Hunger (A Stepbrother Romance Novel) (3 page)

~*~*~

After Daniel finished his tirade about the hotness of Luke, the two of us went in to grab glasses of lemonade before going back out to sit by the pool. I was swirling the water around with my foot when Daniel broke the silence.

“So, you never told me what you meant when you said he was weird.”

I took a sip of my lemonade and placed the cup back down beside me. I gave him a little shrug. “It’s just... everything. He tries to make small talk, but obviously doesn’t know what to say so it’s just ridiculously awkward. Clara told me he doesn’t know how to act around women.”

“Clara said that?” Daniel asked, eyebrows raised high with surprise. “Seems like an odd thing to say about your own son.”

“Well, that’s another thing. She kind of... warned me to be careful around him, whatever that means.”

“Ohhh, I get it.”

“Do you really? Because if so, please fill me in because I’m sort of lost.”

“Oh, come on. Even you’re not
that
naive. If he just got out of rehab for sex addiction and you’re prancing around this house in your tight little outfits, of course she’s going to warn you to be careful,” Daniel explained sourly, like he couldn’t believe I hadn’t figured this out on my own. “Has anything else happened?”

A thought popped into my head. “Yeah. Last night, I heard him come out of his room, then just... stop. Right outside my door.”

Daniel waved a hand in front of his face and sighed dramatically. “Oh, lord have mercy, that boy wants you. You’ve tempted the beast in him and mark my words—one day very soon, he’s going to claim you like the wild animal he appears to be.”

“You’re such a freak,” I told him with an exaggerated eye roll and a slap to the arm.

What I didn’t want to admit was that what Daniel said actually sounded rather... nice. In a way, Luke kind of scared me, but being around him was like getting an adrenaline rush. He was slightly creepy and awkward as hell... but also the single most intense person I had ever met.

I swear his eyes looked directly into my soul every time he glanced my way.

“Then there was this morning,” I said absent-mindedly as the memory was jogged in my mind. “I was fixing a cup of coffee when all of the sudden he says, ‘You’re very lucky, you know.’ Scared the shit out of me. I dropped my cup and got coffee everywhere. He’s fucking sneaky.”

“What’d he mean by that?”

I frowned, realizing that I never thought to ask. “I don’t know. He was freaking out about burns so I went to the restroom to check for damage and put the shirt in the hamper, then when I opened the bathroom door he was
right there
. Just... waiting. It was creepy.”

“Please tell me you were half-naked.”

“I had a towel covering me, thank god.”

Daniel snorted and leaned back on his elbows. “The story would have been far more interesting if the towel magically dropped to the floor.”

I mimicked his position, leaning back and turning my head to squint in his direction. “That would be massively fucked up, don’t you think? I mean, he just broke a sex addiction. I don’t want to be the one to push him into picking it back up again. Or what if he took a vow of celibacy in rehab or something? Is that part of the treatment?”

“Honey, it’s rehab. Not a priesthood,” Daniel dryly commented.

“Well, whatever. It’s just feels wrong to—”

“Poke the caged lion?”

“To provoke him,” I said, finishing my original sentence and ignoring Daniel’s comment.

“Hmm. I prefer my analogy. And that cage of his is mighty rusty judging by the look he was giving you. Bet those bars would crumble like a biscuit if you showed him a little skin.”

“Like a
biscuit
? Seriously?”

“Yep. Speaking of biscuits, I’m
starving
. Want to grab a bite to eat?”

“I could eat,” I said as I stood up and shook the water off my feet over the pool. “Just let me get changed into something less pajama-y.”

Daniel trailed behind me. “I’ll wait for you in the car. God help me if I were to get stuck with that fine piece of hunky goodness alone. I don’t know if I would be able to control myself.”

“You’re an animal!” I said with a laugh as I opened the back door and stepped inside.

“Yes, ma’am. And you
love
it.”

I was still laughing as I slid the door shut behind him, the sound dying when I turned around and saw Luke standing beside the coffeepot, glaring at the two of us. The scowl from earlier was still firmly in place and I wondered how long he had been lingering around in the kitchen waiting for us to come back in.

Daniel looked between the two of us a few times before pointing a finger to the door and whispering, “Car. Five minutes or I’m going without you.”

I wanted to curse at him for ditching me, but instead I just ignored Luke’s looming presence and started walking to my bedroom. The moment I turned down the hall, I heard Luke’s trailing footsteps as he followed me. By the time I got to my bedroom door, I’d had enough.

I spun around on my heel and demanded, “
What
?”

Luke barely reacted. One eyebrow raised minutely as he stared at me with that annoyingly blank look. “I thought you said you wouldn’t be having any ‘
summer flings
.’”

I frowned. “What?”

“In the car. Mom asked if you would be having any boys over this summer and you said no. So who the hell is that?”

His pointed tone irritated me and I felt a massive tantrum coming on. I crossed my arms over my chest and shrugged. “What the hell does it matter? You’re not my father.”

“No, I’m not. But maybe your
actual
father would want to know that his daughter is having boys over when he’s not home.”

I chuckled as I opened the door to my room and stepped in, somehow sure that he was following behind me as I dug through my dresser for clothes.

“Go right ahead and call him. Tell him Daniel came by and we’ve been in my room all day with the door locked. Now we’re going out to eat.”

“Maybe I will.”

I turned back to face him and felt like I was pinned down by the weight of his threatening glare. But I managed to stand strong as I bit out, “Get out. I have to get dressed.”

To my great surprise, he respected the request and turned around, pulling the door quietly closed behind him. I sighed and stripped myself, quickly pulling on my outfit before grabbing my phone off the charger and rushing outside to Daniel’s car.

“Ready to go?” he asked as I buckled my seatbelt.

“Yes. Get me the hell out of here.”

“Did your hot almost-stepbrother give you shit?”

“Of course he did. Apparently he thinks he’s my father, you know, since he’s known me for almost a whole day now.”

Daniel roared with laughter as he turned the ignition and backed up out of the driveway. After we pulled onto the street, I glanced back at the house just in time to see Luke standing in the window of his bedroom watching us pull away.

How creepy.

~*~*~

I was shoving my mouth full of delicious burger when Daniel asked me a question I
really
didn’t want to be asked.

“So, how long do you think it’s going to take before you two start boinking?”

I paused mid-bite to stare at him over the table. He was smirking cockily and had his arm draped across the booth, his food momentarily ignored in favor of grilling me. I finished chewing my food before washing it down with some of my coffee before I gave him a scathing glare.

“That’s not going to happen.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Oh, come off it! You know it will. It’s inevitable.”

“Nope. Never gonna happen.”

“You’re lying to yourself.”

I put my fingers in my ears and shook my head as I sang, “La la la la la, I can’t hear you.”

Daniel reached over and slapped my hands down. “You know if you do that, I’m just going to start yelling. Do you really want the entire diner to know about how you’re going to be boning your stepbrother?”

I gaped at him. “He’s not my stepbrother yet and there will be no boning!”

“He wants you, you want him. Why the hell not?”

I didn’t even bother trying to deny that I wanted him. Any straight woman—or gay man—in their right mind would want Luke. Denying it would be a flat-out lie.

“Because of the many reasons of why it would be a colossal mistake. And I highly doubt he’s looking to rekindle his sex addiction with someone who’s about to be his stepsister.”

Daniel blew a raspberry with his lips and waved a dismissive hand though the air. “Oh, bull crap. Regardless of any of that, it’s still going to happen. I’m calling it now.”

“Whatever,” I grumbled before going back to my burger. I was sick of the topic and had a feeling that I wouldn’t be able to escape from it for the rest of the summer.

As long as I was stuck in the house with Luke, I’d have Daniel nagging me about having sex with him. And it just wasn’t going to happen.

Besides, he wouldn’t be interested even if I
did
want it to happen.

“So, tell me what happened with your dad.”

Daniel let out a long sigh and leaned both arms on the table. “That’s a long fucking story.”

I waved to the waitress as she walked by our booth. “Can we get another cup of coffee, please?”

“Sure thing, honey,” she agreed as she darted off to fetch the pot.

I turned to Daniel and smiled. “I’ve got time.”

He smiled back and launched into the story of the clusterfuck it had been going to stay with his father for the summer.

~*~*~

By the time I got home from the diner, my dad and Clara were both home from work. Daniel dropped me off with a promise to text me and I gave him a kiss on the cheek like I always did before rushing inside.

I don’t know why it surprised me to find Luke lingering by the front door the moment I stepped in, but it did. I startled a little and turned to glare at him.

“What?”

“I called your dad.”

It took me a moment to understand what exactly he meant and when I did, a huge grin broke out over my face. “Oh yeah? How’d that go?”

He frowned. “I didn’t realize Daniel was gay.”

I chortled. “Really? Because he doesn’t hide it very well.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that?”

It was my turn to frown at him. “Why would I have? It’s really none of your business.”

Luke was slightly taken aback by my statement, but he eventually nodded, conceding to my point. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked away from me, his eyes locking on the floor.

“Sorry. I just want to look out for you.”

“Why?”

He shrugged again. “I’m very protective of things that matter to me.”

I was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was going, but for a reason I couldn’t explain, I was dying to hear more.

Aware that his mom and my dad were lingering somewhere in the house, I stepped closer to him so I could whisper, “But why? You just met me.”

Like flipping a switch, his entire demeanor changed. The alarm on his face registered immediately in my brain and he stepped back, nearly stumbling over the couch in his effort to put distance between us.

“I— We’re about to be family. It’s my duty to protect you.”

It was the most unsatisfying answer he could’ve given me. But I took it at face value, unwilling to push him any further on the matter. After all, we were still technically strangers.

I couldn’t really write off how irritated I was at Luke altogether, but I also wasn’t willing to accept that things would be this awkward between us forever. I figured that maybe if we spent some time getting to know each other, it would be far more pleasant living together for the rest of the summer.

My brain rallied against the idea, knowing that nothing but trouble could come from the two of us spending time together
alone
, but the words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

“Hey, you want to do something tomorrow?”

Luke looked hesitant. “Like what?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Just... hang out or something. Like you said, we’re about to be family and I don’t know you at all.”

Luke slowly nodded, telling me he understood what I was saying. “That sounds like...” He trailed off momentarily, his eyes going past me to land on the wall behind my head. “A good idea. We can get to know each other.”

I found it weird how he seemed unable to look at me as he said it, but I nodded in agreement anyway. “Alright well... I’m gonna go take a shower. Will you tell Clara not to set a place for me tonight? I ate so much at the diner, I doubt I’ll be able to have anything else.”

“Sure,” he agreed, his voice still hollow and disconnected.