by Mia Ford
Archer remained where he was, leaning against the brick wall, facing in Ivy’s direction. He had a lit cigarette between his fingers which he now brought up to his thin red lips and sucked in a mouthful of smoke.
“Don’t mind me.” He said lazily, when he let out the smoke from his mouth. That was when Ivy realized that she had been frozen to the spot, that she hadn’t moved since the towel fell away from her, since when he had seen her completely naked.
“This is a private space.” Ivy snapped at him, clutching her dress ineffectively over her breasts. She knew that he had seen her, he had seen what he had to see.
He continued to smile, and continued to take long lazy drags of his cigarette.
“My brother doesn’t like me smoking in front of him, so I had to find a quiet spot.” He said, ignoring the rage in Ivy’s voice.
She didn’t know why she continued to stand there, why she didn’t just rush back into the house, save whatever bit of modesty that she could. There was something about this man that drew her, to watch him, to look at him.
Ivy could feel her heart beating against her chest wildly, these were the exact feelings that she had felt when she had first laid eyes on Leon.
“Can you please leave?” She forced herself to say, aware that she was sounding rude. But he didn’t seem to mind, in fact the smile on his face only grew wider.
“Why aren’t you going back inside?” He said with a laugh in his voice. He formed a thick cloud of cigarette smoke in front of his face when he blew it out of his mouth.
Ivy was growing conscious of her hardening nipples, how her stomach was clenching and unclenching itself the more she looked at him. Whatever Leon had awakened in her, his brother was doing the same.
She glared at him for a few seconds longer, and he continued to smile back at her, till she turned on her heels with a flourish and rushed back into her room through the side door. She knew he had seen her naked back, her bare butt, but what other choice did she have? He wasn’t offering her any help and she only had the dress to save her.
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.
“I’m not here to ask for anything, and you can relax, I’m not going to attack your either. Your shoulders look very tense.” Archer said, and before she knew what he was going to do, he had placed both his large hands on her shoulders and she felt the tinge of his rough palms on her soft bare skin that was only barely covered by the thin straps of her dress.
Ivy felt an electric shock run down her spine from his touch, but she was frozen to the spot again. She knew she should have moved away from his touch, stepped back, but she couldn’t. She only stood there, staring up at his face, with a look of surprise on her face.
Archer was staring down at her, smiling and now stroking the soft muscles on her shoulders with his large palms.
“I’m fine.” She managed to mutter, and he only smiled more.
“My brother forced me to come here and ask for your apology.” He said, ignoring her protest. He continued to touch her, to stroke her shoulders and surprisingly, as hard as Ivy struggled against it, she felt herself relax. It was a calming effect, the soft stroking of her shoulders with his big hands.
“Apology for what?” She asked him, her eyelids were getting heavy. She still hadn’t managed to take a step away from him. Archer smiled again, his dimples grew deeper, he could see the control he had on her body.
“For what I said earlier.” His hands finally dropped off her shoulder, and Ivy managed to take a stumbling step back, he was still grinning at her, aware of how flustered she was. Both the brothers seemed to enjoy making her uncomfortable for some reason!
“It’s too quick for me to accept your apology like that.” Ivy said, shooting him a look of warning.
“Even after the amazing shoulder rub that I just gave you?” Archer asked, testing her further.
“I didn’t ask for it. In fact, you forced it on me.” Ivy snapped, clasping her hands together tightly. Archer was nodding his head slowly. He seemed to be pleased with her response.
“Alright. I apologize for that too. From now on, I will be asking you before I make any sudden movements.” He said and Ivy found that she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. But she managed to make that smile disappear quickly, she didn’t want him to know that he was capable of entertaining her. That would only end up encouraging him.
“So, do you forgive me then?” He said and Ivy gulped.
“What have you done to deserve forgiveness?” She asked him. She was aware that her breasts were heaving and Archer’s eyes were flickering, from her bulging breasts, to her face, to her clenched hands and then back at her face again. He was studying her, trying to figure her out. But still Ivy kept her head held high.
“Nothing. I’ve done nothing to deserve your forgiveness, yet. But I promise you that I feel bad about what I said. I should have known that you were embarrassed.” His eyes had suddenly taken on a softer hue; his jaws were unclenched and he wasn’t smiling any more. In a matter of moments, Archer Cooper was able to make a show of feeling sorry. Ivy felt her knees buckling under the weight of her conflicting emotions.
“Alright. Whatever. I forgive you. Will you leave me alone, now?” She said, forcing herself to sound strong.
With the light of the hallway behind him, she could see the shape of Archer’s frame. He was muscular, more muscular than Leon. His neck was broad and his biceps bulged under the fabric of his plaid shirt. He had a sharp nose, an even sharper chin and his height made Ivy wonder what he was hiding in his pants. She shook her head vigorously to make herself stop thinking these thoughts.
“Thank you, Ivy Hart. I’ll leave you alone now. Have a good night.” He said and before he could say anything else, she slammed the bedroom door on his face. She didn’t want to hear any more.
She didn’t like the way he was making her feel. She was still attracted to Leon, and it was unfair to also be attracted to his brother at the same time.
The last thing she wanted to do was make either of them jealous. She didn’t want to come between the twins. But it was plain to see that Archer Cooper had set his eyes on her, he had liked what he had seen and even though he was asking her for forgiveness, he wasn’t just going to give up that easily.
Leon hadn’t come to her that night, instead Ivy had stayed awake for several hours, blinking up at the ceiling as she could hear the loud voices of the two brothers on the porch.
They were talking, laughing and that went on till the wee hours of the morning, till somehow she had drifted softly away to sleep with the background sounds of those two strong voices in the corner of her brain. It was like music to her ears.
Ivy woke up with a start the next morning, a little dazed, and turned with a jerk to see if someone was sleeping next to her. Her bed was empty, it had only been her, the whole night. But in the privacy of her thoughts, she knew that she had been dreaming about Archer. For the past six weeks, since she met Leon, he was the only one who occupied her mind, who invaded her dreams; but last night had been different. She hadn’t been able to keep Archer out of it.
Ivy jumped out of bed, got dressed in a hurry and when she came out of her room, she realized that it was nearly ten. She had overslept. Leon was usually up and ready to leave for work on the ranch by eight, and she hadn’t missed a single morning. Now she was worried that he might be angry with her.
She rushed out of the house, tensed, and stood on the porch, straining her eyes to see if she could see Leon.
She saw both the brothers instead. Each on their own horse, in a distance, riding together, laughing, kicking up clouds of dust behind them as they rode.
Ivy leaned against the pillar on the porch as she stared at them. They were handsome, rugged and purebred cowboys. Despite the luxury they lived in and the amount of money they had inherited. Both the brothers looked at ease out in the open like that, in their cowboy hats, riding their horses.
She could feel something moving in her, was it the wetness? She pressed her legs together in shock. How was it possible to feel this aroused by simply looking at them? By looking at the two brothers? What kind of hold did they have on her?
Ivy felt suddenly very shy and she turned away from them, she knew she was spying and she shouldn’t have been. She had housework to do, her accounting classes to catch up on, and she hadn’t paid any attention to her gardening in the past two days.
She could still hear the sound of hooves in the background as she went back into the house. They were out there, training their horses together, like regular brothers, with a strong bond between them, even stronger because they were twins. And Ivy couldn’t stop thinking about how handsome they both equally looked, on their horses.
She hadn’t realized that she had kept the tap in the kitchen sink running, she had her hands under the flow of the water and was day dreaming about the brothers. Till she heard the sound of Leon’s voice behind her.
“It’s going to overflow.” He said and Ivy started, turning around to him and splashing a handful of water on the front of her linen pants. Leon raised his eyebrows, he was mocking her for her clumsiness, but he didn’t comment on it.
“Sorry, I’m just a little tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She said, rubbing t
he back of her wrist on her forehead.
“Were we very loud?” He asked, and walked over to the refrigerator. Ivy was following him with her eyes, a little nervously. She was afraid that Leon would see it on her face, that she was lusting after his brother.
“It’s alright. I’m sure you both had a lot of catching up to do.” She said, licking her lips. Leon had bent down in front of the refrigerator, to extract a bottle of homemade iced tea that Ivy had made the previous day.
“Yes, we did.” He said, cradling the icy cold bottle in the crook of his arm. His presence in the room, so close to her, was a sudden reminder of how attracted she still was to Leon. How he was capable of making her melt in his arms.
“Are you both very close?” She blurted out, not quite sure why she chose to ask him that. Leon was about to turn and leave the room, but he stopped and he turned to face her again with a grin. Unlike Archer, Leon smiled very rarely, and every time he did, it caught Ivy by surprise.
“Yes, we are. Archer and I share everything. Nothing is out of bounds between us.” He said, and Ivy noticed how he clenched and unclenched his jaw. He still had that soft smile at the sides of his mouth that made her stomach drop.
Leon was gone in a flash, leaving Ivy alone in the kitchen again, making her feel like someone had knocked the living breath out of her.
What had he meant by those words? That they shared everything? Nothing was out of bounds between them? Why did Leon stare at her like that, smile at her like that? A million questions were whizzing through Ivy’s mind as she stood clutching the sides of the kitchen sink, trying to recover her breath.
It was almost like Leon was giving her permission to think about Archer, like he approved of her having those thoughts about his twin brother. Nothing was out of bounds between them. They shared everything. Did Leon mean that he intended on sharing her with him too?
