Free Tymber Dalton by It's a Sweet Life

thing for her. Grover was always bugging her to get out and socialize more often.
    Come on, six o’clock.
     
    * * * *
     
    Ben glared at his brother. “Thanks for asking me first.”
    “Hey, I didn’t think it’d be a big deal.”
    Ben leaned back and scrubbed his face with his hands. It still caught him off guard sometimes that he was now clean-shaven. “I’m sorry. Look, I’m just not in much of a socializing mood tonight.”
    “Then leave. Go to a movie or something.”
    He studied the stern set of Allan’s jaw. “This really means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”
    “Yeah, it does. If you’d seen her, how much pain she’s obviously in, you would have agreed with me. Besides, I want to be nice to her.”
    He wanted to be nice to her, too, but the kind of nice he wanted involved no clothes, a bottle of Astroglide, and a marathon lovemaking session. His dreams the night before had been consumed by her, so much so that he’d rubbed two out that morning before getting out of bed.
    A record even for his healthy libido.
    “Earth to Ben.”
    He looked up and realized Allan had been saying something else. “What?”
    When Allan’s brow furrowed, Ben knew he’d been made. “Oh, shit. You like her, too, don’t you?”
    “That’s not the issue here.”
    Allan pulled out a chair and sat across from him at the table. “Yeah, it is. You feel it, too. Don’t lie to me. You might be a great undercover cop, but I’m your twin.”
    “Okay, she’s cute. Is that what you wanted to hear me admit? And yeah, it’s been a long damn time since I’ve had anything resembling a relationship. But she’s still off-limits. You got it?”
    Allan slowly nodded. “Yeah, I got it. I’m just wondering how much you’ve got it.”
    “What the hell are you talking about? I’m the one who said we’d tell everyone we’re gay cousins.”
    “I know.”
    Ben didn’t like the way the conversation was heading. “Listen, Counselor, that shit might work on someone sitting on the witness stand, but it won’t work on me. Fine, she can come over for dinner and we’ll cook for her.” He slapped his laptop closed a little harder than he’d meant and headed for his bedroom, remembering at the last moment not to slam it shut behind him so Libbie couldn’t hear it from across the hall.
    He leaned against the door and wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand as he closed his eyes and tried not to recall last night’s scorchingly hot dreams.
    The one person he couldn’t lie to—Allan—was the only one who understood exactly what he was going through.
    He turned and snatched the door open and stalked across the apartment to where Allan still sat at the table. He jabbed a finger at him. “We can’t do that to her,” he said, forcing himself to keep his voice down.
    Allan stared up at him, a look of cool, calm determination on his face. “Can’t do what, bro?”
    He leaned in. “You know damn well what. Besides, we already told her we were gay cousins.”
    Allan shrugged, infuriating Ben.
    “We cannot drag an innocent woman into our lives right now. She deserves better than that.”
    “You want her as much as I do.”
    “And we can’t have her,” Ben said, poking the table with his finger for emphasis. “We. Can’t. Have. Her. Besides, we don’t even really know her.” Which was all the more reason he was freaking out over his sudden feelings about her.
    “Dude, all I did was ask her over for dinner. You’re the one wigging out.”
    He straightened, looking down at Allan. The smug smirk that curved his twin’s lip made him want to reach out and slap it from his face.
    “I just want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
    Allan slowly nodded. “We are. But I won’t lie and say I’m not attracted to her when I am. You obviously are, too. We can be attracted to her and still be just friends with her.”
    Clenching his jaw to hold back his retort, Ben spun on his heel and returned to his room.
    He was attracted