Two Faces, One Marriage

I stood frozen where he had left me, with every line he had just said still ringing in my ears, until I heard him walk out and shut the bedroom door behind him.

"Hey. Where did you go? I was looking for you."

Logan's voice, out in the hallway. I heard Lucas lie without missing a beat.

"Down the hall. Had too much, needed to clear my head."

"Seriously? I just went looking for you."

By the time I had myself pulled together and stepped out, Lucas was telling Logan, with a perfectly straight face, "We must have just missed each other," like it was the most natural thing in the world.

He pulled out his phone and muttered, half to himself, half loud enough for me to hear it.

"Look at this. Gone this long and my wife has not sent me a single message. What is the point of a woman like that."

I could not tell if he was talking to Logan or at me.

Logan looked at me clearing the glasses off the coffee table and grinned.

"See, Lucas? This is what getting married early gets you. Bella. Best thing that ever happened to me."

Lucas played along, half joking, half not.

"Yeah, little brother. I'm jealous."

Logan was flattered enough that he waved his hand without thinking.

"Then don't go home mad. Crash here tonight. Sleep it off."

I was about to say absolutely not, but by the time I opened my mouth, the two of them had already shaken on it. Lucas was sleeping on our couch. He would head home in the morning.

I cleaned up the kitchen and went to bed as fast as I could, specifically so I would not have to see Lucas again before sleep.

However, sometime in the middle of the night I was too thirsty to keep my eyes closed.

I got up to go to the kitchen for water. I thought Lucas was out cold. The second I came around the couch, his hand shot up and caught my wrist and pulled me into him.

Most women who marry a twin have thought about it at least once. What it would feel like with the brother. What it would be like to be touched by the same face, different hands. A small, stupid fantasy everyone has.

And right at the moment it was about to turn real, every part of me recoiled from it.

"Lucas. Don't do this, please."

"You're the one who walked over to me. Now you're the one saying no."

There was something unreadable in his eyes.

"Is that 'no' a real no? Or is it the kind of no women like saying in bed?"

He had been lying there awake the whole time. He knew exactly what he had been waiting for. I could feel the heat of him against me, already hard, and even knowing he was not going to listen to a word I said, I pushed at his chest and tried to twist free.

"Lucas, please. Stop. I am not your wife. Look at me. I am Logan's wife. I am married to your brother."

I tried to move back without making too much noise. Logan was in the next room. I did not dare yell. I did not dare wake him up, not really.

Lucas took my hand and pressed it against him, through the thin cotton, and laughed, low.

"Feel that. If that wasn't you, it wouldn't be this hard. My wife's face? Nothing happens. If this wasn't you here tonight, I do not think I'd be getting it up again any time soon."

It was framed like a compliment. It was the middle of the night, and Logan was one wall away. I was not going to be dragged into something I could not undo.

Lucas read that off my face. He smiled and said it out loud.

"My brother is a dead sleeper when he drinks. I was topping his glass off all night on purpose. He's out till morning."

It registered then. This was not a spontaneous thing. He had been planning it since the second he walked through our front door.

I must have looked stunned, because he took advantage of it and pulled me down onto the couch.

"Logan is right there. The bedroom door is not even closed. Lucas, please!"

His hand was already on me. Over the thin fabric of my nightshirt, through the bra I had not bothered to take off, and he squeezed and kneaded like he was working dough into a shape he liked.

I would like to say I felt nothing. I did not. I was in the middle of my fertile window, my body was already ramped up all day, and my mouth betrayed me with a small, humiliating sound.

He heard it. He switched tactics.

"You love Logan, right? So why are you trying so hard to keep me off you? Aren't you afraid I'll tell him?"

My eyes snapped to his face. My voice still had the tremor in it, but I was furious now.

"There is nothing to tell. Stop pretending there is."

He laughed at me. The pressure of his hand got harder. He pinched, hard enough that I hissed in a breath.

"You want my brother to know his own brother has seen everything of yours? Bella, look at yourself. Your body is already answering for you. It wants me."

I could barely speak.

"What do you want from me?"

Lucas bent down and kissed my chest through the fabric.

"Once. Let me have you once. If you don't, I tell Logan about what already happened in the bedroom. You want him to look at you like you're something dirty? You want him to leave you over it?"