It was hard to believe that Damien was home only six weeks. Even if I tried, I don’t think I could ever forget the day when he walked back into his brothers’ lives, and dived right into my heart.
He made one hell of an entrance.
Six weeks ago...
“Oh, my God,” Kane breathed in disbelief. “Oh, my fucking God.”
I was right there with him, I couldn’t believe who I was seeing.
I reached for Kane, but instead of a hard body, my fingers grasped at thin air. One second Kane was beside my bed, and the next he was across the room lifting his little brother into the air, which wasn’t an easy task because Damien was like Nico, he was massive in stature.
“Nice to see you, too.” Damien laughed when Kane set him back on the ground.
Kane held him out at arm’s length, stared at him for another long moment then crushed him with another hug.
Damien wheezed and slapped at Kane’s sides. “Can’t... breathe.”
I laughed, but winced in pain.
My throat hurt so badly.
“Damien!” Kane repeated out loud and touched his face like he was trying to check if he was real. “Fuck. Little brother, you’re here.”
Damien beamed and nodded. “I’m here.”
Kane shook his head in disbelief. “How are you here? I mean, I’m not complaining, I just don’t understand what is going on right now.”
“Dominic called me last night and told me what happened. I got on the first flight out. I landed about an hour ago and came straight here.”
Kane rubbed his face with his hands. “The others don’t know you’re here?”
Damien shook his head. “No, I didn’t tell Dominic in case I couldn’t get a flight.”
Kane exhaled a big breath. “Shit. He’ll kill you for not telling him.”
Damien guffawed. “I know.”
Without warning, Kane hugged Damien again. “I just can’t believe you’re really here. I’m tripping hard on this.”
Damien patted Kane’s back, but said nothing as they shared a special moment. When they pulled apart, Kane turned and with a bright smile on his face, he gestured to me.
“This is Aideen, my lady,” he moved closer to me and rubbed my stomach, “and this is baby Slater, your niece or nephew.”
Damien stared at my stomach. “I still can’t believe that. It’s insane to think you’re going to be a daddy.”
“Tell me about it.”
Damien flicked his big grey eyes up from my belly and his gaze focused on my face. He stepped up beside Kane and looked down at me and purred. “Hello, gorgeous. It’s a privilege to finally meet your fine self in person.”
Oh, the kid oozed charm.
God help the girl he set his sights on, the lass didn’t have a chance.
Kane side-eyed his brother then, out of nowhere, he lifted his hand and whacked him across the back of the head.
“Damn it,” Damien rumbled with laughter and rubbed the back of his head. “My reflexes aren’t what they used to be. I knew that was coming, but I still couldn’t move to stop it.”
Kane smiled with glee. “You’ll learn.”
Damien shook his head, smiling, then he looked back at me. I was staring at him with non-blinking eyes and he found it amusing.
“I know, you’re wondering why you’re with this doofus,” he jabbed his thumb at Kane, “when you could have had all of this.” He gestured to his body and did a little hip wiggle.
I wanted to laugh, but the best I could do was make a gurgle sound that still hurt and caused me to wince in pain.
“Dame,” Kane chastised with a concerned frown. “Don’t make her laugh; her throat is pretty torn up. She inhaled a lot of smoke and choked on it so much that she has gashes and cuts from all the coughing.”
Damien’s face fell. “I’m so sorry, Aideen. I didn’t know.”
I waved Kane off and gave Damien a tight-lipped smile. I proceeded to silently study him. I hoped he couldn’t tell, but I was so freaked out. I had never met identical twins in real life, and the likeness between Damien and Nico was uncanny.
“If your hair was brown,” I whispered and withheld a wince. “I’d think you were Nico.”
“Good thing my hair is blond then,” Damien winked.
He even sounded like Nico, which made the entire experience stranger for me.
Kane snickered at me. “Why are you looking at him like that?”