“He’s such an attention whore,” he muttered, his tone teasing. “What do you want to bet he’s going to lift his shirt up next? He’ll pretend he needs to wipe his brow.”
“I don’t know him and you’re his twin. It hardly seems smart to bet on what he might do against you.”
Marco shrugged, his eyes glinting with humor as he glanced down at me. “Fair enough. If he does that, you have to come out to dinner with us after. If he doesn’t do it, you get to decide what you win.”
“So basically if I take the bet, I’m coming out to dinner with you.” I watched as his brother reached for the hem of his sleeveless shirt. “You’ve got yourself a bet.”
He took my hand to seal the deal just as the twin lifted his shirt to his face. Marco groaned, but just about every woman in the vicinity practically swooned.
I caught a glimpse of very much the same physique as Marco’s when I felt his eyes boring into me from the side. Frowning as my gaze darted to his, I was about to question why he was looking at me like that when I realized there was something blatantly possessive in the sudden hard set of his expression.
“What do you think of my brother?” he asked with an edge in his tone.
I wasn’t sure what was going on with him, but I wanted to lighten the mood. “Oh, you know. He’s really ugly. You must have gotten the looks in your family.”
He blinked a few times, then clutched his stomach as he started laughing. Personally, I didn’t think my joke had been that funny, but obviously, my intuition had led me in the right direction.
I smiled up at him, winking before I pointed at a woman walking into the crowd with a flag and a starter pistol. “Looks like they’re about to get going. Do you think he’s going to win?”
“No.” He scoffed, but the lingering hardness melted away from his face as he turned to the runners. “He might have, but he would have needed to train harder. Don’t worry, though. He won’t be crushed by losing. He’s just doing this for the fun of it.”
“Running a marathon is supposed to be fun?” I eyed the spandexed-out masses checking the electronic gimmicks on their arms, faces set in competitive scowls. “I think a few of these people might have missed the memo.”
“True, but Aldo’s not taking it too seriously.” Sure enough, when I sought out his brother in the crowd again, he was flirting with a girl standing beside him. She was giggling and had her hand on his toned bicep, using the other to twirl the ends of her ponytail around her fingers.
“I see what you mean,” I said. “Well, I guess a marathon is a more interesting place to meet people than a bar. At least you’ll be able to remember them in the morning.”
Marco laughed again and tucked me under his arm when the spectators surged forward as the pistol fired. The runners started moving in a slow wave as the ones at the front hit the trail.
Aldo and the girl talked for about another minute before they finally set off at a slow jog, still chatting and laughing as they set off. Marco grinned down at me, his face only inches away from mine.
“You might think he’s ugly, but clearly she doesn’t. Wanna bet he’s going to have her number before the first mile ends?”
“If she doesn’t think he’s ugly, it’s only because she hasn’t met his brother.” The words were out before I could stop them, but from the fresh burst of intensity in his gaze, I guessed I’d said the right thing. “Again, I’m not betting against you on your twin’s habits. It’s just asking to lose.”
“Fine, but mark my words. He’ll be coming out of this thing with at least one date and several phone numbers.”
I laughed, but I didn’t argue. I couldn’t.
“Come on, let’s go find a space around the next corner,” he said. “They’ll be out of sight for a while after that.”
He moved his arm away from my shoulders only to slide his hand into mine. Leading us with relative ease through the crowd, he found us a new vantage point and tucked me close to him again while we waited.
“Have you ever run a marathon before?” I asked, settling against his hard side. Somehow, despite its lack of softness, it was surprisingly comfortable under his arm. It was like the soft parts of my own body slotted perfectly into the hardness of his, fitting us together as though we were made to be that way.
I wasn’t naive enough to believe it meant anything, but it still felt good. Especially with his clean, subtle spicy scent enveloping me.
Hearing as well as feeling a small rumble in his chest, I glanced up to find his eyes closing for a split second longer than a blink. When he looked down at me again, he was smirking, but there was also a tenderness glowing in his dark amber eyes that warmed up my insides.
“I’ve run a few, but that was when I was younger. I still run by myself almost every morning. I just don’t do it competitively. It’s a time for reflection and solitude for me, not a time for cheering and trying to best someone.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I would say I understand, but I don’t. If I’m going to run, it’s going to be because some big-ass thing is chasing me and there’s nowhere to hide.”
His answering chuckle made his chest rumble again. I snuggled just a little bit closer, liking the feeling of it. “If you don’t like running, what exercise do you like to do?”
I frowned up at him but barely managed to hold back my grin. “Did you just use exercise and like in the
