FOUR
Although they’d both appeared incredibly handsome in the pictures I’d seen in magazines and online, I just hadn’t expected the two Iverson brothers to be so drop-dead gorgeous in person. I hadn’t expected them to have muscular chests that appeared to have been carved from stone, which almost seemed to be begging me to reach out and touch them. I hadn’t expected them to have such utterly perfect strong, square jaws, and gazes so intense they almost seemed to look right into my very soul. I was beginning to realize that there were some things that just didn’t fully leap off the page of a magazine in quite the same way that they did in person.
After the gray-eyed brother, who I was pretty sure was Alex Iverson, had stuck his boot in the door to keep me from closing it, I spent a long moment just gritting my teeth, trying to think of what choices I had and realizing I pretty much had none. Unless I wanted a fast-track ticket to prison anyway, I figured.
So, I opened my apartment door and then stepped aside to let the two brothers enter. “Fine. Just come right on in, then. You both may as well, since I realize I don’t really have a choice in the matter, and since you’ll both probably break my door down with all your knocking if I don’t let you in right this second. I highly doubt you’re both polite enough not to.”
The man I was pretty sure was Alex Iverson entered first and came to a stop, towering over me. “You're right about that. We’re not, so you made a good choice in voluntarily letting us in. Maybe you’ll even let us sit down, too, so that we can all talk and get acquainted.”
I shrugged, hating his tall height, my relative shortness, and the feeling of him towering over me. “Fine, then. I don’t have a problem with that. The two of you can follow me to the living room, we’ll sit, and we’ll talk.”
I turned from him and began striding across the marble-floored foyer to the hardwood-floored living room, which was beautifully decorated with framed oil paintings, gilded lamps, and crystal vases that a maid had been filling with fresh flowers when I’d arrived. I couldn’t deny that for someone who’d been forced out of her home, my current accommodations could have been a lot worse. Though I wasn’t able to leave, I certainly wasn’t locked in a dungeon, either.
I didn’t even glance back to see if the two Iverson brothers were following me, but the sound of their boots on the wood flooring told me that they were, and pretty closely. When I finally turned to face them in the living room, I found them both a mere foot or so away from me. I hated it, because I hated to be stunned by the sight of them all over again. I just really hadn’t counted on them both being so damned attractive in person. I’d honestly been hoping that without the magic of airbrushing and other magazine tricks, they’d be average-looking or even ugly in “real life,” so that I wouldn’t even be tempted to start crushing on either of them. However, despite the fact that I’d just been treated rudely, something just told me that considering the brothers’ looks and long, well-muscled physiques, not crushing at all might be impossible for me.
Standing so close to me I could see the tiniest flecks of light gray within his coal-gray eyes, the brother who’d stuck his boot in the door spoke in a voice that held more than a hint of steel. “Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alex Iverson, and I’m co-first lieutenant of the UWS.”
The other of my suitors, the brother with the pale blue eyes, took the tiniest of steps closer to me, even though he was plenty close enough. “I’m Mason Iverson, also co-first lieutenant of the UWS.”
Frustrated with myself for being unable to resist finding both Mason and Alex so attractive, I tried to speak in a flat, emotionless voice that I hoped didn’t betray the irritation I felt. “I’m Kira Wakefield, and it’s nice to meet you both. It’s fine if the three of us sit and talk for a while, if that’s what the two of you would like.”
Mason suddenly fixed me with a look I couldn’t quite read. “I would like to sit and talk, Kira, but there’s something else I’d like to do even more first.”
I couldn’t imagine what that could possibly be. However, Mason gave me a little clue when he looked at me with his icy blue eyes glittering, and the corners of his mouth seeming like they wanted to lift into a bit of a sly grin. This had the effect of making his face appear so devastatingly handsome that I found I couldn’t have looked away if my life had depended on it.
The longer I looked at him, the more I was pretty sure I knew what he wanted to do even more than talking. I had just a little hint that he wanted to make a trip to my bedroom before either of us said another word. Honestly, by the way he was looking at me with a devilish glint in his eyes, I half-expected him to grab me by the hand and drag me off. Maybe he’d even throw me over his shoulder, I thought. Because he was a man that I was sure was used to always getting what he wanted when he wanted it, neither of these things seemed outside the realm of possibility at all.
To my complete astonishment, I realized that maybe I wouldn’t say no if he tried to pull me away to my bedroom right then and there, before we’d even had a chance to talk. Maybe I’d even say yes enthusiastically. It was as if his good looks were having the effect of hypnotizing me or something.
However, shocking me, instead of tossing me over his shoulder or pulling me away to my bedroom by the hand, Mason simply reached for a lock of my long, dark blonde hair that had fallen into my face. Then, with his somewhat sly, devilish expression morphing into one that resembled tenderness or something close to it, he brushed the lock away and tucked it behind my ear with his fingers just barely grazing my skin. “There. That’s better. I’m sorry, but that strand of hair was in your face, looking so soft and beautiful that it was almost begging me to touch it.”
I had no idea what to say. I had no earthly clue. Being that I was pretty sure Mason probably had women practically throwing themselves at him regularly, I hadn’t expected him to try to seduce me by way of romantic-type words. Now that he had, I just stared at him, having been rendered speechless, wondering if this was some sort of a test. Not that I could even imagine what kind of a test it might be.
Alex, however, unlike me, wasn’t tongue-tied in the least by what Mason had said. After just a moment or two, he cleared his throat, casting a sidelong look of what appeared to be irritation at Mason. “Look. The three of us are supposed to sit down and have a talk. So, let’s all have a seat and get this over with. Right now.”
After looking at me for just a second longer, Mason shifted his gaze to Alex, lifting his broad shoulders in a shrug. “You’re right. Grandpa said we should all sit down and talk, so we should all sit down and talk. Business before pleasure.”
Pleasure. I could barely believe that Mason had so boldly spoken that very suggestive word out loud. However, there was something else I could barely believe, which was that, for just a fraction of a moment, while I’d been looking at his handsome face as he’d been lifting the strand of my hair, the word pleasure had come into my mind, too.
Beginning to feel really unsure of myself and not wanting to be stuck on the couch sitting with him and Alex, I quickly seated myself on an overstuffed chair opposite. Looking more than a bit disappointed that I’d made this seating choice, Mason had a seat on the couch, and Alex did, too.
Late-day sunlight streaming in through the wide living room windows illuminated their lightly tanned faces, making their skin almost seem to glow, which accentuated their good looks. Why did they have to be so damn handsome in person? I thought, deeply uncomfortable.
Seeming to read my mind, Mason gave me a little smile, settling back on the couch. “You’re looking at us like you’re surprised by how we look or something. Did you think that the magazines ‘doctor’ all our photos?”
A little embarrassed that he’d pretty much read my mind exactly, I shrugged, trying my best to act nonchalant. “I really don’t know what I was expecting. I certainly wasn’t expecting to be taken from my home essentially against my will today.”
Mason winced slightly and said sorry, and that’s when I recalled something and realized something simultaneously. The recalling part was that I recalled what I’d overheard while pretty much hiding in the commander’s office. The realizing something was that I realized that the deep male voice I’d heard was definitely identical to Mason’s. However, now that I was thinking about it, Alex had almost the exact same voice as his brother. In fact, I thought, not “almost” the exact same voice. Their voices are indistinguishable. Obviously, this was going to make it difficult for me to determine who I’d overheard on the phone saying something about “eliminating the competition.”