Mirror Image Seduction (Feline Shifters of Down Under Book 1) (7 page)

She kept her hands where they were beneath his shirt and stroked the skin over his tight abs in a gentle caress, craving the connection with him, while she ached to be closer.

Dylan purred in his throat as his body quivered beneath her touch. Eventually, he heaved a tormented sounding sigh and pushed away from her.

She wanted to cry out as the cold air rushed into the place his warm body had been, but she knew that would lead to her going back inside their house. So, she resolutely stayed put, clinging to the car to prevent herself from falling to the ground.

Ryan stayed silent but watched intently as his twin stiffly walked back to stand beside him. “Can you meet me at the zoo tomorrow? We’re both working, but I thought I could give you a tour of the grounds and maybe have some lunch. Say, ten at the main gate?”

Lacey nodded and tried to smile but failed, her lips feeling swollen and sore. In a completely delicious way.

“That sounds perfect, Ryan, thanks.”

Before she forgot her mind and threw herself at them, Lacey slipped into her car, forcing her mushy legs to move as she studiously ignored her pussy, which was now wet and aching for the twins who had proved how easily they could arouse her.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She called out through her open window as she waved at Ryan and Dylan, who were smiling at her from where they stood near their front door. An ache bloomed in her chest as she turned the car around and drove off the property, but she refused to give in and return to them.

“Oh. My. Gosh.” She glanced in her rearview mirror a least a hundred times while navigating the long dirt driveway off the farm. She had two dates for the weekend and a set of twins who were hell bent on winning her over.

She took a shuddering breath then giggled with nerves as she cranked up the radio. She had a feeling, that no matter what happened with the twins, her life would never be the same again. She couldn’t wait.

Chapter Eight

Ryan frowned as he tracked the dust cloud that followed his mate’s car as she left them. His gut was churning, and his erection was straining against the front of his jeans, not at all happy about missing out on claiming the sweetly sexy Lacey.

Dylan growled low from where he stood beside him, obviously feeling the same way. He turned to face his twin before he spoke.

“Nice move with halving the six dates to three, by the way.”

“Yeah well, I wasn’t letting her get away with putting us off for a bloody month! I’m pretty sure if we’d let her, she’d have one date a week and spread this thing out, too.”

Ryan grimaced. His twin had a point. Lacey was going to make them work for her, and in a way, he respected her all the more for it. No way did he want a passive mate who just agreed with everything he or Dylan suggested. That would get boring fast, and after growing up with a mother like they had, a weak female wouldn’t be respected by any of their family. A hard slap to his shoulder snapped him out of his introspection.

“Let’s go grab a beer. I need a drink.”

“I think I need a very cold shower first. Damn, but my entire body is just about vibrating with need for her.”

Dylan grunted as he pushed his way through their front door and into their house.

“Just think how you’ll feel by morning, Ry. With Lacey having slept on your bed, it’s all you’re going to be able to smell all. Night. Long.”

“It’ll be a bitch, but at least I’ll have sweet dreams. Admit it, you’re so fucking jealous of me right now.”

Ryan knew his brother was envious. He could see it in the tense set of his jaw and shoulders. Technically Ryan’s bed was big enough for him and his brother, but without Lacey between them, he had zero intention of sharing with his twin.

“How’d you end up with the master bedroom when I’m the eldest?”

Ryan turned to his twin with a wide grin. “Because I won the coin toss. Remember? Mum got sick of us bickering and made us agree to stick with whoever won.”

Dylan buried his head in the fridge with a grunt instead of answering. A moment later, he handed Ryan a nice cold beer. Ryan snatched the fancy magnet that doubled as a bottle opener off the fridge door and popped open his brew to take a deep drink.

“Oh yeah. That’s what I needed.” He paused to take another swig, the cold hops soothing his heated core. So much quicker than a cold shower, more enjoyable, too.

“C’mon, let’s go have a game.”

Dylan grinned as he nodded. “Sounds perfect.”

Ryan followed his brother to the other end of their house to the large games room. Their centerpiece was a beautifully handcrafted pool table. No standard green top for them, their felt was a rich bright red and the pockets made from dark leather. The timber of the table was stained black, and all together it created one hell of a stunning piece of furniture. It had been their housewarming gift from their brothers. Of course, most of their brothers were around here on a Saturday night playing on it with them.

Ryan got two cues ready as Dylan went to the table to rack up the balls.

“You wanna break?”

“Nah, you can do it.”

Dylan sauntered up to Ryan and switched the white ball for a cue. Both he and Dylan had always liked playing pool. There was something almost hypnotic that instantly had them both hooked from the first game.

Carefully placing the white ball inside the D on the felt, Ryan lowered his body over the table to take first shot. Two smalls went into pockets, and Ryan grinned. Perfect break. He rolled his right shoulder as he moved around the table and planned his next shot.

“You are not going to pot out on me, Ry. Not on our first fucking game.”

“So what if I do? It’s not like we’re down the pub and paying two bucks a game.”

“Hardly a game if I don’t get a shot. Just tone it down. We’re home, not playing the state titles or anything.”

Yeah, okay, so maybe Dylan had a point. But Ryan couldn’t help it. He got his head in the game and that was that. He bent forward and lined up his next shot.

He grimaced when one of Dylan’s balls followed his into the pocket. There went any hope of potting out.

“Damn. Two shots to you.”

Ryan moved to grab his drink. With two shots, it was Dylan who would pot out on him and finish the game in no time. Dylan potted three balls in short order then stopped to re-chalk his cue.

“Hey, Dylan, don’t suppose you nabbed Lacey’s phone number while you were messing with her phone earlier?”

Dylan stopped still and glared over at him. “Seriously? I wasn’t fucking messing with her phone, Ry.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. Damn, but Dylan could be a drama queen.

“I don’t care what you call what you did with her phone. I just want to know if you got her number.”

His glower evaporated, and a smirk replaced it.

“Of course I did. If you’d check your phone once in a while, you’d have seen the text already.”

With a frown Ryan slid his smart phone from his pocket to check it.

“Damn, it’s still on silent.”

He swiped the screen to open up the message and saw the sweetest ten digits with a message below stating “Lacey phone”.

“Thanks, Dylan. What do you say we shoot her a message each?”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan. We forgot to find out where she lives. I’d like to know she gets home safe.”

“I’ll ask her tomorrow.”

As Dylan pulled his own phone from his pocket, and Ryan started tapping out his message, excitement coursed through Ryan’s system. He’d get all day with his mate tomorrow, and he couldn’t fucking wait.

****

“Wow.” Lacey twirled on her toes and let herself go, falling backwards onto her bed, the soft mattress cushioning her weight as she bounced a little.

She had never been so excited, yet so confused at the same time. First was the fact that she’d discovered a family of cheetah shifters.

Oh. My. Gosh!

“You can say that again.”

She giggled to herself and rolled onto her side, curling up into a fetal position as she tucked a pillow beneath her head.

Were there more of them? Or were Ryan and Dylan’s family the only ones? That seemed unlikely, so she had to assume there were more, probably a lot more. Were there only cheetah shifters or other breeds, too?

Her thoughts took a more personal twist. Would their children be shifters? Or normal like her? When they mated her, would she become like them? Or remain human?

She groaned and rolled her eyes at herself.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it! You’re getting way ahead of yourself, Lacey-girl.”

She slapped a hand to her forehead and laughed again. It was all so ridiculous, it was hard not to let her imagination run wild. Who would have thought a family with nine sons would exist? Even if they were fully human, they’d be an anomaly. Add in that two of those sons were a set of identical mirror image twins who thought she was their destined soul mate … just wow. It was all too much for her mind to process.

Her phone buzzed, and she crawled to the edge of the bed to grab it from where she’d tossed it on her side cupboard.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake…”

She groaned again as she opened message, seeing the last abusive message her ex had sent her, the one Dylan had seen, then his new one.

You’re home. Good. Come let me in.

She shivered as the hairs prickled on her arms and a shot of adrenaline had her racing to the front door.

She checked the dead lock. Yep, it was tight.

She moved from room to room, turning lights on as she went, clutching her mobile in her hand in case she needed to make a phone call quickly.

The house was small, and as soon as she had every light in the place on and was certain both doors and all windows were locked tight, she messaged her roommate, checking when she’d be home.

When she walked past hall closet, she saw the cricket bat leaning up against it and snatched it up as added protection on her way back to her bedroom. Placing the bat within easy reach, she settled on the mattress once more, feeling a little safer having checked everything, sort of. She took a couple of slow breaths, trying to will her heart-rate to slow down even a little. It wasn’t healthy to be so scared of someone.

Lacey sat in the center of her bed, all lights on, cricket bat by her side and her mobile in her hand. She didn’t usually message her ex back—she had been told not to engage with him at all, but as the butterflies in her stomach finally calmed down, the heat and tightness of anger set in. How dare he continue to do this to her?

She picked up her phone, stared at the screen for a moment, then typed.

No. I don’t want to see you. We broke up three months ago. Please stop contacting me.

She sent it, and within thirty seconds another message popped up.

You can’t just throw me away like that. We’re meant to be together. I love you.

“Argh!” Lacey threw her phone onto her pillows and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. She squeezed toothpaste onto her brush before she shook her head as she glared in the mirror at her reflection.

Who the hell did he think he was? And why they hell had she gone out with him in the first place? She scrubbed her teeth hard as the memories flooded in. Rodney had been nice at the start. Complimented her lots, wanted to be with her all the time. It’d been nice, kind of. After so many years of being single it had been good to be in a couple, to see how the other half lived. But Rodney had not been anywhere near normal, and she’d gotten away from him as quickly as she could.

“Hey, Lacey! I’m home.”

Scarlet’s voice made her jump, and she screamed out, only to have her best friend bolt to the bathroom and throw the door open.

“You okay?”

Lacey put her toothbrush down and took a deep breath as she gripped the sides of the basin. Her heart was pounding so hard she felt like she was going to vomit.

“Yeah, you just startled me.”

Scarlet’s mouth turned down, her eyes widening. “That wanker contact you again? Is that why every single light in this place is on?”

Lacey nodded, shrugging as she grabbed hold of her toothbrush again.

“You know, we could move.”

Lacey winced at Scarlet’s suggestion. She’d already moved once since she’d broken up with Rodney.

“He’d just find me again. Just like he always finds my phone number.”

“Well, just remember, if you want to move to escape the bastard, just say the word and we’re off to somewhere new.”

Not wanting to talk about her stupid ex anymore Lacey decided to try distraction.

“Hey, Scarlet, can I ask you a question?”

Scarlet leaned against the door, her gorgeous long blonde hair falling over her perfect little boobs. “Yeah, ‘course.”

Lacey frowned as she thought about how to frame the question. What was the real root of her problem?

“Ah, shit I don’t know how to phrase it.”

“Well, what’s the problem?”

“I met these guys, twins actually.”

Scarlet’s face lit up with a huge smile. “Yeah, and?”

“They’re part of a story I’m writing and they invited me back to their place for dinner to work on it, but when I got there, their whole family was there to meet me.”

“Oh wow, that’s a bit fast isn’t it?”

Lacey pushed out a laugh at the concerned look on her friend’s face.

You don’t know the half of it.

“I suppose, what I want to know is, what would you do if you fell for a guy…”
Or guys
, “who was different, or that wanted an unconventional relationship that other people wouldn’t understand or approve of?”

Scarlet pushed herself up from the doorframe and cocked her head. “Lace, the only thing I know about relationships is that they’re hard work. If you can find someone you love, who returns that love and who treats you how you deserve to be treated, what does it matter what the world thinks? The world doesn’t have to live in your back pocket. You know that my parents have a bit of a weird marriage, right?”

Lacey nodded as Scarlet glanced away for a moment. Her parents’ open relationship was a hard topic for her to talk about at any time.

“Yeah well, it works for them. There’s one hundred percent honesty between them. They’ve worked out what they both need and then found a way to keep each other happy. I know I couldn’t do it, but hey, who am I to judge? If I could actually find a halfway decent guy, who knows what I’d do to keep him?”

Lacey smiled at her best friend, a gorgeous woman, who’d had more than her fair share of cheating, nasty, lazy boyfriends.

“You’re right, Scarlet, thanks. I suppose I hadn’t thought about it like that.”

Scarlet gave her a wink and headed off to her room, turning off lights as she went, leaving Lacey alone to contemplate her friend’s words.

You’ll never know how you’ll cope in any situation, until you’re actually in it.