ITHOUT ANY SIGN of pleasure or welcome, Declan opened the door to the two tall, broad, blond men who stood poised and erect.
“What the actual fuck?” Liam spun around. Ever the gent, even as he turned he smoothed my panties and my skirt perfectly back into place. Shame he couldn’t do the same for my makeup. Or for my wild, out of control pulse and emotions.
Kneeling up on the couch, I watched the two men enter and Declan closed the door after them. His face told the same story as my gut. All day I had been waiting for some alone time with my two beautiful men. Now that time seemed to be fading farther into the distance and even the sight of two more gorgeous hunks of hot male flesh was not enough compensation.
Declan offered the twins a drink, genial and hospitable, even while everyone could see he was in a mood like a thunderstorm. None of us knew for certain if Horst and Gunner really were twins, or if they were really German, come to that. I couldn’t help wondering, if they were twins, how identical they were. Did identical twins have identical cocks? They both swelled and bulged in my direction at what seemed to be identical speeds. I didn’t want to look too hard. That always seemed to make cocks rise faster, harder and farther, but it could be a distraction. I never, ever wanted to be in the way of Declan and Liam’s business.
Horst and Gunner had the same eyes, the same full lips with the same cocky half grins, and the same bulging Adam’s apples that bobbed when they swallowed. They were the same height, a shade taller than Declan, and both were square-shouldered, with wide, square jaws and big, flashing teeth. Their hair and clothes were the same, too, and that added to the intriguing and discomforting effect.
“Horst,” a twin stuck a hand out at Declan. “Sometimes people get us mixed up.”
Declan gave Horst’s hand a hearty shake. Then he turned to the other and said, “Gunner,” as he offered his hand. I think he was just showing that he remembered their names. Hospitable Declan.
So now Liam and I had to shake hands with both of them. My fingers were still damp from having them on Liam’s lips, and I was reverberating inside from Liam’s fingers trilling and thrilling me. And jarred from suddenly breaking off.
When they took my hand, each in turn, they looked me in the eye as they lifted my hand. Their touch was strong and tender and their manner was courteous. The tingles that still reverberated in my core stirred and swelled again on contact with the twins’ strong fingers.
I stepped back as Horst told Liam and Declan, “I understand we’re to be working together.”
Liam’s eyebrows tightened. I knew that meant he was displeased.
Gunner said, “We heard about Carlo meeting with a regrettable end.”
Declan snarled. “News gets around.”
I moved toward the other couch, wanting to keep out of the way.
“Oh,” Horst said, “We heard it was going to happen. We didn’t know that fate had already overtaken him.”
“Well, if you know that much,” Declan’s voice was hard, “You’d be wise not to go around calling my friend here and myself names.”
Horst frowned, “I don’t understand.”
“If you don’t,” Liam sprang toward him, “then you definitely don’t want to be calling us names. Especially not names like ‘fate.’”
“Oh,” Horst’s face brightened. But Declan shoved his face near to Horst’s.
“Or,” Declan said, “We might befall you.”
Declan repeated his offer of drinks.
Gunner said he would join Declan in whatever he was having. Splashing whiskey into tumblers, handing one to Gunner and another to Horst, Declan said, “Look, I don’t know where you got your information,”
Liam moved to collect a whiskey for himself and a tumbler for me, saying, “Well there are only two places I can think of that you could have gotten it from. And since I seriously doubt Carlo called himself to tell you, that would only leave one.”
“It is regrettable that we were told, obviously, before you had been asked. Or even been made aware.” Gunner said, “Were you at least told that we were coming here?”
“About thirty seconds before you knocked on the door.” Declan took a nip of his whiskey.
Horst shook his head. “That’s embarrassing.”
“Why?” Liam’s voice cracked like a whip. “It’s not your doing. What do you have to be embarrassed about?”
Horst turned to face him. “When the proposition was put to us, we were hoping, Gunner and I, that we would be able to work cooperatively with you.”
“We sincerely are admirers of your work.”
“Damnit,” Declan spun to face Gunner. “I’m sure your admiration is quite sincere, and the sentiment is touching. Truly. But you gentlemen surely realize that we do everything in our power to keep our work from being known by anyone.”
Everybody could see what had happened, that the mysterious voice on the phone, the man pulling the strings, who was responsible for giving Liam and Declan most of their work, had engineered this situation.
Everybody was tense now, and I was still buzzing. The advantage I had was in being an outsider, at least a kind of an outsider. I wasn’t a part of any of the negotiations or deals. I had given Declan and Liam a little help now and then, and I would have happily have given them more, but they kept me out of it. For my safety more than anything.
Knowing what I did, though, I was able to step into the middle of the room and say, “We are where we are. This is someone else’s doing. It may go better if we all sit. Maybe relax a little.”
My guess was that Declan and Liam had the same idea, but they wouldn’t have wanted to seem to back down. Not in front of Horst and Gunner. Maybe not in front of me either, I didn’t know, although I did hope. A little bit.
Saying that, I was taking a risk. If any of the men took it the wrong way, we could have been in for contests of strength and will. Possibly firepower, too. But they all sat and the mood lightened a little.