Thick: A Stepbrother Romance (11 page)

              Finally. He apologized. About frigging time, I was starting to grow old over here waiting for him to quit pussy footing around and get to the point. I smiled a genuine smile, happy with the fact that he finally, after all this time apologized for his wrong doing. I leaned over, placing an innocent kiss on his cheek. His sharp inhale of breath told me that my touch still affected him. In all honesty, having his skin against mine wreaked havoc on my body as well.

              “Thank you,” I whispered, breaking the kiss.

              The air around us instantly charged. My body began warming from being so close to him. My lips were still tingling from kissing his cheek. His eyes locked with mine, under the moonlight. His dazzlingly blues seemed to glow underneath the silver light. As his eyes locked with mine, my body began to hum with a heat it hadn’t in a long time. A deep ache began to unfurl in my lower abdomen, making a rush of crimson stain my heated cheeks. My breathing turned huskier the more he stared at me.

              “Claire.” His deep, gravelly voice whispered with pure seductive intent.

              His eyes flicked down to my lips just briefly, before returning to mine. Time seemed to stand still in this perfect moment. Neither he nor I making any move to back away from the other. The muscles underneath his shirt began to twitch, as if he were physically holding himself back, reigning in his lust to taste a bit more. After a few moments, my breathing turned into panting, his growing huskier. Just then it happened. He leaned forward, pausing just before his lips touched mine.

              I licked my lips, waiting for the moment his would touch mine. Leaning forward more, his lips sealed themselves over mine. Just the tiniest touch of his lips, set me on fire. Liquid instantly pooled in my core. It had been so long since I’ve felt the softness of his manly lips. His hand came up to thread his fingers through the hair at the nape of my neck, his tongue probed against my lips, begging for me to open for him. I gave in, sighing against his mouth. The moment my mouth opened, his tongue swept in.

              I was lost.

              His kiss branding me forever.

              He groaned when my body melted against him. Taking his other hand, he cupped my cheek. With every swipe of his tongue, I wanted more…no needed more. Just as his hand slid from my hair and down to my ass, his grip tightening. That’s when reality decided to rear its ugly head. This was wrong, on so many levels. Our time to be together had long since passed. There was no chance of anything between us being able to transpire. So why go through the heart break all over again?

              “We can’t do this Brad,” I whimpered against his lips.

              “Why?” he asked, still lost to the throes of passion.

              Reluctantly pulling back from him, his lips looked deliciously swollen from our kiss. “Because it’s not right.”

              His eyes lost their luster from before. “Who says it’s not right?”

              Shaking my head, I went to get up from the swing, only to have him touch my hand lightly, stopping me. With my front turned away from him I replied, “It’s not right for soon-to-be siblings to kiss.”

              “Dammit. Step-siblings. Step being the operative word, Claire. We are not going to be related. Not really anyway.” He snapped.

              With that I walked away, hearing him say into the night. “I’ll wear you down, girl. Just you wait and see.”

              I had a feeling that the chase for him just began, like he was the big bad wolf and I was little red riding hood. If it was left up to him I was sure the only thing I would be wearing was the red cape while he gobbled me up. I didn’t lie when I said his kiss had branded me, it had. I was ruined for all other men now. All from a simple kiss, he’d completely wrecked my world. It was going to be so hard to be around him. Especially when for so long I was his. I was kidding myself when I thought he didn’t mean anything to me anymore.

I’ve spent the last decade lying to myself, and just like the idiot I am, I believed it. But I couldn’t let this happen, it would crush my mother’s heart. I needed to keep my libido in check until I got back to New York. If only I could limit the exposure I had to Brad. Maybe then I would be able to make it out of Cedar Grove in one piece.

            
 
Hearing my alarm the next morning, I wanted to scream at the son of a bitch. It had been hell falling asleep. Listening to all the moaning and groaning coming up from my mother’s room. I had no idea how the bed was able to make it through their all night assault. I thought once or twice I was going to be sick just from being in the same house as them. It leaves lasting scars when you hear your mother getting it on right underneath you. I shuddered at the thought. God, it was only six am and I was already going to need a drink.

              Donning my running clothes, which consisted of a sports bra, spandex short shorts, and tennis shoes; I made my way down the stairs, a good run would definitely clear my mind. Since it was so early in the morning I knew from experience that no one would be around this time of morning. I was glad for that. There was nothing worse than running around the streets in practically nothing and have old geezers look at you like; yeah, if I had my hip replacement already, I’d tap that for sure.

              It was downright disgusting to see all the old men on my street in New York look at me like that. Most of them were suave businessmen that thought their shit didn’t stink, no such luck there. But still, it was revolting just thinking about it. I grimaced, stepping out the front door. I began stretching, putting my butt against the door and reaching to my left ankle first, then my right. I was about to lift back up when the front door opened suddenly, and I found myself falling backward into strong arms.

              I glanced up, and blushed. It was Henry, in nothing but a damn robe. Oh my sheesh, I could have lived my entire life without seeing that. However, it was extremely funny. I giggled at the sight of him in my mother’s pink, bunny covered robe. It wasn’t too manly, but somehow he pulled it off. He stood me back up, an embarrassed blush taking over his time weathered features.

              “Nice robe,” I choked out through laughter.

              He ran his hand through his hair, his blush deepening. “Ah…thanks. It was the only thing your mother had that was big enough.”

              I waved him away, giggling. “No need to explain, Henry. It suits you,” I chortled.

              It looked like he had just noticed what I was wearing, because his features twisted into a pained look. “What are you wearing? That’s not even considered clothing, young lady,” he admonished.

              “Henry, yes it is. It covers everything, I’ll be just fine.”

              His look said that he didn’t believe me, but he didn’t say anything else about it. He grabbed the paper and went inside shutting the door behind him. I was stretching my arms when he reopened the door. I looked back at him inquisitively. “Yes?”

              He chuckled. “Oh, don’t go up Maple Street, ok? Trust me.”

              I furrowed my brows at his statement, but he just seemed too laugh at something and shut the door. I shook off his weird behavior. Putting my ear buds in my ears, I turned my running playlist on and set out for my morning run. It was so peaceful when I went running. It was like nothing, or no one could get to me. The faster I pushed my waking limbs, the deeper the burn set in. It felt good taking care of your body, even doing the smallest things can help.

              For it just being six am, the sun already beat down hard on my back. Sweat started to accumulate all over my body, dampening my running clothes. But I pushed myself harder. I was close to turning around, to get ready for the fitting. I had lost track of time while running and listening to music, that I hadn’t noticed where I ended up at. I was at the crossing of Maple and Vena Street about to head back when I saw the most hypnotizing sight running toward me. Brad in all his badass, tattooed, pierced nipples glory, running right toward me. He stopped pushing the button in order to cross the street.

              Damn, he looked so fuckable right now. He was wearing low cut ball shorts, no underwear that I could see, which was a given for him, and his tennis shoes with aviators shading his eyes from the demanding sun. I salivated at the sight. His body was sheathed in a tiny layer of perspiration. His chest expanded with each deep breath, beckoning my eyes to eat up the body he had on display.

              Great, I was now like one of those old geezers. I so need to get laid.

              As the light changed, he began jogging toward me. Just as his eyes landed on me, he almost tripped over himself. He stopped dead in the middle of the road, his mouth hanging open. I knew what he was seeing. He was seeing the woman he used to know intimately in nothing more than a bra and panties. I smirked, I knew I looked good. I was toned beyond belief, and had the start of a four pack.

              All of my trainers in New York kept wanting me to define my body more, to bulk up. However, I wanted to keep the feminine softness to my body. Men always loved a woman that looked, and felt good. He lowered his shades as his eyes ate up my body. He licked his lips just as a horn blared for him to move out of the road. Pushing the sunglasses back onto his face, he moved out of the road and came to a stop in front of me.

              “Well no wonder your dad told me to stay off Maple Street,” I mumbled, breaking eye contact, taking the ear buds out of my ears.    

            
 
“My dear God, Claire. What are you trying to do, give everyone a heart attack?” Sex dripping from his words.

            
 
I could see his shorts beginning to tent, and I lost it. I boomed with laughter, clutching my knees for supports. “No, apparently it’s just your cock that’s about to have an attack of his little own.”

              He shifted his stance, trying to inconspicuously tuck himself in his shorts. “Well fuck, what do you expect? With the frontal I’m getting now, you’d better be glad I’m not jerking the fucker off.”

              That just made me laugh harder. “Well, if you think my frontal is good, don’t look at my ass when I run past you.” I purred, taking off at a sprint past him.

              I heard him groaning as if he were in pain. I smiled so wide my cheeks began to hurt. I was almost out of ear shot when I heard him yell at me. I turned around and began jogging backwards until the sight caused me to stumble and almost fall down. I was shocked as hell by what I saw, my mouth opened of its own accord. He had a shit eating grin plastered on his face, the front of his shorts pushed down just enough so he could palm his hard as fuck cock.

“By the look of your open mouth, I’d say you like my frontal too.” He sizzled out, tucking himself back into his shorts before running in the other direction.

              I was so fucked. He was right when he said he was going to wear me down. I haven’t been here twenty four hours yet and I want to jump his bones. I wasn’t supposed to be feeling like this. It wasn’t right. Yes, we were ex-lovers. But damn, he was about to be my Stepbrother. It didn’t matter how much history that he and I had. Everyone would see that before they saw the other. Sometimes life wasn’t fair.

              When I ran up the drive, I saw my mom walking Henry to his car. I waved at them before making my way into the house. I piddled around in the kitchen for a minute until my mother came back into the house. We seriously had to talk about last night. It wasn’t something that I didn’t want to talk about, but I felt that I needed to. If Henry was going to be staying here up until the night before the wedding.

              We needed to get it out of the way now. So I was not being subjected to weird animal sex noises of a night. I was leaning against the counter, sipping a cup of coffee when she walked in. A blush rising from her chest to cover her neck. That was the only thing wrong with her and me. If we were embarrassed, or turned on, or showing any kind of emotion, our faces always betrayed us; and by the look on her face she got her a little some, some.

              She squeaked in surprise when she saw me standing there staring her down. She went about cleaning the already spotless kitchen, stepping around me in the process. It was actually kind of funny to see my mother in such a frazzled state. So I just leaned back, narrowing my eyes on her. She began scrubbing the stove faster. I just about busted out laughing there. She looked like the little engine that could, but didn’t.

              I decided to let her off the hook by smiling, showing her I wasn’t mad. She sighed before throwing the rag in the drainer. “Mom, we need to talk….don’t you think?” 

              “Whatever for,” she feigned ignorance.

              I rolled my eyes and barked out a laugh. “Oh, come of it mom. You think I got these bags under my eyes by getting a full night of sleep. Ha. That would be a nope,” I paused in the middle, giggling. “I just don’t get how you don’t look like death warmed over.”

              She turned making her way toward the door, calling over her shoulder, “I am not discussing this with you.”

              I put my cup down on the counter, running after her. By the time I got to her bedroom door she was in the process of shutting it, I pushed against it. Her laughter rang out through her room, just as I chuckled. From the way she was pushing on her door, I knew there was something she was hiding. I just didn’t know what. I pushed harder, her yelling in a laughing tone to quit and go get ready. I pushed just a tad harder, barreling my way into her room.

              I saw her standing back next to the closet, looking up at the ceiling with a face redder than a damn beet. But that wasn’t the sight that had me literally on my knees laughing. No. Her bed was completely destroyed. I’m not talking like oh, it broke in this place and I have to get it fixed. I’m talking headboard was over next to the window, the frame, hell, there was no frame. The mattresses was halfway in the floor, her sheets shredded like a pair of tigers wrestled in her bed.

              I didn’t mean to say it, but it slipped out anyway. “Got to love those Titan men.”

              I slapped my hands over my mouth, looking at my mother now rolling in laughers. Her hands were cradling her stomach because she was laughing so hard. I knew what she thought. She thought that I still had feelings for Brad. Well I did, but I was not about to tell her, or anyone else that. It was embarrassing enough I slipped up and said what I had.

              “Yes dear, we sure do.”

              I went to correct her, but she shot me a narrowed glare that told me not to even try it. I stood up, dusting off my knees. I looked to my mother to see that she was smiling at me gently. She could read me like a frigging open book and there was nothing that I could do about it. I hated it sometimes that she was that good, but other times I loved that about her. I didn’t have to voice my pain to her, she just knew when to console me.

              She opened her arms to me after some time, I stepped into them. Hugging her back as hard as I could. Just feeling her arms around me instantly made me feel better. I sighed, before snuggling my face into her neck. I took a deep inhale, letting her perfume fill my lungs. She started swaying back and forth rubbing my back.

              “Mom, should I have forgiven him?” I breathed into her neck.

              “That’s the only way to truly move on, sweetie.”

              I knew she was right. Hell, there wasn’t a time when she wasn’t. But that still didn’t make what she said any easier to take. I didn’t want to forgive him. I wanted him to suffer just like I had all those years. But then a thought had come to me, maybe he had been suffering all those years. Brad had no one to talk to about what happened. I had Henry and my mother. So he’d had to stew on what he did this whole time, silently. God, it must have been so hard for him.

              But Brad being the cocky ass I remember him being, it looked like he got along just fine. Even if he was dying on the inside, he’d never show it on the outside. That was just the way he was. However, I learned his tricks early on in life. I knew when he was hurting. He would either resort to sex, or being a cocky, arrogant, bastard. There was no in between with that man. You either took him the way he was, or not at all. I guess that’s what I fell in love with, his bluntness.

              I sighed. My heart and head were in two completely different places. I couldn’t handle not knowing something, staying in limbo. I was a get em’ type of girl. I didn’t wait for anyone. “Mom, do I really have to spend so much time with him?”

              She nodded her head, releasing me from her embrace. “Yes dear. You and he need to get along for the sake of me and his father. I want our families to get along and be able to be in the same room as each other without kneeing them in the balls,” she finished on a chuckle.

              My head snapped up at her. “How did you know about that?”

              “Now you come off it, Claire. I’m not dense. I can tell when a man has been kneed in the family jewels, and that boy was definitely packing a whopping on him last night.”

              I chuckled. “Damn, can’t get anything past you. Can I?”

              She shook her head. “You can try, but you won’t succeed. I’m your mother, I have eyes in the back of my head, and very great hearing.”

              I bellowed with laughter. “Oh my God! This entire time you’ve made me think I got away with it. You sneaky little thing.”