Doppelbanger

by Heather M. Orgeron

  “Hey, Daddy?” Evangeline calls, jogging around to our end of the pool. Perfectly timed to save me from having to respond. Jesus, my heart is racing.

  “Yeah, princess?” He called her princess. My fucking nonexistent ovaries damn near explode.

  “The Scotsman just announced an ’80s party out here tonight after dinner. You think maybe we could all meet up?”

  Jeff looks my way in question.

  “Sure. Sounds like fun.”

  He nods before resting his hands on his knees and rising from the lounger. “Guess we’ll see y’all after dinner. It’s about time for us to go get your sister from the kid room, Vange.”

  §

  “Ah, Miss Gina, Lake, Landon, and you must be Kyle, the man in charge.” Our server, Wesley, greets us at our table by name, placing a basket of assorted breads in the center and filling our water glasses. He’s dark, Haitian per his nametag, with an exuberant smile of strikingly white teeth.

  Wesley tells us that he’s been working on the cruise ships for over ten years and has four boys back home and another on the way. He works six-month contracts and goes home just long enough to make another baby before he’s back out to sea.

  “Just freaking great!” Kyle announces, rolling his eyes.

  Oh, no.

  “Mr. Wesley,” Kyle starts, staring the man straight in the face. “Please don’t shoot your sperms in my Aunt Gigi’s vagima. We already have too many babies.”

  Water sprays out from my mouth and nose as I begin choking. I swear that man’s face, dark as it is, has turned ten shades of red. I can’t catch my breath.

  “Kyle!” Lake shouts through guffaws. “Dude, that was so rude.”

  The savage four-year-old’s face falls. Those big brown eyes well with tears, and he becomes panicked. He really is a sweet baby.

  “It’s okay, Kyle,” I reassure him, dabbing the tears of mirth from my eyes with my napkin. “It’s just not nice to talk to strangers about their sperm, okay?” His little head nods, that signature booboo lip hanging to the floor. “Just tell Mr. Wesley you’re sorry.”

  “I’m sorry.” A big crocodile tear drips down his cheek, and I pull him into my lap, cuddling my little boyfriend. I never could handle seeing him upset.

  Wesley, bless his heart, is a great sport about the whole thing. Kyle’s tears have our waiter all flustered as well and earn him a cup of ice cream before dinner.

  Just as Savage is finishing up his pre-dinner dessert, I hear him groan, and he hangs his head. “Oh, brudder.”

  “Dats Tyle! He’s in my group, Daddy, and I’m going to mawwy him!” pipes a little voice from nearby.

  I look to the once-empty table to the left of us, which is now occupied by none other than Mr. CEO and his two daughters. His little one is an absolute doll, with the bounciest blonde curls, her daddy’s blue eyes, and dimples for days. She’s his spitting image. In other words—trouble.

  “You’re not marrying anyone, Willow. You’re going to live with Daddy forever,” Jeffrey says to his daughter in a no-nonsense tone without the slightest hint of a smile. I do believe the man is serious.

  And, he’s fucking beautiful in his black button down, tucked into charcoal gray dress pants. Black shoes. Black belt. If it weren’t for the tenderness he exudes with his girls, I’d swear he had a black heart to match.

  “Yeah,” Kyle agrees. “Listen to your dad. I’m already marrying my Aunt Gina.” His declaration is loud, earning us the attention and giggles of half the dining room.

  “Should have known the boy Willow hasn’t stopped talking about would belong to you,” Jeffrey grumbles before cracking a smile of his own.

  “Can’t help it that we’re all so irresistible.” I shrug my shoulders, and his face hardens for a moment.

  “Don’t flatter yourself, Tink.” Ouch. His attention turns to his girls, and I force mine back to my godsons.

  What an asshole. Ah, well. It will just make the sex that much better. I could be down with some good hate sex!

  §

  “Catch me a glow stick, Auntie Gigi!” Kyle shouts as the Scotsman and his assistants begin tossing various-sized neon glow sticks out into the crowd. Prince’s “1999” has everyone bouncing on their feet, including a certain CEO who I’m doing my best to ignore. I jump as high as I can every time they come our way, but being little has its disadvantages.

  Just as I’m about to go snatch one from the hand of a stranger, Jeffrey appears in front of Kyle with a huge, bright orange, glowing baton and a neon yellow necklace, which he drapes around his neck.

  “There ya go, buddy.”

  Kyle’s eyes light up. “Thank you!”

  “You’re welcome.”

  My heart thrums in my throat as I watch the two of them engaged in conversation, with Jeff crouched down to his level.

  “I’m still not marrying your daughter,” Kyle announces.

  The CEO sucks in his cheeks and lips, warding off a smile. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”

  “You should really talk to her. She’s kind of pushy.”

  “I’m trying,” Jeffrey assures him. “But she pushes me around too.”

  Kyle nods. “Also, I think you need to tell Auntie Gigi you’re sorry. You hurted her feelings when you told her not to flatter herself.”

  Heat radiates from my every pore as I pretend not to hear their conversation, diverting my attention off to the side where the three teenagers are bouncing around with Willow.

  “That hurt her feelings, did it?”

  “I think so and anyway my daddy says you should always flatter women because it makes them happy, and a happy woman will give you all the things. He says Aunt Gigi is a force, so we should all do what we can to keep her and Mommy happy.”

  “Well, your daddy sounds like a very intelligent man.”

  “He is,” I hear Kyle answer before my name is yelled out in his voice, “Gigi! Come see.”

  I take a deep breath then turn and walk over to join them. “Yes, Kyle?”

  “Mr. CEO has something he needs to say to you.”

  Jeff blushes. “It has come to my attention that I may have unintentionally hurt your feelings at dinner earlier tonight...”

  “Please,” I laugh. “Don’t flatter yourself into thinking you had any effect on my feelings.”

  He shrugs, looking down at Kyle before rising to his feet.

  “You tried.” Kyle throws his hands up in defeat.

  “I tried,” Jeffrey echoes as Willow runs over, trying to pull Kyle out onto the dance floor.

  “Tum dance wif me, husband.” That sweet blonde baby yanks on my stubborn godchild’s arm, and he doesn’t budge. The look on his face is pure disgust. It’s amazing.

  “I think you might hurt her feelings if you don’t go dance with her, Kyle,” Jeffrey says, giving Kyle back a bit of his own advice.

  Conceding with a groan, he allows the little girl to pull him away. “Women!”

  Jeff chuckles, staring after them and nods in agreement. “Women!”

  When the ’80s party ends at 10:00 p.m., the children all beg to go back to their respective kids’ clubs until they shut down at midnight. That leaves Jeff and me meandering the halls back toward the elevators, together.

  Luck would have it that we end up in the same elevator, alone. I’m a little tipsy and a lot horny, and beyond tired of this tension. So, I decide to throw him a bone and see if he’ll bite. “Is it wet in here?” I ask, nibbling my bottom lip seductively.

  Jeffrey’s face screws up in confusion as he looks around the elevator, finally landing on my face. “No.”

  “Oh, my bad. Must just be my vagina.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  JEFFREY

  WHAT IN GOD’S name is wrong with this woman?

  My cock grows rigid in my suit pants as I stare at her braced against the handrail, her tongue tracing over her lips. It’s pure insanity, but I want to explore this crazy world she’s offering. I’ve never been with a w
oman so blunt, so uninhibited, and if I’m honest with myself, I’ve had a hard-on for her since the moment I saw her lounging in that scrap of a bikini on the main deck.

  If she’s offering...Why the hell shouldn’t I indulge?

  “No strings?” I ask, sauntering over and resting my hands on the railing, just outside of where hers rest.

  Tink’s head shakes. “Just scratching an itch, Jeffrey.” The husky tone of her voice makes me throb with want.

  Nodding, I bend my head to the dip between her shoulder and neck, ghosting the tip of my nose up the sensitive skin. Her perfume is soft and flowery. “Show me where you itch...” I rasp, trailing my tongue along the shell of her ear, biting down gently when I reach the lobe.

  Gina grips my hand, moving it to the space between her legs. Lifting her skirt with our joined hands, she slips the bathing suit bottom to the side and pushes my index finger between her folds. “In here,” she moans, writhing into my hand. Her arms reach up and around my shoulders, her hands tugging the hair at the nape of my neck.

  “How’s that?” I ask withdrawing my finger and reentering with two. Fuck. She’s dripping.

  “Deeper,” she murmurs, sucking on my neck. She fists my erection, stroking through the thin material of my suit pants.

  And good Lord, I’m so taken with her that I’m seconds away from whipping it out and fucking her in this elevator, but then the bell chimes as the doors start to open, and our private moment is intruded on by a gaggle of teenage girls.

  Withdrawing my fingers discreetly, I ease to the side. My heart hammers against my rib cage as I try to reorient myself.

  Flustered, Gina reaches around, pushing the button for the Serenity deck. Adults only.

  When the elevator stops, I follow her out to one of the dome-shaped double loungers. The only way anyone would be able to see what’s going on inside is if they were to walk around and peer in. There are a few couples lurking about, but none are paying us any mind.

  “You want to do this here?” I ask, looking around, hesitant as she slips off her flip-flops and crawls in.

  “I’m getting off in this little moon chair with or without your assistance, CEO. So, either get your ass in here and make yourself useful, or stand there and watch.” Looking over her shoulder, she bats her long lashes up at me. Without breaking eye contact, she trails the fingers of one hand up her thigh, bringing the skirt of her dress along with it. Before she can get her hand inside her bathing suit bottom, I’m sidled up behind her, unfastening my pants.

  “I don’t date, Tink. Tell me you understand that.” My lips are hot on her ear as I grind my erection into the small of her back.

  Her body trembles against mine. “I believe we’ve already hashed this all out.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “So am I,” she says, reaching around to palm my cock. “I don’t catch feelings, Jeff. Don’t even want you to be my friend.” Could it really be this easy?

  Her tiny fist feels so fucking good moving up and down my shaft. “Tell me what you want.”

  “To use you, the same way you want to use me.” Her hand tightens around my cock. “Make it good, Jeffrey.”

  While Tink makes quick work of my belt and zipper, I retrieve a condom from my wallet.

  “Allow me,” she says, snatching the foil packet from my hand and opening it with her front teeth. “I like to be the one administering my protection,” she explains.

  My hips jerk as she rolls the latex on. “Be my guest,” I grunt, slamming into her tiny opening the second her hand is out of the way.

  Gina gasps loudly in surprise. “Shhh,” I whisper, nibbling on her ear, as I withdraw and thrust inside of her hard and fast.

  “Yes,” she moans. “Harder Jeffrey...Oh, God. It’s so deep.”

  “Shhh,” I chuckle, cupping one hand over her mouth and bringing the other around to her swollen clit. “Quiet, Tinkerbell.”

  She bites down on my pointer finger, moaning and jerking her hips to match my rhythm. With one hand over her shoulder she pulls my hair, holding my mouth to her neck. The other slips inside her top, to squeeze her breast.

  All of the blood rushes to my dick as I pound away, sating this overwhelming lust without fear of misleading her—without the guilt that plagues me each time the mere thought of trying to move on with another woman enters my mind. There’s no love between us. Zero emotion. We’re satisfying a primal urge. And in this moment, it’s everything I need.

  §

  “Ahh,” Willow sighs dramatically, relaxing in her miniature pedicure chair. “Dis duh wife!”

  “Sir,” the technician, Judy, calls out, waving me over. “We have chair ready for you.” Her hand waves in a Vanna White motion over the seat next to Evangeline, who is already fighting a case of the giggles as I climb in.

  “Man, I wish I had my phone, so I could get a picture of you getting your nails done to send to Gramma Betty.”

  “Evangeline?”

  “Yeah, Daddy?” she asks, still snickering.

  “Keep it up and you just might not get that phone back when we get home.”

  “You want color?” Judy asks as she dumps blue crystals into the steaming water.

  “No—”

  “Him want pink powish,” Willow answers, cutting me off.

  Shaking my head at the woman, I mouth the word, no.

  “Oh, come on, Dad. It’s a family vacation,” Evangeline reminds me. “No one knows us here, remember? Anonymity, and all that.”

  “You’ve got me in a nail salon filled with women, and I’m letting people touch my feet. I draw the line at painted toes.”

  “Pwease, Daddy-oh,” Willow begs. “You da best daddy in da whoooole world.”

  The technician places a hand on her hip, looking at me expectantly. “You make your baby girl so happy, Daddy.”

  “Paint ’em black, to match his heart,” rasps the husky voice belonging to the woman I lay awake thinking about all night. She slaps the bottle of polish she’s already retrieved from the spinny thing into Judy’s hand.

  “Are you stalking me?” I ask, turning to find Gina smirking at me with a hand on her hip. Her blonde hair is pulled up into a knot on the top of her head and large sunglasses hide her eyes.

  “You got me, Jeff. I just knew I’d wake up at the ass crack of dawn and find you in the beauty salon, getting your nails done.”

  “It’s after ten, Tink. That’s just about lunch time for most people.”

  She lifts her glasses up with a finger so I can see her eyes roll. “I’m not most people, Jeffrey.”

  “No,” I agree, watching her climb up into the chair across from mine. “Thank God for that. I don’t think the world could handle two of you.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  GINA

  “THANK YOU.” I smile as I grab the mimosa from the procured hand of the technician who’s filling my pedicure tub, beginning my attempt to drink away the looming hangover from last night’s binge. As I set my glass into the cup holder, I somehow manage to lock eyes with the CEO, who just happens to be giving me a disapproving look. Big shock there.

  Who does this man think he is? The fun police?

  Focusing on my phone so I don’t have to look at his stupid judgmental face, I scroll through Facebook and play a few games of Candy Crush. When what I deem to be a safe amount of time has passed, I steal another look.

  Without thought, I lift my phone, snapping a picture of the tender moment between Jeffrey and his girls. Then, I stare at it, my insides twisting up into knots. His feet are resting on the ledge, where the technician is applying a second coat of Pepto pink polish to his toes. He’s laughing at something one of the girls must have just said.

  For a moment I forget what a jerk he is. With them, he’s an absolute prince. I have no clue what happened to their mother, but I’m curious. My heart aches for their loss. There’s something about seeing this man with these little girls that has my insides turning to mush.

  I attach the
picture with a message to my best friend.

  Me: I fucked him in a moon chair on the Serenity deck last night. Do you still love me, even though I’m a bit of a ho?

  Spence: Where were my kids?

  Me: In the kid camps.

  Spence: Then of course. Everyone should go through a ho phase. It builds character.

  Me: See. This is why I love you.

  After my pedicure, I retrieve the boys and take them to the buffet line for lunch. We grab a table near the windows, so we can look out at the ocean while we eat. We’ve barely touched our food when Jeffrey and his girls slide into the booth directly across from ours. I try to ignore the way my heart starts racing at his nearness. At the way my blood heats, remembering his thick cock slamming into me last night.

  “Why don’t you and Willow sit with Ms. Gina and Kyle, and the twins and I can sit at this one?” Evangeline suggests to her father, drawing me from my thoughts. My cheeks heat with shame, as if any of them has any clue what I was just daydreaming about.

  “Just sit down and eat your lunch. We’re not asking anyone to move.” Jeff looks annoyed with life, but I’m sure it’s just having to be around us—me in particular. He talks a good game, but I can already tell those girls could get him to do just about anything they wanted. The way he adores them makes him impossible for me to hate.

  “We don’t mind switching spots with you,” Landon insists, shoving Lake out of the booth. It’s so cute how eager he is to be with his girl. Spencer is going to flip when I tell her about this.

  The fourteen-year-old ginger groans at Jeffrey. “You told me to try not to be miserable on this vacation, Dad. This is me...trying.” Her eyes plead with her father’s. “Can’t you try too, please?”

  Begrudgingly, he agrees. “If it’s okay with Tink—er, I mean Gina.”

  He looks to me for permission, and our eyes lock. That damn vaginal heartbeat is back. Thump. Thump. Thump. “Of course we don’t mind. Do we, Savage?”

  “Actually—,” he starts, his eyes homing in on the bubbly blonde who’s already climbing into the bench seat across from him. “I don’t really feel like company right now.” His eyes grow wide, begging me to get rid of his unwanted stalker.