Page 12 of His Own Heaven

Toby chuckled as Lucy threw his brother a sour look. “Bite me,” she said.

“Only if you ask nicely.”

Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, she tightened her arms across her pert breasts and flashed them a tight smile. “Well, what happens if you fail to catch me?”

“We don’t fail,” Toby said, enjoying the banter. In all the time he and his twin had done this—not that they’d done it a lot—he’d never had this much fun. Talking was never high on the agenda with other women. Probably because he’d never met a woman who fascinated him as much as Lucy Barton did.

“Oh?”

Charlie smirked. “Weneverfail.”

“We’ll see,” Lucy said. Then she burst into a run across the lounge room, hurdled the coffee table, vaulted over the couch, and disappeared into the kitchen.

“Fuck me,” Charlie said, gaping after her. “What just happened?”

Glancing down at where she’d been standing, Toby saw a pair of bright red stilettos sitting on the polished hardwood floor. He’d been so distracted by her tits he hadn’t even noticed she’d kicked them off. “We just got owned,” he said, a slow grin stretching across his face. “That’s what happened.”

“Come on, slowpokes!” Lucy called out from the kitchen. “It ain’t rocket science.”

Charlie shook his head and grinned. “She’s mine.”

“Not if I catch her first,” Toby said, shoving Charlie out of his way.

“Cheaters never prosper, little brother.”

It took only seconds to reach the kitchen and realise Lucy was gone. Yanking open the door to the walk-in-pantry revealed she wasn’t hiding in there. Opening the laundry door yielded similar results.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Charlie sang softly as he lifted the tablecloth covering the dining table and looked underneath.

“Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?” Lucy said, smacking Toby’s arse as she bolted past him and into his conservatory.

He turned to see where she’d been hiding—behind the floor-length curtains in the dining room—and realised she must have been standing on tippy-toe with her slim figure plastered to the glass. It was the only way she could have prevented the voluminous fabric from bulging out around her. The only way for him not to have noticed her. “Clever girl.” He shook his head and laughed softly, not worried about not catching her. Not now. There was no way out of the conservatory unless she came back out the way she went in.

She was trapped.

Not so clever now, are you, baby?

He nodded at Charlie, and they entered the plant-filled room, flicking on the lights. Toby spotted her immediately crouching behind a clump of potted ferns, her hiding spot given away by her reflection in the glass walls. Lucy seemed to realise this as well and tried to run again, heading for the door at the far end of the room. She cursed when she found it locked.

“There’s no escape through there, beautiful,” Charlie said. “That’s the door to my house.”

Lucy sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and looked around, seeking another means of escape. When her gaze landed on Toby, then flicked between him, Charlie, and the door back inside, he knew she knew she’d lost. But still, she made a valiant attempt at getting away again, and if it wasn’t for the fact that she seemed to make a concerted effort to not damage his collection of native Australian orchids, she might have succeeded.

Arms pumping as she ran straight for the gap between them, she squealed as they reached out for her, then laughed as she struggled ineffectually in Toby’s arms when he lifted her off her feet.

“I win,” he pronounced triumphantly, grinning as he set her down again. Locking one arm around her waist, he grabbed her arse in his other hand and hauled her closer. Now she was barefoot, their difference in height was more pronounced, and Toby towered over Lucy, making her tilt her head all the way back to look up at him. His grin broadened when she slid her arms around his waist and cupped his arse in both hands, giving him a squeeze. An appreciative moan rose from his throat, and she squeezed him again.

Staring up at him with an amused expression on her pretty face, she cocked one brow, drawing attention to the fact it was slightly shorter than the other. On closer inspection, Toby realised her eyebrow had been truncated by the edge of the burn scar that carved through her face. It was more faded there and not as noticeable. He couldn’t stop himself from tracing the mottled flesh with his fingertip, or from noticing her amusement slipping into desire.

“Maybe I let you win,” she said, her voice huskier than before.

Toby licked his lips. “And maybe I should put you over my knee for telling such blatant lies.”

Lucy’s eyes darkened as she pressed herself closer. Toby’s gut clenched with need, and he almost forgot they weren’t alone.

“I told you, beautiful,” Charlie said from behind her, breaking her spell over Toby and drawing both their gazes. His brother patted her cheek and threw her a pitying look. “We never fail.”

Lucy pretended to glare at Charlie—smug bastard—until Toby laughed, the sound vibrating through her until any real annoyance she felt simply melted away. It was such a wonderful sound, deep and rich and honest.

---