A buzzing sound roused Gio from a deep sleep. He waved his hand in front of his face, thinking it was a fly. Then he realized it was his phone.
It was his first night in his new bedroom in the mansion, and he felt slightly disoriented.
Rolling toward the nightstand, he picked up his cell and looked at the number. It wasn’t one he recognized. Ordinarily, he would have turned his phone off and gone back to sleep, but his sixth sense was telling him to answer.
Immediately, he thought about Luca, the twin bond between them a very real thing.
“Hello.”
“Gio?”
Gio sat up at the sound of Keeley’s voice, looking around the dark room, trying to get his bearings. It was darker and quieter here than it had been in his fifth-floor apartment in the city. No streetlights, no noise from the traffic below.
“Keeley? What time is it?”
“It’s a little before two a.m. I’m sorry I’m calling you so late.”
Gio’s heart started to race. Her voice sounded…off.
“Are you okay? Where are you?”
She paused just long enough that he knew she wasn’t okay.
“Keeley. Where are you?” As he asked the question, he rose from bed, reaching for the jeans he’d shucked before crawling beneath the sheets a couple hours earlier. When Keeley left today for her manicure, she’d said she was going home to do laundry and relax. He hadn’t thought to worry about her because he’d taken her at her word.
From the sound of loud music in the background, it was clear she’d lied about her plans.
“The Dolphin.”
Gio growled. The Dolphin was in South Philly, and nowhere he wanted her to be at this time of night. “Who’s with you?”
She evaded his question. “I was wondering if you could come get me.”
He pulled the phone away from his ear for the two seconds it took to pull a T-shirt over his head. “I can be there in fifteen minutes. You inside? Safe?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Stay there.” Then he recalled the unrecognized number. “Whose phone is this?”
“I had to borrow one. Mine is broken.”
“How did it get broken?”
Apparently, Keeley wasn’t in the mood to give details because once again, she changed the subject. “Could you maybe not call Kayden? He’s leaving in a few hours for his trip, and I don’t want to ruin it for him.”
Gio sighed. “I won’t tell him. But, Keeley, when I get there, you’re answering all my questions.”
They hung up, and Gio quickly slipped on his shoes. He knocked on the door to Rafe’s room, surprised when it opened instantly.
“Who were you talking to?” Rafe asked. Then he noticed Gio was dressed. “Where are you going?”
Gio had chosen the guest room right across the hall from Rafe’s, and he hadn’t kept his voice down, his concern for Keeley overshadowing everything else.
“Get dressed. Keeley’s at The Dolphin. She needs a ride,” Gio explained quickly, not wanting to keep Keeley waiting a second longer than he had to.
Rafe didn’t ask another question. Instead, he quickly threw on clothes as Gio attempted to find his keys.
“I thought she was staying in tonight,” Rafe said as the two of them climbed into Gio’s truck.
“Yeah. Me too. Apparently, she lied.”
“Why would she do that?”
Gio pounded his palm against the steering wheel. “It’s the middle of the night and she’s in a nightclub in a not-great part of Philly with no phone,” Gio said, unable to let his anger and concern go.
“She’s an adult, Gio,” Rafe replied calmly. Too fucking calmly.
“And yet she’ll be lucky if I don’t turn her over my knee and spank her ass after this,” Gio said through gritted teeth.
Rafe sighed, shaking his head.
“Aren’t you pissed?” he asked hotly.
“I’m not happy, but one of us needs to keep a cool head, and since you have out-of-control rage covered, it looks like that’s me.”
Gio took a couple of deep, steadying breaths, aware Rafe was right. Losing his shit wasn’t going to help a thing.
“So much for keeping an eye on her,” Rafe murmured. “Kayden hasn’t even left town and we’ve already screwed that up.”
“She lied,” Gio repeated.
“Was she okay?” Rafe asked.
Gio threw his hands up briefly, releasing the steering wheel before quickly gripping it again. If Gio was talking, his hands were moving. That was true of all the men in his family. But…it was a problem when he was driving. “That’s the thing that’s really killing me. Because I don’t think so. She sounded upset.”
“Shit.” Rafe turned and looked out the window, neither of them speaking again until they found a parking spot one block away from the nightclub.
The pressure that had been weighing on his chest since Keeley’s call instantly lifted the second he saw her standing at the door with a bouncer.
“Those are my friends,” she said to the man.
She walked over to meet them, and he instantly noticed she was limping slightly, something that, from the grimace on her face, she was working hard to hide from them.
The bouncer nodded at them. “You guys got her?”
Gio lifted his chin, appreciating the man’s concern. “Yeah. She’s with us.”
“Cool. I’m gonna go finish closing up. I’ll call you, Keeley, if we find your credit card.”
“Thanks, Alec,” Keeley said with a weak wave.
Gio wrapped his arm around her waist, while Rafe claimed her hand. He had to give it to her. She was working overtime to mask the obvious pain she was in. If the car hadn’t been so close, he would have picked her up and carried her.
She pulled up short when she spotted Gio’s truck. If he hadn’t been out of his mind with worry, he would have told Rafe to drive. There wasn’t a backseat in his old, beat-up Ford. Just a bench seat.
Rafe opened the passenger door and helped her climb inside, while Gio crossed to the driver’s side. Once they were all in, Gio turned to look at her.
“How bad is your ankle?” he asked.
“What?”
“How bad, Keeley?” he repeated impatiently.
“It’s fine. I just twisted it.”
He studied her face, trying to decide if she was lying. “Do you need to go to the ER? Or we could swing by Tony’s and ask Rhys to take a look at it.”
She shook her head. “No, really. It’s okay. I just need to get out of these heels and prop it up. It’ll be better by morning.”
“Where’s your phone?” Rafe asked.
She pulled it out of the back pocket of her jeans. The screen was shattered and the case dented.
“What the hell happened to it?”
She blew out a long breath, exhaustion, and something else Gio couldn’t put his finger on, etched in every line on her face. “I fell on the dance floor. My phone took the worst of it.”
“You lost your credit card?” Rafe asked, doing a much better job at moderating his voice.
She nodded. “The credit card was in the same pocket as my phone. I guess it fell out when I pulled my phone out of my pocket to look at it, but I didn’t notice at the time. My apartment key is…somewhere else. The dance floor was kind of crowded. The Dolphin closed a few minutes before you guys got here, and Alec, the bouncer, helped me look for the card, but it’s long gone. I’m going to have to cancel it.”
Gio started the truck. “This sounds like a long story. You can tell it to us when we get back to the house.”
“No. My landlord has a spare key. I can go to my apartment.”
Rafe took her hand in his. “You’re staying with us.”
Keeley dug in her heels, and Gio suspected it was because she didn’t want to tell them about her night. “I’ll be fine at my place.”
Rafe shook his head. “You don’t have a phone. It’s not safe.”
“I’ll get a new phone first thing tomorrow morning,” she said, continuing the argument.
Which was tough shit for her because Gio was driving, and he wasn’t taking her to the apartment.
“Until you get a phone, you’re staying with us,” Gio said, making it clear the subject was not open for debate.
Normal Keeley would have put up one hell of a fight at that point, would have insisted and put her foot down, pitched a fit even.
This Keeley?
Well, Gio didn’t know what to make of this Keeley. She was tired and sad and completely beaten down.
The anger that had been simmering since he’d discovered she was out alone faded, replaced with concern.
“Fine,” she said softly after a moment.
The three of them rode in silence, and for a second or two, he thought perhaps Keeley had fallen asleep.
Glancing over, he saw that she’d rested her head on Rafe’s shoulder, her eyes closed, as his friend held her hand, his thumb softly stroking her fingers.
It was her breathing that betrayed her, that told him she wasn’t sleeping at all. She’d closed her eyes as another evasion tactic because her breathing wasn’t the deep and easy rhythm of someone slumbering. It was shallow and shaky.
When they pulled up to the house, Gio put the truck in park and killed the engine. Rafe got out, then helped Keeley down as well. Keeley had complained once that his truck needed a damn stepladder to get in and out of.
She walked a bit steadier as they entered the house, and he realized that—at least as far as the ankle was concerned—she hadn’t lied. She also seemed to have gotten her second wind somewhere between the nightclub and here.
She slipped off her shoes just inside the front door, closing her eyes in obvious relief. “I know where the guest room is. I can get there myself. Good night.”
She started for the stairs to the second floor but turned back around when Gio chuckled humorlessly and said, “You don’t really think that’s going to work, do you?”
“I’m tired. Can we table this conversation until tomorrow?”
Rafe shook his head, walking toward her. “No. We can’t.” Putting his hand on her waist, he guided her to the living room couch, gently pressing on her shoulder until she sank down. Rafe sat next to her.
Cricket made her way into the room, yawning. They’d clearly woken the dog. She walked over to her doggie bed in the corner and lay down. Gio knew for a fact the dog typically slept in Rafe’s room, something his friend pretended to be annoyed about, claiming his grandpa had spoiled the dog, letting her sleep with him. Despite Rafe’s grumbling, it was obvious he cared about the tiny creature.
Gio followed them to the couch, claiming her other side.
Keeley leaned back, sinking farther down in the cushions, sighing heavily. “Okay. Let me have it.”
“Have what?” Rafe asked.
“You’re obviously pissed off at me, so just say it, give me the Kayden-like lecture, tell me I was stupid—which I know—and reckless and…” Keeley closed her eyes wearily.
“Keeley,” Rafe said gently. “We’re not your brother. And you need to understand, that’s not what this is about.”
Her eyes opened, and Gio could see his friend had surprised her with his calm, patient tone as well as his words.
“What happened tonight?” Gio asked.
“The same shit that always happens.”
“Be more specific,” Gio said. “And if you really are as tired as you say, you might want to just go ahead and give us all the details instead of making us drag them out of you one question at a time. Otherwise, we could be here awhile.”
She frowned angrily, but it felt like an act. Like she wanted to give the appearance of being annoyed because she couldn’t work up enough energy to feel the actual emotion. Finally, she just gave in. “You remember that guy at Eclectic?”
“There were three guys hovering around you at Eclectic,” Rafe said. “Black shirt, Chad, and JT.”
“JT,” she specified.
Gio had known in his gut tonight’s bullshit had included that guy.
“He called me last weekend, like he said he would. He was just as I remembered,” she said, with a wistful smile that quickly faded. “He said he’d regretted going back with his ex five minutes after he’d broken things off with me, but they’d shared a long history, and she’d genuinely been trying to make things up to him. He said it took him eight months to get out of that mistake, and by the time he did…he figured too much time had gone by for him to call me.”
None of that sounded bad, but given the way the night had ended, Gio could tell the asshole had found a way to knock her down again. Maybe literally, when he considered her broken phone.
“Anyway, we’ve been texting and talking on the phone, catching up on the last year, and it felt like we were right back where we’d left off. He called last night and invited me out for dinner tonight. Obviously, I said yes.”
“Why the secrecy, Keeley?” Rafe asked. “Why not tell us, or Liza, or your brother you were going out with him tonight?”
“Liza and Kayden don’t like JT. They’re both still pissed about the way he dumped me, and they were upset when I told them he’d called me last weekend. I wasn’t sure if it was going to go anywhere, so I just didn’t tell them when he kept calling.”
“And us?” Gio forced himself to ask.
“I was afraid you’d show up. It was okay with the other dates because I didn’t know those guys, but I wanted a night alone with JT. Just to see if what I’d thought was there a year ago still was.” She stopped talking, and neither he nor Rafe pushed her for more.
Gio really didn’t want to know what she’d discovered.
Mercifully, she continued without prodding. “Dinner was awesome. We laughed and talked, and it was all so perfect. By the time it was over, neither of us wanted to say goodbye. So JT suggested we go dancing. I left my car at the restaurant, and he drove us to The Dolphin. I left my purse in his car, tucked the necessities—my credit card, ID, and phone in my back pocket—we paid the cover and went in.”
“You didn’t lose your ID?” Rafe asked.
She shook her head. “No. It was still in my pocket. Just lost the credit card. Which reminds me…can I use your computer? I really should cancel—”
“Later,” Gio interjected. “Finish your story.”
“We were dancing, and it was a lot of fun…until I discovered his ex was there with her new boyfriend.”
“Did he know she was going to be there?” Rafe asked.
Keeley leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her eyes cast down at the floor. The entire pose was so totally not her that Gio felt his anger toward that prick JT begin to rise again.
“Keeley.” Gio put his hand on her upper back. “Sit up and look at us.”
She took a steadying breath, then did as he asked. “I’m tired,” she repeated, and he didn’t think exhaustion was the cause for that. Instead, she looked like a woman who’d reached the end of the line and couldn’t take one more step.
Gio nodded slowly. “I know you are. Just finish the story and you can go to bed.”
“You’re a bossy son of a bitch.”
Gio laughed. “Yeah. Tell me something I don’t know. It’s probably the most annoying of the Moretti traits.” He twisted so that his back rested on the arm of the couch. “Come here.” Parting his legs, putting one up on the couch, he shifted Keeley until she was sitting with her back leaning against his chest.
Rafe picked up her feet, placing them on his lap, studying her ankle. From his position, Gio could see it was slightly swollen.
Rafe gently turned it, his eyes on Keeley’s face. “You sure it’s not sprained?”
“I’m sure,” she said.
Rafe began to rub her feet, Keeley’s sigh one of relief and relaxation.
Gio wrapped his arms around her, resting his hands on her stomach. It was an intimate position, but damn if it didn’t feel right. “Tell us the rest, Keeley. Then you can go to bed, sleep it off, and put it all behind you.”
“JT knew she was going to be there. She’d dumped him again…not the other way around, like he told me. He took me there thinking it would make her jealous. It didn’t. Of course, I didn’t realize she was there or what he was doing until it was too late.”
“What do you mean?” Gio asked.
“What had started as a happy buzz for him turned into a mean drunk really fast. We were out on the dance floor, and he was starting to get sloppy, staggering and shit. I suggested we leave. Told him I could drive him home and then get an Uber back to my place. He refused, tugged me closer. He told me we couldn’t leave yet, that he wanted Cassie—that’s his girlfriend—to see us. I stupidly said, ‘She’s here?’ and he turned around to point her out. She and her new boyfriend were dancing and pushing the limits of public indecency big-time. JT saw it and flipped his lid. He grabbed the other guy’s arm to pull him away from Cassie.”
“Let me guess. They got into a fight,” Rafe said.
Keeley nodded. “Both guys were wasted and out for blood. JT shoved the other guy really hard, and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I twisted my ankle and went down on my ass. My phone, as you saw, got smashed. I felt it crack and pulled it out to look at it. I think that’s when the credit card fell out of my pocket. From there, the dominoes just kept falling. I heard police sirens outside, so I ran to the ladies’ room.”
“Why?” Gio asked.
Keeley twisted to give him a “seriously” look. “Because Kayden’s on the force and there was no way one of the cops wouldn’t recognize me and call him. I told you on the phone, Gio. He’s leaving for Vermont at dawn, and I was afraid… Well, I was afraid he’d cancel his trip. This is the first time he’s taken a break just for himself since Mom and Dad died. He deserves this vacation. More than that, he needs it. I would hate myself if I screwed it up.”
“So you hid from the cops,” Rafe said.
“Yes. When the coast was clear, I came out and heard the bartender yell out for last call. JT and the other guy had obviously been carted off to the drunk tank, which meant there was no way I was getting my purse out of his car, which meant no apartment key. Which pisses me off because it’s my favorite purse.”
“The one that was your mother’s?” Rafe asked.
“Yeah.” Keeley was clearly surprised and touched that Rafe had remembered that fact. “I planned to get the bartender to call me a cab, since I couldn’t use the Uber app on my defunct phone. That was when I discovered my credit card was missing. The bouncer saw me looking for it and helped. When I told him I was stranded, with no money, phone, or key, he let me use his phone so I could call for someone to pick me up.”
“Why me? Not Liza?” Gio asked.
Keeley laughed softly, the first chuckle of the night, and Gio decided that making her talk about what happened was probably helping her. Because she was becoming more animated, more like herself as she continued. Keeley was a born storyteller, and as the emotions surrounding this evening faded, he suspected her retellings would become more entertaining as she embellished it.
“Liza got a new phone a few months ago with a new number. I put it in my contacts and that was it. Same with pretty much everyone’s number. The only ones I have memorized are Kayden’s and yours.”
Gio chuckled. “Told you it was a great number.”
Gio had landed an awesome phone number, and he’d bragged about the last four digits quite a lot after he first got it.
“Nineteen sixty-nine,” Keeley muttered. “All I can remember is you saying, ‘great year, great position.’ Stupid number is stuck in my head.”
“And it’s a good thing too.”
She lifted one shoulder. “I guess. I feel like an idiot. What’s that saying? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? JT got me…twice.”
“That’s on him, little one,” Gio said. “Not you.”
“Yeah, well.” Those two words were loaded with disappointment. Keeley was usually pretty good at shrugging off bad dates, but this one had gotten her down.
“I’m sorry. I know you liked him.” Rafe pressed his thumbs into the bottom of her foot and Keeley moaned with pleasure. The sound went straight to Gio’s cock, as he considered all the other ways they could make her moan…in bed.
Rafe had finally admitted to wanting her too. But as Rafe said—she was different from their previous affairs. Because Gio didn’t intend to let Keeley go. He was pretty sure he’d found the one, and he was determined to hold on to her with both hands.
So why did he still feel this overwhelming need to share her with Rafe? Because Rafe said he didn’t feel different, and he wasn’t planning to stick around forever.
Then he realized the problem was…Gio didn’t believe him. Rafe was lying to him. And to himself.
Speaking of lies…
“We’re not happy about you lying to us,” Gio said, because he couldn’t completely shake free of the panic he’d felt when he had answered the phone and heard her voice earlier.
“It was just one bad night where everything went wrong. I’m a big girl. I’m going to be fine.”
“Regardless, we need to know where you’re going to be,” Rafe stressed.
Keeley shook her head. “I don’t tell Kayden where I’m going all the time.”
“Kayden has you on that Find My Friends app,” Rafe pointed out.
“He told you guys to babysit me, didn’t he?” she asked, clearly annoyed.
Gio tightened his grip around her. “Doesn’t matter if he did or didn’t. We’re always going to look out for you. And even you have to admit this wasn’t a good situation for you to be in tonight. Alone in South Philly at two in the morning, with no money and no way to get home.”
She blew out a long breath and Gio could see his words had sunk in. “It wasn’t good. I promise to tell you where I’m heading when I go out. But only until Kayden gets back.”
She relaxed in his arms, and he realized if they remained here without talking, she’d be asleep within minutes.
“Keeley,” Gio said.
“Yeah?” she asked drowsily, her eyes drifting closed.
He bent his head to her ear. “Open your eyes. We’re not finished yet.”
His close proximity took her by surprise, as did the soft kiss he placed on her cheek.
She turned to look at him, clearly exhausted. “You said if I told you everything I could—”
“I know what I said. But you need to understand something. We don’t need the promise you just gave us. You don’t have to tell us where you’re going.”
“Rafe said—”
He cut her off. “Because you owe us.”
She frowned. “For the ride?”
Gio shook his head. “For not telling Kayden about tonight.”
“Oh. What do you want?” she asked.
“A date.”
Rafe shifted slightly, and Gio glanced his direction, could see his friend fighting to make a decision. He’d better make it quick.
Finally, Rafe gave him a subtle nod. He was on board.
“A date?” Keeley sat up, holding his gaze, waiting for him to continue.
Gio forged on. “With me and Rafe. Tomorrow night.”
“With both of you?” She glanced from Gio to Rafe, as if to confirm that he was cool with the request.
Rafe ran his fingers along her cheek and gave her a smile. “We’re tired of running off all those other guys. It’s high time we staked our claim.”
“But I didn’t think you…” Keeley paused, and Gio got the sense she was confused by exactly what they were offering. He could understand that. However, rather than ask about their intentions, she changed gears. “You both slept with Jill.”
Gio nodded. “Yeah. We told you that.”
“And you said she wasn’t the only one.” She bit her lip, and Gio was amused by her uncharacteristic shyness.
Rafe shook his head. “There were two others.”
Keeley’s eyes widened as she digested that information. “Oh,” was all she said.
Gio was glad to finally be able to admit it. He didn’t want to hide this part of himself from her anymore. He remembered his shock the first time they’d gone to bed with Jennifer, how amazing it had been. He and Rafe worked well together in the bedroom, and he’d loved sharing. Probably because—as a twin—he’d shared pretty much everything in his life, starting with the womb.
And as incredible as that night with Jennifer had been, Gio knew with every fiber of his being that sharing Keeley would be a million times better. But there was a lot more to discuss, and tonight wasn’t the time.
“I can see you’re tired,” Gio said. “Let’s get you settled in a guest room. You can get some sleep and we’ll continue this conversation tomorrow during our date.”
It spoke to Keeley’s level of exhaustion that she agreed to delay the discussion. After a good night’s sleep, he suspected they would be subjected to no less than two hundred questions involving their past affairs.
“Okay.” She rose from the couch, and they followed suit.
Gio held his hand out to her palm up, thrilled when she took it without a moment’s hesitation. He clasped hers tightly, and he led her upstairs.
Rafe followed, the two of them walking her to the door of the guest room. It was right next to Gio’s, also across from Rafe’s. Gio went ahead and accepted that he wasn’t going to get a second of sleep tonight, already hating the walls that would separate the three of them from each other.
After every single one of his good-night kisses with Keeley, he’d gone home, jacked off in the shower, then spent a restless night dreaming of all the things he wanted to do with her.
Tonight, he had a strong suspicion just one hand job wasn’t going to cut it.
“Let us kiss you good night and then you can turn in,” Gio said.
“Kiss?” she murmured, her sleepy brain struggling to keep up.
If Gio were a gentleman, he’d let her go straight to bed. She’d had a rough night, and there was no doubt they’d shocked her with their demand for a date.
But he couldn’t stand how sad she’d looked earlier, how defeated. He wanted to erase some of the heaviness from her eyes, wanted to give her something other than that asshole JT to think about as she drifted off to sleep.
He closed the distance between them and pressed his lips against hers. Within seconds, he knew he’d made the right decision because Keeley kissed him back like she meant it, all traces of her previous grogginess gone. Her hands found their way to his neck, her fingers sliding through his hair.
She giggled breathlessly, and he pulled away for a second, giving her a curious look.
“Your beard tickles,” she explained, before instigating the next kiss. It lingered, and despite the late hour, he suddenly felt as if he could stand here all night, sharing the same air with her.
However, he wasn’t the only man who wanted her, and now that Rafe was on board, he intended to make sure his friend stayed there. For as long as possible.
It took every ounce of strength Gio possessed to break away from her, aware that he could go on kissing her for the rest of his life and never want for another thing. It was a powerful realization.
Keeley slowly opened her eyes as the kiss ended, and then Rafe was there, ready to take his place.
Rafe softly said her name, drawing her attention to him, then…
Gio had always thought himself a decent kisser, but it was clear he could learn a few things from his best friend.
As he had last time, Rafe cupped Keeley’s face in his large hands, stared deeply into her eyes for a moment, just long enough to let her know what was coming. Then he lowered his head, his lips plundering, conquering. Their tongues touched, then Rafe nipped her lower lip, prompting a cute squeak of surprise and maybe even a spark of pain from Keeley. Her hands tightened on his shoulders as she tried to pull him closer.
Rafe didn’t budge, didn’t give an inch. With his actions, he made it clear he was in charge, and she was there for the ride.
Keeley moaned into his mouth, her body shifting in a way that told them she wanted—needed—more.
It took her a little longer to open her eyes after Rafe broke off this kiss, and she blinked several times as if seeking focus, clarity.
“Rafe,” she whispered with such longing, Gio’s already erect cock thickened even more.
Rafe drew his knuckles along one side of her face. “Take tonight. Think about what we want. Decide if you want it too. But really decide, Keeley. Because this attraction between us…it isn’t going to be sated in just one night. Sleep well.”
His words seemed to bring her to her senses. The spell broken, Keeley gave them an adorable little finger wave, then entered the guest room.
He and Rafe remained where they were, outside her closed bedroom door. Gio got the sense Rafe wanted to say something, but after a moment, he simply nodded his head once and returned to his bedroom.
Gio stood alone in the hallway for a minute more, silently sending up a prayer that this time, Rafe wouldn’t walk away.