Page 80 of More Than Words

Reaching back to grasp her hand, I led her behind me to the door, pausing to take a deep breath before I let in the chaos.

“Finally,” he laughed, pushing the door open. “I was beginning to think you’d forgotten I was coming.”

“Trust me, bro. No one is going to forget about you.” He stepped past me, and Isobel stiffened at my side, her eyes comically wide as I turned to pull her into my side.

“He’s…” she squeaked while her eyes bounced to him, then back to me, his smile growing obnoxiously large. Much like his ego.

“It’s nice to see you again, Isobel,” he grinned, reaching forward to grasp her hand and bending in close to kiss the back of it. Arrogant idiot.

“He’s…” she stuttered again, and he laughed, stepping back with her hand still in her grasp.

“He’s my dumbass brother,” I filled in, pushing Hutch’s shoulder lightly so he’d step back, dropping Isobel’s hand. It trembled at her side, and I felt a pang of remorse that I’d kept her in the dark about his identity.

It wasn’t every day you found out the guy you’d been sleeping with regularly for the last several months had an identical twin brother who slept with other people’s partners in front of them.

Hutch, clearly reading the room, turned and headed into my kitchen, pulling open the refrigerator and peering inside before he grasped a bottle of beer.

“Should you be…?” I trailed off as Isobel pinched my side.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t drive over here myself, obviously. One beer won’t hurt. The doc took me off the heavy-duty stuff.”

“Adrian,” Isobel hissed, digging her elbow into my side.

“Uh oh. Someone is in trouble,” Hutch laughed while he pulled the bottle opener off the side of the fridge and popped the top off his beer. He stood there, bottle perched at his lips, watching the two of us, clearly enjoying that he still had the ability to make people squirm.

“Why didn’t you tell me it was your brother who…?” she trailed off in a hushed whisper, tugging me toward my bedroom door.

“You don’t need to leave the room on my account,” Hutch laughed, crossing the room and perching himself on the couch, arm casually thrown across the back of the cushion. “Your secrets are safe with me, Bel.”

“Stop,” I scolded, holding my finger in his direction as Isobel tugged me through my bedroom doorway.

“What the hell?!?” she whispered frantically, smacking me in the chest while I tried to school my features so I didn’t laugh. It wasn’t very nice of me to spring it on her this way, but she never would have agreed if I told her who it was. “You’re such a dick.”

“He really is,” Hutch called out from the other room, and I tugged my bottom lip between my teeth to hold in the laugh at the way her eyes flared with embarrassment.

“I can’t believe you. Well, I can believe you’re that much of a dick. But seriously? I’m supposed to ask your brother, who is your fucking identical twin, questions about his sex life? On what planet is that okay?”

“This one, Bel,” he laughed, clearly still shamelessly eavesdropping, but she hadn’t closed the door either. “I’m an open book. Ask me whatever questions you want.”

“I hate you,” she hissed at me as I pulled her into a hug, sighing in relief when her arms wrapped around my back, squeezing tightly.

“Pretty sure you don’t,” I exhaled into her hair, my lips grazing her forehead.

“You two ready to stop whispering about me?” Hutch yelled, drawing a soft laugh from Isobel.

“He’s here for you,” I whispered as she pulled back, gazing up at me with wariness in her eyes, but also a bit of trust. “I wouldn’t have asked him to do this otherwise. You need answers to feel comfortable with this manuscript and he can help with that.”

“Fine,” she growled, but it didn’t hold any conviction. “But you’re getting punished for this later.”

“And I’ll look forward to that, Madame Isobel.“ Her lip curled up in one corner, a soft smile forming while she looked up at me.

Hutch’s big mouth once again ruined the playful moment, calling out, “I’ve got some ideas for things you can do to him.”

Isobel’s nerves dissipated, her grin growing as she walked around me and back into the living room. “Let’s start with that.”

Hutch’s laid-back nature made it easy for Isobel to relax, and he carried the conversation while we waited for dinner to be delivered. Once it came, none of us seemed to know what to say, focusing on our meals.

Temporarily sated, the three of us were lounging in the living room after we’d eaten our fill of pasta from the place Isobel loved down the street.

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