Chapter Two
Jake Campbell was on top of the world. He was the founder and CEO of a global tech company, Dat Cloud, that pioneered sharing and storing of memory-hogging data—pictures, audio, video—with an ease and speed that hadn’t been possible before his data-compression application. He’d worked his ass off to get to where he was today, the company could practically run itself now, and here he was at a rooftop party of some animation studio head, surrounded by the elite few who’d garnered an invitation, when it hit him how very alone he felt. He rubbed at the ache in his chest and gazed out at the view of San Francisco Bay, reminding himself to appreciate the rewards his hard work had given him.
Ever since the company went public, he had more money than he knew what to do with and that gave him options—travel, rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, building his dream house to his exact specifications. But money had some nasty side effects. People always wanted something, approaching with a hand out for donations, investments, or unwarranted child support. The child-support thing pissed him off. It started when he’d been named Silicon Valley’s sexiest bachelor two years ago, a dubious honor given the population of mostly tech geeks. In any case, beautiful women threw themselves at him, but they were only after one thing. Not the good thing either. The pattern was predictable. At first they’d be clingy, hoping for a commitment. Not gonna happen. Not that he was afraid of commitment, he’d been in two long-term relationships pre-sexiest bachelor days, he’d just never met the woman who made him want to settle down. He must be missing that nesting gene. That made sense, actually. No one in his family was in a committed relationship, not even his parents. So, there you go. Basic DNA deficiency.
Unfortunately, his natural reluctance to commit just made women try harder. In the past year, he’d had three women file paternity suits in a blatant grab for his money. Two of them he hadn’t even slept with. Ridiculous. And not great for his reputation either. The third woman he had slept with, though he was sure she must’ve tampered with the condom because he never had unprotected sex. He’d been ready to step up with child support—he’d never make a kid suffer for the sins of the mother—but the paternity test proved he wasn’t the father.
He just couldn’t trust anyone anymore.
He raked a hand through his dark brown hair. He almost missed those early days in the business, seven years ago, fresh out of the army and working hard on this idea he’d had to make information sharing easier around the world. Now life was a plateau, no challenge, same old stuff. He turned away from the view and back to the party, thinking he should just bail. He didn’t even know half the people here, and he wasn’t up to small talk. Shit. He caught Priscilla’s approach, someone he’d slept with once and couldn’t seem to shake, and made a quick sideways move toward his friend and second in command at Dat Cloud, Steve Nelson. He was sick of glamorous, superficial women like her. Priscilla changed course and followed him.
“I’m taking off,” he told Steve.
“Already?” Steve looked around Jake’s shoulder, smiling in appreciation at Priscilla. She was a former bikini model, as she liked to tell everyone she met. Steve spoke under his breath. “Don’t let Priscilla scare you off. I’ll take her off your hands.”
Jake grinned. Steve was wealthy, thanks to Dat Cloud, but he was also short and round with a preference for Grateful Dead shirts and Birkenstocks with socks. Women weren’t throwing themselves at Steve. Though they should because he was a helluva guy with a good heart. He spent every other weekend with his sister’s kids ever since their dad had taken off.
Priscilla wrapped sharp manicured nails around Jake’s bicep. “There you are,” she purred. “Let’s get out of here.”
“You remember Steve?” Jake asked.
“Sure, we’ve met a few times,” Steve said with a big smile.
Priscilla looked at Steve blankly before turning her attention back to Jake. “I miss you. Always so busy. All work and no play is no fun at all.” She made a small pout with her jumbo Botoxed lips. He stifled a smart-ass remark. He missed regular girls like the kind he’d grown up with, natural beauties ready for fun. At least they had been when he was in high school. Damn, he was getting all nostalgic. He was thirty-two, it wasn’t like they’d be home waiting for him after all these years.
He peeled Priscilla off his arm. “I’m heading out.”
“He needs his beauty sleep,” Steve told Priscilla with a wink. “How about we…”
She frowned and stalked off.
“Another time,” Steve muttered.
“You don’t want her,” Jake said. “Trust me.”
“I’m doing shots,” Steve said, heading to where a bar was set up complete with a thatched roof.
Jake inclined his head and left him to it. He headed home in his eco-friendly electric Tesla Model S to his modern concrete and glass house. When he got inside, he wandered around, feeling restless. The house was all one level, an open floor plan with black leather sofa and chairs, glass tables, and steel accents. A large patio led to a pool and hot tub. He’d had an architect and interior designer execute his idea of luxury living. But now when he looked around, it felt kind of sterile and cold. A wave of homesickness hit him. His house growing up, a modest three-bedroom colonial, had always felt alive, crowded with people. He hadn’t seen his family—his dad, four brothers, sister, and a tight group of blood brothers—in way too long.
It was near midnight back home in Eastman, Connecticut. His identical twin, Josh, would just be getting off work as a bartender with pockets full of tips from the ladies. His twin was the Sexiest Bachelor in Eastman—self-appointed—in response to Jake’s sexiest bachelor title. As Josh put it, what woman could resist the allure of thick dark brown hair, deep brown bedroom eyes, wickedly sexy stubble, charming smile, and muscular athletic bod? Idiot.
Jake smiled to himself and pulled out his cell to text Josh only to find a text waiting for him. Spooky how “twin sense” could work on opposite sides of the country.
Josh: Twin sense tells me u need a place 2 crash.
Jake grinned. Whether it was twin sense or Josh was inviting him for a visit, it didn’t matter. He’d take the jet first thing in the morning. His thumbs flew over the keys.
Jake: I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon. Dibs on the bed.
Josh: FU. My place, my bed. Not running a hotel.
Jake chuckled. Josh had a one-bedroom apartment. He could get a hotel, but he’d take the sofa just to hang with Josh. As kids, even in the chaos of their large extended family, they’d always made sure to have twin time, just the two of them. “Twin refuel” they’d called it. They’d even had an elaborate high-five, low-five routine that ended with a revving engine of twin fuel. Corny, but true. Hell, they’d shared a womb—the ultrasound showed them hugging each other—shared a room growing up, even gone into the army at the same time, though different units. Jake had come out of the military driven to work with global technology that could open access to online education and opportunities in poor areas (and also caught on very lucratively in places that could well afford it). Josh came out of the army shell-shocked with what he’d seen and been through as a paratrooper dropped from a plane into enemy territory, where hand-to-hand combat was often required. He’d had a long recovery, but was doing better now.
Jake: Time for a twin refuel.
Josh: Not in my bed, freak. Bring that $$$$ scotch. He wanted the rare Macallan scotch. Jake had some vintage bottles.
Still feeling nostalgic for things back home, he texted, How’s Mad? His little sister, Madison, was the baby and the only girl. He and his brothers looked out for her. Josh, more than any of them, made sure she was okay, even bringing her on part-time as bartender where he worked in Clover Park while she went to community college. School had been at Josh’s insistence because he was tired of worrying about her bartending in a seedy part of New York City. Mad must’ve been tired of it too because she went for Josh’s plan, and Mad didn’t do anything she didn’t want to do.
Josh: Mad’s Mad.
Jake: Kicking ass and taking names.
Josh: Yup.
Jake: How’s Dad?
Josh: 2 tired for 20 questions. See u later.
Jake sent a smiley face emoticon with sunglasses just to annoy his brother, who believed emoticons were for teenaged girls. Probably because Mad used to emoticon the hell out of them in some hieroglyphic way that Jake suspected was code and Josh suspected was for her own amusement. He headed to the bedroom and started packing, the empty ache in his chest easing for the first time all night.
~ ~ ~
Twenty-four hours later, Jake leaned an elbow on the dark cherry bar at Garner’s Sports Bar & Grill, where Josh worked, and took a long swallow of beer. It was Saturday night and the place was filling up fast. His brother was jovial, working the bar and the customers, especially the ladies, with equal ease. Some of the women slid him a napkin with a phone number scribbled on it. Josh tucked those numbers behind the bar with a smile like they were something special, but Jake knew he’d toss them in the nightly cleanup. Not that Josh didn’t like hooking up with the ladies. He’d gotten plenty of action, but lately he’d been slacking. Even Jake couldn’t get the reason out of him.
“What was wrong with that one?” Jake asked, referring to the curvy brunette that had just left with some friends. She’d gifted Josh a hefty tip and her number while leaning forward to give him a peek down her low-cut shirt.
Josh just shook his head, a small smile playing over his lips. He moved on to the next customer.
Damn. Was Josh holding out for something more…serious? Looking to settle down? Was that what was going on in twin Campbell land? If his twin was ready, that meant maybe he was too. Their lives often paralleled each other. Like when they’d both dropped out of the same college two years in, feeling restless and needing adventure. Josh thought college was a waste of time, nothing held his interest, and the minute he said so to Jake, he admitted he’d been feeling the same way. He was a self-taught computer guy and knew more than his professors. Jake came up with the idea to enlist in the army since their dad was a veteran. Josh said why the hell not and went along for the ride. Jake still felt guilty over the way Josh’s life had taken a bad turn after the army. He tried to console himself with the fact that Josh was damn happy with his life now.
Were they done with the bachelor scene? The idea of either of them settling down was so far-fetched. But it nagged at him, hovering over his head like a damn fly.
A beautiful redheaded woman appeared at his side. Her hair was long, a light reddish blonde, her pale blue eyes fixed on his brother. She wore a dark green dress that hugged a perfect hourglass figure and black strappy heels. Designer stuff from head to toe if he knew women. And he did.
“Josh,” she called, frantically waving him over.
Josh’s head swiveled around, his brown eyes narrowed, before he lifted a finger at her to wait and moved to the next customer.
The woman huffed and muttered, “Ignoring me. Cad.”
She looked high maintenance. Perfect hair, perfectly made up, strikingly beautiful, but…
She turned to him and did a double take. “Oh my God! There’s two of you!” She called to Josh, who was pouring some beer on tap. “You never told me you had a twin!”
“I haven’t told you a lot of things,” Josh returned.
The woman held out her hand with a polite smile, and Jake shook it. “I’m Hailey.”
“Jake.”
Josh appeared in front of them. “What can I get ya?”
“Do you still have Mondays off?” Hailey asked Josh.
“Yeah.”
Hailey gestured Josh closer.
He rolled his eyes, but leaned across the bar. “What?”
She whispered, but Jake was still close enough to hear her ask, “Can you do a Monday date with a new member of the book club?”
Jake’s gaze cut to Josh, who didn’t seem at all fazed by this odd question. Instead he stood straighter and looked vastly entertained. Since when did Josh do blind dates? He met women all the time at the bar. Not to mention all the women at the cooking classes he took because he claimed his boss at Garner’s wanted him to, but Jake knew it was because Josh was a foodie and dreamed of opening his own bar with awesome food one day. If he’d let him, Jake would pony up the money in a heartbeat.
Hailey put a hand on her hip. “Well?”
Josh jerked his chin. “What’s it worth to ya?” He grinned at Jake.
“The standard arrangement,” Hailey said through clenched teeth. Jake got the feeling this was a frequent conversation.
Josh busied himself behind the bar, biting back a smile. Clearly he enjoyed messing with Hailey, who rose to the bait beautifully.
Her blue eyes flashed with annoyance. “So can you do it?”
“Hmm…” Josh said, jerking her chain some more.
Hailey turned to Jake unexpectedly. “Maybe you’d like to go on the date? Very sweet girl.”
Jake opened his mouth to say he wouldn’t be in town on Monday when Josh cut him off.
“He’s on a hiatus from women.” Josh smirked. “Billionaires have that falling-at-their-feet problem.”
Jake glared at Josh. First of all, he’d never said he was on a hiatus, and second, he didn’t appreciate the billionaire dig. Josh had a chip on his shoulder about being the non-billionaire twin. His brother was just as smart and could’ve gotten in on the ground floor of Dat Cloud, but he’d chosen a different less lucrative path. Besides, Jake had fallen out of the ten-figure club recently with an expansion into a country where the government was overturned by a dictator who seized all assets. A temporary dip, he was sure. He took big risks and was frequently rewarded with big gains. Or losses. Money was never a sure thing.
Hailey looked at Jake with new appreciation. “What do you do?”
“I started Dat Cloud. It’s—”
“I read about Dat Cloud in the Wall Street Journal! We should talk. What are you doing tomorrow?”
He caught Josh’s frown and realized his brother might actually want her for himself. Though he had a helluva weird way of showing it.
“Busy,” Jake said.
“Can I buy you a drink?” Hailey asked, surprising him.
It had been a damn long time since someone bought him something.
“Sure,” Jake said.
“Great!” Hailey exclaimed. “Josh, get him whatever he’d like. On me.”
“Another beer, barkeep,” Jake ordered, tapping the bar.
Josh didn’t move. “I’ll take you up on that date, princess.”
Hailey scowled. “Stop calling me that,” she snapped.
“If the diamond tiara fits…” Josh drawled.
Hailey pasted on a smile and smoothed her dress. “I’ll text you the details.” She turned to Jake. “It was really nice to meet you.” She whipped a card out of her purse and handed it to him. “Call me next time you’re in town for a longer visit.”
Josh shot him a dark look that he didn’t need any twin sense to know meant Jake wasn’t supposed to go there.
“Nice to meet you too,” Jake said.
Hailey beamed a smile that made her incandescent. Her blue eyes lit like twin sparklers, her pale skin glowed pink, even her teeth seemed extra shiny white. He was momentarily held in thrall at her stunning beauty.
“Ciao!” She turned on her heel and strode out the door. She seemed to have forgotten she’d bought him a drink.
“Ciao,” Jake said.
“Ciao,” Josh muttered, his lip curling.
Jake turned to watch her go, unable to take his eyes off her curvy ass. A hard jab hit him between the shoulder blades. “Ow!”
He whirled, about to return the hit to his scowling brother, when Josh stepped out of reach and moved across the bar to help a customer.
Jake read the card Hailey had given him, puzzling over what a Love Junkie did. Was that part of her “arrangement” with Josh?
“So what’s the arrangement?” Jake asked once Josh finally moved back to his side of the bar.
Josh didn’t bother replying. Just straightened up, tucking used glasses away.
The next logical thought hit him with a jolt. He leaned across the bar and lowered his voice, “Are you a…male hooker?”
Josh moved to the other side of the bar without a word. Fuck. He couldn’t believe it. Was he that hard up for funds for his dream bar?
Jake tried to get the details several more times, but Josh kept his mouth shut. Jake finally gave up and contented himself with watching the Sox game. But his curiosity over the strange interaction between Josh and Hailey got the better of him. He had to know what the deal was. He waited until Josh closed the bar and headed to the back parking lot to bring it up again. In a roundabout way.
“Why do you call Hailey a princess?” Jake asked.
“Why do you care?” Josh said with no real heat. He slid into his black Miata convertible.
Jake got in the passenger seat. “She’s pretty. I might give her a call next time I’m in town.”
Josh started the car and muttered under his breath, “Ass.” He peeled out of the lot.
“So you don’t like her, or you do? I can’t tell.”
“Drop it.”
This Hailey thing just got more and more interesting. And troubling. Why was Josh being so close-lipped about it? What had he gotten himself into?
“Is she an actual princess?” Jake asked once they’d parked at the large Victorian house across town, where Josh rented the first-floor apartment.
Josh got out of the car and slammed the door. Jake kept up with him, their strides equally long-legged. “You messing with royalty?”
Josh shook his head and unlocked the door of the house and then the door to his apartment. He tossed his keys in a bowl by the front door and crossed to the long beige sofa with a chaise lounge on one end. Josh flopped on the sofa, stretching across the length of it. Jake took the chaise lounge and shoved his brother’s feet away so he could stretch out too.
“You’d better not be doing anything illegal,” Jake said.
“Shut up already. Geez, you’re worse than Mad with all your questions.”
“Just tell me if you’re a hooker,” Jake said, half-joking. Really, it was an absurd thought. Neither of them had ever had any trouble getting a woman. “That’s all I need to know before I go to the authorities.”
Josh snorted. Their dad was a retired cop. “I’m not a hooker. More like a paid gentleman escort. No sex.”
Jake jackknifed up and stared at his brother. “You’re kidding, right?” Except Josh looked dead serious.
Josh closed his eyes. “I just do it to mess with her.”
Jake was thoroughly confused. “You take women out for money to mess with a princess?” And no sex? What was the point in that?
Josh opened his eyes. “She’s not a princess. Think about it. Why would a princess be hanging around a bar in the burbs, talking to me?”
“You tell me.”
“I just call her that because she’s like a princess.” He tilted his nose up. “Above the riffraff.”
“Because she’s beautiful?” Jake guessed.
Josh threw an arm over his eyes. “It’s her fancy designer dresses and her attitude.”
Jake hadn’t noticed an attitude. She’d seemed okay to him. Whatever. If Josh wanted to mess with her and she kept rising to the bait, maybe that was just their idea of a good time. Though he couldn’t remember his brother acting so strange before. Usually he was outrageously charming with women, and then once they did the deed, he lost interest. He had to wonder how long they’d been playing this game.
“You want some of that scotch?” Jake asked.
Josh lowered his arm. “You have to ask?”
He headed to the kitchen, where he’d left it, and poured them both a couple of tumblers. He returned to the sofa, where Josh was now sitting up, smiling at his cell phone.
“What?” Jake asked.
Josh shoved his phone in his pocket. “She just texted me that she’d like to skip the cash for this date and give me brownies instead.”
“You’ll go through the hassle of a blind date for brownies?”
“They’re really good. They’re fudgy and perfectly—” he kissed his fingers “—luscious. I’ve only had them once and I’m trying to figure out the secret ingredient.”
Jake stared at him.
Josh gestured for the glass. “Drink?”
Jake handed it over. They clinked glasses before downing the whole thing in one long swallow in perfect unison. One of those twin things.
“How much does she normally pay you?” Jake asked, pouring more scotch into Josh’s outstretched tumbler and then into his own.
Josh lifted his glass in a silent thank you and tossed it back. “I’ll pay her back one day.”
Jake shook his head at the cagey answer. “How long have you been doing this?”
Josh lifted one shoulder up and down. “Three months.”
Jake sipped his scotch. They really should savor ten-thousand-dollar scotch. “How in the world did you come up with this scam?”
Josh lifted a palm. “She’s ambitious. She wants to build her wedding planning business and needs a regular date to weddings. We met at a cooking class, and she asked me out in a professional capacity. Her words. She figured out I’m more reliable than the twentysomething dudes she’s used to.” His lips twitched on “dudes,” and he hid a smile with another sip of scotch.
“For a price. Or brownies.” Jake puzzled over this strange arrangement. “Wait, so how did wedding dates with her lead to you going on blind dates with someone else?”
“Yeah. Well…” He helped himself to more scotch.
“Slow down,” Jake said. “That’s the good stuff.”
Josh sipped. “It is good.”
“So? What’s the deal with the blind dates?”
Josh swirled his scotch before tossing back half the glass. He coughed. “She, uh, wants me to warm up the women before she gets them back out in the dating world. First step on her wedding planning journey. She’s got a business plan and everything.” He smiled to himself at that. “Anyway, the women have usually been burned before and need a guy like me.”
“A paid escort kind of guy?” Jake was having trouble wrapping his head around what the hell his twin was doing and why.
Josh narrowed his eyes. “A guy who shows them not all men are slime. I give them the gentleman treatment and tell them right up front I’m not looking for serious, just one fun date.” He shrugged. “It goes fine. No hard feelings.”
Their dad had drummed acting like a gentleman into all of their thick skulls. He could hear him now. “You treat a lady right. That means manners, holding doors, speaking respectfully.” His dad’s mom had been mistreated and his dad’s stepdad had made a world of difference with much more respectful gentlemanly ways. Unfortunately, that gentleman thing hadn’t panned out for their dad. His beauty queen wife, their mom, hadn’t stuck around despite being treated like a queen. She’d left her husband and six kids without a backward glance. Mad, the youngest, had only been one.
Jake studied his twin, still not sure what Josh was getting out of this deal. Some cash? Brownies? It sounded like a whole lot of effort for not much in return. “I don’t get it.”
“It’s a transaction,” Josh said like Jake was a moron. “She’s the one that keeps coming back for more.”
“You do like her!”
Josh stood, finished his drink, and set the glass on the coffee table. “I’m beat.” He stretched and did a big fake yawn.
Jake socked him in the gut. Josh returned the punch, knocking the scotch bottle, but Jake snagged it, managing not to spill any.
“Fine,” Jake said. “Go to bed, wuss.”
Josh laughed. “Night.” He headed toward his bedroom with his usual laid-back amble.
“Why don’t you ask her out?” Jake called.
Josh stopped and spoke without turning around. “She’s got higher ambitions than a bartender.”
“How do you know?”
Josh turned, his eyes hooded and tired. “You saw the way she warmed up to you once she heard you had money.”
Jake slowly shook his head. “No. She didn’t ask me out. She just said we should talk.”
“She bought you a drink.”
“Not really. She left without paying for it.”
Josh’s jaw went tight. “Believe me, she’s into the money thing.”
Jake leaned his head back on the sofa. “I’m so tired of women only looking for one thing.”
“Must be rough.”
“You know what I mean.”
A slow smile dawned on Josh’s face. “You want to teach Hailey a lesson?”
The hair on the back of his neck stood up. His body suddenly felt charged and alert. “Man, we haven’t done the switcheroo in ages.”
Josh’s eyes gleamed. “You go on the sweet-girl-from-book-club date; I’ll go out with Hailey as you and show her she really does like slumming with me.”
Jake frowned. If Josh actually did like Hailey, this seemed like a shitty thing to do to her. On the other hand, maybe if Josh went out with Hailey on a real date, it would end this weird brownie/cash dance they were doing.
“I’ll tell her at the end of the date who I really am,” Josh said, answering his unspoken objection. “I just want to, you know, open her ambitious eyes.”
And yours. “She’s gonna be pissed.”
“I’ll deal with Hailey. And your girl won’t care. You’re just the warm-up to dating again. Can you stay until Tuesday?” Josh suddenly looked more awake. “We’ll do the date on Monday at the same time so they don’t have a chance to talk to each other about it.”
Jake considered his role in this. He’d never had a blind date.
“Come on. You know you love it.”
He did. It was freeing to be someone else. And it had always been easy to step in for his twin. They knew each other as well as they knew themselves. And it might be cool to see how the other half lived. What his life would’ve been like if he’d stayed back east and had hometown roots like Josh did. A casual no-stress lifestyle sounded fantastic. A sweet small-town girl too, like the kind he’d grown up with.
“I’m in,” Jake said.
They grinned at each other. “Awesome,” they said in unison.
“Who gets the brownies?” Jake asked.
“Me.”
“Hey,” Jake protested. “Why do I get the blind date, no cash, and no brownies?”
“World history.”
“Come on. That was high school.” Josh had taken Jake’s place for a world history final exam senior year because Jake had stayed up all night playing poker in a friend’s basement. Fortunately, they’d been in two different classes, so the switcheroo worked.
“You graduated, didn’t you?”
“What about Sherri Wexton? I took her out while you were busy with Tanya what’s-her-name.”
Josh smiled in memory; then he countered with, “Missy Pardo.”
“Bah.” They could do this all night with all the trading places they used to do, usually involving keeping a bunch of girls interested and not pissing any of them off. Not one girl had ever noticed which twin they were with. Most people couldn’t tell them apart. Except family and the rare few who really got to know them.
“Fine.” Jake put a hand over his heart. “I’ll do it out of the goodness of my heart. Only because you’re so twisted up over Hailey.”
“I’m not twisted.”
Jake raised his brows.
“Shut up,” Josh said and headed to bed.