Perfect match double tro.., p.1
Perfect Match: Double Trouble Duet, page 1
PERFECT MATCH
DOUBLE TROUBLE DUET
ALEXA RILEY
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
The Whole Package
Chapter 1
Read Me Romance
Stalk the Author
Copyright © 2023 by Author Alexa Riley LLC. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email to riley_alexa@aol.com
http://alexariley.com/
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Edited by Aquila Editing
To readers that love romance… even when you see the Happily Ever After coming a mile away!
* * *
PERFECT MATCH
BY ALEXA RILEY
Briar has always supported her twin sister even when it meant keeping her distance from the man she's been in love with since she was a little girl. But now that Mace has forced his way into her life, there's no way to keep those carefully built walls from crumbling.
Mace has bided his time, and now the wait is over. He's loved Briar from the moment he knew what love was, and now that his twin brother is out of the way, he's ready to start his forever.
Warning: Twins falling for twins? Could this be more over the top? Double up on the Double Trouble Duet, because it’s got twice the romance and love!
ONE
BRIAR
My twin has gone and lost her mind. She’s supposed to be the rational one. With all her lists and well-laid plans, now she goes and flips the script. After a week of dating, which is a term I’m going to use loosely in this situation, she decides she wants to get married next weekend. To one of the guys we’re supposed to loathe.
Not some small intimate wedding either, down at the family beach house. Nope, a wedding for hundreds of people. This is something I would do. I’m the one with random crazy ideas, not Meadow. When it comes to my sister, everything is planned to the last detail.
“So where should we start?” Mace asks as he steps onto the elevator with me.
I’d made a quick escape from my sister's now-fiancé Heath’s office after they dropped this wedding in my lap. Well, on mine and Mace’s laps, but I can do this solo. He’ll only slow me down, and I don’t need any distractions because I can admit I’m easily distracted.
Another meow comes from my bag.
“Is that really your text alert or is there a cat in your bag?”
“What’s with all the questions?” I snap, and Mace’s brows pull together.
I jerk my gaze away from his ruggedly handsome face. When did he grow a beard? It only appears to be a few days old, but it’s hot on his stupid, distracting face. I don’t know why, but I’m more annoyed with him today than usual.
With Meadow and me, we’re a bit easier to tell apart. While we might be identical twins, we dress completely opposite, and even our mannerisms are different. It’s not often that people mix us up, and if they do, it’s more a slip of the tongue.
The same can’t be said about Heath and his twin Mace because the pair of them are in suits more often than not. I can always tell them apart, though, not that they know that. I often call Mace Heath to get a reaction out of him. I don’t know why it makes him so dang mad, but I’ve seen other people do it and he’ll laugh it off. When I do, it’s not so funny. The madder he gets, the more I want to keep doing it.
We grew up with the Monroe brothers since our moms met in a group for mothers with twins. They hit it off and quickly made the Monroe twins a permanent fixture in our lives. Our parents even bought beach houses next to each other. When it comes to holidays and events, they are always celebrated together. Mace and Heath are a few years older than us, but we were all raised together.
Mace is quieter than Heath, and he’s always accusing me of everything. At least that’s what it feels like. I didn’t have to ask Mace how he feels about me because I know he finds me annoying and ditzy.
I suppose I am the odd one out when it comes to the four of us. Both Heath and Mace went on to become lawyers and took over their father’s firm. I went to Wellesley College with Meadow since it was a tradition for the women in our family to go to the prestigious all-girls university.
Meadow was dead set on going there, so I shrugged and went too. She got a fancy finance accounting degree while I barely made it out with my non-profit management degree. Not because I failed my classes; I just kept switching majors.
It wasn’t two weeks after we graduated that Meadow was nosediving into her career while I’m drifting around and trying to think of what to do next with my life. My tether has always been my sister, and where she went, I went. Meadow might be driven and organized, but she can forget the small details of life. I take care of those details, which is why I can be protective and a bit of a mother hen when it comes to her. It’s my nature and how it’s always been. Now my tether is starting to fray, and the line is going to sever soon.
“You’re going to need my help,” Mace says. “You also need to hit a floor.” He presses the button for the basement of the office building.
“I need the lobby.” I go to push the button, but he blocks me.
“I’ll drive you.”
“Drive me where?” Another meow comes from my bag.
“Wherever you’re going. We need to start making plans.”
“I guess you can give me a ride.” I give in.
“I didn’t ask,” he says, and I roll my eyes.
“You think I can’t find my way home?” I snip.
How dumb does he think I am? I suppose I do have a cat in my purse, but Bingo has attachment issues. He’s also not a fan of the three little kittens I’ve got at home and can be grumpy.
“Why would you say that?” The elevator stops, and Mace grabs my hip to pull me over as two other men step onto it.
“Mr. Monroe,” they both greet Mace.
“Afternoon,” he says back to them.
One of them hits the button for the lobby, and the elevator grows quiet until my purse meows again. Then thankfully, the doors open for the lobby.
“Don’t,” he warns in a low voice, and I realize Mace’s hand is still on my hip, and his hold tightens. I purse my lips because I was going to try and make a quick escape. “I said I’ll give you a ride home. My driver is waiting.” The elevator descends, and when the doors slide open again, there’s a black SUV waiting ten feet from us.
“So you mean your driver will give me a ride home.” I can’t help but make the small correction.
“I’m giving you a ride.” His hand slips to the middle of my back, guiding me toward the SUV. Does he think I’m going to make a run for it? He opens the door for me and waits. “In you go.”
“You’re always so bossy.”
“And you’re always a brat.”
“I’m not a brat.” I stomp my foot, and his eyes drop to my silver-sparkled sneakers. “I didn’t mean to stomp my foot.”
“Because it’s a habit?” I glare at him. “In,” he orders again as he suddenly slips my bag off my shoulder.’
“Hey!”
“Get in and I’ll hand you your bag.”
“That’s catnapping.” A bark of laughter comes from him, surprising Bingo, who lets out another meow. Mace’s laugh echoes off the concrete walls.
“Fine.” I slip into the SUV, and Mace peeks into my bag. Bingo hisses at him.
“A bit of a grump?” Mace smiles down at the cat like he’s adorable. Bingo is a mess at the moment. Patches of his hair are missing, along with an ear. Life hasn’t been easy for him, but I’m going to change that. “What’s its name?” he asks, handing me my bag back.
“Mace,” I lie, and he lets out another laugh.
“Glad to see you got my name right for once.” He smirks.
What the hell? When did he get a sense of humor?
TWO
MACE
“I didn’t invite you in,” Briar protests as I walk past where she’s standing and into her apartment.
“I’m not a vampire, Briar. It doesn’t work that way.”
“Polite society would disagree with you. Most of them wait for someone to welcome them into their home.”
“If I did that, I’d die an old man out in your lobby.” Something brushes against my pant leg, and I see a kitten has come out to say hello. “Who is this little guy?” I ask as I pick him up and begin to pet him.
“He is my son, and I’d like you to take your hands off of him.”
Immediately the kitten in my arms tries to get away from me so he can go to see the older cat.
“Wait,” Briar warns. “Maybe just hold him a little longer. Just until Bingo relaxes.”
“Bingo?”
“Mace.” She glares and then goes into the kitchen.
I glance around the apartment that looks like it’s been decorated by Briar. Her favorite color has always been yellow, and I see so much of it here. There’s a drawing she’s done that’s framed over the couch, and I remember her mom showing me a picture of it. She’s truly gifted in everything she does, and I can’t imagine her not being good at whatever she fell in love with.
When we were kids, she said she wanted to have a farm and own a million animals. I remember thinking even then that she would probably do that if she wanted it badly enough. She was so determined, even if she was a little erratic. The chaos is what I fell in love with because it was so different and exciting.
I’m not sure Briar ever knew how I felt about her. When we were younger, I was so shy it was debilitating. When I finally got the courage to tell her how I felt, Heath and Meadow had a falling out, and from then on, I was the enemy along with my twin.
Briar looked at me with disdain every time Heath and I were near her and Meadow and took the opportunity to call me the wrong name. I’m almost positive she does it on purpose, but sometimes I can’t be sure. Even though I knew why she hated me, and part of me understood it, my feelings for her never changed.
She and Meadow are like me and Heath, and I would have stood by my brother a hundred percent if he was hurt the way Meadow was at Heath’s rejection. The problem was that I didn’t want to wait for Briar to finish with college. I wanted to tell her exactly how I felt, but Heath shut it down. He said they deserved to go to college and live their lives, and so he told his now almost-wife that they couldn’t be together. That was the catalyst for Briar hating me, and I’ve been having to deal with that fallout ever since.
Now that they’re out of college and clearly Heath and Meadow have made up, maybe it’s time for Briar to pull back the kitty claws and see that I’m not the asshole she’s crafted me to be. I’m not as shy as I once was, but sometimes I have a hard time finding my words around Briar. Most of the time, she just blurts out whatever is on her mind, and I find it so fucking cute.
“I know you’d rather I wasn’t your teammate on this, but think of it this way,” I offer, following Briar into the kitchen. “With two of us, it’s work divided, and if we work together, we might have a chance of pulling off the greatest wedding of all time.”
“Fat chance. The greatest wedding of all time was Father of the Bride.”
“Um, okay,” I say and watch as she starts to feed the kittens. “All right, so if that’s the greatest wedding of all time, don’t you want Meadow to have that?”
She looks up at me while holding the can of cat food, like this thought has just suddenly occurred to her. “Well, yes.”
“Then let’s do it. Let me help you give that to her.”
She pauses in her own thoughts for a moment and then eyes me suspiciously. “What’s in it for you?”
I laugh as I place the kitten on the ground, and it scampers to its bowl. “Besides giving my twin the best day of his life while he marries the girl of his dreams?”
“Yes.” She crosses her arms over her chest and waits.
“Because I care about Meadow like she’s my sister, and I think she should have the perfect day too. Besides, it’s at our beach house.”
“You mean our beach house,” she corrects, and I shake my head.
“They didn’t specify which house.”
“Fine. Service at one house, reception at the other,” she offers, and I nod.
“Deal,” I say, and then she looks surprised. “See, we’re already making progress.”
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t know where to start when it comes to wedding planning,” Briar admits. “Should we hire a professional?”
“Isn’t that what the bride and groom are supposed to do?” I say, and she shrugs. “I’m guessing that’s why they asked us to figure it out.”
“Because they knew it would be a lot of work and we would do it for them,” she says, and I agree.
“Typical.”
For a moment, we share a knowing smile, and the small space of the kitchen warms. Does Briar notice the energy that’s passing between us as we talk and move closer? How can she not, because it’s like I can taste it.
The curve of her hip as she leans against the counter, the way her hair shines in the dim light. I take in every detail of her lips and how they part as I take a step closer.
One summer night at the beach house, I snuck down to the storage shed so I could have some privacy. The house was packed, and I’d spent all day watching Briar run around the beach in a two-piece. I was desperate and so fucking hard that I had no choice. I was furiously jacking off when Briar walked in on me and saw what I was doing. But what surprised us both was that I didn’t stop. I let her watch as I came all over my bunched-up shirt while thinking about her lush body.
We never spoke about that night, and the two of us pretended it never happened. As I move closer to her now, it’s all I can think about. The scent of sunscreen, the taste of salt, and the feel of her eyes on me as I came.
I’m almost touching her when the sound of a kitten breaks the spell.
THREE
BRIAR
I swear Mace is staring at my mouth, which causes me to keep licking my lips. I knew he was going to be a distraction because he always has been. It’s hard enough to keep the man from popping into my head on my own. Now he’s here in my space.
Two days ago, I was lying on the sofa eating ice cream and trying not to cry that my apartment was empty of humans. My one grumpy cat, three kittens and Bugs, my lizard, are terrible at conversation. I missed my sister.
I’ve never been alone, and after only a week of it, I knew it wasn’t for me. I dabbled with getting a roommate. Even though I didn’t need one, I thought it might be nice. I should have been careful what I asked for.
“Are you sure? I wouldn't want to impose. I know it’s really last second,” I say into the phone. Seriously, is Mace staring at my mouth or trying to see if I can actually pull this off?
“Of course!” Rosy responds instantly. “You know we’d do anything for you, Briar.”
“You’re so sweet.” Rosy is from Kersey. I knew it would be best to get a wedding planner that was close to the beach house, and Rosy is one of the best, something Mace tried to inform me of since it seems he already put his assistant on helping find a wedding planner. He’d gotten a list with five names, and Rosy was at the top. His assistant tried to call Two Rings but was met with a laugh and hung up on, while I have the owner's direct number right in my phone.
“I’m just happy you thought of me.”
“Of course I thought of you. How is Sally doing?”
“She’s doing really well. I’m sure she’ll be on the dance floor wiggling her new hips.” I snort a laugh.
Rosy’s mom lives around the block from our beach house, and she’s a hoot. Her yard has always bothered some of the other neighbors since her multimillion-dollar home has plastic pink flamingos in it with a bunch of garden gnomes. If you tossed out a few metal lawn chairs, you’d think you were in Florida at a retirement community. In all fairness, Sally is retired.
When I heard about her fall, I went down to lend a hand. I knew her two dogs would need someone to look after them, and Rosy is Sally’s only child. Being one of the most sought-after wedding planners keeps Rosy busy, and I knew they both would need some help.
