When she was safely back in her room, Ivy rested her damp head against the door and slid down to the carpeted floor. She was breathing heavily; her chest was heaving. She couldn’t be sure what was happening to her, what exactly was going on. Why was her body reacting this way, like she was excited that Leon Cooper’s brother had just seen her naked?
She should have been embarrassed and angry, but instead Ivy could feel a thrill coursing through her veins, and she tried to suppress a smile.
When Ivy came into the dining room, she noticed that Leon, or perhaps both the brothers had already set the table and were sitting at either end, talking. A hush descended in the room when she walked in.
Ivy had taken care to present herself well this evening. She was in a white lace dress that fell wide from her waist and reached her knees. She knew the dress worked well at revealing her curves, the full figure of her breasts and matched the golden color of her hair. She had let her curls hang loose, and her ringlets fell like a curtain around her shoulders, as she drew out a chair for herself and sat down.
Ivy was conscious of the two brothers studying her. She looked from Leon to Archer and then down at her lap. Leon was watching her with the usual grim expression on his face, while Archer still had that dimpling smile. Now, more than ever, that they were in the same room together, they looked like brothers.
“I believe you’ve met my brother. Ivy, this is Archer.” Leon said to her and she finally looked up. She had turned to Archer with a red flushed face, shy now in the knowledge that he had seen her completely naked.
“We have met, very intimately in fact.” Archer said and she noticed how his arms lay on the table, on either side of the plate before him. He too, like his brother wore a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He too had the same wide shoulders, the broad chest and the narrow waist, and Ivy couldn’t help but wonder what he might look like without any clothes on. It wasn’t that hard to imagine, because she had seen Leon naked, several times.
“Ivy is a brilliant cook.” Leon said, breaking the awkward silence. Either he hadn’t noticed the awkwardness that Ivy was suffering, or he didn’t care. She wondered if Leon knew what had happened earlier, that his brother had seen her naked.
“I can see that.” She heard Archer say, while she kept her head hung, focusing on her fingers on her lap.
“How is Minnesota, brother?” Leon asked, changing the topic immediately, while the two brothers began to serve themselves.
“The way you left it. Nothing has changed. But this place is amazing. Daddy would have been proud.” Archer replied.
Now that the two of them were talking amongst themselves, Ivy had the courage to finally lift her head and look at them. They looked so different and yet the same. It made her feel strange to have someone who spoke and talked like Leon in the same room. It made her fingers shake and she had lost all her appetite.
“Gravy?” Archer had said, snapping her out of her thoughts and she realized that he was holding a gravy boat out towards her, still grinning, with those dimples on his cheeks that made her weak in her knees.
She only shook her head instead of saying anything, and Archer suddenly let out a laugh.
“Your housekeeper doesn’t seem to say much.” He had turned to his brother, as though Ivy wasn’t even in the room. She looked at him again, glaring with her burning green eyes.
“I’m only giving you two time to catch up.” She snapped at him, and it made Archer smile and look at his brother knowingly. When she looked at Leon, she realized that he had been smiling too. They were both smiling, at her, like they had an inside joke. What had Leon told his brother about her?
“I apologize. You’re very kind. And your food is very tasty.” Archer said, tilting his head at her like he was some kind of seventeenth century Lord of the Manor. It only made Ivy angrier, and she started serving herself some food.
“And her food isn’t the only tasty thing about her.” Archer added suddenly, and Ivy looked up at him sharply, completely abashed. She couldn’t believe that he had just said that.
“Oh, I forgot about that.” Leon added to that, and both the brothers were laughing hard. So, Archer had told his brother about what happened. Clearly there were no secrets between them.
Ivy’s face had turned a deep bright red and she stood up with a jerk from the table.
“I’ll have my dinner in my room.” She said, interrupting their laughter. She picked up her plate in silence, while Archer was still coughing and laughing and started walking out of the dining room. Neither of them said or did anything to stop her from leaving and she walked to her bedroom with her heart beating crazily against her chest.
When she shut the door behind her, she sat down on the carpet again, being careful to place the plate on the floor without spilling any food. How had Archer dared to make a comment like that? How had Leon not been angry with that?
She felt ashamed and enraged at the same time. Just handling Leon’s broody mood was a task enough, but now with the two of them around, Ivy wasn’t certain any more if she would be able to handle them both. They were brothers, twins and had their own bitter sense of humor. Neither of them seemed to care how she felt, they didn’t seem to be aware of other people’s feelings.
She could feel her lips quivering as she sat there on the floor of her room. Conflicting emotions kept her from eating, from even thinking straight. She couldn’t stop being mad at Archer and Leon at the same time as imagining them naked. Now, slowly, she had started to wonder what the two of them were talking about, after she had left the room.
If the twins shared everything, what was Leon willing to share with Archer?
Ivy woke up with a start when she heard a sharp knock on her bedroom door. She hadn’t realized that she had dozed off to sleep on the carpet, the plate of food lying pushed far under her bed. The lights were off in her room but she could see a sliver of light from under the door that sh
e slowly walked towards now.
From under the door she could see the shadow of someone standing outside, knocking again. She had assumed it was Leon, but when she opened the door, she found Archer standing in the dim light of the hallway, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans. He had a grin on his face and his dimples looked deliciously deep on his cheeks.
“Did I wake you?” He asked, looking at her sleepily. He was drinking in her tousled curls, the creased lace dress that she was still wearing. All the sleepiness Ivy had been feeling, was quick to fly away. She was wide awake now, and starkly aware of Archer’s sensual presence at the door of her bedroom.
“Can I help you with something?” She asked, jutting her chin up in the air. She was trying to put on an air of pride, but he was seeing right through her. He knew that she was shaken by him. He smiled.