My Twin Sister’s Extremely Famous and Incredibly Hot Neighbor

I try to laugh off his comment. “What, you think there are two of me?” I cringe. Stupid thing to say. I might as well just tell him I’m a twin. His close proximity is making my thoughts all muddled.

His gaze softens. “No. I think you were having a terrible day, and I made it ten times worse. I had no idea, Jera. I’m being honest.”

I know I shouldn’t ask. I should just change the subject and let things go, but I am too curious and the words fly out of my mouth. “You had no idea about what?”

“I had no idea you’d had work done. I never would have said that stuff to your friends had I known. You believe me, right?” He rakes his hand through his hair.

I don’t know what was said but I can piece together that he’d totally embarrassed Jera without meaning to, and it had something to do with plastic surgery. Heck, I didn’t even know she’d had plastic surgery until recently. I guess she’s had more work done than just her eyelids. Since she’s going to such great lengths to hide this, she’s probably self-conscious about it all.

He looks so distraught I can’t help myself. I grab his hand. “I now know you wouldn’t say anything on purpose to embarrass me.”

He runs his thumb over my knuckles and my knees go weak. “And I’m sorry for everything else I’ve said since you served me those papers. I—I didn’t mean those things. I was angry.”

The sincerity in his eyes stirs my emotions. “I can tell you’re speaking the truth.”

Dustin gazes at me for another moment before he takes a step back and drops my hand. “I’m glad we got a chance to talk. I’ve been feeling bad for all that.”

“Me too.”

He pulls out a drawer and grabs a potato peeler. The mood lightens. “Would you rather peel the potatoes or grate the cheese?”

“Give me the peeler. Last time I grated cheese I got my knuckles.”

Dustin cringes. “Ouch. I wouldn’t want you to do anything to your beautiful hands.”

“Well, I do make a living with my hands. I kind of need them.”

“You…what?” Dustin shoots me a confused look.

Oh. Right. I’m answering as Mackenzie again.

“I mean, an actor needs her hands, right?” My gaze flicks over to Squint, curled up in the sunlight from the patio door.

Dustin gives me a funny look. “I guess so.”

I open the potato sack, my fingers shaking. I need to be more careful. “How many should I peel?”

Thankfully, Dustin gets to talking about the recipe and ignores my error. We boil the potatoes, strain them, and add the cheese. Dustin pulls out the hand mixer.

“Ooh,” I say, taking it from him. “I want to do this part.”

“Okay.”

“When I was little, my mom would make chocolate cake, and she’d let me lick the beaters.”

Dustin gives me a devilish grin. “Yep. Me too. That’s why I’m such a great kisser.”

I blush. “Just saying, I always wanted to use the mixer, but mom never let me, and I don’t cook so I’ve never used one.” I hold it out like a weapon. “It looks fun.”

Dustin lets out a laugh. “Not like that. Here,” he says, coming up behind me. He plugs the mixer in and pushes the beaters down into the warm potatoes and melting cheese. “Hold it upright or we’ll have a mess.”

His warm body presses up against my back, and my heart speeds up. I look at the buttons on the mixer. “Which one do I push?”

He points to the dial. “This will turn it on and control the speed. Just start with it on low.”

I use my thumb to flick on the power. The beaters come to life. I move them around the potatoes. I like how they turn the chunks of boiled potatoes into a smooth mixture. I stare, transfixed at the patterns it makes in the potatoes.

“You can probably turn it on higher now,” he says.

“Okay.” I turn the dial up another notch.

Dustin puts his hand over mine and guides the mixer around the edges of the bowl. “This way you’ll get all the potatoes.”

My skin comes alive with his touch. “Okay,” I repeat, not paying much attention to the potatoes anymore.

I’m pretty sure I got the mixing thing down, but Dustin doesn’t take his hand off mine. It’s making it hard for me to breathe. My insides are all fluttery, especially with how close Dustin’s cheek is to mine.

“It looks good,” he says in my ear.

I take it to mean we can stop beating the potatoes now, so I lift the mixer out of the bowl.

“No!” he shouts as potatoes fly everywhere. I quickly shove the mixer back into the bowl and turn it off, but the damage is already done. There’s at least one glop of potatoes on my cheek. Squint barks and runs to us, thinking this is another fun game.

Dustin laughs as he unplugs the mixer. “You’ve done it now.”

I turn to see Dustin with tiny potato spots all over his face and hair. I can’t help it, I bust out laughing. “You look like you’ve got potato chickenpox.”

He can’t keep a straight face. “You look like you’ve been through an apocalypse and contracted something terrible.”

I reach up and wipe a clump off his chin with my finger. He grabs my hand and licks the potatoes off. I laugh even harder. “Was that supposed to be sexy? Because you can’t be sexy with dots of mashed potatoes all over you.”

He chuckles as he shakes his head. “Not sexy, huh?”

“Nope.”

“Then, how about this?” He cradles my face with his hands, and electricity spreads through me. My knees wobble as he slowly comes closer to me. I have this insane thought that he’s about to kiss me, but at the last second, he changes trajectory. His lips come in contact with my cheek, and he licks the potato off my face. All kinds of sensations spread through me.

I can’t move as he challenges me with his gaze, his face still so close I can feel his breath on my lips. His blue eyes hold a question I’m not even willing to explore. Even though his actions were silly, the moment is anything but, and I have trouble taking in a breath. Time seems to slow as we stare at each other.

“Still not sexy?” he finally asks.

“No.” The word barely comes out.

“I don’t believe you,” he whispers.

The moment stretches and his gaze lands on my lips. He slowly moves toward me again, and I know this time he’s going to kiss me. I close my eyes, silently giving him permission and waiting for his lips to touch mine.

Squint barks and jumps on my leg, breaking my trance. My eyes fly open, and I pull away. I come back to my senses as my heart pounds out a staccato rhythm. I can’t kiss Dustin. What am I thinking?

I force a laugh. “Totally not sexy. You need to work on that, buddy.” I bump his arm with my fist, like we’re old college roommates.

He grins, but it doesn’t seem genuine. “Epic fail. Guess we’d better wash up.”

I glance around, now noticing all the splatters on the wall and counter. “And I’d better clean your kitchen.”

“There you go again, cleaning when the staff are perfectly capable.”

“The spots will just wipe off if I clean it now,” I say as I walk toward the bathroom. “If we wait, all those globs will dry and be terrible to get off.”

I close myself in the bathroom and grab a washcloth, my fingers shaking. I’d flirted with him, and he’d almost kissed me. I took in a deep breath, trying to control my emotions. I can’t let anything happen between Dustin and me. Not while I’m Jera.

I need Dustin’s help right now, but I have to stop my flirting. I need to remember I’m playing a part. I’m Jera. I’ve just broken up with Luke, and I can’t get into another relationship.