DOUBLE TROUBLE WITH THE TWIN WOLVES - TWO

C H A P T E R T W O - - - - M A D D I S O N

Looking out the window, Maddison sighed. Between the stations, the countryside rolled by, picking up speed. As it trudged on, the train shook and coughed, always on track, always moving forward. In comparison to her current situation, it seemed like a sad cliché.

She tucked her thumb between the pages of the book she was reading, despite the fact that she'd been chewing on the nail for the past five minutes with no progress. She was clearly not interested in concentrating on her research at that point, and staring aimlessly out the window seemed like a lot more fun.

She sat slouched on one elbow, watching the gradual shift in colors from Quezon Province to Laguna and onwards for the entire six hour ride to Manila. She knew what would happen: the tiny slivers of greenery, kept up by people blissfully ignoring the water conservation pleas, would soon turn into the endless road she kept seeing, until their car stopped moving due to traffic. It was nothing new to her.

Maddison had always enjoyed traveling from south to north, but she was uneasy this time. There was no good reason for her mood, other than the fact that the hours she used to spend reading a good book in a comfortable sleeping car had now turned into an eternity working on her thesis. She enjoyed the work she was doing and even more so the fact that she was nearing the end, but there had recently been a little too much of everything.

Maddy, you've got to get through this. She told herself that she couldn't keep working as a waitress forever, rolling her eyes at the fact that her internal voice was starting to sound a lot like her father.

"Without education, a woman is nothing! " he'd say, and she'd be damned if it wasn't the first thing that came to mind when he realized she hadn't finished all of her prep work.

Of course, he was correct in doing so. Maddison Laron was the most recent woman to declare that she had everything under control. She most certainly did not. From the long hours she had to work at the restaurant, the weirdly titled Lazy Tuxedo Frog, to the continual dread of being forced out of her already overpriced room in a shared apartment in Quezon City, to her latest guy drama, she had it all. She figured it was the last part that kept her distracted the most. And the part she needed to get rid of the most quickly.

God, it'd be so much easier if men arrived and left at the snap of your fingers, Maddison sighed, her fingers snapping for emphasis.

Just then, the door to her previously private sitting room was flung wide, and two distinctly masculine figures walked in, conversing and laughing loudly. She tried to give them a furious glance for disrupting her calm, knowing that half the train was empty, but when she got a good look at them, she quickly forgot about it.

They cut the type of images of men she wouldn't mind popping in and out of her life, tall as hell and with shoulders too wide to fit through the doors leading into the sitting room. They both had powerful jawline and deep green eyes with gold sparkles. She believed she was seeing double for a moment, but once they were seated across from one another, she was able to comprehend the scenario.

Twins. Very attractive twins. Just my luck, Maddison thought quietly, smiling.

This did not bode well for her efforts to complete any work that day.

"I apologize, Miss. "I hope we're not bothering you," murmured one of the green-eyed devils, leaning in close.

He had a little of the Italian twang she sorely missed, and he was easily identifiable as a down-and-out European. Sigh. It was right there. Her stomach was full of butterflies.

Seriously, Mads. Stop it. No goo-goo eyes for the hotties! She scolded herself, shyly smiling at her two expectant brothers.

She tried to keep her voice calm as she responded, "No, not at all."

She spotted one of them staring at her for an unusually long time, a gleam in his eyes indicating that he was certainly a trouble. It didn't help that she enjoyed getting into mischief. She reopened her book and mentally scrolled back to the last line she'd been reading, doing her best to keep to herself. Mechanical physics had a way of making her mind wander all over the place, despite the fact that the section she was reading now about friction in metals was vital to understanding for her thesis. However, the fact that she kept sneaking looks at the brown-haired hunks seated just a few feet away was not helping her in her search for information.

"I swear, I thought Jerome was going to spring out of that damn suit," the troublemaker chuckled as he leaned back and unfastened the first two buttons on his dress shirt.

She hadn't noticed that they were both dressed in suits and looked fantastic in them. They were, after all, the type of men who would have looked delicious in any outfit. Working in a restaurant for the previous six months had taught her to enjoy a bit of eye candy—it seemed like the kind of guys who could fill out a suit were the only ones who never came by the Lazy Tuxedo Frog.

"Tim, you can give the guy a break. The only reason we're getting to go down home is because he's on his honeymoon," the other one added, shrugging off his black jacket and folding it next to him.

They were both carrying only two light duffel bags that appeared to be half-full. She considered the two massive, monstrous baggage she had waiting in her sleeping car with nearly unbearable anguish. Her vacation was only intended to last two weeks.

“True. I'm delighted for him. Tim observed, "The whole raising-a-family thing is becoming more and more like a wonderful idea," and Maddison took another glimpse at them, Tim locking eyes with her.

She blushed like a schoolgirl and quickly returned her attention to her book. He wouldn't let her get away with it, of course.

"How do you feel, Miss? What are your thoughts on families? Yes or no? " Tim inquired, knowingly grinning.

He did have her. There was no point in pretending she hadn't been sneaking glances at him and his brother like a puppy in love. She looked up and glanced from Tim to his brother and back again as she closed her book—in the same spot as before, no surprise. It was the first time two guys who appeared to be members of the Olympic swimming squad had inquired about her feelings regarding babies and marriage. So she had to award them a point for originality!

"Hello, I'm Maddison. I like children. I enjoy the concept of having a family — I have three brothers and a sister, so you can understand how comfortable I feel with having a pack of people around me."

That seemed to amuse them, as the men exchanged a short grin. Maddison scowled slightly but continued on, taking advantage of the opportunity to take a break from her job.

"However, I believe that children can only come into a home with love." I don't want to place a new life in a scenario where he or she is not the center of a family and surrounded by love. I don't want to be the kind of woman who feels obligated to be supermom and handle everything on her own."

She chewed her tongue in an attempt to silence herself. What was she thinking telling them all of this? She didn't even know their names, so she wasn't exactly giving intimate secrets about her twisted little mind. Tim's brother, on the other hand, seemed to agree with her, nodding his head.

"I'm Tom. That knucklehead over there is Tim," Tom said, and Tim gave her a quick wave and a wink that was a lot more loaded than she had imagined.

Maddison responded, "Pleased to meet you," with a genuine smile and a sense of stress lifting from her shoulders.

So far, everything has gone well. She hadn't yet completely embarrassed herself! Not that she was attempting to impress these godlike creatures who had been thrown in her path by the train spirits, but something about the whole encounter made her feel warm and fuzzy on the inside for not screwing up.

"Are you two from Batangas? I think I recognize the accent," she continued, her confidence growing.

Tim grinned and said, "Yep, born and raised in Mabini, Batangas. And I'm guessing you're from Quezon province as well, right?" He remarked, his bad boy grin fastened to his lips, "I never miss a pair of legs from that province."

Maddison tucked her legs in a little tighter, content with the fact that she'd picked a yellow and white sundress that looked great even with her light skin that day. She had the misfortune of being a white woman from Quezon province who has a redhead, and the heat always killed her. And, of course, she'd relocated to Quezon City for school to get away from it all. The assaults continued.

"Yup, I'm from Quezon. Tayabas to be exact," she answered, well aware of the pink blush on her cheeks that must have made Tim grin even bigger.

She cast a peek at Tom, the older brother with sterner features and more gold in his eyes, and was not shocked to see him hiding a wry grin as well. They were both horrible, but one of them managed to hide it better. This has all the ingredients for a great discourse. Depending on how she handled it, that might be a really awkward situation.

"Does it mean we'll be riding home together? " Tom said softly, reclining back and giving her a long look as he went closer to her on his seat.

She felt like a deer caught in the headlights all of a sudden. Her stomach twisted, and she noticed a strange tingling in her fingers and toes. Her ears may have been buzzing a little as she shifted her gaze from Tim to Tom and back, goose bumps prickling her skin.

Okay. This is impossible to believe. They're interested in you. You! Everything, even freckles and yesterday's hairdo.

No, she didn't have anything against her own appearance. She knew she made a specific kind of man gaze after her in a long, ponderous way because she was tall and curvaceous and had inherited her mama's big hips. There were never two of them, though. They also never looked like... that.

Gulp.

Maddison wondered whether it really took that little to disturb her world when the ground seemed to quake beneath her. The way Tom and Tim leapt up and into action as soon as the earthquake hit told her that it wasn't only her who was feeling it.

Tim threw off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, casually remarking, "Shit."

They virtually pulled the duffels up on the seat and unzipped them at the same time. Maddison screamed and leaned against the seat as they drew out matching assault rifles and ammo belts, wrapping the belts around themselves and inspecting the contents.

"Don't worry, honey, we're the good people," Tim added, grinning like he'd had an endorphin shot.

"I'm not sure about it. But, for the purposes of this discussion, let's suppose we are. With a grin, Tom said, "At least this time."

"What is happening on? Who are you?! " Maddison exclaimed, her thoughts running faster than the train.

"Your knights in shining armor," Tim murmured as he approached her and took her hand in his.

He took her palm to his lips and kissed the top of it, his green eyes fixed on her grays. Her heart almost stopped beating. It was completely absurd. His contact caused a new type of heat to flood through her at breakneck speed.

"Come on, Prince Charming, let's save the world first, then flirt afterwards, okay?" " Tom hissed, dragging Tim by the collar toward the door. "However, Miss Maddison, I expect to see you later." "Don't go too far," Tom cautioned, throwing her a short salute before walking out the door with his brother. Maddison was left stunned, her blasted physics book still in her lap.

"What the hell is going on!" she said aloud, just as the train was shaken by another huge crash.

It was only then that she realized what was going on—those were explosions. And the view outside her window was obscured by thick black smoke billowing from the train's front.

Was this the right time to freak out?