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

by Terry Towers

  “Oh.” Her grin widened, if that were at all possible. The look she was giving him, peering up at him from behind her long, fake eyelashes, annoyed me. “Well, at least the best is out protecting our city today. I feel safer already.”

  Oh dear God, I felt like I was going to vomit, she was laying it on so thick. He was standing here next to me—it should be apparent that we were here together.

  “Yes, he’s wonderful.” I slipped my arm around his back and gave him a quick side hug. “New York is indeed lucky.”

  For the first time since we showed up at the counter she graced me with a look. It wasn’t the fondest of looks, mind you. But I didn’t care. I staked my claim, something that was generally very unlike me. I was normally a bit of a doormat. Maybe moving back to New York changed that in me as well. It was a fresh start, after all.

  I felt his gaze on me, but ignored it, keeping my eyes focused on the counter girl. “I’ll have a Philly cheese steak.”

  “Make that two Philly cheese steak subs, please.” Before I could begin to pull my wallet from my purse, he was pulling his credit card from his wallet. “And a couple of Cokes, please.”

  I had no issues with Coke, so I nodded my head in agreement. The girl’s attitude became a bit cooler as she processed the transition and motioned for us to move down the counter to pick up our order.

  It wasn’t until we retrieved our food and sat down that I couldn’t handle the silence between us any longer or the feeling of his eyes on me, while a hint of a grin curled up the corners of his lips.

  “Okay, what?” I chewed at my lower lip knowing exactly what as I unwrapped my sandwich. “You’re staring at me with a little cocky grin. You look slightly insane.”

  He took a sip from his beverage and then allowed his grin to blossom into a full-fledged smile. “You did a pretty good job at staking your claim over there.”

  Thinking I knew what he thought was one thing, but being called out on it was an entirely different matter. From the feeling of heat in my cheeks, I was certain my face must have been crimson in color. “I ummm…” I really had no justification for my behavior. “If I was out of line, I apologize. Being rude is not like me, I swear.”

  He laughed. “No need to apologize. It’s been a while since I’ve had a woman in my life mark her territory on me.”

  “So, I’m a woman in your life?” I asked cautiously. Considering I hadn’t heard from either brother this morning I had no idea if Nate had spoken to Darrin or not. “Have you spoken to Nate?”

  “Maybe I did.” He shrugged. “Maybe I didn’t.” He began unwrapping his sandwich and took a hearty bite.

  “All right, you’re going to make this hard on me, I see.”

  “I’d never do that.” He took another bite, chewed, and then pointed to my sandwich. “You’d better eat up.”

  I couldn’t eat, not until I knew. Admittedly, part of the reason I’d been feeling so over my head today was due to the fact there was a part of me that was waiting to hear from Darrin, to find out if he’d also be willing to share me, or if I was going to have to make a choice. If I had to choose, I had no idea who I’d want to be with. “I’m going to assume you did, otherwise you wouldn’t be playing with me like you are now.”

  “Maybe.”

  “And?” I’d now completely lost my appetite, despite the pleasing aroma drifting up. “I wasn’t sure what to expect or how you’d react. I expected…” I shook my head. “No, I hoped you’d call or text me.”

  “Or perhaps I was just waiting for you to leave on your lunch break so I could accidently bump into you so we could have lunch together because what I wanted to say needed to be said face to face rather than over an impersonal device.”

  “Oh.” That was the best I could come up with. But the way he was looking at me, with a mixture of heat and amusement, I knew it wasn’t a no.

  “If you think this is something that you could be comfortable with then I’ll give it a shot. It isn’t my first choice, but Nate seems to think this could work.”

  “Do you two normally share your women?”

  He chuckled. “You’d be the first.”

  I crinkled my nose up at him. “Why start now?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe it’s my way of dipping my toes back into the dating pool. Maybe I like you enough that I’d rather share you then not get to know you better. Hell, maybe I figured that Nate was full of shit and this was all one big joke of some sort. I wanted to see you to verify for myself.”

  “Why haven’t you been dating?”

  Shrugging, he took a long drink from his soda, but there seemed to be a cloud laced with sorrow that came over him. For whatever reason, it was a touchy subject for him. Perhaps, at least I hoped, he’d eventually trust me enough to open up.

  Not sure what to say, I took his hand from across the table and gave it a squeeze. The little bit of comfort seemed to do the trick, pulling him from the haze he’d momentarily been in.

  “It’s about time to get back to work for me.” He looked down at my food, halfway eaten.

  “Yes. Me too.” I scarfed down the remainder of my meal and the drink—not exactly ladylike, but I was famished and the cheese steak was way to good to throw out.

  We didn’t speak again until we left the café. I hated silence. I’d always heard that you knew you were with “the one” when you could share silence with your partner and be comfortable with it. I could never do that with my ex. This situation was no different, at least not yet, anyhow.

  “I’m sorry if I brought up bad memories…” I tilted my head to look up and into his face, he was close to a foot taller than my 5’4. His profile at this angle was hard and chiselled—sexy.

  “No.” He looked down at me, his pace slowing. “Some memories I prefer to just keep buried. Not necessarily bad ones.” He surprised me by taking my hand in his and giving it a squeeze, but didn’t release it, instead intertwining his fingers with mine. “There’s a lot of good and sometimes the good are more painful than the bad.”

  His words touched me on an intimate level, making my heart go out to him. Whatever had happened it had to have been bad. But there was now a smile on his lips, only a hint of a smile, but it was there. Hopefully one day he’d confide in me—it just wasn’t going to be today.

  “I suppose this brings about an important question…” The teasing gleam danced in his eyes.

  Cocking a brow up at him, I smiled. “Which is?”

  “When do I get to take you out again?”

  Chapter 13

  Layla

  “What’s the 4-1-1 on that hot cop you were with last week?” Misty asked as I sat down beside her on the navy plush sofa. We were about to sit through a Fantasia party with some of our former sorority sisters—apparently this was a monthly thing. I suspected it had more to do with the socialization than it did the dire need for dildos and pocket pussies.

  “Good. I had a strange development.” I wasn’t even sure how to tell her the plan. We hadn’t gone on another date or even seen them for that matter, as a duo or trio, since my lunch with Darrin, although I’d had communication with both brothers via texts and brief phone calls. Sometimes I thought I spent more time texting back and forth with the brothers during the day then I did working.

  Speaking of texts, my phone buzzed, signalling another incoming message. My heart fluttered as I looked at the face of the phone. But the warm and fuzzy feeling quickly subsided when I saw who the message was from—Craig.

  I gritted my teeth as I glared at the phone. Why wouldn’t he just give it up? I was getting daily messages from him and it was annoying as hell. Every time I received a message from him my mood would instantly grow cold. The man was dead to me.

  Craig: Please, Layla. Give me a chance to explain…

  “Layla?”

  “Huh?” I looked up blankly at Misty. It appeared she was waiting on an answer to something. I’d completely forgotten the question.

  She took a sip from her wine co
oler, waiting. I wasn’t sure how to respond. Finally, she asked, “Which was?”

  “He has a twin brother.”

  “Ohhh.” She sat up straight and leaned towards me. “Sexy. Maybe we could double date. Is he single?”

  “He is. Sort of.”

  She raised a perfectly waxed brow at me.

  I chewed at my lower lip as I looked around us, seeing if anyone was paying attention to our conversation. “They both live in my building. One next to me and the other a few floors down.”

  “And? You’re holding out on me. Was there some sort of mix-up?” She laughed, her hands clapping together. “Wouldn’t that be crazy.”

  “It’s not as insane as you may think.”

  Her eyes widened and she leaned in a bit further, intent on getting the juicy details. It reminded me of our college days hanging out in our dorm room discussing the juicy details of our dates while sharing a bottle of cheap wine.

  I proceeded to tell her the story, as she listened in intently, with a wide smile on her lips. She was always a sucker for great gossip and would always insist she be the first one to get the details of all my dates through college.

  “No shit. You lucky bitch,” she squealed, gaining the attention of several of the ladies around us.

  “Oh my God, Misty, calm down.”

  “How are you guys planning on dealing with…” She made the crass gesture of sticking her index finger through the ‘O’ formed from her thumb and index finger of the other hand.

  “We’ll figure it out.” I cut her off, slapping her hands down to her lap, seeing the lady who was supposed to be hosting the Fantasia sex party making her way into the living room with a case of her products. I didn’t want my sex life to be put on display for the entire room. I’d lost contact with the vast majority of the women in my sorority and the last thing I wanted was rumours of my situation getting around.

  “But…”

  “Misty.” I gave her a warning.

  “Layla, it’s been a long time! You look amazing! What have you been doing with yourself?” I turned to my left to see a woman with brilliant green eyes and long, curly red hair. Cynthia Nickols if I remembered correctly. I was never overly close to her. Back when I knew her she was the sorority gossip. If a secret got to her, then it would no longer be a secret. She was more effective then putting out an ad in the school newspaper or blasting it over a bullhorn in the middle of the school court yard.

  Before I could answer, I was rescued by the hostess. “Welcome ladies, I’m so glad to see we have such a great turnout tonight. I’ve got lots of fun items to share with you tonight, along with some new additions to the collection.”

  Misty leaned in to me, her mouth less than half an inch from my ear, and whispered, “With two of them you’d better stock up, you’re going to be a busy girl.”

  “Shh,” I hissed at her, scanning the room to see if anyone heard. They didn’t appear to, all ears were on the hostess, but nonetheless…

  She didn’t seem to take offense. “We need to talk more after this.”

  Rolling my eyes, I nodded, fixating my gaze on the hostess. Though perhaps a few sex toys wouldn’t hurt. I had exactly zero. Most women had at least a vibrator.

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  Nate

  So, yes, I’ll admit it. We were waiting for her. I hadn’t even bothered to get out of my uniform after my shift. I went straight to Darrin’s place. So here we were, like a couple of love-stuck teenagers waiting for their dream girl, who also happened to be the girl next door.

  It had taken a couple of days to nail down some rules between us on how we’d deal with sharing her. It was better to have a plan and set of guidelines than to have misunderstandings between us that could fuck with the relationship that we had together. First and foremost, Darrin was my twin brother and we couldn’t allow anything to damage that bond. We hadn’t in the past and weren’t going to start now.

  The rules were pretty straightforward and sensible and were as follows:

  Firstly, neither one of us was to monopolize her.

  Secondly, sex was as a trio only. No one on one acts.

  Third and most importantly, if one of us fell in love with her it needed to be discussed to avoid jealousy and competition. Unlike the koala that I won at the fair, she wasn’t a prize.

  “I think I hear her,” Darrin said, shutting off the television, the apartment going quiet. While this was a nice building we were close enough to the elevator that we could hear the faint ding of it arriving on Darrin’s floor.

  Sure enough, the click-clack of heels coming down the hallway sounded, stopping about where her door should be.

  “Okay, let’s go,” I said, getting up from the sofa, Darrin following suit. We stepped out of his apartment just as her door slammed shut. “Layla?” I called out, knocking on the now closed door. The door opened almost immediately. She was still wearing a grey leather jacket and had an extra large black plastic bag in her hands.

  Her face immediately lit up, her delight at seeing us reflecting in her dark eyes as she looked from me to Darrin and back again. “Guys. Hey. I didn’t expect…”

  “May we come in?”

  She nodded and stepped aside, allowing us to enter. My eyes lowered to the large bag again. Black bags usually equalled sex toys. Not always, but usually. I had to find out what dirty little secrets she had concealed inside. “So, what’s in the bag?”

  “The bag.” She looked up at me blankly a moment and then her eyes shot down to the bag gripped in her hand. “Oh nothing. Nothing at all.”

  “Funny, it looks like there’s something in that bag.”

  “Well, it’s nothing important,” she replied, taking a step backwards and grasping the bag with both hands. “I’m just going to throw this in the bedroom and I’ll be right back.” She spun around, nearly tumbling over her own feet since she’d yet to take off the strappy heels she was wearing.

  “No, I think I’d like to see what’s in that bag.” I lunged forward, blocking her path and at the same time steadying her as she started to tumble.

  “It has nothing to do with you.” She looked anxious as she looked from me, then over her shoulder at my brother, who seemed to be deciding whether or not he was interested in playing this game or not, but there was also a guilty smile on her face.

  “Then let me see for myself.” I snatched the bag from her and she allowed it. Walking over to the sofa, I opened the bag and peeked in. A wide smile spread across my lips as I saw an assortment of sex toys. “Damn, did you leave anything on the shelf?” Flopping down on her sofa, I began to unload the contents of the bag onto the glass coffee table in front of me.

  “Nate, don’t be a douche,” Darrin said, sitting down in the arm chair next to the sofa. Layla sat down next to me, and the scent of lavender drifted to me. God, she smelled so nice. She always smelled delicious.

  “I’m not,” I defended, pulling out the first item, a medium sized pink vibrator which I believed was called bunny ears. “Just checking out her purchases.”

  “Her purchases aren’t any of our business. You planning on dropping by to check out her grocery orders next?”

  “Thank you, Darrin.” She leaned over and gave my brother a kiss on the lips, quick and chaste. I was slightly jealous, but swallowed it down. Sharing might be a little bit more of an adjustment than expected.

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  Layla

  I wasn’t expecting the brothers to be dropping by, or catching me with my purchases. A sex toy stash wasn’t exactly something you shared with protentional partners straight out the gate, normally. At least not in my world. Admittedly, my spending had gotten out of hand. The hostess had been an amazing salesperson, and she had me believing that I needed everything she was selling. I didn’t buy everything she was selling, mind you, I really didn’t think a strap-on would prove useful to me, but it seemed like virtually everything else did.

  Once Nate had my bag in hand, I didn’t really put up much of a
fight. There was no point. There was a part of me that wanted him to see that I wasn’t a prude and that I could be a bad girl if I wanted to be. You had to be a wild one to consider taking on two men at one, twin brothers to boot.

  As I perched myself on the sofa next to Nate, he pulled out the first item, a pink dildo.

  “Her purchases aren’t any of our business. You planning on dropping by to check out her grocery orders next?” Darrin chided his brother.

  “Thank you, Darrin,” I said with gratitude as I leaned over and gave Nate’s twin a kiss on the lips. I wanted the kiss to be hot and heavy, to show him how much I longed for him, but I didn’t, still unsure of the dynamics between the three of us.

  “Suck up,” Nate muttered, but when I looked back to him, he was grinning, the packaged pink dildo in his hand. Once he realized he’d gotten my attention again he continued, “Wore your old one out?”

  I could feel the heat coloring my cheeks as I shrugged. “That would be my very first one.”

  “You’re shitting me.”

  “No, I’m not. I’ve never needed one.”

  “The ex that well hung?” Nate raised an eyebrow at me, his grin remaining.

  “Just never had the desire to dabble in toys before.” I shrugged.

  “You were part of a sorority, weren’t you?”

  “Yeah.” I knew where he was going with this, typical male fantasy. “You figure we all had dildo parties in our bras and panties in addition to pillow fights—”

  “—where you all end up kissing and having beautiful lesbian sex all night. Yup, that’s about it. That’s how I envision college girls.” He looked over at Darrin. “You with me on this, brother?”

  Laughing at the stereotype that Nate had described to a ‘T’, my head turned to see Darrin giving his head a shake, but there was a hint of a smile. “No. That’s not how I envision it.”

  “Not even on those lonely nights when you’re all alone, just you and your laptop?”

  Darrin’s stone exterior broke and he laughed, leaned back into the chair, and spread his hands out at his sides. “What I do in the privacy of my own bathtub is nobody’s business but my own.”