The Brothers Next Door (A Striker Brothers Romance #1)

by Terry Towers

  “Ahhh, accountant. Interesting.”

  She crossed one shapely leg over the other and shrugged. “The firm is much larger than the one I was working for in Bangor, but despite not having the small town feel, I think I’ll enjoy it there.”

  “That’s good. So, you’re from Maine?”

  Again, I received a look that was a cross of surprise and annoyance. “Yessss. I’m from New York, but moved there with my fiancé. When we broke up I came back. There was nothing for me there besides the job and considering he was also an accountant working at the firm, I really didn’t even have that.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear that.” Hmm, so she had a broken heart and was starting over. Perhaps that helped explain some of her actions. She was settling in, trying not to think about her ex. Okay, I could get behind that theory.

  “It was for the best.” She gave me a brilliant smile that displayed a set of perfectly straight teeth. “I didn’t realize how much I missed this city until I returned.”

  Smiling, my gaze locked with hers. “I can relate. From time to time I think to myself that I should consider leaving New York and trying out a smaller town. But just when I make the decision to move, something always pulls me back in.”

  My mind raced backwards in time to the day I met Gabriella Romeriz, the woman I had planned to spend the rest of my life with. It had been eight years ago, and I’d just joined the police force. She’d had me captivated from the moment I’d set eyes on her. I could still remember the way she laughed and the way she smelled. She was taken from me two years ago. She was shot in cold blood by some gang member who was robbing a convenience store. She was the first cop on the scene and was shot dead as soon as she set foot inside, with me trailing behind to witness the murder of the woman I loved. Just a week before we had planned to make the move from New York to California, where her family resided, to spend our lives together.

  But that was history now.

  “Are you okay?”

  Snapping myself from my daze, it took me a moment to realize it was my neighbour staring at me with concern in her expression. Had I really been so out of it that it was cause for alarm? “I’m sorry, it’s been a long day and my shoulder is hurting like a bitch.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “I dislocated it the other day and…” I rolled my shoulders, moving my head from side to side, getting a soft cracking noise for my trouble. “It’s still tender.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. What happened?”

  I chuckled. “I keep thinking I’m Superman, when I’m hardly better than Clark Kent.”

  “I beg to differ.” She gave me a coy smile that confused me once more. First, she kissed me, and now she was putting out hardcore flirting vibes. There was no doubt she was flirting and had interest. Despite the odd occurrences, I was tempted to ask her out. What was wrong with getting to know your neighbour a little more, even if it was just as friends? So what if she was a little quirky, was that a crime? Maybe I was just too rigid. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d been accused of that. I hadn’t been out with a woman since Gabriella’s death—two years was a long time to go without intimate female contact.

  While I pondered the pros and cons of making a move to ask her out to dinner, she rose from the sofa and smiled. “I have a long day tomorrow and am dying to get out of these heels, so it’s best I get home and maybe get some supper.”

  “Sure, sure. It was nice of you to stop by.”

  She walked over to the door and stopped with her hand on the door handle, turning back to me. “Listen, the boss hit with me a ton of work today and as I think on it, I might run a little late, so can we make it 7:30?”

  Okay, she was going to go back to confusing the living fuck out of me. This was hands down one of the most bizarre occurrences I’d had for quite some time. “7:30 for what?”

  She hesitated a moment, as if judging my response, and then laughed, her dark eyes gleaming with amusement. “Our date tomorrow night. Is 7:30 fine with you?”

  A date? With her? Sure, the idea had crossed my mind for a split second, but was I really interested in dating the crazy cat lady? Granted, she was an extremely beautiful crazy cat lady with her dark, mysterious eyes and pouty lips. Then again, it had been two years and women were hardly beating down my door to go out with me, despite the fact my twin brother fucked at least two different women a week. I supposed he was only making up for his celibate brother.

  Why the hell not? Smiling at her, I nodded. “7:30 sounds great to me, see you then.”

  She returned my smile, took a step towards me, and gave me a quick kiss on the lips before twisting the door handle and exiting, giving me a little wave over her shoulder as she left. I stood there stunned, watching the door being closed in front of me, baffled at what had just transpired. I seriously didn’t need the aggravation of a woman in my life, but then again, I had become a hermit. Maybe I was wrong and a woman in my life was exactly what I needed. Nate’s motto was to fuck the blues away, and he seemed pretty fucking happy most of the time so perhaps I needed to take those words of wisdom seriously.

  Chapter 8

  Nate

  I was knocking on her door promptly at 7. I may have been a douche on many levels, but at least I was an on-time douche. It was surprising me how much I was looking forward to seeing her tonight and not just for the sex. I genuinely wanted to get to know her.

  Rapping my knuckles against the door, I waited for her to respond. She didn’t. Raising my hand to the door again, I was about to knock a second time when I heard the ding of the elevator followed by the click-clack of heels coming down the hallway behind me.

  “You’re a little early,” her voice called to me at my back. “Did you forget we changed the time or just over anxious to see me?”

  “Huh?” I turned to the source of the voice and frowned, pulling my sleeve up and looking at my watch to verify the time. “It’s 7 pm. Right on time.”

  She came up beside me, pulling her key from her purse and inserting it into the lock. “Right, but we’d changed it to 7:30.” Opening the door, she motioned for me to enter after her.

  “When?” Had she texted me and I missed the text? Strange. Although it had been a busy week, criminals seemed to be out in full force.

  “Yesterday.”

  I was going to protest, but decided against it. Why bicker over a half-hour? Perhaps she’d written the text requesting a time change and forgot to send it. There were lots of explanations, none of which were worth the effort of exploring.

  “I apologize,” I said, proceeding into the apartment after her and closing the door behind me. “I can come back.”

  “Nah, it’s fine.” Tossing her purse onto the sofa, she shrugged off her suit jacket and slung it over the back of a chair. “But I do have to shower and change, if you don’t mind entertaining yourself.”

  “By all means, if you’d like some help with the shower I’d be more than happy to lend my assistance,” I replied, taking a seat on the sofa and allowing my eyes to wander up and down the length of her. She was a damned sexy woman. I really liked the way she looked today, like a sexy teacher or librarian. “You could always go as is, since you’re looking very sexy right now.”

  She stopped, turned back to face me, and smiled, as she reached up and removed the clip that was holding her raven hair up in a pile on the top of her head. Her hair came tumbling down, a lock falling over her eyes, which she pushed back.

  She hit me with a smoldering look. “You’d be so kind as to do that for little ol’ me?”

  “You’d owe me one, for sure, but I wouldn’t mind giving you a helping hand.”

  “For the record, I’m not sleeping with you tonight.” Her grin widened.

  I was only slightly disappointed over her statement. Sure, I’d have loved to be deep inside her again, but that wasn’t the reason I wanted to see her tonight. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Not even if you paid me.”

  She looked as though she was going to resp
ond, but thought twice of it, spun around, and disappeared into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

  “Does that mean that you don’t want help in the shower?” I called through the closed door.

  “I’ve been bathing myself since I was five so I think I can manage that on my own.”

  “But it’s so much more fun when you have company.”

  The door to the bedroom opened to reveal her wrapped in a towel, a second towel presumably for her hair draped over her arm. “Perhaps, but I think I can manage on my own.” She walked barefoot to the bathroom and disappeared inside, closing the door, and a moment later the shower was turned on.

  Telling me she could do it on her own only gave me thoughts of her masturbating in the shower. My dick began to rise as I watched her in my mind’s eye, naked and covered in suds, her hand between her legs and moaning in the pleasure she was giving herself. Fuck, if I was home I’d be rubbing one out. I should have done it before I left.

  Her shower was surprisingly quick—little more than five minutes before she emerged in a cloud of steam, the towel around her dripping body and a second towel wrapped turban style on her head. I shifted uncomfortably, waiting for her to disappear into the bedroom so I could do a quick adjustment.

  The moment her bedroom door was closed, a knock came at the door. Looking down at my watch, I was surprised to see it was already 7:20.

  “Can you answer that please?” she called through the bedroom door.

  “Sure.” Getting up from the sofa, I did my penis adjustment and then walked to the door. Pulling it open, I was shocked to see my twin brother standing before me. We stared at each other for a moment, before I spoke. “What are you doing here, Darrin?”

  “I’m here to pick up Layla.”

  “For what?”

  “Our date. She asked me out last night.”

  “What?” This made no sense. Why in the hell would she make a date with me and him on the same day? I didn’t even remember telling her I had a twin brother.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, his eyes narrowing at me. “You know her?”

  “Who was at the door?” We both turned to stare at Layla, who was now dressed, minus make-up. Though in reality she didn’t need make-up. All make-up did for her was accent her already stunning features.

  Darrin stepped inside to stand to my right.

  “Holy shit,” she gasped, her hand going to her mouth and her eyes widening as she stared from me to Darrin and then back again.

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  Layla

  Walking barefoot from the bedroom, wearing a pink sundress which featured a sweetheart neckline and a skirt that fell nearly to the knee, I stopped dead in my tracks as I stared at the two identical men before me.

  So much made sense now. Nate hadn’t been hot and cold with me, it had been his brother. I gasped in horror as a further realization hit me. I’d invited myself into his brother’s house, kissed him, and then asked him out. What kind of woman did that? More than that, he must have thought I was insane, but then again why would he agree to a date with a crazy woman? Was he that desperate for a little piece of ass?

  “You have a twin brother!” I managed to choke out. The only reason I even knew which one was Nate was because he had come in wearing a pair of blue jeans and black t-shirt stretched across his fit frame. The man beside him was also wearing blue jeans, but with a forest green button up shirt.

  Ohmygod this is so confusing! I wagged my index finger at the two of them. “So, which one of you did I kiss last night and which one did I meet at the club last week?”

  “She kissed you?” Nate turned to his brother and glared.

  “She just came into my apartment and kissed me, what did you expect me to do? I’d just gotten off work and she caught me by surprise.” He turned his attention back to me. “Are you dating my brother?”

  “No, we’re just…” I didn’t know what we were. Lacing my hands behind my neck, I groaned, closing my eyes and letting my head fall back for a moment, enjoying the feel of the stretch. A moment later I lifted my head, opening my eyes to see identical dark eyes still staring at me. Catching the brother’s gaze, I asked, “Who are you?” I gave my head a shake. “Your name. What’s your name?”

  “I’m Nate’s brother, Darrin.”

  “Do you normally kiss strange women and allow them into your house?”

  “You surprised me. And for the record you kissed me.”

  “Didn’t it occur to you that I may have thought you were your brother?”

  “I honestly thought you were either a little unorthodox or just a little crazy.” He held up his thumb and index finger so they were almost touching. “I was going to figure that out either way tonight.”

  I looked from one man to the other and back again. Redirecting my gaze to Nate, I asked. “Do you even live in this building? Or do you two live together… or… Perhaps it would have been useful information to inform me that you had a twin brother living next door to me.”

  “Maybe so, I apologize. I live a few floors down, but I’m at Darrin’s place a fair amount.” He spread his hands out to the sides. “Look, this was just a simple misunderstanding, although I have an idea. We’re all here expecting a night out, so let’s all just go out for a bite to eat and get to know each other. Maybe put this mix-up behind us.”

  It was at that moment that my cat decided to make an appearance. Looking from me to the men at my doorway, he plunked his ass down at my side on the floor and wailed at them.

  “Is there something wrong with that cat?” Darrin asked, staring at the critter beside me.

  With a shrug, I picked Zeus up. He immediately began to purr. “It’s a Siamese thing. He’s been under a lot of stress with two moves in just a few months. He doesn’t travel well.”

  “I bet.” Darrin didn’t appear convinced and certainly didn’t seem to have much of a liking for my pet. Well, we were a package deal, take it or leave it.

  “If that’s the plan then I’ll just be a couple more minutes.” Carrying Zeus in my arms, I brought him into the bedroom with me, closing the door behind us.

  Placing the cat on the bed, I took a seat at the small vanity in my bedroom and took a moment to catch my breath as my mind whirled through the events of the past few days, attempting to figure out which experiences were with Darrin and which were with Nate. I was hardly a person to be brazen or bold. Leave it to me to choose the one time where it wasn’t even the right person. I was so embarrassed, I kissed a man for no reason other than I wanted to and invited myself into his home.

  Running a shaky hand through my hair, I looked at my flushed face in the mirror. I may have been embarrassed a minute ago, but at least the flush gave my cheeks an alluring rosy glow, a glow I was about to recreate as I opened my compact containing blush and bronzer and quickly began applying it.

  What in the hell were we going to do with three of us? Wasn’t the saying three’s a crowd? I didn’t know. Perhaps Nate was just being polite and since Darrin was my neighbour, it was a good way to get to know him. Both of them. I had technically made a date with them both.

  Would that mean that I got two good night kisses? Two good night lays if the night went right, maybe two at once. I’d read about threesomes in romance novels and it always intrigued me. I laughed at myself. Who was I kidding? What I’d done with Nate had already taken me past my comfort zone. Two men at once, yeah right, only in my dreams.

  My eyes locked with Zeus’ in the mirror, his bright blue eyes meeting my dark ones, and he meowed as if he knew what I was thinking and wholeheartedly agreed with me. This was insanity.

  Chapter 9

  Layla

  “Taste this,” Nate said, causing me to turn my attention to him. We were at an Italian restaurant, in a wrap around booth with me seated between the brothers. I opened my mouth and accepted a bite of the ravioli he was offering, feeling a little uneasy performing what I felt was an intimate act when his brother was at my other side. Up
until now it had felt rather normal, albeit a little nerve-wrecking spending time with them both—until this moment. Now it was odd again.

  “It’s good.” I gave a nod, smiling at him, our eyes locking a moment and causing my heart to skip a beat.

  Gathering myself, I turned back to Darrin. “Have you had the ravioli here?”

  “It’s good.” He smiled. “But have you tried the lasagna?” Before I could answer he scooped up a piece on his fork and held it to my mouth. I accepted the lasagna and began to chew, heat rising to my cheeks. Both men were as sexy-as-sin and both were lavishing every ounce of attention on me. As our meal progressed, it started to feel as though there was a competition going on between them. If there was, then I was the winner. I’d never had this much attention lavished on me before and had to admit I loved every second of it.

  “I feel like I’ve talked about myself a lot tonight. I would like to hear more about you both.”

  The brothers looked at each other and shrugged. Darrin was the one who spoke first. “We started on the force at the same time. We’ve been working for the NYPD for eight years now.”

  “Who’s the better cop?” I asked, teasing.

  Darrin was the one to answer. “I made sergeant first.”

  “Show off. He made sergeant first because he’s a kiss ass,” Nate retaliated. “Your promotion only beat mine by five months. Next thing you’ll be bragging you were born eight minutes before me.”

  “But we’re in different divisions. I’m in the anti-gang unit. Nate is narcotics.”

  “Hmm.” My attention was fully on Darrin now. “Why did you choose anti-gang?”

  His smile faded and silence overtook the table.

  “There was an opening,” Nate offered for him. “Pretty much how it went down for me as well. There are a lot of people fighting for promotions so you take what you can get for the most part.”

  “Do you like what you do? The division you’re in?”

  “They suit us well enough,” Nate answered.