Hunger (A Stepbrother Romance Novel) (7 page)

I looked into the mirror with a frown and tugged at the hem of the sundress Daniel had picked out for me earlier.

“This really isn’t my style.”

“I know, that’s the point of the ‘
makeover
’. You dig?”

I rolled my eyes at his choice of words and nodded. “I guess. But my dad’s going to look at me weird, I know it.”

Daniel shrugged from his perch on my bed, his eyes never straying from the magazine he was flipping through. “I’m here to field any and all questions about your new attire.”

Since it didn’t seem like he was going to let me out of this, I sighed in resignation. “Fine. Let’s go see if dinner’s ready then.”

He threw the magazine to the side and looked at me with wide eyes. “Thank god. I thought you were trying to starve me to death.”

“You’re such a drama queen,” I mumbled.

“I heard that!”

“Meant you to!”

We giggled all the way down the hall and into the kitchen where Clara was making dinner. My dad was sitting at the dinner table already, his eyes trained on the blueprints he had laid out there while he kept Clara company. Luke was sitting across from my dad, his eyes scanning over the papers as well like he was trying to make sense of them.

“Good evening, family!”

All three sets of eyes turned to look at Daniel as he greeted them. Clara smiled immediately and wiped her hands clean on a dishrag before coming over to give Daniel a hug.

“It’s good to see you, Daniel! I thought you were gone for the summer.”

“I was, but I’m back. And I’m staying the night if it’s cool with you guys.”

My dad grunted his acceptance from the table and Clara rolled her eyes.

“Of course that’s alright. Have a seat you two, dinner’s just about done. Bill, put those away so we can set the table.”

We waited for my dad to clear his work stuff off the table before taking our seats. When he came back into the room and took his seat at the end of the table, he finally noticed my dress and looked at me exactly like I expected him to.

“You look nice,” he said curiously. It was a simple statement, but I could practically sense the question in it.

“Jen and I went shopping today and she finally allowed me to give her a mini-makeover. Trying out new things and all.”

Dad’s eyes flickered between the two of us a few times suspiciously before he shrugged and said, “Whatever. You look lovely, Jen.”

“You do,” Luke agreed, drawing my attention to him.

It didn’t escape my notice that he looked nice as well. He had put on what looked like a brand new, V-neck t-shirt that seemed to fit perfectly on every inch of his upper body. Combined with the dark wash blue jeans he was wearing, he looked like he was ready to go out for the night.

As Clara set the table and began to bring the food over, I wondered if Luke had made other plans tonight. He obviously had friends in the area considering he had gone out the night before, and maybe we had pushed him too hard at the pool. Maybe he wasn’t interested in joining us tonight anymore.

The uncertainty and guilt made dinner less than pleasant. Daniel sensed the shift in my mood and took over the conversation, chatting amicably with both Clara and my dad between bites.

Luke also sensed my sour mood and spent most of dinner silently staring at me. Every time I dared a glance up at his face, I was shocked by the nearly palpable tension between us. It was so thick that I wondered if anyone else at the table could sense it.

When dinner was done, Daniel and I made my way back to my bedroom together. As soon as the door was shut, I turned to Daniel and asked, “What now?”

“Patience, love.”

I didn’t know what that meant, but he pressed a finger to my lips and raised an eyebrow, silently challenging me to argue with him. I narrowed my eyes into slits and stuck my tongue out at him after he removed his finger. He just chuckled and plopped back down on the bed, picking up where he left off in the latest issue of Vogue.

Unsure of what to do, I plopped down beside him and read along with him, pointing out things I found particularly hideous. It stayed like that for almost an hour before there was a tentative knock on my bedroom door.

“Who is it?” Daniel called out in a sing-song voice.

“It’s... me. Luke.”

“Come in!”

He opened the door slowly and poked his head in, looking even more nervous than I felt. I sat up slightly and waved him in. With a small smile, he closed the door and made his way over to my bed.

Daniel eyed him as he stood at the foot of my bed, staring at the two of us like he was expecting us to start fooling around or something equally ridiculous. Daniel rolled his eyes and tapped the end of the bed lightly with his foot.

“Sit down. We don’t bite unless requested.”

Luke awkwardly sat on the edge of the bed and turned to half face us, keeping one foot on the floor like he was ready to sprint from the room if necessary. I waited for Daniel to tell us what the hell we were supposed to do, but he just sat there flipping through the magazine, letting the tension rise to a boil.

After a few minutes, he threw it to the side and declared, “Done. Not their best issue.”

I snorted in agreement. “Right? I was pretty disappointed with this one.”

“For real. Any who, I’m sure Luke here doesn’t care about the finer points of Vogue, so let’s get the slumber party underway!” Daniel exclaimed as he bounced on the bed. “What shall we do first? Luke?”

He looked light a deer caught in headlights. I almost felt sorry for him, knowing that he was being played by Daniel, but I was in the same boat. At any moment, the game could change and I was expected to roll with it. That was the agreement.

So I kind of felt worse for myself.

“I-I have no idea,” Luke said, his voice high with a touch of incredulity. “I thought you were the slumber party... person.”

“Didn’t you spend the night at your friends’ houses when you were a kid?”

Luke shrugged a little. “I mean, sure. A couple of times.”

Daniel didn’t look convinced, but he pressed on. “What’d you do?”

“Played video games mostly. Sometime we’d watch scary movies. That was pretty much it.”

Daniel gave him a blank stare. “My god, I’m so glad I never got invited to any guy sleepovers. That sounds incredibly boring. So! Let’s play a game.”

Oh lord.

“Who’s up for a round of truth or dare?”

Oh fucking hell.

“What’s that?” Luke asked with a furrowed brow.

Daniel’s jaw dropped. “You’ve never played truth or dare?”

“No.”

“Oh my god, this is going to be so much fun. Okay, so you when it’s your turn you pick either truth or dare, then you either have to answer a question honestly or do the dare you were given.”

Luke was still frowning. “What happens if you don’t do it?”

“Well... nothing. The game ends and you’ll be labeled as a chicken for the rest of the night and you’ll likely wake up with a penis drawn somewhere on your body with a sharpie.”

Luke blinked a few times in surprise before abruptly bursting into laughter. The sound was contagious and I found myself joining in as Daniel chuckled while glaring at us.

“Alright, alright. Calm down. You up for the challenge?”

Luke was still smiling as he pushed himself up further on the bed and sat cross-legged. “Bring it on.”

I could see the evil glint in Daniel’s eyes and felt a fresh round of nerves coil in my stomach.

“You can start if you want. Since you’re new to the game and all.”

“How do I start?”

“Pick one of us and ask us truth or dare.”

Luke looked between the two of us a few times, unsure of what to do. Eventually, his gaze settled on me and he asked, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

He nodded, then looked at Daniel for further instruction.

“Now you can ask her anything—something embarrassing if you want—and she has to answer honestly.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

Luke finally looked back to me and stared me dead in the eye as he asked, “Are you a virgin?”

Daniel cackled and clapped his hands together as a crimson blush stained my cheeks. I slapped his arm hard and smirked when he made a pitiful sound of pain.

But slapping Daniel wasn’t going to get me out of answering the question. I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. “Yes.”

“Pretty much in every sense of the word,” Daniel added with a short laugh.

“Shut up, Daniel,” I growled, sending him a warning look with my eyes. Making me feel like an idiot wasn’t supposed to be part of this game.

“Sorry. Your turn.”

I was still purposely avoiding Luke’s eyes, not wanting to see his reaction to the admittance of my virginity. So I stayed focused on Daniel and asked, “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

I hopped out of bed and ran to my purse, pulling out the stick of red lipstick I kept there. I walked back to the bed with a smile and said, “I dare you to wear this for the rest of the game.”

Daniel looked pissed as I tossed him the lipstick, but he wasn’t one to back down from a dare. I helped him apply the lipstick, giggling through the entire process, then watched him walk over to the mirror to look at himself.

“Oh mercy me,” he said, his voice taking on a thick southern accent. “I feel like that Cinderella.”

Luke and I both cackled from the bed as he twirled around in the circle and dubbed himself as a ‘pretty princess’. My stomach started to hurt from laughing so hard and I leaned forward to clutch my sides. After what felt like an hour of uncontrollable laughter, it finally died when Daniel plopped down on the bed and turned to Luke.

“Truth or dare?”

“Uh... Dare, I guess.”

Daniel gave him a sly grin. “I don’t think you’re ready for one of my dares.”

Luke narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I won’t go easy on you.”

The testosterone flying around the room was enough to make me roll my eyes.

Luke straightened his spine and smirked as he said, “Do your worst.”

Daniel grinned. “Nah, I won’t do my worst.
Yet
. I dare you to strip down to your underwear for the rest of the game.”

Luke’s smirk dropped off immediately and for a short moment, I thought he was going to end the game and be the one labeled ‘chicken’ for the night. But he glanced at me and I had the sneaking suspicion that he didn’t want this to be over yet.

He had more things to ask me.

Without a word, he rose from the bed and pulled his shirt over his head. I gulped as I watched his abs flex from the motion, then his biceps bulge as his hands went to unbutton his jeans.

Getting through the rest of this game was going to be ridiculously difficult.

The jeans were pushed down his hips and kicked off, leaving him clad in the sexiest pair of black boxer briefs I’d ever seen. Not that I’d ever been with a man, but there were enough underwear ads all over magazine and billboards for me to know when I saw a sexy pair.

He looked like a Calvin Klein model. One with tattoos and a pierced nipple.

“Satisfied?” he asked as he sat back down.

“Yep,” Daniel said, popping the ‘p’ and pressed his obscenely red lips together. I bit back a laugh as I looked at him again, having forgotten about my dare while watching Luke undress.

“Jenna. Truth or dare?”

“I’ll take another truth.”

Daniel made an exasperated sound of disbelief. “You’re such a chickenshit.”

“I’m not a chicken!”

“Then take a dare! You never take dares.”

“Because your dares are always horribly embarrassing,” I noted dryly.

Daniel raised a finger in the air. “But I’m not giving the dare.”

Damn it.
He had me there. I sighed with resignation and said, “Fine. Dare.”

Luke opened his mouth, then closed it again with a frown. He appeared to be thinking hard for a moment before he turned to Daniel and admitted, “I have no idea what to do.”

“That works out well, because I’ve got a great idea,” he said with an evil grin as he leaned over to whisper in Luke’s ear.

My eyes widened. “Hey, no! You said it wasn’t you!”

“Not my fault,” Daniel said with a shrug before cupping his hand next to Luke’s ear and whispering low enough that I couldn’t hear what was said.

Luke jerked away and turned to glare at Daniel. “I’m not telling her to do that.”

“Why not? It’ll be funny.”

“For you, maybe,” Luke grumbled.

“
Please.
Don’t act like it wouldn’t be fun for you as well.”

Luke’s eyes darkened and he swallowed hard before shaking his head. “No, I have a better idea. Jenna, I dare you to kiss Daniel. Oh, and for at least five seconds.”