PRINCE CHARMING: A Secret Baby Stepbrother Romance (47 page)

“Maybe they shouldn’t be doing anything,” he told her and held her to him again. “Claire, for the first time in my life I am with a woman who actually means something to me. There is no way I am going to stop this just because they decided to get married. We were right here, and they didn’t even consider us. Let’s just do what we want to do.”

“I don’t think it works like that, Chance,” Claire said and stepped away from him. “They are married now, and we are a family.”

“That’s just a technicality,” Chance pleaded. “Who knows if they will even last?”

Claire thought about that for a moment. It had been five years since her mother had been with anyone, and she had just had her heart broken by the man she was supposed to marry. “It just seems selfish to take all of this away from her, you know.”

“What? They are the selfish ones. They ran off and got married without our knowledge,” Chance persisted.

“Chance, let’s just forget about this,” she said dejectedly and sat on the bed. She curled her legs under her and hugged the pillow. “It was only meant to last for a short while anyway, and it did. We have to coexist now as a family. My mother would be so disappointed if she knew I was seeing you after this.”

“Claire, they don’t have to know,” he said. He sat next to her on the bed. “I am sure my dad will go to his estate in Los Angeles, and I have my own place. We’ll just hold them off until we figure out what to do.”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “This is just too much for me.”

Chance silenced her with a kiss, and though she tried to be reasonable and logical, there was no denying how she felt about him. At the moment, she completely understood why her mother and his father had married so quickly. She slowly eased into his kiss, and he buried his face in her neck. He nuzzled her skin, and Claire’s head fell back; she enjoyed the way his touch lingered on her skin and warmed her from heel to crown. She gripped a handful of his hair as he found her lips, and even then, she tried to talk her way out of it, but Chance would have none of it.

“Just be here with me in this moment,” he whispered against her skin. His breath tickled her, and she shivered. He held her forearm and eased her back onto the bed.

“No, Chance,” she tried to say between kisses, but all he did was place his forefinger on her lips and kiss her smooth ivory skin.

“Shh,” he followed up.

She gripped his neck and pulled him closer as her breathing intensified, and she could no longer deny her instincts. She straightened and wrapped her legs around him, and he slid his hand underneath her, resting his palm flat at the base of her spine. He writhed on top of her; he could feel her body responding to him, and suddenly that wasn’t enough for her anymore.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked even as she struggled to take his clothes off.

“Absolutely,” he told her and held his hands up to accommodate her effort. He stepped back and yanked the dress off her, leaving nothing between him and the honeyed pleasure he was desperate to taste again.

Claire gripped his hips and with wild eyes pleaded with him to take her. He drove into her like he was sprinting towards the end of a marathon and was anxious he would be overtaken by a competitor. Such was the urgency of their need as she spread her legs to receive him and he sank all the way into her. Claire screamed and dug her nails into his flesh as he ravaged her, but she was open to this kind of abuse and begged him to go harder. And faster. She held his hips and kept him inside her, burying him deep when he plunged, and Chance bellowed like a wild animal as he took her.

Not long after they had begun, he could feel the blood rushing below, and he closed his eyes and squeezed her breasts and filled her with his love. As Claire came, she wrapped her legs around him even tighter and took it all as if she would never taste him again.

When he lay next to her afterwards, his chest heaving, she knew she could never be away from him. He made her come alive when she didn’t even know she had died. She looked over at him and grinned, and he stroked her face with his forefinger. They both smiled at each other. Something about their taboo relationship made having sex with each other so much more spectacular.

***

Claire’s mother paid her a visit the following morning. Willow stood there with her arms folded across her chest and watched Claire walk around the room like she wasn’t there.

“Are you going to talk to me?” she finally asked.

“That depends,” Claire responded. She pulled on her summer dress and caught her hair at her nape with a scrunchie.

“On what?” Willow asked. She tried to go to her, but Claire sidestepped her and went to the balcony instead.

“How do you just run off and get married to a man you only met a week ago?” Claire asked, turning to her mother with disgust. “Did you forget what the last divorce felt like? Did you forget your promise not to get close to any man like that again? Was it his money that caught your eye?”

“You’re pushing it, missy,” Willow admonished her daughter. “I remember what I said, but sometimes things change. I love Bryan.”

“Do you even hear how that sounds? You don’t even know him. This is not the normal order of things. First, you get to know the guy, then you decide to marry him if he is worthy of your love. You don’t even sound like you really love him.”

“Bryan is a great guy, and he treats me like a queen,” she smiled. “When he asked I didn’t think there was any other answer to give. He wanted to at the time, so we went to a chapel nearby and did it.”

“Without stopping to think about how I’d feel,” Claire reminded her softly.

“Are you upset because I got married, or because of Chance?” she asked.

Claire turned to her with a terrified look on her face. “So you do know about Chance.”

“Bryan told me last night how close you guys actually are, and I am sorry, Claire. I did not set out to destroy you. I was encouraging you all along to let your hair down, but I wasn’t aware that you had. If I had known, I would have reconsidered being with Bryan.”

“Which proves you don’t love him at all,” Claire confirmed. “Maybe you can just call this off.”

“You know I’m not going to do that.” Willow looked at Claire, and the words she didn’t say were loud enough for Claire’s heart; as far as Claire was concerned, Willow’s selfish act had made it an awkward situation for her and Chance now.

Claire glared at her mother and walked back to the bed. “So what now, Mom? You move in with your new husband and I pretend I never met Chance? What about when I run into him at a family dinner or something? We were here…in this room…making…” She couldn’t even bring herself to say the words. Her eyes watered and she turned away, but Willow was able to read the words she didn’t say.

“Oh my,” Willow said and covered her mouth. “I didn’t know it had gotten that far.”

“Well, maybe if you had introduced me to Bryan before getting married, we would have cleared up most of this. Instead, I’m left with the bitter end of the stick…again. Your decisions are always so selfish, and I always get caught in the crossfire.”

“Claire, honey, I’m so…”

“Just forget it, Mom,” Claire heaved an exasperated sigh. “Just go.”

“Actually, the reason I came here was to invite everyone to breakfast. We started off on a bad foot, and I would like to make it right.”

“So I’m just supposed to go to breakfast and pretend this is all okay?” Claire asked. “Mom, I gave my virginity to Chance.”

Willow looked at her, and Claire could swear she saw the life go out of her. Willow dragged herself to a nearby chair and sat down. “Claire, I don’t know how to start…”

“Mom, please, just save it. I would have done it even if I had known you married his dad.”

“I don’t know…”

“You’re the older person here and should know. I need to shower. And yes, I’ll be down for a family breakfast,” Claire said sarcastically.

“Claire, we need to talk about this.”

“No, we’re done. You may leave my room now,” Claire said, moving to the door and opening it for her mother, who hesitated for a second before getting up.

“I don’t expect you to act like it’s okay, Claire, but I expect your respect when you see Bryan. Please,” Willow said as she walked to the door. “Breakfast is at nine.”

Claire fumed at her mother. She remembered what she had said to Chance last night about being selfish, but after seeing her mother, she hadn’t been able to stop the words that had escaped her mouth. She paced the floor for a few minutes, wearing out the carpet, trying to decide if she should really go to breakfast with them. She wondered if Chance was going to be there as well. If he was, she didn’t want to leave him all by himself with their parents. She pondered her other options. Maybe she should just go home and pretend none of this happened, but she knew deep down her heart would never allow it.

Her mind drifted to the way she felt when she was with Chance, the way he made her feel wanted, and she knew then how difficult it would be to forget him—to walk away and give him up. She couldn’t just up and leave. It was crazy how she had just been jilted by Trent, and now her mother was making her give up the one man who could have helped her heart heal. Her mother was oblivious of it, too!

Claire looked at the clock and saw that breakfast wasn’t a long way off. She needed to go meet her extended family and figure out how to be a good stepsister.

She was dressing when she heard a knock at the door. She swung it wide open, ready to battle her mother once more. “Oh, it’s you,” she said and walked back inside.

“Who did you think it was?” he asked and followed her into the room.

“My mother. She was just here, inviting us to breakfast,” Claire said and rolled her eyes.

“My dad asked, too,” Chance said. “I told him I’m not going.”

Claire walked over to him and traced the outline of his face with her forefinger. “I think we should, though. We can’t accomplish much if we keep them at bay.”

“We can’t?” he said, relaxed to her touch.

She tilted his head to hers and lightly kissed him. “You see, I’ve been thinking about what you said, and I don’t believe we have to end this because of them. If we play nice, they will ignore us, which means we will have more time to…you know.”

“I like how you think,” he said as he pulled her closer to him. “Maybe we’ll find a way.”

“Maybe. Let’s go eat, shall we?” she said and tucked her arm in his.

***

Bryan and Willow seemed surprised when they saw their children enter the dining area with bright smiles.

“Well, I must admit I am a little shocked,” Bryan said, standing for Claire. She waited until he pulled out the chair for her.

“Claire talked some sense into me,” Chance said. “If we are a family now, we may as well get along.”

Willow looked proudly at her daughter and gripped her hand across the table. “Thank you, Claire,” she said.

“So, Bryan, we haven’t formally met,” Claire said across the table, trying desperately to ignore Chance, who was rubbing his leg against hers; she tensed as she imagined the things he had done to her before.

“That’s right. We sort of just bumped into each other on the island. But I didn’t know at the time you were Willow’s daughter. Now I see the resemblance,” he said, smiling. “You’re as pretty as your mother.”

“Thank you,” Claire said with a smile.

“Well, I don’t know you at all,” Chance said to Willow, a fake smile on his face. “And now you’re my stepmother.”

“Chance, was that really necessary?” Bryan asked. “Be nice.”

“Sorry,” he sighed. “It’s just strange.”

“That’s understandable,” Willow reassured. “I’m sure we’ll all be fine with time.”

“That’s right,” Bryan said. “We’re a family now.”

“Okay, enough of the heavy stuff. When can we eat? I’m starving,” Claire said, desperate to change the subject.

Bryan signaled the waiter, and the man took their orders before leaving with a smile. The family had breakfast amidst talks of how Bryan and Willow came together and other meaningless banter about the children’s childhoods. Meanwhile, Claire and Chance exchanged secret glances and leg rubs under the table, anticipating the next time they would be together.

“So, where are you going to live?” Chance burst out. “I assume you won’t be hopping from place to place with Willow now that you’ll be more settled.”

Bryan looked at Willow and then at the children. “We have been talking about that. I understand that you live in Miami now, and if it isn’t too much of an inconvenience, Claire, maybe we can move to my house in Los Angeles. Willow told me how much she would appreciate you being there with her.” Chance cocked his head to the side and smiled at Claire in an ‘I told you so’ manner. “I have a lot of connections, so if you want to change jobs, I can help you with that.”

“Wow! My entire life is being rearranged,” Claire said, sarcasm dripping from her lips. “You’re asking me to leave all I have in Miami at the drop of a hat?”

“I know it’s a lot, Claire, but I really need your blessing on this,” Willow pleaded with her eyes. “I know I cannot force you to go with me, but I’d really like it if you did.”

“Sure. Fine,” Claire said and threw her hands in the air in defeat. She did deserve some time off from work, and what better way than to live in the comforts of a mansion, all expenses paid, under the same roof as Chance, if she could convince him not to move to an apartment of his own. And even if he did, she could move in discreetly with him. She didn’t know how the logistics would work, but she knew they’d figure it out.