Mistaken by Fate (3 page)

She laughed, the sound harsh. “Use whatever excuse you have to so that you can sleep at night, but Will never tried to drive me away. He’s been here the entire time and there’s not a damn thing you can say to convince me that he’s not the right one for me.” The doors started to close. “So have a nice life and maybe I’ll see you again when you come around for your next yearly visit.”

Then she was gone, and he was left staring at a distorted reflection of himself in the elevator doors. As tempting as it was to chase her down and make sure she got home safely, he knew himself well enough to see it for the excuse it was. He didn’t want to see Ridley walk out of his life again.

He was a goddamned fool.

Chapter Three

Ridley rushed out of Serve so fast, she was half surprised her head didn’t spin on her shoulders. She’d seen Nolan, but talking to him now was a mistake and a half. Because she wanted to yell at him, to rage that he’d let
Garrett
in with her when it should have been
Will
. But it wasn’t Nolan’s fault they were identical twins, and she’d been banking on Garrett still being out of town.

It was just her luck that she chose his one weekend home to finally make her move on his twin. Fate had always had a strange sense of humor when it came to timing and that man. It was just plain wrong.

She hailed a cab and climbed into the backseat, the hair standing up on the back of her neck. It didn’t make sense for her to be afraid Garrett would chase her down. He wouldn’t. She knew that better than most.

That didn’t mean she was going to stick around, though.

It was only when the vehicle lurched into motion that she let herself really
think
about what had just happened. She dropped her head into her hands and groaned. All those feelings she’d fought long and hard to put behind her had come rushing back at the first touch of his hand, and she’d been so damn glad because she thought it meant she was moving on with someone else.

She really should have known better.

It was an effort to keep from beating her head against the back of the seat in front of her. Better to cling to the anger and frustration than to really let it sink in that Garrett still affected her so deeply, even after eight years. Her body tingled with residual pleasure from that orgasm—the best one she’d had in years. Even after he’d pulled away, a part of her had wanted him to keep going, to follow through on the promise that had been thick in his voice before the blindfold came off. A small, treacherous part of her wished the blindfold hadn’t come off at all, that she was still in that room, tied up and helpless while he drove her out of her mind with pleasure again and again.

Ridley shivered. On second thought, it was better that it’d ended if just a taste was enough to have her second-guessing all the reasons she’d promised herself never to let Garrett touch her again.

Nothing had changed. Nothing but
her
. She wasn’t the starry-eyed teenager she’d been back then. She was a strong woman in her own right. Yeah, she apparently got off in a big way on submitting, but that didn’t mean she was a doormat. This had been a misstep—a big one—but it wasn’t the end of the world.

“We’re here.”

She paid the cabbie and headed up to her loft. The thought of going forward with seducing Will after tonight left something heavy and cold in her chest—and the fear that she wouldn’t react to him like she had to his twin. God, what if she was confusing her theoretical kinky tendencies with her desire for Garrett?

“I do
not
want Garrett,” she said to herself as she unlocked the door. “It was a mistake. The only reason I came so hard was because I thought he was
Will
.”

She dropped her purse and keys on the counter and crossed her arms over her chest, her words seeming to echo back and mock her in the empty loft. It didn’t matter. She’d get past this, just like she’d gotten past every other hurdle life saw fit to throw at her. That determination had been something that had paved the way for her being well on her way to being one of New York’s up-and-coming designers. Hell, she was a world away from most people her age—she owned her own business and had minimum debt despite graduating from one of the best fashion schools in the US.

This setback would be no different, no matter how much her body yearned for more. Her body wasn’t in charge. Her brain was.

Ridley laughed softly and stripped on her way to the shower. She could pep talk the hell out of herself, but she had a horrible track record when it came to this particular man. He was the only one who affected her on that level, who turned her from a smart woman into someone who was willing to beg for one more touch. It didn’t matter how wrong it was or how stupid it made her feel afterwards—Garrett was the kryptonite to her Superman.

But knowing that was half the battle.

He was leaving. He
always
left. So all she had to do was lie low and keep her head down until he was gone. Easy enough to do. Between her shop and the fast-approaching Fashion Week, she had more than enough to keep her occupied. And once he was gone, she could get back to making Will notice her as something other than his kid sister’s best friend.

Satisfied that she had a legitimate plan in place, she turned on the shower and stepped beneath the spray. It was shockingly cold, but she welcomed the assault to her senses, letting it purge away the memory of his hands on her. When it finally heated up, she scrubbed her skin until it was pink and tender, and then went to work on her hair, telling herself that she couldn’t still hear the blatant appreciation in his tone when he’d touched her. Or feel his fingers pushing into her, his wordless growl of appreciation rolling over her skin.

“Gah!” She ducked under the spray, swiping her hands over her face. Okay, so maybe she wasn’t purging the memory as easily as she’d thought.

It didn’t matter. He’d blow out of town in the next day or two, like he always did, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake, and she’d be free of him once again.

…

Garrett paced from one end of the kitchen to the other. It was his thirteenth time around and he was no more in control of himself now than he had been on the first lap. He hadn’t slept last night after he got home, and spending the day with his uncle and dad hadn’t distracted him nearly as much as he’d have liked—mostly because Rodger and his father couldn’t stop talking about
her
. She was always the second daughter in his family’s eyes, and they were so fucking proud of her for securing a spot in Fashion Week that they could just burst with it.

Hell, Garrett was proud of her, too. He made another lap. His phone lay on the kitchen island, a clear invitation to pick it up and call Ridley.

Damn it, no.

He was supposed to be staying away from her. It was a hell of a lot harder to do when he was already trying to orchestrate reasons for them to run into each other. He wanted to have his ropes on her again, to hear the desperation in her voice as she begged to come, to have her thinking of only
him
when she was naked and in his arms.

Which was the fucking problem. She didn’t want him. She wanted Will.

The door opened and the man in question came through. His eyebrows inched up as he took in Garrett. “What’s going on?”

Someone less aware might think it was some mystical twin bond clueing his brother into the mental gymnastics he was currently involved in, but the reality was that Will saw everything. Not to mention the fact he was in
Will’s
apartment right now, instead of his own, was enough to clue even an idiot to the fact something was wrong. His brother was a lot of things, but an idiot wasn’t even close to being on the list. No, he was the dependable one, the one who stayed, who stepped up and took care of everyone around him with a capability beyond his years. The one who didn’t bolt the second things got too tough to bear.

Garrett ignored the question and fired off one of his own—the one that had been burning in his gut since last night. “What’s the deal with you and Ridley?”

“Ridley?” The confusion on Will’s face seemed genuine. “She’s a nice girl, would probably get into less trouble if she wasn’t friends with our sister, and has an excellent clothing design business. From what I understand, she’s creating quite the buzz this season.”

He waited, but there didn’t seem to be any more information forthcoming. “Right. But what do you think of her?”

Some of Will’s confusion cleared. He shook his head. “What made you think I was interested in her? Like I said, she’s a nice girl.”

Not nearly as nice as his twin seemed to think. He crossed his arms over his chest and thought hard. If Will
was
interested in her, he would say something. His brother didn’t play games outside the bedroom and he sure as hell didn’t play them with Garrett. “Apparently she’s interested in you.”

“I doubt it.”

The concise words should have comforted him. They didn’t. “Considering she was waiting for you naked and kneeling in a room in Serve, I don’t think there’s much leeway for misinterpretation on that note.”

Will’s eyebrows went higher. “Please tell me Ridley wasn’t the new sub waiting in that room.”

His life would be so much simpler if he could. “The one and only.”

“I didn’t realize she was interested in the lifestyle.”

Garrett had known. The markers were there, even back so far as when she was a teenager. But it wasn’t something he talked about with his brother—or anyone. “Maiden voyage, remember? She was there to seduce
you
.”

“Was she?”

When Will smirked, Garrett had to resist the urge to punch his brother, if only to let loose some of the tension last night had brought. It was bullshit. He’d gone to Serve in the first place to let loose, and had ended up more twisted up in the process. He clenched his hands. “This isn’t funny. She was coming on my fingers and calling out your name.”

“I’ve never laid a hand—or anything else—on Ridley, and I have no intention of starting now, regardless of some infatuation she’s currently indulging in.” Will leaned against the counter. “She was always yours.”

“She’s not mine.” The response was so automatic, he didn’t even have to think before speaking.

“Isn’t she?”

“No.” She hadn’t ever been, not really. He shifted, hating how closely Will watched him. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop trying that mind-fuck shit on me. It might swing with your subs, but I’m your brother.”

“In that case, if Ridley’s not yours and you have no interest in her… Maybe I
will
see if she’s free sometime soon.”

Every cell in his body went on high alert, and it was everything he could do not to go over the kitchen island at his brother. “Over my dead fucking body.”

Will nodded like he’d answered a different question. “A lot has changed in the last eight years, Garrett—even you. Perhaps you should call her.”

His twin disappeared down the hallway, leaving Garrett staring after him. Damn his brother to hell and back for knowing just what to say to provoke exactly the response he wanted. Because the thought of his brother so much as touching her was enough to make him want to find a sledgehammer and go to town on something. Hell, the thought of
any
man who wasn’t Garrett touching her set his teeth on edge. It didn’t matter that he had no place in her life—that short time in Serve had been enough to bring his need for her crashing through his barriers like some sort of demented Kool-Aid Man.

He left Will’s apartment and headed toward the one he kept a few blocks up. Though he had told himself countless times that it was a waste of money when he spent so little time here, he kept renewing the lease. It was his space, and that was worth its weight in gold, no matter how rarely it was utilized.

The cold night air did little to calm his circling thoughts. His hand kept wandering to pat the pocket holding his phone, even though he knew picking it up and calling Ridley was a mistake. It shouldn’t matter if the sweet sound of her coming was enough to haunt his dreams from now until the day he died.

His reasons for staying away from her before weren’t much different now than they had been eight years ago—he wasn’t marriage material and Ridley was the kind of woman you settled down with. She deserved better than a Ranger-turned-contractor when contractor was just another word for mercenary. He traveled 75 percent of the year, hopping from one job to the next. That didn’t leave any time for building a relationship. If he tried, she’d end up truly hating him in the end because there was no way to make it work.

There wasn’t much in this world that Garrett was good at, but he was good at what he did. He couldn’t settle down and get a desk job without going bat-shit crazy. No matter how he felt about Ridley at the beginning, if she clipped his wings—intentionally or not—he’d end up resenting her.

So those were the options of any potential relationship with them—either she’d hate him or he’d resent her so much it might as well be hate. Even if they’d managed to find a successful balance, each mission brought the risk of him never making it home again. Not exactly the stuff happily-ever-afters were made of.

And if for some miraculous reason it
did
work? He’d already seen firsthand how a relationship could be going great for decades and then go down the shitter in a single day. And that alternative was even worse than the other.

He should walk away now. Rent a car and drive down to where Z’s headquarters were in Baltimore. Catch a flight to spend the rest of his vacation on a beach with a drink in his hand. Do anything except dial Ridley’s number and put the phone to his ear…like he was doing right now.

Her sleepy voice was the best thing he’d heard all day. “Hello?”

“I was wrong before.”

There was a long pause, and he could all too easily imagine her blinking completely awake and checking her phone. “Garrett? What are you talking about?”

“I was going to let you go. I’m not the right man for you—I never have been.” The more he spoke, the more his intentions solidified. He set aside all his worries about the future, because there was one truth that drowned out all the others. “But this thing between us isn’t finished yet. Now that I’ve had a taste, I’m not letting you go until I take you.”