Aidan's brothers swiftly come to their feet as we approach their table, and I'm struck once again by how closely they resemble each other.
"It's Serafina, isn't it?" The guy who spotted me earlier flashes a lazy grin. He's boyishly good-looking and just so irrepressibly charming I can't help grinning back. "I'm Ethan, the youngest Blackwood brother."
"And the most troublesome," the other Aidan drawls. His hair is slightly longish, and he's also sporting a five o'clock shadow that makes him look like he's primed to beat up punks at a moment's notice. Definitely a far cry from Aidan's air of chivalry, but the difference is immaterial. It's still quite obvious that—-
"Thornton's my twin," Aidan slots in, and I just can't help it.
I let out a stunned gasp as I exclaim rather dramatically, "For real?"
I only meant it as a private joke between us, but when the entire cafe actually falls silent, I immediately freeze up.
Uh oh.
But then another second passes, and everyone actually starts snickering, his brothers outright laugh, and surprisingly enough, even Aidan is grinning, and that is so...not...good!
A guy with a terrific sense of humor is one of my major weaknesses, and oh dear God, a little help here, please? The more time I spend with Aidan, the more closely he resembles the type of guy I used to dream of marrying, and that was so not a good thing. At all!
"Serafina's joining us for brunch." Aidan's words draw me out of my thoughts, and the next thing I know I'm already being seated between the twins while Ethan hands me a menu.
"Thank you," I say uncertainly. "But are you guys sure I'm not interrupting anything—-"
"Nothing as important as you," the youngest Blackwood says solemnly. "We've never had our big brother introduce a girl to us—-"
"Not true," Thornton surprises me by interrupting in a soft, gruff voice. "Remember Darcy from high school?"
"She doesn't count," Ethan dismisses. "We already knew her even before Aidan brought her home."
Brought who home?
I turn to Aidan, and he says right away, "Ignore them. You're the only girl for me from now on."
His brothers choke...and so do I...along with everyone else in the cafe.
Oh my God.
A helpless laugh escapes me when I realize practically the entire town's been eavesdropping on our conversation. "This is so crazy."
"That's why I told you to ignore them," Aidan says sensibly.
"Am I really the first girl you've introduced to your brothers?"
"You can also be the last if you like," Aidan offers.
I glare at him. "Will you please stop—-"
Hearing this, Ethan looks at me in feigned shock. "Don't say you don't like our big brother?"
"It's not that—-"
"How can you not like Aidan?" Thornton questions. "That would mean not liking me as well, and my wife tells me every day I'm perfect."
Thornton's grave tone has me torn between laughing and crying. I might be wrong about this, but I've a feeling it's uncommon for Aidan's twin to even notice a near-stranger like me. He's just so self-contained that I actually feel honored he's even making a decided effort to back Ethan up in teasing me.
Really honored and yet...
"I'm engaged."
I end up mumbling the words under my breath, but the way the entire cafe abruptly falls into silence tells me everyone's heard it all the same. The usual additional second passes, and then the noise levels pick back up with a vengeance. It's as if everyone's determined to give us a semblance of privacy, and I find their response cute, funny, and painfully sweet all at the same time.
"Well..." Ethan's drawl has all of us in the table glancing up. "That was awkward."
It's exactly what we all needed to hear, and the words effectively break the tense silence between us as Thornton grimaces, Aidan rolls his eyes, and I choke back a laugh.
"I'm sorry for putting you on the spot."
The gentleness in Thornton's tone catches me off guard, and I'm secretly mortified at the way it suddenly makes my eyes sting. "It's not your fault at all. It's my fault for not making things clear—-"
"There wasn't anything for you to clear up." Aidan's tone is firm. "Engagements get broken all the time—-"
I can only sputter and choke while Aidan's brothers actually exchange contemplative looks, like they're already thinking up ways to make that happen.
"I gotta say though..." Thornton gives his twin a thoughtful look. "I did not see this coming at all."
"True," Ethan agrees. "Great Saint Aidan, falling off his pedestal because of a girl."
"I never asked to be on one," Aidan retorts, "so it's no big loss."
Even though we talk of other things after that, Ethan's last words continue to bother me, and it's only when his brothers have left that I find the courage to look at Aidan—-
"You're wrong."
"I haven't said anything yet," I protest.
"You don't have to," he says mildly. "I know exactly what you're thinking."
He does?
"Those beautiful gray eyes of yours show your every thought."
Did he...did he just say my eyes are gray?
It's so rare for a guy to notice that about me, and even rarer for a guy like him...no, actually, it's the first time for a near-perfect man like Aidan Blackwood to notice the color of my eyes, and for him to also think they're beautiful—-
"You're looking rather smitten all of a sudden."
Aidan's unusually sly tone sends me crashing back to reality, and the way his lips curve ever so slowly into a smirk only makes things worse.
"You're getting an awfully huge kick out of this," I say accusingly.
Aidan's smirk turns into a smile, and by now I already know what this means. He's going to change the subject again—-
"Please don't let my brothers concern you."
And I'm right...unfortunately.
"Your brothers," I say gloomily, "probably think I'm a huge tease."
"They don't."
"Yes they do—-"
"No they don't—-"
"And you're sure of this because?"
"Because they know me."
I stare at him blankly. "And?"
"And I always get what I want," he answers simply.
Yeargh.
I normally hate cockiness in a guy, but when it's Aidan doing it...
"You're blushing."
"Am! Not!" I even end up growling the words out in my frustration, but this only seems to amuse him, and I feel even more helpless. "Please stop doing this—-"
"Why should I? We both know—-"
I shake my head vehemently at this. "No, we actually don't. We barely know each other while Jack—-"
"—-was with another woman last night."
Chapter Four
I know you're going to think I'm silly for this, but...