Double Trouble Read online

  DOUBLE TROUBLE

  NATASHA L. BLACK

  Copyright © 2018 by Natasha L. Black

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  CONTENTS

  Introduction

  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

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Epilogue

  The Cabin (Sample)

  Cuffed to my Roomies (Sample)

  A Note from the Author

  About the Author

  Introduction

  My men have me against the ropes and begging for more.

  I’m an ER nurse. I play it safe.

  Until Jake and Owen walk in, all wicked sex appeal and prizefighter swagger.

  The Powers twins are identical in every way.

  Jake’s a successful boxer, and Owen is his manager.

  Both ex-military, both alpha, both hot as hell.

  The way they stroke my body with their eyes makes me feel things I haven’t since I lost my fiancé.

  They rescued me when my date tried to drug me.

  They protected me like a pair of hot, filthy heroes. I tried to resist, but there was no turning back.

  Every hard muscle feels like it was meant for me, for this moment. Forget what the world says.

  It’s insane that it feels so right.

  And when I need saving once again, my boys are right there to deliver the knockout punch.

  They might be the competitors, but I’m the winner in this ring.

  1

  Hyacinth

  I knew what to expect, or so I thought.

  Just another busy let’s-get-this-over-with Monday night. I’d tend to the usual Monday night ER patients, guzzle bad coffee like a superstar; chat with Penelope, do damage control when she said one of her ‘quotables’ too loud. I’d think wistfully of the sleep I’d get in a few hours, while tempering the longing with the firm resolve that I was working my dream job.

  And it went just like that, this typical Monday night. Until, that is, they came in.

  I was on such autopilot mode of efficient work and kind cheer, that the sight of them – same chin-length beach boy hair, same guarded eyes the brown of leather belts - only pierced my consciousness after several seconds.

  “Patched him up best we could at the club, but my brother’ll need stitches- ASAP,” the one was saying as he supported the other.

  The other one had a bad gash on his forehead, and more stubble, but that was where the differences ended.

  “Ignore him,” the twin with the cut said with a wink. “My brother takes worrying to an art form.”

  Beside me, Penelope’s eyes widened, while my own mind pinged with understanding. Yes, these two men had the same hair, same face, were the same two prototypes of hotness – twins.

  “Mr. Owen and Jake Powers,” I said, taking refuge behind the chart so I could get a hold of myself. All of me was flushing, from my cheeks all the way to between my legs.

  “Perfect last name for a boxer, am I right?” Jake said with a wince.

  “Less talking and more sitting still so the nurse can do her job,” Owen growled.

  “You mean” – Jake checked my nametag – “Hyacinth.”

  “My friends call me Cin,” I said automatically, frowning. Where the heck had that come from?

  Focus, Cin, I told myself.

  “Sorry Cin,” Owen said, slinging himself into a chair at the hospital bedside. “Don’t mean to be rude. Just worried about my little brother.”

  “Little by two minutes,” Jake said sorely.

  “Jake Powers,” Penelope said, stepping beside me. Her Bambi eyes were locked on him in a way that I knew from experience wasn’t good. “I’ve heard of you.”

  Jake cracked a smile, although his gaze didn’t move from me. “Does that mean I can get some VIP treatment here and snag a little whiskey or something for the pain?”

  “No,” I said smoothly at the same time that Owen sharply said, “Jake!”

  He smiled gratefully at me. “Just ignore him if he gets to be too much.”

  “Same goes for my brother,” Jake said, flipping Owen a sweet ‘fuck-you’ smile. “He tends to forget himself in front of pretty girls.”

  “Normally I’d say slap him if he crosses the line,” Owen said darkly. “But in the circumstances….”

  Smiling weakly, I turned to my kit. Focus Cin. So what if some hot boxer twins were flirting with me? I had a job to do.

  The cool metal of the tool shelf sharpened me somewhat as I rifled through the bin for what I was looking for. Producing the sutures, needle driver, tissue forceps and sterilized needle and thread, I gave the twins an all-business smile. “Thanks, but I should be fine. A needle in his forehead should do the trick.” My smirk wavered. Keep it professional, Cin. “Now, don’t move.”

  I poised my needle over his forehead skin, preparing for contact.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Jake said cockily. “I should be goo-”

  The stabbing in of the needle shut him right up. Beside me, Penelope had flit away and was hovering at a distance. Even after two years as a full-time nurse, she still could hardly stomach the whole graphic bit. Although if I needed her she’d be there in an instant.

  It was only a minute or so of the work, basically skin sewing, and then I was finished, and Jake started breathing again.

  “Thanks,” he said weakly, all of his former bravado gone.

  He drew in a deep breath that fell out of him. “You come in here thinking you’re all tough and then,” – a sheepish smile – “You get your ass handed to you by a pretty girl with a needle.”

  “If it’s any consolation, I’ve had some people bawl like babies, so you’re no wuss,” I said.

  “Thanks,” Jake said. “But this is going to be ammo for my brother for weeks.”

  A glance to Owen found him smiling, shrugging. “Serves you right, when you were so set on being a tough guy that you weren’t even going to come here in the first place.”

  “If I’d known…” Jake trailed off.

  His gaze stroked down my body. I twisted away, busying myself with putting away my supplies in the proper bins.

  “Anyway,” Jake was saying. “Guess it’s just my luck you know your stuff.”

  I nodded. “Guess so. Now try to keep those clean and dry and go see your doctor in about seven days to have them taken out. You can take regular ibuprofen for any discomfort. If there’s nothing else you need, I should get back to work.” I was normally a little friendlier, but something about these two gorgeous men and the way they wer
e both looking at me, put me on edge.

  Owen got up. “Cin’s right. It’s very busy here. We should get going.”

  Something about the forced way the words came out made me feel like Owen was saying it as much for himself as he was for his brother.

  “Hope everything heals up ok,” I told Jake. “Good luck with your fights.”

  “Thanks,” he said, hesitating. Owen couldn’t seem to get on with leaving either.

  “Listen,” Jake said.

  “It was great meeting you,” Owen said, pulling him away. Jake’s mouth twisted into a scowl as he allowed himself to be led out the door.

  As soon as they were nearly out of sight, Penelope scampered up.

  “Before our next patients, can I just say holy hell were those two hot? One hot boxer is omg-worthy enough, but TWINS?”

  When a quick scan for our stick-up-the-ass supervisor Viola revealed a clear coast, I allowed myself a smile. “They really were.”

  Penelope sighed. “I’ve been to a couple of Jake’s fights. Seeing Owen in business mode and Jake in the ring, it’s orgasm-worthy, I swear to God.”

  “Penelope!”

  She laughed. “What? It’s true.” She bopped me with her hip. “You should come to one of his fights sometime.”

  I pretended to peer at Jake’s chart, which was pointless since he was gone by now. “Boxing matches aren’t really my thing.”

  “How do you know if you’ve never been?”

  When I didn’t respond, she continued, “Which was your favorite?”

  “We’re on duty,” I said curtly.

  There was more than that, truthfully. Replaying what had just happened with the twins made my head spin and my stomach churn. When was the last time I’d been this attracted to anyone, let alone two anyones?

  “Ok, so you may be right,” Penelope said, her tone was as unrepentant as ever. “About them and the sanctity of work and all of that nonsense. But girl, could you please let me set you up with this great guy I met?” Her hand batted a stray dark curl off her temples. “He’s my friend’s brother, which I didn’t realize until the date itself. Which meant that anything beyond the chaste cheek kiss we shared at the end of the night would be impossible.”

  I tried to avoid her gaze for as long as possible, hoping she’d drop it and find something else to do, but I knew better. She’d been after me for the better part of six months. “Sure,” I finally said.

  “Really?”

  I peered past Penelope’s shoulder, which showed that the next patient was nearly here. “Really,” said.

  “You know it would be good for you,” she was saying. “Two years in the desert…”

  “Pen,” I warned her.

  She stuck her tongue out at me. “You know I hate that nickname.”

  “And you know how I hate when you refer to what I’ve been through as ‘the desert’.”

  “Fine, fine.” Penelope’s stray dark curl was back and bobbing along to what she said.

  She quieted down just in time for the patient to arrive. Turned out he was another fall and cut case, which we dealt with quickly enough.

  No sooner had he left, humming a happy tune, then did Penelope turn to me with a triumphant smile. “There. Sent it.”

  “What?”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Paul. That guy I told you about.”

  Grabbing my phone, she let out a squeal as she checked it. “He already texted you!”

  I could only glare at her. “Should I not have?”

  When I didn’t respond, she grabbed her phone. “Ugh, there I go again, Meddling Penelope. Don’t you worry. I’ll text him saying it was the wrong number, then.”

  I put my hand over her phone. “It’s fine.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  Penelope declared, “So if you two get married you totally have to make me your maid of honor.”

  “Jesus Penelope, settle down. I have agreed to one date, let’s not go dress shopping just yet,” I said to her, annoyed. Why had I agreed to do this?

  As if reading my mind, Penelope leaned in and said, “Because I’m your best friend.”

  And only friend, I thought to myself. After the accident, I’d lost touch with most of our friends. Not by any conscious choice, it just hurt too much to see them, to have to talk about it.

  “You should wear that red dress you have,” Penelope was saying. Oh, and one more thing.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Your shift is over, get out of here.”

  My gaze swept to the clock. Whoa, it was. Guess time flies when you’re thinking of hot boxer twins.

  I shook the thought out of my mind as I got ready to leave. It didn’t matter how hot the twins were, or how much they’d seemed to be attracted to me too. There was little to no chance of ever seeing them again, so I might as well put it out of my mind.

  I was halfway out the door when Penelope’s text came my way. I still hadn’t checked the three that Paul had sent me, but hers came up on my screen. BTW, I suggested he take you to Pickle Barrel.

  I sighed as I unlocked my car door. I knew that Penelope only had my best interests at heart, but I just wasn’t ready to date again. The thought of it made me supremely uncomfortable. I took some solace in the fact that I would be so busy with extra shifts that I’d picked up that it would be two weeks before I’d even have time to go on a date. Hopefully by then Penelope would have forgotten all about it.

  Another message from her pinged on my phone reminding me that there was little to no chance of that happening.

  2

  Owen

  She came to me in the night, dressed in a tongue-pink shade that set off the bruise-blue hunger in her eyes, hunkered over my bed like this was the most natural thing in the world.

  “My friend’s call me Cin,” she said.

  “Come here, Cin,” I said.

  On all fours, like a cat, she crawled. Our faces connected. Lip tore at lip, hunger battled hunger. My hands claimed her, hers did them one better – putting my fingers where she wanted them. Her velvety channel was wet, willing, my eager pumping matched by her grasping, groaning - leaving me no doubt as to what she wanted connected next.

  She parted her legs further for me then reached to grab a hold of my straining cock and then…

  “SERIOUSLY OWEN?”

  Jake’s voice interrupted my thoughts as my bedroom door flung open and I froze. My throbbing dick fell to the bed, all arousal gone as quickly as it had come.

  I leveled a glare at him as I pulled the covers over me. “Seriously dude? You couldn’t knock?”

  “Sounded like you were dying in here.” Jake leaned on the doorframe, gaze still firmly fixed on my poster of an abstract light photograph on the wall.

  “You waiting for something or came in to watch?” I said, still glaring. When no response came, I growled, “You’ll be the one dying if you don’t close that door.”

  “Jeez.” Jake threw up both arms as he retreated behind the now half-open door, although he didn’t leave. “Crabby much? Clearly it’s been too long since you’ve gotten laid.”

  “As a matter of fact, I was at Kimberly’s last night,” I said defensively. “It’s not that, it’s…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say.

  “It’s her, isn’t it?” Jake asked quietly. He paused, as if waiting for me to say something, and, when I stayed silent, finally said, “It’s been almost two weeks, and you’re still thinking about that ER nurse too, aren’t you?”

  “’Too’?” I asked.

  Jake knocked one palm into the other one, scowling. “It’s been two weeks, not two years.”

  His scowl found its way to me as he continued, “Still, pretty lame considering we’ll never see her again. There’s literally no way.”

  I examined him, realizing just what he was saying. “You didn’t.”

  “What?” Jake started pace-stomping behind the door. “Just thought the nurses might think it was cute. You know, t
he whole ‘I had a connection with my nurse, and, I know, this is totally against protocol, but if there was any way, any way at all that you could maybe sort of hint her name and number…”

  “Dude.”

  Striding in now, Jake threw himself into my studded armchair. “I know, I know.” He glared at his tensed hands for another few seconds before leaping up. “We need to go out.”

  “We?”

  Jake lowered his chin to give me an incredulous look. “C’mon man, we clearly both need some fresh air, some fresh girls.” He swept his hand toward the bed. “Unless you’d rather moon over Nurse Impossible for the rest of our lives.”

  My jaw tightened. Jake was right, but still. “Just give me a minute, alright?”

  Jake paused in the doorway. He’d never been known for his patience, although he usually managed to find some during his fights. “You really going to make me wait outside your door while you finish jerking off?”

  I shrugged. “I would actually prefer if you didn’t wait outside my door, thanks.”

  Jake lingered for another few seconds. “Screw it, suit yourself.”

  --

  Jake chose Pickle Barrel since it was the kind of night that warranted our favorite. I wasn’t really in the mood, but I wasn’t in the mood for much lately, even work, although I hadn’t told Jake the full extent of it.

  As soon as we sat down, though, the night got a whole lot more interesting.

  Under the table, Jake jabbed my shins with his square-tipped shoe. “You see her?”

  I kicked him skin back. “Yeah.”

  I’d seen her as soon as we’d sat down. Cin, the ER nurse. Brown hair with wavy blonde highlights, a knockout evergreen dress that made noticing anything else near impossible.

  Twisting around to catch her eye, Jake waved. She waved back, with a brief flash of a smile before looking away. As Jake rose, I grabbed him. “Think you’re forgetting something.”

  As Jake eyed me uncomprehendingly, I leaned in to hiss, “Her date.”

  Jake ripped his blazer sleeve free of my grasp. “You’re not my manager right now.”

  “Doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”

  “I’m just going over there to say hello.”

  I tipped my head at him, the ‘oh really’ motion he always hated because I was usually right. “Be my guest, then.”