Body Double (9 page)

A warm thrill ran up her spine. She was starting to have very inappropriate thoughts about another woman’s fiancé.

Gazing into Andrea’s beautiful blue eyes across the dining table, Blake tried to wrap his head around the entire situation. He was marrying Sarah but not Sarah. A sense of disappointment dragged every beat of his heart down to his gut, though his curiosity about Andrea made the proposition feel less insulting. What really got under his skin was Sarah’s reason for not being at the wedding herself. He was about to marry a lesbian, for crying out loud.

He’d never kidded himself about the nature of their relationship. Like everyone else, he’d always planned to marry for love. He might not have been marrying Sarah for love, but he respected her, he enjoyed her Southern charm, her humor, and he was intensely attracted to her. He’d convinced himself that, in time, they’d grow to love each other. Now, he knew that was unlikely. She might love him like a brother, but he wanted more than to be tolerated in her bed. Like any other man, Blake wanted to be wanted.

Judging from the look in Andrea’s eyes, from the way her breath caught in her throat when he touched her hand, she had that missing piece—the attraction to him that Sarah plainly didn’t have. There was no denying the feeling was mutual. Not only was she as pretty as Sarah, she had an innocent sensuality about her that stirred him down to the deepest reaches of his manhood. Her mannerisms and posture were less confident than Sarah’s, but the way she held her head tilted to one side with her face directed downward while looking up at him, the way she held one shoulder slightly higher than the other turned his insides to mush. Those sultry, blue eyes were absolutely mesmerizing. Something told him that agreeing to Sarah’s little scheme was going to be the end of him, and he had never looked more forward to anything in his life.

“Thank you for dinner, Blake,” she said in a voice that was like silk to his ears. “Are you sure I can’t leave the tip?”

“I put it on the card.” He walked her out to her car—or rather, Sarah’s car. “Are you staying at Sarah’s place?”

“Yes, she asked me to. That is, if I remember how to get there. Otherwise, I might drive around looking for it until I run out of gas and sleep in her car.”

He watched while she fished the keys out of her purse, admiring every movement of her delicate hands, the shape of her mouth, and the shine of her hair in the moonlight. Resisting the urge to touch her made his hands tremble. “I’ll lead you over. Just follow me.”

“Thanks for offering, but I need to run home to grab some personal effects first. I’ll use the GPS if I get lost.” She clicked the key fob and opened the driver side door.

Blake pulled out his cell phone. “Let me get your phone number. We’ll probably be talking quite a bit in the next few days.” They exchanged contact information. “I put you in my phone as Sarah G, in case anyone sees the caller ID before I answer. You know I’m going to have to call you Sarah in front of other people, right?”

“I know,” she said, leaning against the car.

“What time shall I pick you up tomorrow?” he asked.

She blinked up at him, her eyes sparkling under the parking lot lamps. “For...?”

God, he wanted to kiss her. The need ached in his jaw. “We have an appointment with Scotty, the wedding planner.” Blake checked the appointment scheduler on his phone, mentally dismissing everything that didn’t involve his wedding, everything that would keep him away from this dazzling woman. He would cancel his nine o’clock appointment with the Realtor or get his general manager to handle it. “It’s at eleven. It’ll be a good chance for you to practice being Sarah. We should probably go over a few details before we meet him.”

“Good idea. I have an eye doctor’s appointment at nine-thirty, though, to get green contact lenses. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, unless they’re running late. My regular doctor faxed over my prescription, and they assured me they have the lenses in stock. I also have an appointment to get the dress fitted later.”

“I’ll come with you,” Blake said, putting his phone back into his rear pocket.

She smiled, so sweet and sexy. “All right.”

He gazed longingly at her lips. “You look like Sarah until you smile.”

“What’s wrong with my smile?” she asked, alarm tensing her voice and her features.

“Absolutely nothing. It’s a mixture of sexy and sweet that rings every bell in my body.”

“Oh.” She licked her lips.

Whether she did it out of nervousness or to entice him, he couldn’t tell, but it ignited his desire into a roaring blaze. He gazed at her lips shining moistly in the light, luring him with promises of their softness. How was he going to go on his honeymoon with this woman and not touch her? Hell, how was he going to make it to Saturday?

“I’d better go,” she said. “I guess I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

Both relieved and disappointed, he held her car door open while she got in behind the wheel. “I’ll be over by nine,” he said.

She nodded. “Good-night, Blake. It was nice meeting you.”

He smiled at her as he pushed the door carefully shut. “Drive safely.” He watched her back out and drive away before getting into his own car. Behind the wheel, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

The next two weeks were going to be the most blissful kind of agony there was. The physical differences between Andrea and Sarah were subtle, but Andrea had that doe-eyed look of a woman who was attracted to him that Sarah didn’t. Add to that her incredible allure, and he might as well give up and wrap himself around her finger.

Just as he started the engine, his phone rang. The car’s Bluetooth showed Sarah’s number on the display. When it answered the call, he said drily, “Hello, love.”

“Hi, Blake. I guess by now you’ve met Andrea.”

“Yes, I have. What the hell, Sarah? Why did I have to hear all that from a stranger?”

“We wanted to talk to you together,” she said, “but I had to catch a flight, and I didn’t want to tell you over the phone. Andrea says you’re on board.”

“She just left. When did you talk to her?”

“She texted me about ten minutes ago. Are you sure you can deal with this? I know it’s a lot to ask, but I didn’t want to postpone the wedding if I didn’t have to.”

Blake sighed and backed out of the space. Andrea must have sent the text when she went to the restroom. “I wish you’d told me yourself when I put that ring on your finger.” He put the car into drive and started home.

“Blake, I only met her yesterday.”

“I wasn’t talking about your bizarre twin. I was talking about your being a lesbian. When were you planning to spring that on me? In bed on our wedding night?”

“You’re right. I should’ve told you right away. Would it have mattered?”

Maybe not, but Blake would have preferred to know such an important detail before proposing. He might have tried harder to work out another arrangement to get his mother the technology she wanted... and satisfy Harold’s lust for revenge against Blake Thomas, Sr. “I suppose your father knows?”

“He knows but hasn’t accepted it. In his mind, a real man would turn me into a straight woman. He thinks I just need to put a little effort into it.”

Now Harold’s statement on the golf course made sense.
I knew a man like you could set that girl of mine straight.

“Listen, Blake, I know this whole Andrea thing is a shock, but—”

“I’m not done talking about you being gay. Please tell me you’re bisexual, that the thought of sleeping with me doesn’t repulse you.”

Her answering silence said it all.

“Damn it, Sarah. How could you keep that a secret from the man you’re about to marry?”

She sighed. “I should have told you, and I was... I was wrong to withhold that from you. What more can I say?”

“You can explain how you expect me to live as a married man without making love to my wife once in a while. Am I doomed to jerk off alone in the shower for the rest of my life?”

“No. Of course not.” Was that disgust in her voice?

Now it all became clear. “My God, Sarah. You never intended to stay married to me.”

A few moments of silence ticked by. “I didn’t think this was a forever arrangement—just long enough to get our folks’ deal done.”

“You weren’t even planning to consummate our marriage?”

“That’s why the arrangement with Andrea is so perfect. If you two hit it off...”

He waited, but she didn’t finish her sentence. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that you should do what comes naturally. If the attraction is there and you’re both willing, I don’t mind. It’s your honeymoon, after all.”

“
Our
honeymoon. And after? Jesus. You don’t expect her to keep up this charade forever, do you? Living her own life by day and pretending to be you by night?”

“No, not at all,” she said. “Let’s talk about it when we both get back. I don’t want to make anyone’s life miserable. We can work something out.”

“You mean until you divorce me?” he spat back.

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “Until I divorce you. Let’s be honest here. Neither of us wants this marriage. I’m just trying to make it as bearable as possible for us both.”

Oh,
now
she wanted to be honest, now that Andrea had told him what Sarah lacked the courage to. “Right,” he said, angry and disappointed. Why couldn’t she have been honest with him from the beginning instead of letting him believe they could find happiness building a family together? “Good-night, Sarah. Be careful down there.” He disconnected before giving her a chance to reply and slammed his palms on the steering wheel, overwhelmed with frustration.

He could have stuck it out. She was a decent person—kind and compassionate, pleasant to be with, responsible with money, and pretty. It could have worked—if she’d been hetero. Now the reality of it made his stomach churn in empty disgust. To Sarah, he was a means to an end, nothing more. A lucrative end, at that.

He spent the rest of the evening pacing the long, empty halls of his home while he went over the conversations with Andrea and Sarah in his mind. Since graduating high school, Blake had watched his friends marry and then divorce a few years later. Whether they married for reasons other than love or they couldn’t work out their differences, it didn’t seem to matter in the end. They parted ways with the one they’d pledged to stay with forever, and never with anything other than vitriol and hatred. He didn’t see that happening for him. Marriage was a partnership for life, through thick and thin.

As he lay in bed that night, his two brides swirling through his thoughts, he felt heavy and alone. Not only was he about to marry a woman who couldn’t muster any passion for him, she already had plans to divorce him. If he backed out, not only would he essentially be the one denying his mother the chance to see her husband’s dream come to fruition, but Harold Gentry would make good on his threat to tell Gloria about Blake Senior’s infidelity. Finding out the love of her life had succumbed to temptation one drunken night twenty years earlier would devastate her.

Blake needed to start thinking of his upcoming marriage as a business deal. Maybe he’d have another look at that prenuptial agreement in the morning. If Andrea had power of attorney in matters pertaining to the marriage, then she could sign an amendment. After all, Sarah had deceived him in the worst way a woman could deceive her fiancé. He would go through with the wedding, but Sarah would have to stay in the marriage and try to make it work if she wanted any of his money.

Once Andrea was on the road, heading to her apartment complex, she looked into the rearview mirror to make sure Blake wasn’t following her. A quiver of excitement rippled across her skin.
My God, he’s so hot.
When Sarah had shown her a photo of Blake, Andrea had thought him handsome in that out-of-reach movie star sort of way, but his warmth and the sincerity in his smile made him quite possibly the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen.

And she was going to marry him.

She shook her head. No, that wasn’t true. He wouldn’t be her husband at all but Sarah’s. She was just standing in for another woman while she married the sexiest man alive. And he was marrying a lesbian. What a waste. Though it was unfortunate, it was their business, not hers. Now that he knew about Sarah’s sexual orientation, Andrea wouldn’t be surprised if he called to cancel the wedding... or did what Sean had done—leave her standing at the altar, alone.