Brother Blues_Stepbrother MC Biker Romance

by Terri Lane

  “We finished a bit early,” Waylen said. I checked my watch, it was pushing eight p.m.

  “I think we finished right on time,” I said. I was ready to get a drink with Knor and decompress.

  “Oh, we haven’t yet discussed the possibility of Bagar-1 sending developmental aid to Earth,” he said. I stifled my sigh and studied him for a second. He was firmly planted in his seat, likely comfortable enough to stay in the room for a few more hours.

  “Can’t we discuss it tomorrow? I’ll have a lot of free time then, assuming the lawyers are still drafting the official agreement,” I said.

  “Or we can perhaps speak over dinner tonight?” he asked. I tilted my head at him, wondering if he was serious or not. Maybe he was purposefully trying to take up all my time? “After all, we should discuss the fruition of the military agreement. When will we mobilize to Earth?” he asked. I had opened my mouth to speak, then paused again. He was right.

  “Okay, I suppose that we should talk about,” I said.

  “Dinner it is,” he said, smiling. I finished packing up my briefcase and listened as he got on the phone, making swift plans for us to eat at the hotel I was staying in. I wondered if having dinner with him would be taken as going on a date…I couldn’t think too much into it anyway. It would catapult me back to the kiss with Waylen and massive confusion would ensue. It was better for me to simply pretend we were just having dinner together for official purposes.

  “Everything is set, are you ready to go?” he asked. I nodded and he finally stood up, walking around the table to guide me to the door. His hand hovered over the small of my back, but I felt the warmth of his palm as if he was actually touching me. Butterflies took flight below my navel and I tried like hell not to focus on it so much. I looked forward to a silent ride with Legrand to steel myself for dinner.

  But as we exited the building, I realized Waylen was going to ride with me. He slid into the backseat next to me, smiling as if everything was just peaches.

  “You’re…acting strange,” I said. He chuckled.

  “How so?” His smile faded a bit and he assumed his normal, aloof expression.

  “I don’t know…I guess I just didn’t expect you to be so friendly, it’s like you did a one-eighty,” I said.

  “I told you I’d attempt to be more agreeable,” he said. “Unless you prefer when I’m severe?” he asked. His eyes seemed to crystalize on me and that look alone caused attraction to snap and crackle between us. I glanced at Legrand through the rear-view mirror. His eyes were expressly focused on the road.

  “I was just making an observation,” I said. He hummed, the sound contemplative and his smirk, quietly smug. Outside the hotel entrance, there was some media, talking to cameras and gesturing to the hotel. I knew the news of Shae was very much in the forefront of Bagarian media. Thankfully Legrand drove underneath the hotel so we could walk in without trouble.

  As I got out of the transport, Knor called me. I glanced at Waylen, still walking around the transport to join me at the elevator. I answered Knor’s call.

  “Has my cousin had mercy on you yet? Tell me you’re free?” he asked. I chuckled and glanced up at Waylen, who was looking at me curiously then.

  “Not quite. I don’t think I’ll have time to see you today,” I said.

  “The cunning plotter, I’m sure he’s done this on purpose,” Knor said. I wondered what he suspected of Waylen and me. I hadn’t told him about the kiss at all.

  “Maybe. Tomorrow though, we’ll figure something out?” I said.

  “I hope so, wouldn’t want to have to kill my own cousin for some of your time,” he said. I giggled and heard a heavy sigh from Waylen who I was ignoring. Granted, we were then in an elevator surrounded by four security guards. I’d feel awkward talking to him regardless.

  “I have to go, I’ll call you later,” I told him.

  “Perhaps I’ll sneak up to your suite later,” he said. I bit my lip to keep from smiling and quickly got off the phone with him before that line of conversation escalated.

  “Business?” Waylen asked. The elevator let out into the main lobby and we made our way to the restaurant, escorted by security.

  “Ah…of a sort,” I mumbled. Waylen gave me a bland look and took a deep breath.

  “My cousin has always been annoying,” he muttered.

  “Annoying to you? Or others?” I glanced up at him with a smirk. His jaw flexed in response. When we reached the restaurant, the host immediately took us to a private table on the upper level. The guards took up posts around our table, though they were discreet and melted into the background. Waylen held out my chair until I sat. It wasn’t exactly a Bagarian custom and not something even Knor did. Clearly Waylen had researched human gentlemanly actions. I was impressed, though I hid it from him.

  “So, should we get right to the brass tacks?” I asked. Waylen’s brow quirked and he waited for me to explain the idiom. “It means to get right to business.”

  “We haven’t had a sip of water yet. We will get to the ‘brass tacks’ in due time,” he said. “Why? Do you have some appointment I’m keeping you from?”

  “Perhaps…” I said while lifting my menu. I tried to put on a nonchalant air, but Waylen’s gaze felt like heavy lasers boring into my skull. “Oh, don’t pout. I’m just messing with you.”

  “I was not pouting,” he said, his tone affronted. I tried to hide my smile, but he heard my giggle from behind the menu. “It seems that since I’ve met you, I’ve been scolded, toyed with, and laughed at. It’s not appropriate,” he said, still pouting in his way.

  “Waylen since you kissed me I get to laugh at your expressions,” I said. His eyes locked onto mine and he reached across the table to put the menu down.

  “Do you wish to speak about this now?”

  “Ah…no. I would like a drink though,” I said while picking up my menu again. He sighed and glanced around for a server, presumably. One appeared at the table less than a minute later. He took our drink orders and hurried away to get them filled.

  “I don’t want this to go unsaid while you take an eternity to relish what happened—”

  “Relish?” I sputtered. Waylen gave me the slyest of smirks. My attraction roared up then and I had to lean back in my chair to take a breath.

  “Well you must be, I don’t understand why we cannot discuss it now…” he said.

  “Because I’m not ready to talk about it. Knor and I…I’m not talking about it,” I said.

  “Fine, I’d simply like you to know that I want you, and I often get what I want. Especially if she wants me in return,” he said. All I could do was watch him, following his unbothered movements as if he were some sort of predator. “We will talk about it eventually Aliya,” he added.

  Thankfully, the server came with the bottle of wine we ordered and I had him pour a healthy glass for me. Afterwards, I placed my order and Waylen did the same.

  “So, once the agreement has been signed I don’t want to waste time in getting back to Earth. I haven’t gotten any messages from them as to the urgency of the situation with Corsov, or if Corsov has sent an official threat. Which I don’t think they will. I believe they’ll just attack. Especially after Shae’s failed attempt. They’ll want to strike Earth as soon as possible,” I said.

  “Of course, so we’ll mobilize as soon as the agreement has been signed. I’ve already ordered our ships to gather at the bases and wait on standby for deployment. The day that High Master Ayre gave the official go-ahead to proceed with negotiations our soldiers were ready,” he said.

  “All of your space fleet is on stand-by?” I asked.

  “Yes, with a considerable percentage of us leaving the solar system, we should be on alert from Bagar-1’s own enemies that would seek to capitalize on a perceived opening.”

  “Right, that’s smart…” I mumbled. I should have deduced that. But my mind was still catching up from all his, ‘I get what I want’ talk. The crisp taste of wine soothed some of my
rugged nerves and reminded me how tired I was. Knor and I didn’t exactly sleep through the night before and I used all of my remaining brainpower to focus on the day-long meeting with Waylen.

  “You aren’t feigning fatigue to get out of this dinner early, are you?” he asked.

  “No, I’m actually tired,” I said.

  “Why, did my cousin keep you up?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  “So, what if he did? In case you forgot, after you left my suite, a woman attempted to end my life last night.” I said. Waylen took a sip of his wine, his gaze trained on me. I didn’t think there was anything he could say to that and was grateful he didn’t. We sat in silence for a few less than comfortable minutes.

  “Do you have anyone back on Earth? Family, loved ones?” he asked.

  “Yes, my dad is still alive. I ah…have a few work friends because all I do is work,” I said.

  “No other lovers?” he asked.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I shot back.

  “You’re a beautiful woman, I’m simply curious,” he said. “You managed to enrapture my cousin. Who has quite the reputation for tasting little of many.” He ran a hand through his dark hair.

  “Oh, I’m sure,” I said. “What about you, mister, ‘I get what I want especially if she wants me too.’” He laughed, then shrugged.

  “I work a lot, just as you do,” he said.

  “That’s your answer?” I looked at him in disbelief, I couldn’t tell if he was being coy, or shy. He shrugged. I wondered idly if it was because of his attitude, I couldn’t imagine many women found it attractive.

  “Would you rather I have a harem of women in my past?”

  “No…it’s just a shame. You’re attractive, yet your attitude must be why you don’t have the best record with women,” I said. Waylen stared at me with a mystified expression, eyes wide and mouth hanging open a bit. “What? Isn’t it true?”

  He surprised me by laughing out loud just as our food arrived. Waylen laughed so hard he had to wipe at his eyes with his napkin.

  “I don’t see how that’s funny,” I said warily.

  “It isn’t. It’s you. You are bold,” he said, still chuckling.

  “I was just speaking my mind,” I mumbled. Waylen took a bite of his food and I opted for another drink of wine.

  “That is just the thing. Not many people speak to me so…candidly,” he said.

  “Which is why you’ve grown to be such a…” Waylen looked at me with a quirked brow, waiting for me to finish that sentence. “Well you know,” I said.

  “No, no I don’t actually. Please enlighten me,” he said, his tone amused.

  “A dick,” I said. Waylen snorted and shook his head.

  “Hopefully you don’t see me as such anymore?”

  “Well…I’m starting to see that there’s another side to you,” I said. “Unless you’re only being nice to woo me.” I started to eat then and watched Waylen’s expression as he shook his head.

  “I’m being nice to you only. To everyone else I may still be ‘rude’ as you’ve said before.”

  Even though it was kind of wrong that he had such a bad attitude, it made me feel warm and fuzzy that he had a softer side for me only.

  “That’s kind of sweet,” I said. That made him laugh again.

  “One thing I’ve never been associated with,” he said, still chuckling.

  “Oh, I’m sure,” I said. We shared a long look, one where I remembered when he kissed me. How insistent his lips were and how hot the attraction was surrounding that moment. I was sure that if he hadn’t have broken the kiss we would have ended up on the floor, not just having sex, but fucking.

  I glanced away from him, snapping myself out of the spell, and reached for my water. The wine would only betray my resolve. Which…I didn’t really have much resolve to stay away from Waylen or to deny our attraction. Knor’s stupidly handsome face flashed in my head and that brought up an entire room full of questions. It wasn’t like I could have a real and lasting relationship with either of them. We lived on different planets after all. I wouldn’t see Knor after returning to Earth and I wouldn’t see Waylen anymore once the Corsovian threat was handled.

  “What are you thinking about?” Waylen asked. I shook my head a fraction and snapped out of my vortex thoughts.

  “Ah, nothing. Just…about going back home,” I said.

  “Don’t worry. The Corsovians won’t do damage to Earth, I can assure you,” he said.

  “You can assure me?” I asked. Waylen nodded.

  “Do not worry too much with iterations of the future, you’ll drive yourself mad,” he said.

  “Why are you attracted to me?” I asked suddenly. The question just popped out of the jumbled thoughts in my head.

  “Haven’t I told you already?” he asked.

  “Sort of…I mean, I’m an alien. I’m from Earth,” I said.

  “There is this thing—the people on your planet call it a ‘spark’—that happens between two people. It is often inexplicable and insane, but often the two people who feel this spark for one another, conform their circumstances to be with each other and find that…well they were right to follow their insane instinct to pursue the other,” he said.

  “Right,” was all I could think to say.

  “Indeed.” Waylen picked up his wine glass and tilted it towards mine. I lifted my glass and toasted with him. We finished our food and had dessert as well. As we got up to leave, Waylen offered to walk me to my suite.

  “Ah, sure I guess so,” I said. He looked at me questioningly and seemed to stifle a sigh.

  “You must sound more certain than that Aliya,” he said.

  “Yes, I’d like you to walk me up,” I said. He smirked, looking almost as if he’d won something. We left the restaurant and made our way to the elevators. Waylen told security to back off a little once we got to my floor. We walked down the hall in silence and stopped just outside my door.

  “So tomorrow we will meet again?” he asked.

  “If you want. I was just going to wait until word comes through that the agreement has been made official and simply needs signatures,” I said.

  “Well we can meet to discuss the mechanics of our aid arriving in your solar system. Which bases and outposts we are allowed to reside in…that sort of thing,” he said. I was given a map of Earth’s outposts throughout the solar system, so it was something we did have to figure out before mobilizing.

  “Alright, when do you want to meet?” I asked.

  “How about over breakfast?”

  “Ah…” I hesitated, mostly because he seemed intent on taking up as much of my time as possible.

  “What? Do you have plans for the morning?” he asked.

  “Breakfast is fine Waylen. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said.

  Waylen’s expression was pleased as he nodded. “See you,” he said and watched me step inside the suite. Once the door shut behind me, I let go of a deep breath. A light fling with Knor was one thing…getting into something romantic with Waylen was a whole other beast.

  ***

  Come morning, I woke to find a few messages from Knor. I hadn’t called him after getting in the night before. I took a quick shower, then called him back.

  “There you are,” he answered after the second ring.

  “Hey, sorry I didn’t call you last night. I got in kinda late and just fell asleep,” I said. Even though it was the truth, it sounded flimsy even to my ears. It was Waylen and the wine’s fault though.

  “Got in late?” he asked. His tone sounded faintly suspicious. I closed my eyes briefly thinking about how much energy it would take to do such a delicate dance between Knor and Waylen.

  “Waylen and I had dinner to talk about a few details we didn’t go over during the day. I had some wine and got a bit drowsy,” I explained.

  “It seems as if he’s taking up quite a bit of your time,” he said.

  “He is.” I wasn’t going to deny it.

/>   “Should I ask about your schedule today, or will you be busy with him again?” Knor’s tone was clipped, annoyed. My brows rose in surprise, I hadn’t realized he cared that much to get jealous over me.

  “Well…Knor working with Waylen is my job. I can’t cut my time with him short. The future of my planet depends on this time we spend together,” I said. There was a stretch of quiet, lasting three heartbeats, then he sighed.

  “I know…I must sound like some worked up child,” he said, sheepish.

  “It’s fine, he’s your cousin so I get that you’re taking it a bit more personally than you should—”

  “No, Aliya. You’re right, he is my cousin which means I know him. He is attracted to you, he wants you,” Knor said. I took a silent deep breath, at a loss. I couldn’t tell him he was wrong.

  “My day should end a little earlier. I only have breakfast with Waylen, unless he makes something else up to keep me busy…” I said.

  “Do what you must,” he said, I heard the disappointment in his voice.

  “Knor, don’t make a big deal out of this,” I said.

  “I won’t. Call me when you’re free,” he said, then ended the call. I sighed and felt a lingering heaviness in the center of my chest. If he and I were just having a fling, why did I feel so bad? The thought of my having deeper feelings for Knor came back and I quickly squashed it. Going with that train of thought would only lead to confusion and time thinking about things that would distract me entirely too much.

  Quickly, I got ready for the day and headed out to meet Waylen. The restaurant was a unique place that was situated around small pond and little gardens. There were several gazebos in each garden and around the pond that acted as dining rooms. Some were small enough for only one table, obviously intended for private parties. Waylen had reserved a private gazebo for us that was in the center of three white trees with hanging flowers that resembled champagne colored lilies.

  “This is gorgeous,” I said, looking around.

  “It is a nice day out. I figured we could use a change of scenery, some fresh air,” he said. Waylen was wearing less formal attire than his usual uniform. He was in a white button down shirt, open at the collar, and black slacks. His outfit made him look a lot more laid back than usual. Especially as he ran a hand through his thick hair. It bounced back into place, framing his face. The tips of my fingers itched to touch the onyx locks.