I knew Miranda had been in constant contact with the babysitter, so there weren’t any issues with her son, but it was still a bit of a nerve-wracking drive. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how horrible it would be if he wasn’t okay. Poor Miranda was shaken up enough.
“Thank you for being so kind tonight,” she suddenly said. “I know I messed up by inviting both you and Cole out to dinner, I just had no idea you were twins. I’m very embarrassed about it all.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, immediately reassuring her. “It’s not an issue, and you aren’t to blame at all. When we met in the diner, I should have guessed you weren’t talking about me. I was just so…” I paused for just a moment, before deciding that honesty was the best policy. “Blinded by you.”
“You were?” There was a note of joy in her tone that I liked a lot.
“Oh, absolutely. You’re the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
The atmosphere thickened around us, but the silence wasn’t awkward. I could sense Miranda rolling my words around in her head. I guess that must have been what emboldened me to ask a really hard question.
“I have to ask you, Miranda, who would you have chosen to go out on a date with had you known Cole and I were twins? Who do you like best?”
That sucked the air out of my car. Shit, that might have been a bit much. I didn’t mean to take things too far. But I couldn’t take the words back no matter how much I wanted to.
“I…I don’t know,” she finally whispered back. “I mean, I met Cole in the bar and he saved me from some creeps, which is how the whole date idea came up. Although I did tell him at the time that my life was complicated, so I wasn’t looking for a relationship or anything like that. Something I’m sure he better understands now.”
I nodded despite the fact that I knew it wouldn’t trouble my brother. If he had his eyes set on someone, he would stop at nothing until he at least got a date to see if there was a spark there. What a shame that we both had our eye on the same woman.
“But you, Ivan, have been so kind to me tonight. You have looked after me and I really do appreciate it. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m not familiar enough with either of you to make a snap decision like that.”
My disappointment sunk me for only a second. This wasn’t something to be sad about, this was an opportunity. “Well, you have plenty of time to get to know us both more.”
“I do?” Her eyes twinkled with delight. “Even knowing how complex everything is?”
I gave her a playful wink. “Nothing is too complicated for me.”
I pulled into her driveway and watched as she bit down on her bottom lip for a moment. The cogs in her brain were spinning wildly, I could almost hear them.
“You know, tonight was kinda ruined,” she finally declared. “And I really do want to get to know you a little better. Did you want to come inside? Have a drink with me or something?”
I nodded eagerly. No way in hell was I going to pass up an opportunity like this. I climbed out of the car and followed her to the front door. The only time awkwardness overcame me was when Miranda checked on her son and then sent the babysitter home for the night.
I knew that kid, she lived next door, and she knew me too, so the gossip would likely spread like wildfire through the town. It would reach Cole before I could tell him myself, but I wasn’t going to allow him to get in the middle of this. I really thought that Miranda was special.
She led me into the kitchen quietly and poured us both a drink, but by this point the room was drenched with lust. The night had taken another crazy turn and I got the impression that neither of us were thirsty for something to drink. Miranda might have opened up her heart to me and let me know that her life was too insane for her to think about something serious, but the way that she was looking up at me through her eyelashes let me know she wasn’t worried about blurring any lines tonight.
My heart pounded, my mouth ran dry, and my whole body lit up with the thrill. All I wanted to do ever since I first saw Miranda in Deon’s Diner was get my hands on her, and now it looked like she wanted that too. I wasn’t here to make her life worse, only better.
By the time we’d closed the gap between us, the magnetic pull yanking us together was too strong for us to resist. Temptation got the better of us. We crashed together, our lips meeting in the middle, causing fireworks to explode between us. Tasting Miranda was even better than I expected.
The kiss quickly turned hot and heavy. It was as if we had been trying to keep our hands off of one another all evening and now we just needed to claim what was ours. My hands knotted in her hair, and Miranda groaned in ecstasy as she clutched my shirt, rolling her hips against me. I knew she wanted more from me, just as I did her. But I was going to be patient. My rock-hard cock could wait until the timing was better.
But that didn’t prevent my eager fingers from slowly trailing down her body as she leaned against her refrigerator to keep her upright. Her gasps of pleasure as I traced my fingers over the tops of her soft thighs spurred me on, and I tugged her soaking wet panties to one side so I could finally feel her. Miranda was fucking phenomenal.
She was so hot and wet, all for me. I buried my face in her neck and hair, inhaling every delicious inch of her scent as I finally plunged my fingers deep within her. Miranda’s back arched, she cried out with pleasure as I pierced her. I could sense the pressure within her, guiding me exactly she wanted to be touched, the way she wanted me to thumb her clit to bring her to the peak of her orgasm, the way she needed to be held as I kept her at the edge so she could savor the bliss for just a couple of seconds, before pushing her over and into heaven. Experiencing what I was sure had to be a much-needed release.
We had a connection, and in the heat of the moment, I could really feel that. I hoped that through the throes of pleasure, she could sense it too.
The way she started kissing me frantically in post-orgasmic bliss suggested as much, but I was trying my hardest not to get too carried away. Just because I knew how to touch her, didn’t mean she was going to fall in love with me. Yet. I wasn’t the only man in her eye line, and I couldn’t forget that.
Although I was starting to feel like the only man who could win.