Misadventures With The Mistaken Twin (Big Sky Boyfriends #2)

Chapter 2

2

Twenty minutes later, I pulled my van into the parking lot of the ER, Jack strapped into the passenger seat. It was the business van, full of tools and pipe. ‘Pete's Plumbing’ was painted across the outside in black cursive. I'd tossed on clothes—jeans, turtleneck and sweatshirt, heavy winter coat, boots and gloves. I'd tucked my snarled wet hair up under a thick wool hat so it wouldn't freeze.

We hadn't said too much since the breast baring incident. I kept silent because I was too angry to say anything. I wanted to give him another whack for being so obnoxious. I was also embarrassed I'd had a wardrobe malfunction mid-attack, but halting an intruder had been my first priority. I'd thought about getting naked with Jack, many, many times, but that boob-flashing hadn't been what I’d had in mind. Now, I was modestly covered head to toe. Only the lower half of my face had actual skin showing.

It was really too cold for more. It was January, it was Montana, and it was freezing. I was used to snow for months on end. I had the right clothes to prove it. I knew not to be stupid when it came to winter and was bundled up accordingly. Jack, on the other hand, looked like he’d just come from Florida. Which, he most likely had. His shoes couldn't keep out an inch of snow, his jacket was something you'd wear in May in Bozeman, not in temperatures that were stuck below zero. The hat on his head was the only smart thing he wore. Most likely he'd picked it up once he got to town. No hat like that was even sold in Miami.

Jack wasn't talking either. He clenched his jaw tight enough to turn his teeth to diamonds as he stared out the windshield, one arm folded across his chest with his hand tucked into his armpit, the other holding a package of frozen peas to the back of his head. He looked angry—and freezing. He was being silent and moody because I'd knocked him out.

I sighed as I pulled into a parking spot and killed the engine. “Okay. I'll take the high road here and talk first.”

“High road?” he questioned. His voice was deeper than I remembered, but the Jack Reid of my memory was a gangly teenager.

I took a deep breath. “I haven't seen you in over ten years and the first thing you say to me is 'nice breast.' So, yes, high road.” There was a little snark in my voice.

He turned to gaze at me, eyes dropping briefly to my 'nice breasts'. My heart went pitter pat. Even angry, in pain and cold, he was so...Jack. I'd thought about him night after night in high school and relived the one—and only—kiss we'd shared ever since. I had to admit, the younger version of me had exceptional taste.

I was reasonably attractive. The dates I'd gone out with in my life seemed to think so. I had stick-straight black hair that went past my shoulders, brown eyes. I wasn't short, nor tall. Five-six made me right in the middle. My weight was proportional to my height—my doctor's words. Jack seemed to find my breasts worthy of a second look, even with layers of coat and clothing on top. I had to be somewhat appealing to him as I looked like my sister—my identical twin sister—whom he'd slept with. There had to be some attraction there. Although, if we ever did end up in bed, it might actually be anticlimactic for him. Not a pleasant thought. No one wanted their first time with a guy to be 'been-there-done-that,' even though they hadn't really been there, nor done that. With me.

“High road?” he repeated. “You hit me on the head like a woman possessed.” His voice sounded as if he were equally frustrated.

I took another deep breath and started counting to ten. I made it to six. “Which I wouldn't have done if you hadn't waltzed on in Violet’s house. Explain to me why you were there and how you got the key.”

“My uncle is renovating his kitchen, which he's been telling me about for weeks. But he called yesterday and told me he was sick,” Jack said, his voice bitter. “He needs my help finishing the project. Said he was too weak to supervise. I flew in from Miami this morning, took a taxi from the airport and when I got to his house, there was a note saying he's in Arizona for the winter. On top of that, the power and water are shut off because the back half of his house has been gutted.”

Wow. His uncle really wanted Jack back in Bozeman for some reason. To lie like that was a pretty big deal. I'd be mad, too.

“He left the address of where I could stay until that part of the renovation was complete. That's how I ended up at your place. After walking ten blocks,” he growled, shifting the frozen peas. “And he said the key would be under the doormat.”

There was a lot for me to think through in his brief recap. First off, he had been worried about his uncle. Worried enough to come back, over two thousand miles, after ten years. That said something because he hadn't been back to town, not once, since graduation.

Second, I was the one who was preventing him from staying at his uncle's. Being the plumber his uncle had hired for the job, I’d separated Jack from his running water. When he learned about that, he would probably have a stroke. I had no doubt. No way would I tell him now. One medical problem at a time.

My third thought was that Violet needed to move her extra key.

And lastly, well, my last thought needed confirmation.

With the engine off, the heat was gone inside the van and my breath came out in a white cloud. I turned in my seat, leaned one arm against the steering wheel and asked, “You don't know who I am, do you?”

He turned his head and looked me in the eye. “Violet. Veronica.” He closed his eyes for a second and shook his head, slowly. “I never could.”

Exactly. He never could tell my identical twin and me apart. Jack and I had hung out together our senior year. A lot. Then he got up the nerve to ask me out on a real date, not just talking in the hall, being partners in Biology.

Turned out, he hadn't wanted to date me. He'd wanted Violet. I set him straight back then, of course. Straight to Violet, whom he’d slept with on the first date. Not that I was bitter or anything. Nope.

“Well, I'm not going to tell you now,” I grumbled, sounding like a seventh grader. So much for the high road.

No way was I going to make it easy for him. He could figure out which sister I was all on his own. But I did feel a little bad about knocking him out. Just a teensy, tiny bit. Enough to drag his sorry ass to the ER. “Let's go, before we freeze to death.”

Jack handed me the bag of peas. “I'm already freezing.” He picked up a scrap piece of PVC plastic pipe from the floor. “Maybe my brain did get whacked a little too hard because I swear we're in a plumbing van.” He dropped the piece with a clunk. “No way in hell are you coming in with me, whoever you are. I'm going to have to explain why my body temperature is close to hypothermic. I'm also going to have to explain how I don't know who did this to me, and I'll end up with a CAT scan. They're never going to believe there are two of you. If that's not enough, I have to tell the doctor I got knocked out with this.” He picked up the pieces of the paddle he’d brought along. “What the hell are you, a dominatrix or something?”

I glared at him, snatching the pieces from his hand. “Yeah, something.”

He undid his seatbelt and opened the door. Looked back at me and winked. “Kinky. I like it.”

Appalled, my mouth dropped open. “You are such a?—”

“So, pickup? I guess you'll come and get me later?”

I bit my lip, holding in what I really wanted to say to him, counted to ten. “I've got to run to Goldilocks and then I'll?—”

“Goldilocks?” He smiled broadly. “Like I said, kinky.”

If steam could come out of my ears, it would've right then and there. I gripped the steering wheel to keep from hitting him again at his comment. Just because I worked part-time at an adult store didn’t mean I was into...stuff.

“Never mind. No need to come get me. Who knows how long I'll be with an injury like this.” His words dripped with sarcasm. “I've got the key to get in later. Thanks for the ride,” he added, then slammed the door shut and stalked off through the automatic doors of the ER.