The third drawer held the jackpot. A laptop. He booted it up and was momentarily stymied at the required password when he heard her footsteps behind him.
“Are you kidding me?”
Swiveling in the desk chair, he took in the woman standing in the doorway. She had auburn hair, but she no longer wore a sports bra and sweats. They’d been replaced with a white miniskirt, and he did mean mini, with a lacy baby blue number on top that showed off the class A curves she was packing. There was a narrow strip of smooth, sleek abs showing at her belly button, and the sexy twinkling jeweled piercing there, which made him want to fall to his knees and worship the spot with his mouth.
Oh, and the boots didn’t hurt. His first thought was to strip her out of the lace and mini and leave just the boots.
Yeah, there was an image. But which twin? He wanted to say Maddie…“You’re not triplets, right?”
She put one hand on her hip in a stance that was self-explanatory. Pissed off female alert. Whether she didn’t use both hands because she’d been shot on the job, his job, or because she didn’t want to expend any more energy than necessary, he had no idea.
“So you’re still here,” she said.
Okay, she looked like Maddie and sounded like Maddie…but did she taste like Maddie? He squelched that inappropriate thought the best he could, which wasn’t very well. “I can’t leave.”
“Can’t? Or won’t?”
“Yeah. That one.”
Looking sizzling hot, she blew out another breath. “You’re more stubborn than my sister.”
Yes. Yes, he sure as hell was. She was speaking quietly, so quietly he practically had to cup his ear to hear her.
Very un-Maddielike.
Maddie wanted him gone. Enough to have her sister to pretend-again-to be her while she escaped?
Probably.
Standing, he went to the window and looked out, seeing nothing but forest. “You could have avoided me coming here.” He turned back to her. “You know that, right?”
She arched a questioning brow. “Are you fishing for a hint to which twin you’ve got?”
He decided to plead the Fifth on that one.
“We’re completely identical, you know. Except for only one of us having a small birthmark on the back of the right thigh.”
A most interesting image, one he tried to forget as he eyed her body, trying to tell if she was favoring her arm. “I know another difference.”
And Maddie did, too. At least the real Maddie did.
“What’s that?”
“The tattoo.” And if she’d just turn around and bend over, her skirt was low enough on her hips that it might reveal enough of her heart-stopping ass to show at least some of the highly stylized inked Chinese symbol she had there, the one that translated to Dream Big.
She’d never said, but he had a feeling that once upon a time, dreaming big had been all she’d had, something he most definitely empathized with.
They were definitely kindred survivors, but with the way she practically screamed high class and him hardly even knowing what class was, that’s where their similarities ended.
“Right,” she said. “The tattoo. But that’s not for public viewing.”
Now see, Maddie would have just flashed him the ink; he was sure of it. She’d done it before, to him and Shayne both, and he’d nearly had to kill Shayne for drooling over the sight.
Maybe he could grab her hand, pull her over his knee, and tug down her skirt to see for himself, but as much fun as that would be, he valued his life very much. “I’ve seen the tattoo. You showed it to me yourself.” He waited for a reaction. Yeah, there, that flash of heat and temper. Maddie. It was all in the eyes, the undeniable awareness of him, even though she was trying to fight it. Join my club, babe.
“I’m going to ask you nicely this one last time,” she said. “And then you’re going to be sorry.”
“Actually, you’re not asking all that nicely.”
“Oh, forget it.” She shoved up her sleeves. “I’ll kick you out myself.”
Ah, a threat. Definitely Maddie. “I can help you. I can help you both.”
“How? You don’t even know which twin you have.”
And that made her mad. It was in the tight lines of her gorgeous, kissable mouth. And damn, she was holding her arm close to her side as if her shoulder hurt. Rising out of his chair, he moved toward her.
She gave one startled squeak and took a step back, right up against the wall now.
Good one, he thought. She might have been Leena right down to that unhappy glint in her eye, except for the I’ll-kick-your-ass tilt of the chin. He definitely knew which twin he had, and wondering how he’d ever doubted it, he stepped up close and personal, toe to toe, flattening his hands on the wall on either side of her head.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
“I don’t know. Leena.”
Steam came out of her pretty ears at that. Oh, yeah, his gorgeous, strong, stubborn as hell Maddie was good and ticked off now.
Which made two of them. Why the hell wouldn’t she trust him enough to let him in on what was happening? Did she think he couldn’t sense that this was serious, deadly serious, and that she was in danger? It scared him. She scared him.
Frustrated and hot under the collar, he leaned in, wishing she didn’t smell so damn good…
“Maddie’ll-”
“What?” he murmured, watching the pulse at the base of her neck race. “Maddie’ll what?”
Her eyes narrowed as she clearly fought between admitting that she wasn’t Leena and her own damn pride, which wouldn’t allow her to admit anything. Neither could she fully squash the flash of hurt that he hadn’t known her.
Ah, Maddie. I know you. I know you inside and out. Watch me prove it…
Their noses were nearly brushing, and that wasn’t the only thing. Her breathing had changed, quickened, and with each shallow little pant, the tips of her breasts slid against his chest. He tried not to notice that or the way her nipples had hardened into two tight points, but was a complete failure at both.
She was softening, melting for him, and God, he loved that. Loved when she let him see the real her…
Failing at keeping his damned distance, he lifted his palms from the wall and slid his fingers into her hair.
Another sound escaped her, this one different from the first, low and uneven, which shot straight to his groin.
“What are you doing?” she asked, so breathy he nearly moaned.
What was he doing? He hadn’t a clue. All he knew was that he’d planned on getting her to agree to come back to work and then hightailing it out of here. But now, that was the furthest thing from his mind.
Which he’d apparently lost.
Yeah, his mind was gone, and he was crazy because he was going to kiss her. “I already know how Maddie kisses,” he murmured and slid the tip of his nose along her jaw, slowly exhaling in her ear, absorbing her shiver. “I thought I’d find out how you kiss.”
She gasped, but he shifted infinitely closer, letting his gaze drop to her sweet as sin lips, letting her know that he was thinking about much more than kissing.
And then she was thinking more, too, he could tell. Heat swirled in those baby blues as certain as it swirled in his gut.
And lower.
Christ, this was stupid. Spectacularly stupid. They’d kissed once before, and he’d barely recovered. He’d dreamed about, thought about, obsessed about that single kiss.
Now he wanted to do it again. Was going to do it again, stupid or not, mostly because his head wasn’t in charge. At least not the one of top of his shoulders. If it had been, he’d be still sitting at her desk, making her tell him what the hell was going on from a distance.
A healthy distance.