Quiver & Burn (Surrender to Them 5)

What? No, I just watched him go upstairs. Wait—this guy doesn’t have the same tattoos and his hair is a little different.

“Are you okay?” He looked at me with a perplexed stare.

“Yes, I am. I apologize, but I just met you—I mean, someone who looks almost identical to you.” I stammered over my words and tried to hit the button to the fourth floor twice—missing each time.

“Oh.” He chuckled and reached past me to hit the button that I was continuing to miss. “You must have met my twin brother, Jett. I’m Rand.”

“There’s two of you!” I realized as soon as the words left my mouth that they came out with more excitement than they should have.

“Yes, last time I checked.” He chuckled again and his lips spread into a grin. “So what’s your name?”

“Brylee.” I smiled and laughed. “It feels like I’m introducing myself to the same person again.”

“We get that a lot.” He smirked and when the elevator arrived on the fourth floor, he motioned for me to exit. “After you.”

“Thanks.” I nodded and stepped off the elevator.

I walked to my apartment but turned my head back towards Rand before I pushed my key into the door. He was looking directly at me and didn’t even seem to care that I had caught him staring. I immediately blushed, opened my door, and slammed it behind me. My pulse finally started to settle down, but I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. I didn’t normally judge a book by the cover or a person by their appearance. It was hard not to do that with Jett and Rand. They were so hot they might as well have been smoldering. I had never felt instantaneous attraction before, and I felt it twice in a matter of minutes. They were practically identical in every way except for their tattoos.

I think I’m really going to like living in Atlanta.

Chapter Two

Jett

“Hey, man.” I walked out of the kitchen when I heard the front door opening. “I thought you were going to meet some of the guys from the station for a few beers. I already ordered dinner.”

“I thought about it, but man—I’m fucking tired. What did you order?” Rand walked into the living room and dropped down into one of the recliners.

“Chinese.” I reached over and picked up my cell phone. “I’ll give them a call and see if they can double the order.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, man.” Rand nodded and picked up the television remote.

I understood why Rand was tired. I was pretty exhausted myself, which is why I didn’t even consider meeting up with the guys from work. I couldn’t believe any of them were ready for anything but a good night’s rest after the shift we had. Rand and I had been firefighters at Station 16 in Atlanta for five years, and it was easily one of the worst ones ever. It started with an apartment fire downtown that we spent hours putting out, and before we got back to the station, we had to respond to another call. We got a couple hours of sleep after that, but then we were back on the truck with the sirens wailing. We were both coasting on fumes because we had a few things to take care of during the day and couldn’t get any sleep when we got off at seven that morning. I was looking forward to gorging on Chinese food and immediately going to bed, even if the sun was still up.

“Alright, all set. The food should be here in about thirty minutes.” I walked into the living room and sat down “So, I finally met our hot neighbor.”

“Let me guess, her name is Brylee?” Rand flashed a smile.

“What, when did you meet her?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

“We rode up in the elevator together. The twin thing threw her off a little bit.” Rand leaned back in his chair and chuckled.

“It usually does.” I nodded in understanding.

“Why didn’t you ask her out? I was sure as fuck considering it.” Rand tilted his head to the side.

“I guess I’m so tired I was off my game. By the time I realized I probably should have just gone for it, I was already halfway up the stairs.” I shrugged and sighed.

“You must not be as tired as me then, because I didn’t even think about taking the stairs.” Rand chuckled again.

“I was regretting it after the first floor.” I nodded slowly, feeling my eyes begging me to let them shut.

The Chinese food arrived and we made quick work of it.

We talked about Brylee a little more while we ate. She was so beautiful that I couldn’t stop my encounter with the beautiful almond-blonde in the lobby from playing through my head. She had a natural innocence to her, with blue-green eyes that were almost turquoise, and they sparkled like they just loved life. Her curves though—there was nothing innocent about them. They made me think dirty thoughts, thoughts that began with her soft pouty lips and ended with her toes pointed at the ceiling. I wasn’t too tired for that—hell, I was never too tired for a gorgeous woman. Rand seemed to share the same attraction for her that I did, which wasn’t surprising. Any man would have questioned his purpose in life after getting a good look at her. She blew by me so fast in the mornings that I barely had a chance to stare, but every curve was memorized after finally getting a chance to talk to her.

“So what do you think man—are you going to be too tired to hit up a few storage units this weekend?” Rand leaned back in his chair and put his hand on his very full stomach.