Luka called the guys, so I’m sure they’re tidying up last minute. He says I should stop worrying, that everything will work itself out naturally, but I’m not so sure. I’m jittery when our taxi pulls up to the Queen.
Mid-November in the Valley can go both ways temperature-wise. This year, it’s hot and dry and yellow. Gorgeous, even with its off-the-charts contrast to the beauty we just left behind in Brazil.
“What’s that smile for?” Luka’s thumb rubs over my knuckle. He secured my hand in his lap as soon as we got in the cab and hasn’t let go since.
“Thinking back to Lara’ Nation.”
“Oh.” His smile spreads, showing gleaming canines I used to think of as predatory. “You know, it could possibly be the smallest nation on the planet.”
“You know, I think you might be right.” I wink and twist out of the taxi, pulling my backpack with me.
The door to the Queen flies open, and Joy lunges out, down the porch steps and into my arms. “Oh god. You’re whole?”
“I’m whole.” I grin. “Did you miss me?”
“Like a lunatic and I don’t take that lightly.”
Diego appears behind her. “Hey, dude.” He slaps Luka’s shoulder and proceeds to a weird gangster-shake I’ve never seen before. There’s much wiggling and nudging at first, but then they cave in to some sort of wrestle-hug.
“Dude.” Luka’s timbre is dark and understatedly happy. “You up to?”
“Hangin’, ya know.” Diego slaps his back hard, and I can’t help laughing. Of all people, I’d expect the Queen’s future psychologist to be a little more verbally expressive.
“So, you’re happy to see each other?” I ask.
“S’all right,” one replies while the other bobs his head lazily.
The Queen is spotless. I stare at Luka, who doesn’t see what I see: complete and utter cleanliness, drapes hanging perfectly straight along every window and nothing out of place. We have a new tablecloth in the dining room. It’s deep red with golden dots and streaks all over it, making me think of surreal movies from the nineties. It’s ostentatious and gorgeous, and I glance at Joy, who shrugs.
“No way they did that.”
“Fine, so I helped a little. What’s it to you?” She puckers her mouth, and from the sheer joy of being here with all our friends, I lean forward and peck her. The guys erupt!
“Sorry, baby,” I murmur to Luka.
“So, what’s with the baby thing?” Lenny asks Luka during dinner. He says it loudly enough for me to hear.
The food is delicious. Joy eats with us, and all the Fratters are here, except Connor.
Luka’s gaze floats to me. It’s bright and tender, and I beam back at him. For one moment, his pupils darken with pain. His unintentional telepathy hits me straight in the heart, making it contract with some erratic jerk. Because god, we’re back where it began, where Julian lived, where Julian died. Above my head, my room is full of him. Our memories are there, the future we didn’t have, a future that’s now a dream of the past.
Luka and I sit next to each other, the way we did before we left the Queen. So much has changed since then. He slides a strong hand into my lap. Dry and warm, it wraps us together.
“I think I’m going to break the news,” Luka murmurs, waiting for me to disagree. I know what he’s referring to, and I don’t disagree even as my heart shrinks with the what-was.
Only months ago, a girl was about to marry her fiancé. He died. His brother whisked her off. Now, she’s about to admit in front of their close friends that she’s in a serious relationship with his twin, and that is—
a little bit fucked up!
For a moment, I can’t breathe.
“Okay.” I sound like huffed oxygen.
Luka brings my hand up from my lap. He does it slowly and doesn’t stop until those pink lips I love meet the top of my knuckles. Joy gasps at his caress, while the Fratters shuffle in their seats.
“So guys. Lenny asked me a question, and I’m gonna come clean to all of you.”
“Have a feeling where he’s going with this,” Marlon whispers to the ceiling.
“I’ve always liked Geneva a fucking lot, and…”
“Yep, there you go.” Marlon earns a few chuckles.
“This chick right here is fucking awesome, and I can’t believe that I’ve been lucky enough to spend ten weeks with her on my own. I’ve gotten to know her on a whole different level, and…”
“Bet he has. Who-o-ole new level.” Marlon again. Lenny suppresses a snort.
Luka shoots them a look. “Anyway. Geneva and I’ve had a chat.”
“About what?” Lenny asks. Did he just bat his eyelashes?
“About us. Right, baby?” Luka turns, and his nose is so close I could lean forward and caress it with my own.
“Yeah.” My voice breaks, so I clear my throat.
“It’s this girl and me now.”
“As in you’re taking over for...?” James’ eyebrows sink a little.
“No, he’ll never replace Julian,” I burst out.
“Right! My brother is my brother. It’s— He was Geneva’s first. You gotta look at it like someone getting a divorce and finding a new guy.” Luka’s gaze widens. “No, that’s not what I meant. Fu-u-ck.” His features crumble, and I slide my arms around him and nudge my nose against his neck.
“I love my brother.” Luka’s voice shatters midways through.
“I know. I know. Remember Makajanti?” I mouth my question against his ear. “You’re Makajanti, and I’m getting there too. I’m following Raka’s lead.”
Slowly, Luka swings his head until his lips graze the corner of my mouth. His touch ripples a chill up my spine. Then he straightens. Pulls in a deep breath and blinks back moisture.
“All right. I’m just gonna come right out and say it. I love this woman, and I don’t care about much else right now. It’s been a hard fucking time since Julian died. I shouldn’t be doing this or feeling what I feel, but you know what? It’s not that easy.
“I’ve said it to Geneva, and I’m admitting it to you: it’s not unheard of that brothers love the same woman. And— Fuck.” He hunches into his cupped hand, letting go of me to cover his fight. Around us, our friends wait in silence until he’s ready to talk again.
“Julian had his time with Geneva. He... let. It. Go.”
Joy inhales sharply, and Diego strokes her shoulder.
I climb onto Luka’s lap. I want to envelop him with my body, but my size can’t do that for him. I guide his head into the curve of my neck. His tears moisten me while he screeches the chair away from the table and twists us toward the window.
“It’s okay,” I whisper. “I can’t believe you did this. We could have waited.”
He shakes his head, unable to reply.
“You know what’s pretty funny?” There’s amusement in Nathaniel’s pitch.
“What’s pretty funny?” James asks.
“You see what he’s doing, right?”
“What’s he doing, Nate?” I don’t have to look up to recognize Marlon’s chocolate depth.
“That sonofabitch has deprived us of the babe for ten weeks, and now he’s claiming her for, like, forever.”
Stunned silence. Then Lenny starts to laugh. James joins him with his signature snicker, and before I know it, everyone’s laughing. I find myself smiling too.
“Oh my, someone’s having fun down here.” A voice I don’t recognize cuts through the amusement. The sound is musical and sexy and one hundred percent female. “What’s going on? Is Luka home already?”
Belen sways her hips down the last steps of the stairs. She’s wearing a long-sleeved dress shirt that reaches her mid-thigh. It’s buttoned up to the middle of her breasts, and when she turns to wave at James, a nipple pokes against the fabric.
Behind her is Connor. Shiny-eyed and with his hair in bed-disarray, he blinks twice and stalks forward. First a handshake with Luka, and then a dive-in to hug me. “Whoa, look at you. You’re all gorgeous and tanned, and that hair?”
Yeah, I guess it got bleached. I can conjure poker-faced under distress. This is a good time for that. “Hey, Connor,” I say brightly.
“Man, we’ve missed you. You been good?” he asks, looking me over, and I’m relieved that Belen isn’t all over him. Until she joins James on the couch and strokes her bare thigh down his pant leg.
I half-listen to Connor’s story about a poet-professor getting sick and leaving him in charge of the freshman classes for two weeks.
“Your house is ah-mazing, Luka,” Belen purrs. “I mean, I’d only been here for parties before, so I hadn’t really checked it out. And your roommates are delicious as hell.” She leans in to slide her nose up James’ throat before nibbling on his ear. If only he’d pulled away.
I can’t sleep in my room this first night at the Queen. Since Julian’s death, it’s where I’ve been every night in the Valley, but tonight, I leave my luggage there before grabbing my essentials and finding Luka.
He waits for me in his room. We’re still grimy from the road. It reminds me of the two of us in a small hut made of dirt and palm leaves. It reminds me of us under a merciless sky full of rain and sun.
I sigh as he folds me in, kissing my face and my lips. “You want to sleep? Shower? Make love and shower? Not give a fuck and just fuck?”
I laugh lazily. “Clean up, then the rest?”
“Okay.”
In the shower, he rinses me wordlessly, letting liquid heat mix with soap.
“Nice, huh?” I manage, realizing how much I’ve missed this. Yes, we’ve showered in hotel rooms since the jungle, but this is different. At the Queen, our showers are generous, and we’re not bound by time limits.
“So nice.” His hands travel over my boobs. Then down my stomach until he’s concentrating all his washing efforts on my lower region.
“I’m that dirty?” I murmur.
“You can never be too clean.” He bites his lip, and the droplets resting on hooded eyelids make him sexy as hell. “I want to be thorough, you know, even if it means... this.”
He has me trembling so quickly. I groan and pull away; I don’t want to do this in the shower. I want us on his bed, slow and hot, savoring every moment until we can’t take it anymore.
“This okay?” he asks, toweling me off in front of the mirror. Luka’s gaze doesn’t stray from my nipples as he makes them contract into pink nubs of anticipation.
“Mm-yeah.” I sigh, trying to forget his colleague who hadn’t left the TV-room by the time we moved upstairs. “I hope Belen doesn’t think she can stay here.”
“Never mind her. She has nothing to do with us.” He deposits me on the bed and kisses a trail down my stomach.
“I know. But...”
“But nothing.”
This man is a pro. He can make a girl forget with a pointed thrust of his hips. With him, my thighs will never remain waiting. His hips will be here, jutting and jerking, and he’ll find depths that cause me to lose my breath. He does it now, presses deep inside of me until I curl around him and scream out my relief.