She let out a slow breath. “Tanner-”
“I love you, Cami. I know that wasn’t part of the bargain, but-”
Jerking out of his grip, she whirled around. “Bargain? There was a bargain?”
Then she caught sight of his attire. Or lack thereof. Her eyes went huge. Her mouth opened, then closed, then went wide with a grin.
A grin wasn’t quite the reaction he’d been hoping for.
“Cami!” she yelled, staring at the tool belt. “Better get out of the shower quick. I’ve got quite a sight for you.”
Footsteps came racing down the hallway, skidded into the kitchen.
It was Cami.
Again.
Seeing double, Tanner staggered back and encountered cold tile at his butt. Yelping, he leaped forward, and stepped on Annabel, who yelped louder than he had.
Cami number two, wearing only a towel, put her hands to her mouth.
Cami number one continued to grin. Widely. “He says he loves you, honey. So take pity.” Reaching for the kitchen towel on the counter, she tossed it to Tanner.
Tanner grabbed the towel-which was far too small-and blinked. Hard.
Yep. Still two Camis.
And neither of them seemed to be able to take her eyes off his tool belt, even as he fumbled to hold the towel in the correct place.
“Twins,” he said brilliantly. Once again he backed into the counter. He could handle a cold butt, as long as it was covered. “You’re twins.”
“Bingo,” said Cami number one, lifting a finger to her nose. “You’re quick. He’s quick, Sis.”
“That’s Dimi,” the Cami by the door whispered. “My sister.”
Tanner divided a startled look between them, trying to come to terms with this. “So all those mornings, when I thought you-” he pointed to Cami “-were in bed asleep, and yet you-” he pointed to Dimi “-would come dancing through the kitchen muttering about makeup and chips, that was…?” His pointer finger floundered.
Dimi smiled and waved. “Me.”
He couldn’t stop looking back and forth between the two women who were so alike and yet so dissimilar. “I thought you were half crazy,” he said to Cami.
“Well, she is,” Dimi confided. “But we don’t talk about it much.”
“Dimi,” Cami warned.
Tanner had about a bazillion questions, leading off with why the hell she’d never told him that very important fact about herself, but he had a more pressing problem.
Even more pressing than his nudity.
More pressing than the fact he’d made an ass of himself by opening up to the wrong twin.
The right twin hadn’t responded to either his tool belt gesture or the fact he’d told her he loved her.
“Okay, look,” he said, holding the towel to his essentials and feeling more than a little ridiculous. “I’m definitely at a disadvantage here.”
“Maybe you should go get dressed,” suggested Dimi, not moving from her spot, which meant in order to get past her and down the hall, he’d have to parade his back half in front of her. His naked back half.
He waited for her to move.
She didn’t. Not until Cami came forward and gave her twin a sharp glance that obviously was some sort of silent communication. Dimi sighed loudly in response.
“Fine,” she said, miffed. “Although since I’ve already seen everything, this seems a little unnecessary.” But she covered her eyes.
Cami didn’t, and yet when he moved toward her, she backed away, giving him room to pass.
“Cami-”
“You’re probably wondering,” she said, biting her lip.
“Gee, you think?”
She let out a little sound of regret.
“Cami, I told your sister because I thought she was you, but you should know what I said-”
“Are you going to tell her you love her again?” Dimi interrupted, her hands still over her eyes. “Because if you are, I’d kinda like to see it. Mostly because this is an utterly new and foreign thing for her, having a guy fall so hard as to humiliate himself this way. But also because I love her, too, and feel a little responsible for this morning’s events.”
“Don’t you dare look,” Tanner told her.
Dimi tipped her head to the ceiling. “Oh, and looking was so much fun, too. Hey, Tool Belt Man, if you’re going to do this right, let me give you a little hint. My sister here runs hard and fast from love, so I wouldn’t open with that.”
Tanner searched Cami’s gaze and got not one iota of a clue as to her thoughts.
“She’s afraid love doesn’t exist,” Dimi told him. “Is that right?” Tanner asked Cami.
“And as for why I was such a big secret,”
Dimi confided. “She’ll probably never admit this, but she’s under the misguided impression that men like me better, and if they discover me, they’ll ditch her.”
“Dimi, shut up,” Cami said, her cheeks red.
“I don’t-”
“Yes, you do,” Dimi said. “And you’re wrong. You’ve got Mr. Right standing here to prove it. Now I want you to listen to him, Cami.
And listen hard. At least keep your mind open.”
“Dimi-”
“I’m shutting up now,” she said, mimicking the motion of zipping her lips, her eyes still tightly closed. “Mute and blind, that’s me.”
“How about gone?” Tanner asked as kindly as he could.
Dimi’s lips quirked, but she didn’t speak.
Didn’t move, either, and Tanner sighed. But he couldn’t get mad because Dimi had just given him some pretty incredible insight into Cami’s thoughts, and any insight at this point was invaluable. “I’m going to get dressed,” he said to Cami.
“And then we’re going to talk. Alone,” he said over his shoulder for Dimi’s benefit. “You’ll wait,” he said to Cami.
“I’ll wait,” she said.
It was the best Tanner could ask for. He hightailed it in his very limited attire down the hall way, painfully aware of the picture he made from the back.
And even more aware of Cami watching him.
“STRIP,” Cami said to Dimi the moment Tanner left the room.
Dimi lowered her hands. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Cami unwound the towel she’d put around her head to keep her hair dry in the shower. Tossing the towel at Dimi, she straightened her other towel. “Hurry.”
Understanding dawned in Dimi’s eyes. “You want him to choose between us.”
“I want to see if he can tell the difference.”
“No, you want to see if he really knows you.
Cami, honey, that’s not fair.” But she started to strip. “I realize you’ve never played fair before, and maybe I’ve even encouraged that, but the guy wore a tool belt for you. Just a tool belt. So really, it’s time to trust him.”
“I know it’s time, but knowing it and doing it are two entirely different things.”
“So why are we doing this, really? He’s not going to be able to tell us apart. Nobody can.”
Cami waited until Dimi had wrapped the towel around her body and faced her. To her, their differences were obvious. Dimi’s eyes were cooler, her features slightly more refined. Cami’s hair couldn’t be tamed, and she rarely stood as straight and sure as Dimi.
“Cami.”
“Look, if he can tell us apart, then it was meant to be.”
“And you’ll admit that?”
Cami’s heart flip-flopped. “I don’t know. But there’s no reason to worry about it. He won’t be able to tell.”
“All right, but I’ve got to tell you, I actually feel sorry for him.”
“No cheating,” Cami whispered, as Tanner walked into the room.
He took a double take, which might have been comical if her entire heart hadn’t been wadded in her throat.
“I hadn’t forgotten,” he said to them. “But jeez, the reality of this is a bit unnerving.”
Dimi gave him a little smile.
Cami’s heart was in her throat. She knew her sister would help him in an instant if she could, so Cami spoke fast. “Can you tell us apart?”