“We didn’t bring any bags,” Cilla said, but she was smiling like she didn’t actually care. “We hadn’t planned this out. Just kind of hopped on a plane.”
None of them had brought bathing suits or anything else on this last-minute trip. It had been a flurry of getting Cilla to Pax before she had time to get scared and change her mind. Cilla and Adele had on extra-large T-shirts paired with boxer shorts, while Pax had lent Elton and Easton extra swim trunks. They almost fit Elton, who had packed on twenty pounds of muscle this last year and barely stayed on Easton, who seemed to have lost just as much weight.
“Hm. Sounds like you were desperate to see me or something,” Pax said, his voice low and husky. His head dipped slowly toward Cilla’s.
“Maybe I was.” She lifted her chin, and their gazes locked.
Oh, barf. When their lips met, Elton groaned and jumped all the way out of the pool, grabbing a nearby towel. He stomped toward the house.
“Don’t go, El!” Cilla called. “We’ll stop making out.”
“Eventually,” Pax said.
“Don’t stop on my account! You’ve got six years to make up for.” He tried to sound cheerful but slammed the door to the house a little harder than he needed to.
Elton found his way to the master bedroom and flicked on the light. In the walk-in closet, he flipped through Pax’s clothes. He’d made the mistake earlier of jumping into the pool fully clothed, before changing into Pax’s spare bathing suit. Elton still needed to put his wet clothes in the dryer.
Slipping off the wet bathing suit, Elton wrapped the towel around his waist again. He stepped out of the closet, meaning to rinse off before putting on the dry clothes. Only, he walked right into a warm body. Before he even looked up, he knew from the spicy floral scent that it was Adele.
They stumbled, and Elton dropped the clothes as he tried to keep his footing. One hand shot out to steady Adele, and the other gripped the towel that started to slip off his hips.
“Oh! Elton! I’m sorry.” Her voice was breathy, and when Elton gazed down at her face, a blush that almost matched her auburn hair stained her cheeks.
Her eyes weren’t on his, though. They were firmly fixed on his chest. As he watched, her gaze then dipped to his abs.
Is she … checking me out? Hope rocketed through him.
Almost like it was an instinctive reaction, Adele lifted one of her hands to touch his chest. Elton couldn’t help himself. He flexed. Adele jerked her hand away, and the blush in her cheeks deepened. But she giggled.
“See something you like?” Elton asked with a smirk.
Her wide eyes met his, and his stupid, stupid heart skipped a few beats at the hazy look there. “No. I mean, yes. I mean … Elton!” She smacked his bicep, then let her fingers trail down his arm before jerking away again. “Why aren’t you dressed?”
“I was on my way to get dressed when a beautiful woman ran right into me. If this was a movie, would this be our meet-cute? Or does it not count because we’ve already met?”
Elton still hadn’t let go of his grip on her arm, but he let his fingers loosen, trailing down to her hand. He was joking around to lighten the mood, but everything inside of him was deadly serious. Would she let him hold her hand? Could this be the moment where she realized she was chasing the wrong twin?
His stomach dipped with the realization that it was probably just physical attraction. The close proximity to his muscled chest.
But I can work with that. Who cares if my muscles need to do the heavy lifting to get her to like me? That’s why I worked out so much this past year, isn’t it?
It was. Adele had been on his mind with every bicep curl and chest press. Even if that hadn’t gotten him a lick of attention until this moment.
He had tried flirting.
Tried ignoring her.
Tried making sure that she knew about his various dates with women who he didn’t care about at all. That thought stabbed him with guilt. He didn’t want to be the kind of man who treated women like objects. But it wasn’t like he slept with them. Or led them on. The women he asked on dates knew it was all for fun. Nothing serious. No strings. No long term. No hooking up.
He was a serial first-dater and had been for years. Ever since he realized how he really felt about Adele. He gave women a good time, and a lot of laughs, all the while wishing he was with the woman currently still ogling his chest.
All the things he’d done, and until this moment, Adele didn’t seem to notice Elton. She only had eyes for his brother.
Well, he wasn’t going to let this moment go to waste.
Crowding into her space a little more, Elton dropped his gaze to her luscious lips. “Where were you going in such a hurry, Adele?” He kept his tone low, flirtatious.
“Just to—to change.”
His hand finally slid over hers, palm to palm. When she didn’t pull away, he laced their fingers together.
For a moment, it looked like he had her. Finally.
“Mm-hm. Looks like we’ve got that in common,” he practically purred.
That was stupid. Was that the best line you could think of, dummy? Jeez. Where’s your game?
But none of this was a game to Elton. That right there was the problem. He’d never had serious feelings for any other woman and never had a serious relationship. He knew how to be fun, the life of the party.
How to love someone? How to get them to fall in love with you? No clue.
Adele’s brow furrowed, as though trying to figure out his stupid attempt at flirtation. Then her lips tilted up in a smirk. “Dibs!”
“What?”
Adele pulled her hand from his and flattened her other palm against his chest, giving him a hard shove back. “First dibs on the bathroom!”
And just like that, she high-tailed it into the bathroom suite and slammed the door in his face.
Elton stood there, blinking. How had that interaction started out so promisingly and ended with a door being slammed in his face?
He gritted his teeth and knocked on the door. “Adele.”
“Oh, Elton. Good. You’re still there. Could you ask Easton to come here? I need his help with something.”
“Can I help? I’m already right here.”
“Nope. Just ask Easton. Thank you!” Her tone was bright and cheerful. It made Elton want to punch through the wall with his fist.
What was it about his twin that had Adele so wrapped up? And what help could she possibly need in the bathroom from him? The thought did very unpleasant things to the pit of his stomach.
Elton stomped out of the bedroom and found a guest bathroom on the other side of the house. His whole life, he had been trying to stop being eclipsed by his quieter twin. The funny thing was that Easton was happy to let Elton have the spotlight, even as Elton demanded it with his too-loud voice and too-corny jokes. He knew that he was a lot to handle and made no apologies for it.
Yet without even wanting to, Easton seemed to get everything Elton wanted.
It was only when he locked the bathroom door behind him that Elton realized that he had left his change of clothes on the floor where he’d run into Adele.
Just my luck, he thought. I’m alone with nothing I want and nothing I need.
Waiting for six years had worked out for Pax. But Elton was tired of waiting on Adele. It was time to fish or cut bait. Officially. Finally. The end.
He needed to make a play for her, or he needed to walk away. How to get his heart up to speed with that, he didn’t know. But he couldn’t stand to keep waiting here like a chump for a woman who wasn’t interested in him.
Only, she did seem interested a few minutes ago. Maybe only in his physique, but that was a start. She saw him in a new light for at least a few seconds and forgot all about Easton. He held her hand, and she didn’t protest. That was a start.
Chuckling, Elton shook his head as he stared at himself in the mirror. All he needed to do was find a way to keep Adele seeing him that way. Oh, and win her affec
tion away from his twin.
No biggie. Right? He would get right on that.
Starting tomorrow.
Want to find out if Elton can win over Adele? Or … want to see Cilla & Pax’s wedding and HEA? Keep reading the next book, Winning the Cowboy or check out the whole Not So Bad Boy series.
What to Read Next
The Billionaire Surprise Series
The Billionaire Love Match
The Billionaire Benefactor
The Billionaire Land Baron
The Billionaire’s Masquerade Ball
The Billionaire’s Secret Heir
Sandover Island Sweet Romance Series
The Sandover Beach Billionaire
Sandover Beach Week
Sandover Beach Melodies
Sandover Beach Christmas
Not So Bad Boy Sweet Romance Series
Managing the Rock Star
Forgiving the Football Player
Winning the Cowboy
A Note from Emma
A few years ago, I met Priscilla at a blogging conference. She’s a hard woman to forget: vibrant and bubbling with energy and passion. Not to mention gorgeous and bold enough to speak her mind.
She also happens to be a wheelchair user.
As a writer, I have a lot of curiosity. Lucky for me, Priscilla shares so much of her life on her blog, Wheelchair Mommy. I totally stalked her (but it was okay because we’re also friends). I loved hearing details about her story and her world and couldn’t believe some of the questions people ask her that are so invasive!
It really made me want to write a book featuring someone like Priscilla. A story that dealt with how I’d imagine I might handle this, mixed in with comments and feedback from Priscilla, and some bits taken from her story.
To be clear, this book is NOT based on her story and Cilla is NOT just like Priscilla. But I was inspired by things Priscilla shared with me and on her blog in terms of the character of Cilla. I wanted to explore the guilt of the people around her that loved her, and how the character might handle that, mixed with her own confusing emotions.
I hope you love this story as much as I did, and if you want to connect with the real-life Priscilla, check out her site!! She’s amazing. For real.
Some real things in the book …
If you’re wondering, emu jerky is a thing. When I first moved to Katy, I used to go for long drives with a friend and we found an emu farm and a little creek area like the one Cilla and Pax frequented. We even bought emu jerky, though it wasn’t so terrible in real life. There is a field with two emus in it that I pass daily with my girls on the way to the gym and we always say hi to the emus. Why are they there? I DON’T KNOW.
I currently live in Katy. My boys hope to play for Katy High School just like their uncles did. Maybe one day I’ll get to watch them go to state champs, which Katy often does. It’s a pretty epic and historic school in what was once a small town and is now a sprawling suburb bigger than my hometown.
As for the cowboys who lived in a barn? Totally based on twins I know. For real. You’ll have to keep reading the series to learn more about Elton and Easton and read my notes in those books to find out more. ;)
If you loved the book, please leave a review!
If you’d like to chat more with other readers who love my books, head over to my Epic Reading Group. And if you’d like to get recommendations every week plus a free book, join my newsletter. I’d love to have you.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING A READER!
-e
Acknowledgments
Okay, y’all. This book got some really needed feedback from my ARC readers. Some loved the story outright, but a few kept telling me it felt like it needed some work.
Their words resonated with me and the book is SO MUCH BETTER THAN IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WITHOUT THEM!
Also, all the typos!! Gah. Y’all are the best. You are the reason that Pax doesn’t have a purse and the twins don’t keep getting mixed up. ;)
So, a giant thank you to:
Judy
Marsha
Pat
Priscilla L
Lisa
Anna
Stephanie
Rita
Patty
Lyn
Tamra
Nicole
Deanna
Lois
Sandy
Gina
Ruth
I am so thankful for all of you. And if I forgot a single person or you gave feedback after I hit publish, I am thankful for you too and am sorry your name didn’t get on this page.
I don’t know where I’d be without your amazing eyes and your thoughts. <3
Thanks also to Judy of Judy’s Proofreading and Rebeca of RebecaCovers for the cover!
-e
Forgiving the Football Player Page 20
