by Ashley Hall
My step-brother. My hot step-brother. The one I couldn’t stop thinking about.
“You live with him?” Blue eyes wide, Tawna jerked her thumb in Wesley’s direction.
“Stop!” I yanked her hand down. If Wesley saw and realized we were talking about him, he’d never let me live down. I really didn’t want to have to deal with that, to have to interact with him more than was necessary. He put me on edge…in a good way and in a not-so-good way.
“What’s he like?” Misty asked eagerly.
“The things I would do to that boy.” Tawna shook her head. “Wouldn’t be R-rated, that’s for sure. X all the way.”
“Oh, come on!” My cheeks felt like they were on fire. They had to be so red. Way past time to change the subject. “Let’s talk about—”
“We would go out for a picnic lunch,” Laura said, tilting her head to the side. Her strawberry blond hair half-fell out of her loose braid. “We’d feed each other berries and then nibble on each other’s fingers.” She sighed dreamily.
“That’s so PG-13. Maybe even just PG.” Tawna shook her head again, her short dirty blond hair flying everywhere. “I would rip off his clothes and lick every inch of his body.”
My cheeks were even hotter, and my stomach twisted into knots. That feeling from earlier, when Wesley had pressed against me, returned. I crossed my legs. It didn’t help to scratch the itch forming between my legs.
I should not be thinking such things about my step-brother! It was wrong, so wrong.
But I couldn’t stop myself.
“Food play would be fun!” Tawna continued. “Licking whipped cream would be so much better than licking sweat.”
“Don’t forget strawberries,” Laura cut in.
“You and your berries,” Misty teased.
“She has a point,” Tawna said. “Strawberries can be sexy.”
Food play? I never thought of that before, and now I couldn’t stop. It would probably be a little messy, which would mean a shower…a shower for two…I could wash Wesley’s chest and his legs and in between…
What was happening to me? I liked Adam! And, sure, I daydreamed about Adam before, but nothing like this, nothing so explicit. I was kind of lacking in the sexual department. I never had a boyfriend. I had never even been kissed.
That’s why Wesley being so close to me affected me so much. It wasn’t him. It was just being that close to a guy, any guy. Not him.
Throughout the rest of lunch, my friends continued to talk about what they would like to do to Wesley sexually. I didn’t chime in. I felt so conflicted and uncomfortable.
And I didn’t stop imagining different scenarios of myself with Wesley either. More in the shower. In a bed. In a barn—that was from Misti. She was big into horses and riding. I didn’t know if sex on horseback would be nearly as fulfilling in real life, but in my mind, oh, yeah.
Laura was a little tamer, with her idea of a perfect date, and I had to admit, a picnic with Wesley did sound kind of nice, although I didn’t think he was the kind of guy to go for something even remotely romantic. Not that he was a caveman, but he was a bad boy. He didn’t just act the part. I knew about some of his past escapades from eavesdropping on conversations between his mom and my dad. See? I’m not as much of a goody two shoes as you think. My dad hadn’t been sure having Wesley around would be a good thing, that he’d be a bad example for P and P. His mom wanted to be there for him, to try to help turn his life around before he graduated high school, convinced we could better him.
Who knew who was right? My guess—Dad. Wesley was already making me think dirty things. As much as I wanted him to turn his life around, just like his mom did, I didn’t know if that would happen. He’d started his first day of school by skipping several classes. Didn’t speak volumes for wanting to start over fresh.
He’s more likely to drag me down to his level.
But if his level had whipped cream and showers for two…I was in trouble. So much trouble.
***
At the end of the school day, I was surprised to see Wesley already waiting for me by my car. It wasn’t technically mine, not yet at least. My dad had bought it, and I was paying him half of every paycheck until it was fully mine. The other half I was saving up for college.
“Ready to go?” I asked as I unlocked the car, opened the door, and put my school bag into the back.
“I’m always ready for anything,” he teased.
“Right.” I rolled my eyes as I slid behind the wheel. “Buckle up.”
“Yes, drill sergeant.”
I waited for him to buckle. He didn’t. “I’m serious.”
“All right, all right. Don’t get your panties in a twist.” He smirked, looking devilish.
“I am not going to discuss my panties with you.” I winced. I shouldn’t have even engaged that topic.
His blue eyes widened, and his grin turned even sexier. “What if I told you—”
“Don’t,” I pleaded.
“What?” he asked. Wow, did he have the innocent act down. “I’m curious. I thought I saw some of yours friends looking my way during lunch. What were you all talking about?”
“It’s none of your business!” I balked.
“None of my business? If you were talking about me, that kinda is my business, don’t you think?”
“Who said we were talking about you?” I asked coolly. My hand didn’t shake as I shoved the key into the ignition and started the car, but inside, I was more than a little unnerved. I so didn’t want to have this conversation.
“So you weren’t talking about my charms and good looks?” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him lean back, hands behind his head. He looked like he could be a model, posing for a magazine cover. Why did he have to be my step-brother? If he weren’t, these feelings of lust he was stirring up inside of me wouldn’t feel so wrong. Because they were wrong. Sinful.
Delicious.
“You aren’t charming,” I mumbled, hoping my cheeks weren’t read. I had an easy face to read, so I stared straight ahead, hoping he wouldn’t realize what I was thinking.
“Ah, but you aren’t denying my good looks.”
I could hear his grin in his voice. Still wasn’t ready to look at him yet, but I could picture it. He had a slow grin that worked from one corner of his mouth to the other. It was lazy. And sexy. It suited him. Some guys thought that being cocky was sexy, but he didn’t have to try to be sexy. He just was.
“I’ll take it.”
Fuming, I pressed down a little harder than I intended on the gas, and we jumped forward out of the spot and out of the school’s parking lot.
“I like it fast too.” He laughed, the sound filling the room and making me want to squirm. “So which one couldn’t stop talking about me? The strawberry blond?”
“She has a name,” I said through gritted teeth.
“I would like to know it,” he countered.
I almost snorted. “Then ask her yourself.”
“Oh, I plan on it.” He was staring at me. It was a little unnerving. Very unnerving actually. “I know you were talking about me. Your friend with the short hair pointed at me. You lowered her arm. Didn’t want me to know that you all were talking about me, was that it? You were blushing a lot, I noticed.”
“Are you a spy?” I grumbled, taking a right turn a little sharply. I knew he would see. It didn’t surprise me that he’d noticed. Had he been looking over because of my friends and their attention, or because of me? It shouldn’t matter.
But it did.
“Not a spy. Observant,” he corrected. “So we’ve established that you were talking about me—”
“I never confirmed that!” Okay, now he was being cocky. Couldn’t decide if I liked that or not. I knew I shouldn’t, but…
“And the topic concerning me had you blushing,” he continued as if I hadn’t interrupted him. “Can I assume then that your friends were talking about me in a way that embarrassed you?”
I didn’t say
anything. Let him assume what he wanted. I was too unnerved to be able to say something that wouldn’t give my thoughts, both then and now, away.
“Now what would embarrass you?” He tapped a long finger against his chin a few times. “Hm…oh, I know! You had that same blush after we were so close by the water fountain. I could feel—”
“I don’t want to know what you could feel,” I snapped. We had been so close. His body had felt so hard and strong, and so had something else, something below the belt.
“Ah, there’s that blush again!” He pumped his fist into the air. “So it’s something intimate that makes you blush, is that it?”
“You don’t know the first thing about being intimate.” I braked a little too hard at a yellow light.
“You could’ve made it. I’m surprised you didn’t go for it. Take a risk. Dare to live a little on the wild side.”
I risked glancing at him. His grin was lopsided, irritating…and irresistible.
“And I beg to differ,” he continued. “I know all about intimacy.”
“That…” I fumble for words, “…whatever it was in the hallway, that wasn’t intimate.” It had been surprising. Invasive. And kind of a turn-on.
“Did you want it to be intimate?” He whispered the last word and leaned closer to me.
I was so glad I insisted he wore a seat belt. This car was feeling way too small as it was. I didn’t need him to be any closer to me. Concentrating on driving was proving almost impossible.
“Intimacy is about a connection,” he added. “Do you know anything about a connection of bodies, April?”
I hated, and loved, the way my name sounded on his tongue. But I was done feeding into him. My side of this conversation was over. Yes, ignoring him was the way to go. Forget about him and his smile and his teasing and his sexiness.
This was lust, pure and simple. Nothing substantial. Nothing meaningful. So maybe I’d daydream about him. It was harmless. Nothing would ever happen between us, so what did it matter if he replaced Adam in my daydreams? If my daydreams just happened to be a little sexier than normal?
Mom would be so disappointed in me right now. Not just for thinking about Wesley this way, but for thinking about any guy this way. Like an object. She always wanted me to be a strong female who was willing to stand up for myself and not be reduced to a piece of meat, and here I was, doing exactly that to Wesley.
No more dirty thoughts about him. And for the rest of this car ride, no more talking to him either.
“I think I might be able to make a connection with any of your three pretty friends,” he said. “What do you think? Think they want a piece of this?” He gestured from his head down to his toes.
I rolled my eyes and tried to concentrate more on the road and less on him, the sexy but frustrating step-brother.
“Your friends did an awful lot of talking, thinking about me sexually. You, I noticed, stopped after a while. Were you fantasizing too?”
Without thinking, I nodded as I cleared the intersection.
“I knew it!”
I glanced at him, trying to feign surprise. Why had I nodded? I was distracted by the road. That, and I grew up with strict parents who taught that lying was wrong. By default, I almost always tell the truth.
In this case, a little white lie wouldn’t have hurt.
“Knew what?” I blinked innocently.
“Knew you all were thinking about all the hot lovin’ you want with me. Admit it.”
“I will not—”
“Admit it!”
My face had to be bright red. My entire body felt way too hot. “You know what, Wesley? Why don’t you confess? Why weren’t you at school in the morning?”
“You know what, April? It’s none of your business.”
Him parroting my words back to me felt like a slap in the face.
The rest of the car ride was silent. Funny. I had wanted to stop talking to him, but now that he wasn’t talking or teasing me, the silence felt suffocating.
I just couldn’t win.
Chapter Five
Wes
I didn’t know what got into me, but once I started to tease April, I couldn’t stop. It was just too much fun watching her squirm. Seeing her bent over the water fountain, her ass sticking out…I just had to approach her, and when I got close, I had to get even closer until we were touching. It was a good thing she jerked away when she did or else she would’ve realized just how much I enjoyed our proximity. Just from feeling her ass against me for a little bit had gotten me so hard.
But even I knew I went too far for too long in the car. Now that we were back at the house, her eyes would widen and she’d make an excuse and jump out of every room that I entered. I confused her. Not necessarily the reaction I wanted out of her.
No one else really talked to me, not that it bothered me, but the atmosphere at this house—it sure wasn’t home—was weighing on me. It was far too suffocating.
Whenever things felt this way at a foster home, I jetted out of there. Went for a walk or a ride, got into trouble. It was my thing. Had to keep myself on edge. It was the only way to feel alive, like I was living my life instead of living the life someone else wanted for me. Too much of the foster life thing was about others trying to control and enforce their will on me. Nothing grated me more than being told I couldn’t do something. With the way I was feeling, especially after I screwed things up with April, I knew I needed more than just a walk to feel better. I needed to have the wind blasting in my face. I needed a ride. And not in a car either. A bike would be wicked. Yes, I knew how to ride one. A kid I fostered with for a while had one. We hung out a lot until he got busted for possession and I got sent back to the system.
So I swallowed my pride and sought out the man of the house. Walter was in the parlor, reading the newspaper. All he needed were slippers and a pipe, with smoke circling around his head. I snorted at the image, and he glanced up at me over the top of his newspaper.
“Wesley.” He lowered the paper an inch. At least he didn’t look annoyed to see me. “Is there something you need?”
“I was wondering if I could borrow your car to go job hunting.” I held my breath. After all, he was the one who wanted me to get a job in the first place. Although, if I had access to a set of wheels, would I actually try to find a job? Nope. And I had a feeling Walter figured that was the case too.
Walter flicked his paper, and his gaze lowered to it. “No.”
Didn’t surprise me, but it still aggravated me.
“No? Why not?” I demanded, crossing my arms. “You said—”
“It’s a school night.”
“So give me a curfew,” I said. Like I’d follow it. “I’m just trying to—”
“I already said no. The decision is final.” I hated that he was talking to me over the newspaper, like I was interrupting something far more important than I was.
“I would like to know why,” I spit out through ground teeth. The man was too much of a tight ass.
“You’re too irresponsible and young.”
What the hell?
“You don’t even know me,” I started, doing my best to hide my growing frustration and anger.
“I know enough,” he said calmly.
Great. I could imagine the horror stories he’d been told. Made me wonder why he agreed to let me live here these five months. I doubted Jacqueline wore the pants, considering Walter definitely saw himself as man of the house. But if he knew about even just a quarter of the stuff I pulled in the past, he’d never agree to me having wheels. Heck, I was kind of surprised he was so set on me having a job, considering it would’ve made more sense for him to want me at home at all times to make sure I wasn’t getting into trouble.
“And too young? April has a car!” I pointed out.
“She’s responsible. Unlike you.” He flicked his newspaper. “Now if there’s nothing else…”
An obvious dismissal. I wanted to yank the newspaper out of his hands and swipe h
is car keys. How the hell could I even try to follow the guy’s stupid rules if he was breathing down my neck, not trusting me? How else was I going to be able to get a job? I hadn’t wanted one at first, but now I was dying for any excuse to get out of here.
Never should’ve gone to him in the first place.