Take Me (Take Me 1)

Luke had been best friends with Lily for nearly twenty-five years. Travis wondered why they weren’t married yet.

Or at least doing the nasty on a regular basis.

Because even though they almost never talked about Lily, and Travis made it a point to avoid her whenever possible, more often than not Luke couldn’t hang out with the guys because he already had plans with Lily.

“You might as well admit that she’s your girlfriend, already.”

“I would if she was,” Luke said, not the least bit bothered by Travis’s jibes. “I’ll see you for some one-on-one basketball tomorrow,” Luke added, but before he walked away from the table he was interrupted by the insistent ring of his cell phone.

Luke flipped open the cover. “Now? You’re kidding? No, don’t worry, I’ll be there in ten.” He turned his bright green eyes to Travis.

Travis put down his empty beer bottle and shook his head. “You know I hate it when you look at me like that. And the answer is no.”

Luke gave Travis a conciliatory smile. “She needs me, Travis. And since I’ve got to be in the ER, you need to be me.” At Travis’s skeptical glance, Luke said, “Remember how often we pulled this off when we were kids? Besides, I’m sure it’ll be dark in there. Sit close enough that she’ll be able to see you.”

“But not close enough that she gets a good look at me,” Travis finished for him. “I still know the drill.”

“And be sure to wave when she looks over. Hopefully, it’ll be dark enough in the audience that she won’t realize that I’m you until the show’s over.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Travis said, then shook his head. “But I’ve got a date.”

“I’ll personally call Bimbos Are Us and cancel for you,” Luke said. “And to sweeten the deal, tomorrow afternoon I’ll let you beat me at hoops.”

Travis thought about what being stuck with Lily all night would be like. Definitely boring. Especially compared to what he had been planning to do with the stacked brunette bartender who had already given him her number. Now there was a woman who a guy could have a good time with.

But another glance at his twin was enough to convince Travis that he needed to do it in the name of brotherhood. Even though they didn’t always see eye to eye, Luke was the one person Travis would do anything for. Travis considered himself to be a pretty nice guy, all in all. He did volunteer work building homes for the needy and no matter how busy he was he always kicked the soccer ball around with whatever kid was hanging out on the street in front of his house.

Feeling noble, Travis agreed to step into his brother’s shoes for the night. “Okay. I’ll do it. But I’ll beat you tomorrow on the blacktop fair and square.”

Luke slapped him on the shoulder. “I knew I could count on you. In any case, this should be right up your alley. You’re going to a fashion show downtown. Moscone Center.”

Travis laughed out loud. “Lily is in a fashion show? She barely has the guts to walk down the street, let alone a runway.”

“Watch it, Travis,” Luke warned, his hand already in a tight fist.

Travis took a step backward. Luke didn’t have much of a sense of humor when it came to Lily. “I’m kidding,” he said. He might have been a minute older than Luke, but his twin had a mean right hook.

Luke uncurled his fingers and took a step back. “I hope she’ll forgive me for sending you in my place tonight.” Luke ran his fingers through his dark hair. “Although I have a feeling that if she figures out that I’m you, she may never speak to me again.”

Travis tried to ignore the sting of being told just how much Lily disliked him. What did he care? After all, he was the one who had broken ties with her long ago. When they were ten years old Luke had tried to ask Travis why he didn’t want to be friends with Lily anymore, especially since they had all been such good friends up until fifth grade. But since Travis never answered, Luke stopped asking.

“I’ll bet her spoiled-rotten little sister is using and abusing her again,” Luke said. “She needs someone on her team tonight. I wish I could be there, but the ER is jammed.”

Travis felt a twinge of sympathy for Lily, but then caught himself and quickly squashed the sentiment.

Women were great for a night out on the town and getting sweaty with between the sheets. Not for emotional entanglement. Travis couldn’t imagine being shackled to one woman for the rest of his life.

“Try to be nice for once, Trav,” Luke added, his eyes promising serious consequences should Travis do anything to upset Lily.

Travis gave his twin a look of wide-eyed innocence. “Don’t worry about it. With all of those models around, I’m definitely going to be on my best behavior.”

“I’ll bet,” Luke muttered as he led the way out of the bar and hailed a cab to the hospital. Travis grinned at his brother’s back, as always delighting in irking his twin. But then Travis thought about watching Lily make a fool of herself in a fashion show, and his delight disappeared.

He hopped into the next available cab and fifteen minutes later he was smack-dab in the middle of the unbridled sights and sounds of downtown San Francisco. He soaked up the chaos on the streets, the traffic jams and loud stereos booming from the markets and upstairs apartments.

I haven’t been living wild enough lately, he realized. Too many nights burning the midnight oil over blueprints in the office were to blame.

Not that he was complaining about the success of his architectural firm. On the contrary, Travis thrived on the competition and cutting-edge creativity entailed in building worlds for his clients to live in. A natural-born salesperson, Travis had never had a client say no to him. He loved the precision of designing and building the perfect structure and was known for clean lines and sweeping vistas.

The cab stopped in front of the Moscone Center, and Travis paid the driver. He gave his brother’s name to the bouncer at the door and walked onto the huge dance floor, taking a moment to get used to the rainbow of lights and earsplitting Electronica booming from the speakers on the ceilings. Three lithe women walked past him, the boldest one in the skimpiest dress eying him up and down, making it clear that she liked what she saw. Travis grinned. Maybe tonight wasn’t going to be such a waste after all.

After he was done pretending to be Luke, he was going to take home a cute little thing in a thong.

Models weren’t the greatest lays—they were too busy putting themselves in flattering positions to get really steamy in the sack—but they sure were nice to look at. And Travis greatly enjoyed looking at pretty things.