“You’re the number one Bowman to me, Jeremy.” She licked her lips. His gaze dropped as he studied the gesture with keen interest. “You always have been.”
She set both glasses down on a nearby table. She then turned to him. Okay, Bree. Here we go. Try number two. “Do you remember the last time we saw each other?”
“You kissed me.”
“You kissed me,” she corrected.
“You asked me to.”
“What would you do if I asked you to do it again?”
He inched closer. “Are you asking?”
She nodded quickly.
Jeremy licked his own lips as his gaze dropped to hers. “Right here? In front of everyone?”
“If you don’t want to…”
His chuckle stroked her senses and sent a shimmer of bubbling energy straight to her core. What a sexy laugh. “Of course I want to. That kiss has haunted me for ten years.”
“Then what’s stopping you?”
“Where the hell is my brother? Jeremy!”
“That.” He stiffened and retreated. Desperate for him to follow through with what she’d hoped to be another kiss to rival the best kiss of her life, she took his face in her hands and covered his lips with hers before she chickened out.
Heat exploded inside her, liquefying her from the inside out, when he drew her into his arms and really kissed her. His tongue teased hers and explored her mouth. His taste intoxicated her like the finest wine. She was dizzy, giddy, and wrapped her arms around his neck to hold him to her forever.
“I see you found her. That didn’t take long.”
They broke their contact, and the spell faded. Jason Bowman grinned and pulled them under each of his arms. “How’re my two favorite people? I see you’re picking up where you left off.”
Favorite people? Bree forced a smile instead of correcting him. They’d said maybe five sentences to each other all through high school. Jason was too busy living the dream of every high school student to notice someone as plain as her.
“You look pretty damn hot, Bree. I can see why Jeremy has had a hard-on for you since junior high.”
Jeremy set his jaw and threw his brother’s arm off his shoulders. “Did you need something, Jason? Or did you interrupt us just to piss me off?”
“Whoa, bro. Loosen up. I just wanted to make sure you’re having a good time. I had a ton of chicks just attack me and needed you to help me decide which ones we bring home to party.”
We? Bree darted her attention to Jeremy as the expression slid from his face. He colored and thinned his lips as lethal anger swirled in his eyes. “Goddamn you, Jason.”
“What?”
Jeremy opened his mouth to say something to Bree, but then shook his head, snapped his jaw closed, spun around, and stormed off.
“What’d I say? Bro? Where you goin’?” Jason then turned to her. “What’s up with him?”
“It’s shocking how clueless you are, even after all this time.” Bree turned to go after Jeremy.
Jason stopped her with his hand on her arm. The thought of Jeremy hurting, embarrassed that his dull-witted brother had embarrassed him in front of her and everyone else, burned inside her. It really was high school all over again.
“Let me go, Jason.”
“Just let him pout. He’ll be back when he stops feeling sorry for himself. Come on. Spend like five minutes talking to me instead. We never talked in high school.”
“That’s because I wasn’t a cheerleader.”
“That wasn’t the only reason. You were Jer’s girl. There’s a guy code. We don’t go after a bro’s girl.”
“I was never Jeremy’s girl.” Despite how desperately she’d wanted to be.
“Not in title, maybe. I knew how he felt about you. He’s my brother and I would never disrespect him.” His tone shifted from clueless to firm, almost hardened, in a heartbeat. He sounded so much like Jeremy at that moment. That blazing determination in his bold blue eyes made him look like his brother now more than ever.
Jason wore his dark blond hair longer, wilder than Jeremy’s and had never needed glasses. Aside from that, they looked perfectly identical. But the resemblance ended there. Jeremy didn’t have giant diamond studs in his ears like his brother, and Jason didn’t have a brain outside of his pants. Jeremy, on the other hand, had a beautiful mind.
“Just five minutes. Let him cool down. He’ll be fine.”
Bree glanced around at all of the women from her high school whose longing looks shifted to poisoned daggers as she nodded to accept Jason’s offer. If only for a moment, she’d finally be the girl on Jason Bowman’s arm.
She hesitated. Would this be a betrayal of Jeremy’s trust? Then again, Jason had already declared her off limits. They weren’t sneaking away to make out in the back alley.
“Five minutes,” he repeated when she hadn’t accepted his offer.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because it’s what us Bowmans do. If we can’t control a situation, we remove ourselves from it.”
“Is that so?”
“If you ever got to know me, you’d recognize several similarities that span beyond looks.”
Oh, wow. That could go so many different ways. The heated look dancing wickedly in his deep blue eyes held Bree’s interest. “You and I didn’t exactly hang in the same circles.”
“Something we need to change.”
She crinkled her brow as she studied him. “Why change now?”
“Come on. Don’t be like that. It was ten years ago. So we weren’t BFFs in high school. That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends now.”
Of course he’d want to be friends now that she no longer wore thick glasses and talked with a lisp thanks to a mouthful of metal. “Would this have anything to do with the fact I look like, well…”
“A Victoria’s Secret model?” Jason grinned so wide his back teeth showed. “Maybe a little. That never mattered to Jer. He wanted you back in high school and wants you even more now. We both do.”
We? She didn’t miss that one. Her heart fluttered at the hidden meaning behind the twinkle in his eyes. As much as she’d love to know what, exactly, he’d meant by his comment, the fact he noticed her now and not back then proved he hadn’t changed. “Does this sort of pickup work with you?”
“Is it working now?”
“Not in the least.” She turned to leave but slowed as he spoke.
“He needs you, you know. You make him laugh. I’ve been trying for years to get him to laugh like that again. It’s you. It’s always been you.”
His words burned into her, flaming her desires. Her fears. Her everything. “I need to go check on him.”
“How about I join you?”
“Jason! What are you doing with her, dude?” some guy from the bar yelled above the noise. “I got the entire cheer squad lined up to do shots. Come on, man. We can’t start without our QB to call the play.”
Bree dropped her gaze to her shoes at the way the guy said her, like she wasn’t worthy of Jason Bowman’s company. Or any man’s, for that matter. “Why would you leave your own party?”
“Because I didn’t come here for them.” He lifted her chin with his finger. The amusement dancing in his eyes, with a hint of sensuality, had her wondering who he had come to see. It couldn’t be her. “Let’s go find our boy.”
The group huddling around the bar gave up on him and threw back their shots. When they came up for air, they hooted and hollered. It crackled in Bree’s ears. Jason pinched his face up in obvious annoyance. He wasn’t Jeremy, and she knew that. But he wanted to leave with her. Even though they were leaving to find Jeremy, just the fact everyone in the bar would see her leave with Jason Bowman had her smiling.
“Lead the way.”
FOUR
Jason hated playing the inconsiderate jock, the moronic brother of the class valedictorian. It was the person they all expected, so he went with it, butting his nose into everyone’s conversation like he had tha
t right. That way no one would suspect him of doing anything out of the ordinary as he used the camera hidden in his lapel to capture everyone’s faces. With a direct link to TREX, they’d know if any images transmitted kicked back someone on the agency’s watch list. If the hitter came to the bar, TREX would find him and neutralize the threat.
The guys at the bar hollering for him to call the play hadn’t changed since high school. Each one of them searching for direction from someone, anyone, so they didn’t have to make a decision. Most were married now, according to TREX’s intel, and serving out sentences in mediocre jobs. After all this time, they still took orders from someone else.
He thought he’d missed them, thought he’d missed being the ringleader of the masses. Being captain of the football team, surrounded by the rest of the beautiful people, had been the time of his life. He’d expected them to flock the instant he walked into the bar just like they’d done in high school. When they did exactly that, it both annoyed and disappointed him when he spotted just as many distancing themselves. High school may have been great for him, but for so many others, it sucked ass.
Especially for people like the woman he now had on his arm. For Bree Willows, it had been hell. For Jeremy, too. They’d drowned in the shadows of those hogging all the light.
Like him.
Why else would she run off to California and marry the first man who’d paid her any attention? She’d finally found a little light of her own. No wonder Jeremy had let her go. He’d sacrificed his happiness, his own light, so she had hers.
His brother. What the hell was Jeremy doing kissing her? That wasn’t part of the extraction plan. This, right here, was why Jason wouldn’t leave his side. The man thought with his heart, not his head. He made decisions based on pure emotion, decisions that led him into traps, like the one he’d almost not come back from. He’d nearly died that day, and Jason had nearly died right along with him. If he’d lost his brother, his best friend, he would have never recovered.
Thank God they were twins and shared almost identical DNA. He was a perfect match for everything Jeremy needed to survive. Transfusion after transfusion. A kidney. As if they weren’t close before, they literally had the same blood pulsing through their veins now.
Bree held his arm a little tighter, moved in a little closer. He wasn’t the Bowman she wanted. That wouldn’t stop him from doing his job. She’d grown into a beautiful woman since high school. He’d love to help his brother make her a permanent fixture in their lives. Jeremy would finally find the happiness he’d been waiting for since high school. Maybe before.
“Are you sure he went this way?” She favored her right leg. He glanced at her feet pinched in those shoes. They had to be killing her. Sure, they were sexy as hell, but what good were they if she couldn’t walk, let alone run in them if it came to that?
“I’m sure. Do you want to take a break?”
“Why would I want to take a break? We haven’t even walked a block.”
“You’re limping.” He nodded at the shoes. “They look like they hurt.”
“It’s my ankle,” she explained and rested her weight on her left leg to lift her right. “I had a run in with a taxi this morning. The driver came out of nowhere and nearly killed me.”
Jason made a mental note to have intel check into it as soon as they had a secure link into TREX’s database. As casually as he could, he asked, “Does that sort of thing happen to you a lot?”
“No.” She grinned, the gesture lighting up those smoky gray eyes. He understood why she had Jeremy in knots. She was stunning and had a great smile. “Well, yes. I’m pretty accident-prone lately.”
Interesting. He made another mental note. It could be nothing but wouldn’t hurt to check out. All the more reason for the Bowmans to stick to her like glue. If someone wanted to hurt her and make it look like an accident, that someone would have to go through the brothers now.
After Jeremy had weaved through most of the crowd at the Dirty Word gathering images of everyone in the bar before he secured the target, he’d radioed in his position. Jason did the rest, drawing the attention so his brother could get her the hell out of there. Instead, he caught them kissing. He did the only thing he could think of and interrupted them. They were there to protect her, not take her home with them.
He slowed as the idea took hold. Why couldn’t they take her home with them? It was perfect. What better way to protect her than keep her with them twenty-four seven? Between the two of them, she’d have around-the-clock protection. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d brought a woman home together. Something told him this time would be different. Jeremy would never share Bree with him. That didn’t mean he couldn’t help his brother win her over. Sometimes it takes two to get the job done.
“Where are we going?” She clutched her purse so tight her nails dug into the sparkly material.
“It’s just one more street over.” They couldn’t protect her at the class reunion. Too many people kept their attention on him. Jeremy knew how to handle his own, but he was in a sideline division. They didn’t know how to recognize a threat, let alone react to one, not the way an agent in the frontlines did.
She didn’t stop him when Jason placed his hand on the small of her back, or when he led her down the dimly lit street. After all these years, the city still hadn’t fixed the streetlights. He inched a little closer as they approached the bar TREX had cleared out for the rendezvous. “Are you ready for this?”
“Ready for what?” She met his gaze, suspicion swirling in her eyes.
“The time of your life.”
* * * *
“What are we doing here?” Bree squinted into the darkness. It was even darker inside the bar than outside.
Then she saw him.
There, sitting at the bar, his hand around a glass of wine, another full glass next to him, sat Jeremy Bowman. Was he meeting someone? Why else would he have a drink next to his? “Who’s he here to meet?”
Jason looked at her. “You.”
“Me? But we were fine over at the Dirty Word.”
He shook his head. “Too public.”
“For what?”
“Let’s go have a seat.” He nodded at Jeremy. “There’s something we need to talk to you about.”
She didn’t know whether she liked this Jason Bowman or not. He didn’t act dumb as a stick, didn’t make a scene to be the center of attention. He acted, dare she say, civilized. Bree drew in a deep breath, straightened the material of her slinky dress, and approached Jeremy. He didn’t look up as she sat on the stool next to his, the wine in front of her. “Is this for me?”
He nodded. “Drink. Relax.”
She wrapped her fingers around the stem of the glass and stared at the deep red liquid. Jason sat next to her and scooted his stool so close the heat from his body melted into her.
After handing Jason a drink without him ordering one, the bartender disappeared behind a swinging door, leaving the three of them alone in the bar. Why would it be empty on a Saturday night?
“What’s going on?” She glanced back and forth between the two men. “Why are we here when our high school reunion is happening in another bar?”
“Did you really come back to Anacortes to attend your high school reunion? You hated high school.” Jeremy sipped his wine and held her gaze, keeping her temperature elevated, along with her pulse. “We all did.”
“I didn’t,” Jason cut in and shrugged when Jeremy shot him a venomous look. “What? I thought high school was the shit.”
“That’s because you peaked in high school.”
“Don’t be a hater just because I got the looks and charm.”
Bree held an inward grin. They were identical twins. They both got the looks. Dear God, did they get the looks. As for charm, she loved Jeremy’s shyness. Jason was a bit too bold for her taste. She remained silent and let the twins argue.
“Don’t give me your troubled, dark twin look.” Jason then regarded Bree. “Look, o
ur boy is on a forced vacation. The boss told him to take a few days and get his head on straight. That’s why he’s here.”
“And you?” she asked. “Why are you here?”
“To make sure my brother has a good time.” He threw back his drink. “Way too much ice and not enough liquid.”
Bree set her attention on Jeremy. “Why are you on a forced vacation?”
“I work too hard, apparently.” Jeremy sighed, bitterness dripping from his tone.
“Would that be the little of this? Or that?”
“Neither.” He shook his head and sank lower, his shoulders slumping.
Bree narrowed her eyes. What happened to her Jeremy Bowman? The man sitting next to her seemed darker, more reserved. She’d only seen him smile a few times. He wasn’t the Jeremy she remembered. “Okay, fine. Tell me about this forced vacation.”
“The boss told him to have a little R&R. You know, to get him to relax, if that’s possible.” Jason gave his brother a double take when Jeremy glared at him. “What, dude? You’re way too serious. Your stress levels are through the roof. You need to learn to loosen up.”
“This was a bad idea.” He let out a long sigh.
“Jesus Christ, bro. Take control. I know from experience you have it in you.” Jason slammed his glass on the bar. “If you don’t, I will.”
Jeremy faced him. “The hell you will.”
“Then do it.”
“Do what?” Bree cut in.
The men held each other’s gazes. Jason nodded. Jeremy shook his head. Then Jason shook his head when Jeremy nodded. They used to do this in high school, have entire conversations without saying a word.
“Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?” She moved into their line of sight, her attention on Jeremy.
He flicked his gaze to hers before dropping it altogether. “I, uh…”
“Holy shit,” Jason groaned. “You are epically bad at this. He wants to take you back to our hotel. We both do.”
“We?” Bree stiffened and almost slipped right off the stool. Catching herself with the bar, she dug her nails into the wood to give her time to recover from the bomb he’d just dropped. Sure, she’d fantasized having two men devote all their attention on her, but never in a million years dreamed it would come true, let alone with the Bowman twins.
It Takes Two Page 4
