“Cami-”
“You’re probably wondering,” she said, biting her lip.
“Gee, you think?”
She let out a little sound of regret.
“Cami, I told your sister because I thought she was you, but you should know what I said-”
“Are you going to tell her you love her again?” Dimi interrupted, her hands still over her eyes. “Because if you are, I’d kinda like to see it. Mostly because this is an utterly new and foreign thing for her, having a guy fall so hard as to humiliate himself this way. But also because I love her, too, and feel a little responsible for this morning’s events.”
“Don’t you dare look,” Tanner told her.
Dimi tipped her head to the ceiling. “Oh, and looking was so much fun, too. Hey, Tool Belt Man, if you’re going to do this right, let me give you a little hint. My sister here runs hard and fast from love, so I wouldn’t open with that.”
Tanner searched Cami’s gaze and got not one iota of a clue as to her thoughts.
“She’s afraid love doesn’t exist,” Dimi told him. “Is that right?” Tanner asked Cami.
“And as for why I was such a big secret,”
Dimi confided. “She’ll probably never admit this, but she’s under the misguided impression that men like me better, and if they discover me, they’ll ditch her.”
“Dimi, shut up,” Cami said, her cheeks red.
“I don’t-”
“Yes, you do,” Dimi said. “And you’re wrong. You’ve got Mr. Right standing here to prove it. Now I want you to listen to him, Cami.
And listen hard. At least keep your mind open.”
“Dimi-”
“I’m shutting up now,” she said, mimicking the motion of zipping her lips, her eyes still tightly closed. “Mute and blind, that’s me.”
“How about gone?” Tanner asked as kindly as he could.
Dimi’s lips quirked, but she didn’t speak.
Didn’t move, either, and Tanner sighed. But he couldn’t get mad because Dimi had just given him some pretty incredible insight into Cami’s thoughts, and any insight at this point was invaluable. “I’m going to get dressed,” he said to Cami.
“And then we’re going to talk.
“I’ll wait,” she said.
It was the best Tanner could ask for. He hightailed it in his very limited attire down the hall way, painfully aware of the picture he made from the back.
And even more aware of Cami watching him.
“STRIP,” Cami said to Dimi the moment Tanner left the room.
Dimi lowered her hands. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Cami unwound the towel she’d put around her head to keep her hair dry in the shower. Tossing the towel at Dimi, she straightened her other towel. “Hurry.”
Understanding dawned in Dimi’s eyes. “You want him to choose between us.”
“I want to see if he can tell the difference.”
“No, you want to see if he really knows you.
Cami, honey, that’s not fair.” But she started to strip. “I realize you’ve never played fair before, and maybe I’ve even encouraged that, but the guy wore a tool belt for you.
“I know it’s time, but knowing it and doing it are two entirely different things.”
“So why are we doing this, really? He’s not going to be able to tell us apart. Nobody can.”
Cami waited until Dimi had wrapped the towel around her body and faced her. To her, their differences were obvious. Dimi’s eyes were cooler, her features slightly more refined. Cami’s hair couldn’t be tamed, and she rarely stood as straight and sure as Dimi.
“Look, if he can tell us apart, then it was meant to be.”
“And you’ll admit that?”
Cami’s heart flip-flopped. “I don’t know. But there’s no reason to worry about it. He won’t be able to tell.”
“All right, but I’ve got to tell you, I actually feel sorry for him.”
“No cheating,” Cami whispered, as Tanner walked into the room.
He took a double take, which might have been comical if her entire heart hadn’t been wadded in her throat.
“I hadn’t forgotten,” he said to them. “But jeez, the reality of this is a bit unnerving.”
Dimi gave him a little smile.
Cami’s heart was in her throat. She knew her sister would help him in an instant if she could, so Cami spoke fast. “Can you tell us apart?”
Tanner looked back and forth between the two of them.
Cami held her breath.
Slowly, he walked around Dimi, looking her up and down.
Then Cami was treated to the same intense gaze.
“Chilly?” he asked softly when goose bumps rose on her flesh.
She shook her head. She could do little else because he was looking at her with heat and need and hunger, and dammit, also such tenderness her throat closed up. How could he still be looking at her like that? It wasn’t in the plan.
“If you can tell us apart,” Dimi said, “you win.”
“What’s the prize?” he asked, never taking his eyes off Cami.
“Me, of course,” Dimi said. “Or her.” She smiled.
So did Tanner.
Cami couldn’t do anything but swallow hard, because, just looking at him made her ache.
He loved her.
Her knees wobbled. Ruthlessly, she locked them.
“Maybe you should drop the towel,” he suggested, laughing when both Dimi’s and Cami’s hands went to the knot between their breasts. “Don’t worry. I already know who is who. I knew the moment I walked in the door.”
His confidence staggered Cami-as not even their own mother could tell them apart. It might have warmed her, soothed away her chill, except for the very real fact that if he knew exactly who she was, through and through, he would be the first man to do it.
And that was terrifying in its own right.
Tanner walked around to face them. “I should warn you both, I’m kissing the woman I think is mine.”
“I’m kissing her senseless. Then I’m going to carry her back to that bedroom so we can have the morning we were supposed to have. And after that, I’m going to remind her how much I love her, and I’m going to hope she feels the same way back.”
Dimi looked at Cami. Cami looked at Dimi.
“Ready?” he asked sweetly.
Was she ready? Hell, no. She could hardly stand the tension over this ridiculous stupid game she’d set up, and she stood there on pins and needles, wondering if he could really pick her out.
If he really knew her.
“Ready,” Dimi said softly, looking hopeful for that kiss, and Cami sent her a dirty look.
