“I knew something was wrong.” I turned to Robert. “Something just wasn’t right. It never was.”
And that something was that I was going after the wrong brother, I didn’t bother to say, as there was no need to state the obvious.
Robert shook his head. “Now I know why you jerked me around for weeks, teasing me, giving me all those mixed signals. You strung me along, made a fool of me. It isn’t right to get a man’s hopes up...or anything else up.”