Pulse: A Stepbrother Romance (6 page)

Conflict roared within me.

Being that close to Leah for all of dinner had reaffirmed one thing—I needed her. No one had ever made me feel like that just by sitting beside me. She was a shining beacon through the darkness, a promise of change and a breath of fresh air.

There was only one problem: she would also be my step sister in a day.

It was wrong. So wrong.

With surprise, I found that the carpet hadn’t worn away beneath my feet from the relentless pacing I’d been doing since dinner. Shortly after Leah escaped I’d excused myself, unable to focus on the mundane conversations the rest of the family was having.

Why did it have to be her?

There was another problem. She must not feel the same way I did. She’d been so cold through dinner, and I couldn’t forget that she had given me a fake number after the incredible night we had spent together.

Room 308.

The number had been haunting me ever since I got her room number from her sister—our sister. It was just two doors down the hallway. Stopping dead in my tracks for the first time in over an hour, the soft sounds of speaking filtered through the walls, although it could have been my imagination.

Fuck this.

I growled and flung open the door to the hallway.

“Oh!” An older woman had been walking by the door and jumped, startled. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” I said. It was hard to tone down the intensity I knew must be present in my eyes.

The elderly lady carried on her way, and I marched down the hall a mere fifteen steps.

Room 308.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I raised my fist and knocked.

And waited.

Maybe she isn’t in her room. Or maybe she saw me through the peephole and didn’t want to even tell me to go away.

I turned to go just as the handle turned.

God, she’s gorgeous.

“Can I help you? I’m busy.” The words came out clipped, tempered. She didn’t want me to be there.

I didn’t give her the choice as I brushed by her and into her room. It was the same as mine, but I looked around as if interested.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. The door swung closed behind her as the handle slipped from her delicate fingers. “You shouldn’t be here.”

I shouldn’t. It was dangerous, being behind a closed door with her. The air between us hummed.

“I wanted to talk to you. I didn’t get a chance this morning, and we couldn’t talk about what happened during dinner.”

She took a deep breath and looked out the window. It was a warm summer night in the country, the stars coming out in a shimmering blanket across the night sky.

“Nothing happened last night. Or this morning.”

I stared at her, but she refused to meet my eyes.

“Is that what you’re going with? There’s no one else here, Leah. We can talk about it.”

“What’s there to talk about? We had a mistake. A couple of them, if you’ll recall. It can never happen again, and we shouldn’t talk about it. Ever.”

She’d leaned against the wall, and I took another couple of steps closer until only a few inches separated us. She had nowhere to back up to, couldn’t do anything but look up at me.

“I can’t accept that.”

Her eyes flickered to my lips and back up, and her own mouth parted. “You’re going to have to.” Her voice was soft, weak.

I put my hand on the wall right beside her head. It would be so easy to lean down, to capture those lips, to recreate the magic we had between us.

“I can’t.”

For a second, I thought she would close the distance and kiss me.

Her hands came up against my chest and gave me a hard shove. I wasn’t expecting it and I overbalanced, toppling backward onto the bed.

“We
can’t
, Chris. Our parents are getting married in the morning, for fuck’s sake. How do you think they would take it if they found out their offspring are having sex?”

Glorious, wonderful, incredible sex.

“They wouldn’t have to know, Leah. They don’t even live anywhere near us. There’s no reason for them to find out.”

Her breath came out shuddery, filled with emotion. “This can’t happen, Chris. Yes, the sex was great. But you are not the right guy for me. You’re dangerous. I can’t get involved with you. It wouldn’t be good for me.”

So, that’s what it was.

Once again, my circumstances conspired to keep me down and prevent me from attaining the life I wanted to lead. Would I never become more than a warehouse worker running around with a rough crew?

“You don’t even know me.” There were so many layers to the words I spoke.

“I know enough, and I don’t need to know any more.”

I stood up again and put my arms around her. “Give it a chance, Leah. This can be something great. I know it can.”

I tried to kiss her.

She slapped me.

I stepped back in shock and she went to the door and opened it. “Get out, Chris. Get out and don’t talk to me again.”

Her breaths were heavy and murder was in her eyes.

“That will be hard to do at our parents’ wedding.”

She stamped her foot.

“Just. Go.”

Dammit.

The line at the Starbucks was longer than I’d hoped. I’d lost track of time, and this was my reward for coming when everyone was getting off work. I’d planned for a short coffee run to break up the rehearsing, but it would take more of my precious time than I could afford. I could feel the sands of time dropping in their hourglass, counting down the hours to the audition tomorrow night.

“Imagine seeing you here.”

My stomach dropped.

How does this keep happening?

I turned, and sure enough, Chris stood there, muscled forearms crossed. Several tattoos covered the skin and traveled up to his biceps. I’d seen the artwork that decorated his body, ran my hands along it while caught in the throes of passion. Every time I saw them, it blasted me with heat.

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

With my head held high, I turned back to face toward the register.

“You mean you’ll stand there and just ignore me for the next twenty minutes? Because that’s how long it’ll take us to get through this line.”

I didn’t respond and tried to act like his presence behind me didn’t make the hairs on my body stand on end. I was so focused that when he whispered in my ear, I jumped out of my skin.

“I like this view, anyway.”

There was no ignoring that. Overdue for a break, I had given no thought to what I was wearing when I left Mark’s studio and my rehearsal. Tight, spandex shorts hugged my ass and accentuated it. Above, there was just a short halter top with no bra underneath. The studio was always hot, and I dressed for comfort when I worked there.

A huge grin was on Chris’ face at my reaction. I hit him on the shoulder and wanted to cover up, but there was no good way of doing so.

“Asshole! Keep your eyes to yourself!”

“Not sure I can do that, stepsis.”

The words should have chilled me, stopped the fire building inside at the knowledge he was looking at my body. It was just so wrong.

Instead, his little endearment made me even more flustered, sputtering and trying to think of a comeback.

I stared at Chris, looking back toward the entrance. So I saw when Jeff walked in.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I said.

At last I’d caught Chris by surprise. He looked over his shoulder to where I stared. “Who’s that?”

Jeff was looking at the line as he took his place, and I didn’t look away in time.

“Leah? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you!”

Like it meant nothing to him, he walked up the line until he stood beside Chris. He didn’t spare my stepbrother a single look; it was clear he didn’t realize we were together.

Not that we’re “together.” He charged up and talked to me.
I couldn’t even convince myself.

“I know, Jeff. I’ve been screening your calls and your messages. You think I want to talk to you?”

He looked me up and down, and for the second time in as many minutes, I regretting not throwing on something more proper before I went for a coffee run. “Damn, you are looking good, Leah. I know we had a fight, but we can talk it out. It’s a good thing this happened now. It gives us a chance to make our relationship stronger.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. The man was delusional.

“Relationship? What relationship? You killed that the moment you slept with Kat behind my back. You think I’m not talking to you because I’m mad at you? I’m not talking to you because I have nothing to say. We’re done, Jeff.”

Chris cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. “Is this the ex?”

It caught Jeff by surprise and he looked up at Chris—he was shorter than the tattooed man by a couple inches.

“Who are you?”

Jeff didn’t even warrant any consideration, but I wanted him to hurt as badly as he hurt me. Before Chris could respond, I cut in.

“This is Chris. He’s my lover. I needed someone better and, uh, bigger than you.”

Jeff looked stricken. “You’re already seeing someone else?”

I linked my arm in Chris’ and looked up at him. “When did we start seeing each other, hun? About a month ago?”

He didn’t miss a beat. “Might be a little longer than that. Time flies when you’re with someone so gorgeous.”

I pulled his head down toward mine and locked lips with him. The passion flared bright and hard between us, flooding me with the by-now familiar sense of need and want. My scantily-clad body molded to his, pressing my curves against the hardness of his muscles. It was hard to remember that we were in public.

My head swam in a daze when Chris pulled away. Trying to remember what I’d been saying or what point I’d been trying to prove was nearly impossible.

“Ah, sorry to interrupt you guys,” Jeff said. He backed away before turning and leaving the Starbucks. I didn’t bother saying anything else to him.

I think he got the message.

“What the hell was that?” Chris asked.

His arms were still around me, and my body was close against his. His thigh was slightly in between my legs, enough that I could feel it pressing against me through my spandex.

I gave myself one more moment to enjoy the sensation, then pushed away as though I only just realized our position.

“Like I said the other night,” I began, “I walked in on Jeff and my old best friend Kat having sex in his apartment. I wanted him to get a little taste of what he did.”

“I thought the other night didn’t happen?”

His eyes were intense. Too intense.

“Fine. Between us, it happened. Thanks for stepping up to the plate there.”

“I think you owe me more than that. Let’s grab our coffee and then have a chat.”

My head still buzzed, so I gave an answer I shouldn’t have.

“Sure.”