The Right Twin For Him (O'Rourke Family 2) by Julianna Morris

but Maddie didn’t think so. Not for romantic reasons, anyway. It was obvious what happened that afternoon had been an accident he didn’t want repeated.
    Outside, the night air was crisp and frosty, though it was still early in the fall. The scent of wood smokemingled with the fragrance of evergreen and damp earth. It seemed familiar, tickling something in the back of her mind. She’d lived in Washington until she was two years old, so it must be from the time in her life she didn’t consciously remember.
    “Warm enough?” Patrick asked as they strode down a dark, tree-lined path.
    “I’m fine.”
    Before leaving he’d made sure she put on a jacket, though he’d decided not to wear one himself. She’d thought it was part of his macho male act, but maybe not. She wasn’t used to the damp air in the Northwest; he might be.
    “I wanted to talk to you,” he murmured after several minutes of silence.
    “Could have fooled me.”
    “What’s that supposed—Never mind.” Patrick stopped and stuck his fingers in his pockets. “I keep thinking about this afternoon.”
    “Me, too. It seems strange to visit your family so soon after we…uh, did that. ”
    “We didn’t do anything, that’s the point,” he said sharply. “It just happened.”
    Maddie rolled her eyes. Maybe things like that “just happened” to Patrick, but it seemed more dramatic to her. It wasn’t every day a girl found out what she’d been missing when it came to kissing and other extracurricular activities.
    “It seemed like something to me,” she muttered.
    “Right, and that’s what I’ve been worried about.”
    “Oh.”
    “The thing is, I shouldn’t have kissed you in the first place. It wasn’t right after everything you’d been through.”
    “I would have objected if I didn’t like it.”
    Patrick smiled wryly. Yeah, Maddie would have objected. She had a mind of her own and said whatever she thought.
    “I want to be honest with you, because your ex-fiancé obviously wasn’t,” he said. “I think you’re terrific, but I’m not a marrying kind of man. Even if I was, I couldn’t think about it until I was sure the station was a success. I’ve been afraid you might have gotten the wrong idea.”
    The wrong idea? What was it with Patrick and “ideas.”
    She straightened. “You what? ”
    Warning tension sneaked up his spine. “You’re so innocent, I thought you might have read more into us kissing…like that. It should never have gone that far. Not that it went anywhere, just not where it should have.” He shook his head, knowing he sounded like an idiot. Maddie did that to him, driving sane thought from his brain and replacing it with drivel. “I take full responsibility.”
    “Isn’t that nice of you.”
    “Maddie—”
    “No.” Maddie poked her finger in Patrick’s chest. She didn’t know whether to laugh or be furious. “I am not a child and I don’t need you trying to protect me or apologize for something I could have stopped on my own.”
    “I’m older and should have known better.”
    “So being ‘older’ makes you think I want to marry you because of one little kiss?” She deliberately made her voice incredulous.
    “It wasn’t so little.”
    “It was a kiss, that’s all. Isn’t that what you’ve been saying? How dumb do you think I am?”
    He winced. “I don’t think you’re dumb.”
    “Could have fooled me. We barely know each other, I just got cheated on by my fiancé, and you keep thinking I’m going to get ideas about us spending the rest of our lives together. At the moment I’m not even sure I like you, why would I want a lifetime?”
    “I guess I deserve that.”
    “I’m trying to figure out what to do with my life,” Maddie continued irately. “I’m certainly not thinking about marrying anyone. I thought I made that clear. You certainly have, so I don’t know why we’re having this discussion again.”
    “Yeah, right.”
    Her reaction was stinging Patrick’s