Page 3 of Unburied

The blonde—Sheila? Shelly? He couldn’t remember—looked mad enough to spit nails. He opened his mouth to speak, but a second woman materialized next to the table.

Well, hello.

He was so distracted by the sight of her that he completely missed what she said. Something about being mistaken. Whatever it was, he would gladly set her straight. She turned her attention back to the blonde—Rochelle, that was her name! The word boyfriend falling from her lips had him snapping back to reality as she directed her pretty dark eyes to him with a sweet, if slightly wobbly, smile.

“Sorry I’m late. Work was hectic and I finally just got off.”

He froze, feeling like he was standing at the wrong end of a scope. Who was this woman? His gaze clashed with hers, the dark depths silently urging him to just go with it. He shrugged good-naturedly. “No problem. Glad you made it.”

“I see you started without me.” She threw a wry look at his half-empty plate, completely tuning out the blonde who stood by, watching with a sense of bewilderment.

The brunette turned to Rochelle, an expression of sympathy on her pretty face. “Sorry for the misunderstanding. He gets this a lot.”

Rochelle’s gaze jumped between him and the other woman before settling on the brunette. “You’re with him?”

“For about eight months now. Right?”

She threw a look his way, and he nodded. “Next week makes nine.”

“He gets confused for his brother a lot,” the brunette explained to Rochelle. “He’s a twin, and sometimes…” She lifted her hands, as if that explained everything.

Rochelle glared at him suspiciously. “Is that true?”

“It is.” Mason fought the urge to glance at the brunette, wondering how she knew about his brother.

“Oh.” Rochelle blinked several times. “I… I’m so sorry. I thought…”

“It’s fine. Sorry I couldn’t help.” He smiled, still feeling off balance as the brunette slid in next to him and her thigh pressed to his. She was warm and smelled as sweet as spun sugar, and he couldn’t help his reaction to her as his groin tightened. Automatically, his arm moved, wrapping around her shoulders as she leaned into him.

She tipped her head up and threw another of those sweet smiles his way. “Hi, honey.”

Looking confused and more than a little embarrassed, Rochelle dipped her head as she turned tail and headed across the bar. Once she was gone, he turned his gaze to the woman next to him. “Well, that was… interesting.”

She too had been watching Rochelle make her escape, but now she turned a look on him, her big brown eyes huge in her face. “I’m pretty sure I did you a favor there.”

“No doubt. She was out for blood.” He suddenly sobered. He knew for certain he’d never met this woman, so how did she know so much about him? It immediately put him on guard. “How did you know about my brother?”

“Hmm?” Her pretty brown eyes searched his. “What do you mean?”

“You told her my brother was the one she was looking for. How did you know I’m a twin?”

Her gaze widened almost comically. “Oh, my God. There are two of you wreaking havoc on the female population?”

She’d guessed? Her reaction was too genuine to be anything other than complete and utter surprise at his revelation, and he was stunned into laughing. “Actually, yeah, I do have a twin. We’re fraternal, so we don’t look much alike. And I promise he’s worse than I am.”

She let out a little snort when he winked at her. “If you say so, Romeo.”

“What? Don’t believe me?”

“I haven’t decided yet.” The pretty brunette next to him settled back against the booth and took another sip of her bright green drink.

“So…” He asked the most obvious question. “Why are you here?”

He watched bemusedly as she stole a fry from his plate and popped it into her pretty mouth. “Like, here at the bar, or here in your booth?”

Either. He definitely wanted to know what had brought her to the bar alone—and how long she planned to be here. But for now, he’d settle for the situation at hand. “Why’d you tell her I was your boyfriend?”

She took a sip of her drink before she turned to face him. “I don’t know what transpired between you two, and I don’t care. But it’s really not very classy to pull something like that in public. I figured you could use some help.”