Page 69 of Dopplebanger

“Wow. Do people still say ‘duh’?”

I cocked my head, giving him a warning glance that clearly didn’t do its job, because the corners of his mouth ticked up. “Law school was ridiculously hard. There were times I worried I wouldn’t make it. I got through with a mixture of Mountain Dew, energy drinks, and enough coffee it’d have you speaking at the speed of light—which is why I don’t care much for coffee anymore, although I’ll drink it when necessary.”

That jittery sensation that usually followed a cup or two of coffee coursed through me, along with one that turned my insides all mushy on me.

“There was some determination thrown in there, too,” he said, “and I graduated at the top of my class. That might sound braggy, and it totally is, but it’s something I’m proud of.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. The graduating at the top of your class part.” I gathered my strength and swallowed. “Have you and your brother ever done the switching places thing with other girls?”

Anguish tightened his features, the lighter vibe sucking right out of the air, but I had to ask the hard questions or I wouldn’t respect myself. “No. We switched for tests or classes here and there. The occasional this or that. Once he pretended to me whileasking a girl to prom on my behalf. Since she had a boyfriend who punched me for it, it didn’t go so well.”

A laugh burst out, and then I clamped my lips. “Sorry.”

He shrugged. “That’s all part of being Evan’s brother. Remember when you told me about Madison, and how she could somehow talk you into the craziest things?”

There he went, showing he’d been listening. Proving that he did know me. A knot formed in my throat, so I simply nodded.

“The truth is, I’ve cleaned up my brother’s messes more times than I can count. Sometimes I resented that he got to be the happy-go-lucky one and I had to take on all the responsibility. In every single scheme we’ve pulled off, I always got the short end of the deal.” He took a step toward me, not quite closing the distance, but if I wanted to, I could reach out and touch him, and I was definitely tempted. “Until you. Spending time with you, it changed something in me.”

It’d changed something in me, too, but I was too scared to say it. “Are you and Evan okay?” I hated to bring him up since it was a tricky subject and all, but I also didn’t want to be the cause of a big rift between them. Unlike my mom, I didn’t find the Guinevere effect romantic.

He nodded. “We’re okay. He even helped me out with all of this and wished me luck.”

“Good, good,” I said, searching my brain for what else I needed to know. “And you have a job here? You’re not… leaving to go somewhere else?” I couldn’t give my heart to him if he was, although admittedly it was too late for that. Either way, I needed to find out what I was in for.

“I started my first official lawyer job about a week after we got back. But I haven’t been quite as focused as I’d like to be, thanks to being all messed up over a girl. If you’d like to go ahead and forgive me for being a giant ass, that’d really help me out.”He said the words lightly, but a raw vulnerability underlied them as well.

I arched an eyebrow. “Oh, really? That’s the solution to all your problems?”

The lightness seeped out of his posture until all that remained was a stripped-down version of the guy who’d sucked me into his orbit from the moment we met, even if I didn’t realize it was the first moment we’d met until several days later. “Really. I’m crazy about you, Gwen. I can’t stop thinking about you.” He took another step forward and brushed his knuckles across my cheek. “I miss you. So damn much.”

His touch not only caused tingles, but tingles upon tingles, so fast and so strong I didn’t know where they stopped or ended. “I miss you, too.”

A relieved half laugh, half sigh came from his lips. “If someone would’ve told me a month ago that you could fall in love with someone in a matter of days, I would’ve balked. But that’s exactly what happened. I’m in love with you, Guinevere Cosgrave…”

His thumb dragged over my jaw, my lower lip, his touch kicking up a storm that cycloned through my entire body. “I know it’s fast. Maybe even a little crazy. And I’m not asking for you to love me the way I love you yet. I’m asking you to give me a chance to see if someday you might love me.”

I wrapped my hand around his wrist, shutting my eyes and basking in the drag of his fingertips. In the way his cologne invaded my senses and reminded me of all the times we were this close. Closer. I opened my eyes and stared into his baby blues. Vulnerability shined in them, along with hope and the possibility of days, weeks, and months of laughing and cuddling and kissing and sharing, and eventually intertwining our lives together. “It’s too late for that,” I said.

His face dropped, and I realized that he’d taken that the totally wrong way. I tightened my grip on him. “Because I’m already in love with you, Ethan Haynes.”

He surged forward, cradling my head as his lips crashed into mine, my back bumping the counter at the impact. “Sorry,” he said, not taking his lips from mine but wrapping an arm around my waist and drawing me to him to prevent me from hitting the hard surface again. “It’s just… I’ve wanted you to say my name for so long.”

“Ethan,” I said again, and a beautiful grin spread across his face. Then his tongue was parting my lips, delving deeper, stroking me into a frenzy of love and desire and about a dozen other happy emotions. His hands slid down to cup my butt, and then he lifted me into his arms, fitting me against him in the most incredible way.

Automatically, I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he started carrying me down the hall. “How do you know which bedroom is mine?”

“Hey, I once promised that if you still wanted me after I laid out the truth, I’d carry you to the nearest surface and have my way with you, so I’m not really picky.” He glanced through the open doorways to both, then veered right, into my room.

“How’d you kn?—”

He tossed me onto the bed, and I let loose a squeak. Then he reached between his shoulder blades and peeled off his shirt, and nothing else mattered. For several seconds I just stared, unabashedly taking in the arms I’d commented on at the coffee shop, and how nicely they went with his firm pecs and his abs, and the obliques that stood out and led into the waistband of his jeans.

After flashing me a devastatingly handsome smile, he crawled over me. His lips moved with mine and dizziness set in as he kissed his way down my neck. “Way too many clothes,” hemuttered, tugging at my shirt. He yanked it up and off my head, and then flicked the button of my jeans and stripped them off me. He started to lower himself onto me again, but I pushed him up and undid the button and zipper of his jeans.

He groaned as his erection sprung free of the tighter fabric, his boxer briefs doing little to hide his arousal. Never before had I wanted something inside of me so bad. I cupped him over the fabric, basking in the way his muscles flexed as another groan ripped free.

Before I could get my feel of touching him, he pushed me back onto the bed and pinned my body with his. I writhed against him, greedily arching my hips.

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