“Let me guess, you’re the busiest, because you’re the best?”
He scoffs. “No, smartass. Actually, Smalls is the busiest. She’s the oldest of our group, except for her man Ben. She’s a badass, she’s a champion, and best of all, her personal trainer all her life was my Uncle Aiden. And he’s undisputedly the best. So when someone hires Smalls, they get Aiden’s experience too. It’s a twofer. The next busiest is Bean. She’s a fucking beast in the octagon, she’s the smartest of us all, and she trained a heart transplant recipient from death to champion.”
“Wait…” I pause after tying the laces on one shoe, and turn to him. “Seriously?”
“Yep. Mac died in our gym, he got a new heart, and then years later, after being trained exclusively by Bean, he became champion.”
“That’s two girls,” I murmur. “Your two busiest trainers are girls.”
“That’s because girls are fuckin’ awesome. Especially those girls. Next best trainer after them is Jamie, who is Bean’s brother. And then we work our way down the line. I fall somewhere in the middle. I’m no Smalls, but I’m also not Ben.”
“Ben?”
“Smalls’ man. He was a world title holder on the regular circuit back before Stacked Deck became a thing. He’s a good fucking fighter. One of the best in the whole gym.”
“But?”
Luke chuckles. “But he lacks patience for anyone who isn’t Smalls. He can train her, he can train with her, and back in the day, he tutored her through high school with the patience of a saint. But put him in the cage with anyone else, and he has zero tolerance for imperfection. When someone asks to take a second to breathe, he loses his shit and rants about wasting time.” Luke grins. “Most folks steer clear of the Sasquatch for that reason.”
“Sounds… scary.”
He laughs. “He’s a sweetheart to all the girls outside the cage. If you meet him, he’ll be kind to you, he’ll hold doors, and not look at your tits, even if you’re wearing a push-up bra.”
“Chivalrous of him.”
“I’d look,” Luke admits what the whole world already knows. “In a heartbeat. But not Saint Ben. No way.”
“So that’s your day to day life? Training others, then you put in some time for yourself?”
“Yup. And in my spare time, I have to fix the pier at the lake.” He glances across the room to a clock on the set of drawers. “And I’m running out of time. I’m already a few weeks into my sentence, and I haven’t even finished pulling the screws up.”
“Better get a wriggle on, then, huh?” I pull my second shoe on, tie the laces, and push to my feet as soon as they’re done. I snag my shirt from the end of the bed, putting a stop to Luke’s unpaid peep show, then I pass close by and lean over him to press a kiss to his lips. “I seriously have to go. But you could probably text me later if you want. I’ll text first, so you have my number.”
“Wait for me and I’ll walk you out.”
He tosses the sheet aside and exposes his bottom half without a care in the world. My eyes immediately move to his crotch, my teeth latch onto my bottom lip, and deep in my stomach, that fiery ball of lust simmers and sparks.
“Made you look, huh?” He grabs me again and pulls me down to the bed. His tongue lashes out, his hands hold me captive, and though it feels weird that I’m fully dressed and he’s completely naked, I still melt into his embrace and let his mouth seduce mine. “Wanna get dinner with me tonight?”
“Sure.” I lick my bottom lip and breathe through a brand new bout of need. “Can we eat early-ish? I feel pretty good right now, but by this afternoon, my lack of sleep is gonna kick my ass.”
“Seven good for you? Back here by eight. We fuck until three. Then you can sleep for four uninterrupted hours before you have to wake up and suck my dick.”
“So much chivalry up in this apartment.” I push away from his chest and smother my laugh, lest I encourage his filthy behavior. “Seven is fine. Text me the details, and I can meet you there.”
“Or, how about I pick you up like a fuckin’ gentleman, bring you flowers, wear something nice, and pretend I’m not playing a game of ‘guess what kind of panties she’s wearing’ in my head?”
“Perfect.” I climb off the bed once more and make my way to the door. With my hand on the handle, I look back and smile for the guy who surprises me at every turn. He wants to pick me up, like a gentleman. He wants dinner, and not just a booty call. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Um…” He thinks on it for a moment, only to smile and answer with, “Green.”
“Ugh.” I grunt. “I don’t have green panties. But what if I told you I’ll wear a lacy red thong?”
He flashes a bright smile and sits on the edge of the bed. “Then I would declare my favorite color red.”
“Deal.”
I open the door and head into the hall on my own while Luke scrambles around his room in search of clothes. I’m too fast for him, too determined to get home and into the shower.
I move quietly, since I don’t want to wake Rob or Emma, but when I reach the kitchen and find Rob sitting at the table, bent over a bowl of Coco Pops while he reads the box, I look around and frown. “Emma still asleep?”
He stops chewing for a moment, scowls, and sets the box aside. “Huh?”
“First of all, it’s weird as hell to me that you and Luke are identical. I feel like that needs to be said straight up.”
“Because you just spent the night with him?”
“Yeah. I was just making out with a guy that looks like you, and it’s messing with my head. You’re like… identical.”
He chuckles. “That’s what they tell us.”
“Second, if Emma’s not here eating, then where is she?”
“At… home?” he says it slowly, like I’m stupid and unable to process simple sentences. “Where else would she be?”
“Is this not her home?”
He shakes his head. Slowly. Carefully. “No.”
“So she just sleeps over sometimes?”
“Also no…” His brows come closer together. “Do you often sleep at your best friend’s house?”
“Best friend? I don’t have a best friend, but also—”
“Leave it.” Luke swoops into the room and hooks an arm around my hips. “Say goodbye to the ugly twin, Allyson.”
“We’re identical, asshole!”
Laughing, I let Luke lead me through the door and into the hall outside the apartment.
“Holy shit,” Luke murmurs the moment the door is closed. “Oh my god.”
“What?” I frown and glance around. “What’s the problem?”
“Rob and Emma,” he hisses. “I didn’t see it till, like… yesterday. Not till you turned up and started looking at them weird.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Rob and Emma!” he says again on a huff of impatience. “You gotta understand, Em’s been around since forever. Literally. She’s a little older than Rob and I, so when I say she’s been here forever, I mean it. She was running with us as soon as we could run, she was fighting with us, causing chaos. Wherever we were, Em was there too. So it was just the way it was, right? Even now, they’re grown adults who date other people and have sex sometimes, she’s just been the girl-next-door, so when she and Rob are connected at the hip, it’s just normal to us. But then you come in, and you naturally make assumptions, and suddenly, shit is clicking in my brain.”