Reunited by the Tycoon's Twins

The duvet

had been hastily pulled back on the bed, a phone was charging on the bedside table beside a creased paperback and half-empty glass of water. A pile of clothes had been discarded on the way to the bathroom, the door to which stood ajar on the far wall.

She took a step back, her heart caught in her throat as she tried to process this information. She’d thought they were going out onto the balcony for a drink. But instead he had brought her here, to what was unmistakably his bedroom. Was this a trick? She took another step back, her heart pounding in her chest as she tried to assess her options. She could just head for the front door. Run out and not look back. She could back away slowly, and hope that he didn’t turn nasty when he didn’t get what he wanted.

How many years had she been making these calculations—trying to find a way out of trouble when her body gave men ideas that she had no intention of going along with? Somehow, somewhere along the line, it had become her job to let them down gently. To avoid the nasty consequences she knew could follow if she didn’t handle their fragile little egos carefully enough as she rejected their advances.

How had she really misread the situation here so badly? she asked herself. Sure, she had sensed that spark of interest from Finn. She guessed that he liked her body. But somehow she hadn’t sensed danger here. Was that because she had been attracted to him too? Had that put her off her guard, led her into this dangerous situation? She tried to think again whether she had said something or done something to make him think that this was what she wanted.

Because this wasn’t what she wanted. Just because she might have fantasised about more at some point, that didn’t mean that that was where she was at right now. She wasn’t so stupid to think that she could just have desires and act on them.

She heard a weird gargle form in her throat and had just about made up her mind to run when Finn turned and looked at her. She saw the expression in his eyes change from confusion to shock when he took in her expression. She gripped a little tighter to her phone, just in case she had to use it, and inched back when Finn squared up to her.

‘Madeleine...’ He spoke slowly, as if to a spooked animal, and she wondered what was showing on her face to make him think he needed to.

‘This is your bedroom,’ Madeleine spat out, taking control of the situation. ‘You didn’t say anything about your bedroom,’ she went on, making sure he knew that she wasn’t going to be swept along with something. That she knew what she wanted and didn’t want right now and was going to stand up for herself.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Finn said, holding his hands up, still using that slow calm tone that made her think she had rabbit-in-the-headlights eyes. ‘I should have explained we need to get to the balcony through my bedroom. Out there,’ he said, gesturing towards the French windows, covered with gauzy voile curtains. ‘The lock is stuck on the other door out and at the moment this is the only way. I’m sorry I didn’t explain that before we came up here.’

He looked at her for a moment longer, and she wondered what he was seeing. She was frozen in the doorway, her hand locked tight around her phone, her mind stuck in another moment of fight or flight. Another time where she had thought she was safe, only to be blindsided with a man’s demands on her. She had run then, and it had destroyed her career before it had even begun. It had led her to the mouldy little bedsit she had been existing in until she had been evicted and found herself on Finn’s doorstep.

So what should she do now? Fight? This was the only source of income, the only roof over her head, that she had for the foreseeable future, until she figured out what she was going to do with the rest of her life. Flight? She could run, to Jake’s. He would make room for her, no matter how cramped it left his family. But she hadn’t wanted to impose before and still didn’t now. And he was Finn’s best friend. What if he asked why she had left? If? Of course he would ask, and she didn’t know what she would tell him.

Finn took a step towards her and she took another two back, glancing over her shoulder just for a fraction of a second to judge the distance to the stairs before looking back at Finn, making sure she had re-established the space between them. He shut the bedroom door firmly and leaned back against it, crossing his arms over his body, creating a barrier between them. His face was hard and tough, and she wasn’t sure whether the suppressed anger she saw there was directed at her. There wasn’t anyone else here.

‘Madeleine, I’m so sorry that I scared you,’ he said. ‘That was thoughtless of me. I promise you have nothing to be afraid of. I didn’t mean anything by bringing you to my bedroom, other than a way to get out onto the balcony.’

‘I wasn’t scared,’ she bit out automatically. She could lie to him, but she couldn’t lie to herself. Her mouth still carried the bitter tang of blood where she had bitten the inside of her cheek and she could still hear the pounding of her blood as it raced around her body, bringing oxygen to the big muscles of her limbs, readying her for battle.

She hesitated for a moment, let her blood pressure drop a fraction, and then a fraction more, Finn still standing dead still against the door to his bedroom. She looked behind her again, making sure she had space to run if she needed it.

‘If you want to leave, I’ll get you a car right away,’ he said. ‘It can take you to Jake’s. Or a hotel. Wherever you would feel safe.’

‘I can order my own ride,’ she said on reflex, before she had really had a chance to process his words. He was offering her a way out. He was giving her sanctuary. Why would he do that if he was a threat to her? She looked up and met his eyes for the first time since they had left the kitchen, and the compassion she read there almost broke her. The adrenaline left her body in a rush, leaving her limp and soft, and she slumped back against the wall. Finn wasn’t a threat. This apartment was safe. She was safe. He was the boy that she had known most of her life, and he wanted to protect her.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, letting her head drop back against the wall and trying to slow her heart rate.

‘Don’t apologise,’ he ordered, looking her hard in the eye. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Getting there,’ Madeleine admitted, letting her eyes shut, blocking out the world for just a minute.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’ Finn asked, his voice as soft as she had ever heard it. She was tempted, for a moment. For no reason other than to explain what must have looked like truly bizarre behaviour. But she had carried this secret for more years than she cared to think about. And she had always believed that it was best that way. What was done was done, and talking about it wasn’t going to change anything. More than that, talking about it was going to slice into a well-healed wound and make her bleed again, and she had absolutely no desire to give that a try.

Except...except how well healed could it be, really, when this was her reaction to something so minor? She had completely overreacted to an innocent move on Finn’s part. Perhaps reopening that wound would be necessary, one of these days, and looking a little closer at what had got her blood pumping just then.

But she couldn’t do it now. Not when her body was winding down from that burst of panic and her limbs felt like noodles. Not when Finn’s eyes were on her, seeing more than she’d ever intended to show him.

‘Pizza,’ she said at last, loosening her grip on her phone and the sweaty flyer now scrunched in her palm.

Finn raised his eyes, assessing this change in the subject, whether he was going to push her more or let the matter drop. To her relief, he unfolded his arms and nodded.

‘You order. I’m going to check on the kids and I’ll meet you in the kitchen in a bit.’

Space. Silence. Thank God.

She walked down the stairs and perched on a stool in the kitchen, concentrating her whole mind on the simple task of ordering pizza. Because, if she let it wander, all she could see was Finn’s face as she’d stood in front of him, looking at him as if he was a sexual predator, her body primed to fight him. She didn’t want to think about what he was thinking right now. She couldn’t afford to wonder what was going through his mind as he peeked in on the babies and made sure that they were sleeping soundly.

Maybe she should just go, be a burden on her brother for a few weeks. Sleep on her nephews’ bedroom floor amidst the discarded Lego and Pokémon cards.