Stepbrother Bestie (A Stepbrother Romance Novel) (29 page)

“Funny meeting you here,” I said as I
walked up behind her.

Just as she had done on the beach the
other night, she turned toward me and rolled her eyes at the confirmation of my
existence. “Don’t kid yourself. You and I both know that I had to come or I
wouldn’t be fed tonight.”

“Oh, come on. What kind of man do you
think I am?” I smiled keenly and teased her as I answered, “I would have made
sure you received a few scraps.”

Again, she rolled her eyes, but I was not
deterred. I smiled at her brightly and sat down beside her.

We talked for a little while, bantering
back and forth, before I asked if she would like to go in the water.

Ashley laughed at me, as though I had lost
my mind and therefore, I ran in ahead of her, before coming back out and making
my way toward her to give her a hug.

For the first time, I heard a genuine
laugh escape her lips, before she jumped up and tried to playfully plead with
me, but I didn’t care. I just made myself larger, like a massive, virile bear,
before I ran after her, which made her squeal with excitement as I continued to
make my way toward her.

Eventually, I caught her and hugged her,
which she clawed her way out of, before running, breasts bouncing around
wildly, right into the water.

“What the hell did you do that for?” I
asked, spreading out my hands and speaking over the crashing waves.

She giggled as she responded, “Well, I
can’t just be half wet. That’s no fun.”

I laughed at her logic and dove in after
her, continuing our rough play in the water.

Our fun attracted the attention from other
girls on the beach, as I normally did. Some of them were hot, while others
probably shouldn’t have gone to the beach wearing anything less than a thick
poncho, in addition to a bathing suit, but it was all in good fun.

When one particularly attractive woman
came up and captured my attention, Ashley encouraged, “Go ahead. You can stop
messing around with me. I know you probably have some kind of beach body quota
to fill or something, so it’s fine.”

I looked at her expression and studied her
demeanor. The best I could tell, she was actually telling me the truth. I
didn’t think she would care very much if I went off with one of these girls. In
a way, she might actually prefer it, but I could feel that there were barriers
breaking down, so I didn’t want to risk losing all of that for a woman that I
could charm any day.

I answered in a quick, powerful,
convincing voice, “No…That’s okay. I would much rather stay with you.” Then,
without giving her any warning, I jumped up and continued our horseplay.

She let out a shrill scream before she
went after me again.

I knew that I had an image to maintain,
but I also had a challenge to peruse and today proved, beyond a shadow of a
doubt, that I was able to keep up with both.

After all, if nothing else, I knew how to
attract women. I had practiced it my entire life. Just like with anything,
there was a finesse that needed to be met, no matter who the woman was.

During the course of this particular beach
day, I knew for sure that my stepsister was no different.

Chapter
7

Ashley

After spending the day at the beach with
Tyler, there was a strange sense that was cast over me when I made it back
safely into my bedroom.

Not only did I feel I might have misjudged
my stepbrother, I also had a sneaking suspicion I might be more attracted to
him than I thought I could ever be.

This thought, which I curbed on more than
one occasion throughout the course of the day, absolutely horrified me.

In fact, I hated that I was attracted to
him, especially since I was sure, as he had insinuated multiple times, that he
was also attracted to me.

However, the more I tried to ignore those
feelings, the more I realized I could not help them.

Love
is a choice!
I found myself thinking, but then, an
even more pressing thought bounded over the first.
Oh my God! I am not in love with him! Gross!

Then, after a moment of panic, I had the
ability to rationalize my feelings.

Of
course I am attracted to him,
I thought.
He is an attractive guy. I would be crazy
not to think that he is attractive, but that doesn’t mean that I am attracted
to him. I just appreciate beauty…or manliness…or something.

I sighed when my first attempt to make
myself seem normal was to absolutely no avail. I breathed in deeply, before
letting it out slowly and once again, tried to think about calming my mind and
ridding it of all these crazy thoughts.

“Okay…” I whispered to myself, “What is it
about him, besides his looks, that makes me want to be around him…Hmmm.” Then
it hit me and I smiled broadly, thankful that it wasn’t a love interest
attraction.

In fact, it was far more basic than that.

I came to the conclusion, after a day of
literally freaking out over the way I thought I felt about my stepbrother, that
the only real reason I liked him was because he was the only person I had felt
even the slightest bit comfortable carrying on a conversation with since I came
to this house.

Even when I would pass people I used to
know well on the beach or on the street,
it was still hard to talk
to them. They gave me the looks I hated growing up in my hometown after my
mother died, but since it was the first time a lot of them had seen me, it was
almost as though she had died all over again. Even though I was past the
initial stages of grief, each and every one of those people seemed to give me
the same reaction as those who attended my mother’s funeral and I hated it. I
had absolutely no interest in rehashing the events before and after my mother’s
death with anyone, and since Tyler didn’t really care to know any of it, he was
the only one I wanted to have a conversation with.

There,
I
thought as a sense of peace encased me.
Problem solved.

So, with this in mind, over the next few
days the two of us made a point of hanging out whenever we could. It was Tyler
who helped me to come out of my room and feel the sun on my face, but he also
was quick to leave and never lingered.

Even though we went to the beach and I
helped to maintain his high-energy, caloric diet by going out to eat, he would
also work out a lot and disappear for hours at a time, which gave me the
ability to be a recluse for a while.

That was all I wanted, and as we settled
into a routine, I started to really enjoy his company.

Throughout our time together, he insisted
on cursing like a sailor and every once and a while, something invariably
raunchy would slip out of his mouth. But after that night on the beach, when I
first started to feel a small sense of calm around him, he seemed to try to
treat me like a lady, which for him, meant toning down attitude.

Then, one night, while we were sitting on
the beach watching the sunset, while I was taking advantage of the moments he
was actually quiet, I noticed Tyler getting closer to me. He did so casually,
as though it really was no big deal, and therefore, I didn’t stop him. After
all, he was the closest thing to me within a couple hundred miles, so I figured
if he wanted to get next to me, I should let him.

It was strange to think but it was true.
He was the closest person to me. My father was still basically disowning me and
I had no interest in talking to anyone in this town except Tyler.

However, I noticed finally, that he had
placed his arm across my shoulders. The weight of it made me slightly
uncomfortable, but I still didn’t say anything. In a way, it was really nice to
be hugged.

But he wasn’t satisfied with that. A few
moments later, I felt him pull me toward him. Once again, I felt the tension
that could have been considered sexual between us and I became very aware of
how close he actually was to me.

Part of me was becoming very
uncomfortable, but another part of me was drawn toward his lips. Before I could
fully understand what he was doing, he turned my face toward his and bent in,
as though trying to kiss me.

There was no doubt that I was curious
about him and I could not, especially in that moment, deny that I had feelings
for him, but I still didn’t want to kiss him. So, just before our lips touched,
I managed to shove him back and scoot out of his grasp. “What the hell are you
doing?” I blurted, feeling out of sorts and mortified.

Tyler looked at me with what I felt was a
seriousness that came across as a little bit scary. “You are beautiful and I
don’t care that we are step-siblings.” His eyes grew wide as he explained, “I
still have feelings for you and they certainly are not the brotherly kind.” He
smiled in a devilish fashion, as though he had just sealed the deal with his
words, but I continued to move
away from him.

I definitely could not claim that I didn’t
understand what he meant, but I knew myself and with that, I was sure that if I
kissed him that would only lead to more, and that would only cause problems.

Therefore, I just shook my head, got up,
and left him alone on the beach before I gave into the connection I could feel
steadily growing between us.

Chapter
8

Tyler

Well
that sucked…
I thought since the kiss hadn’t gone as
smoothly as I had imagined it would. Then, I reconsidered, thinking that it
was, at the very least, an improvement.

I told myself that it could have gone
worse, which only gave me encouragement to keep going, more dedicated than
ever. It was very rare that anyone ever told me no.

Women almost never turned me down and
therefore, as I sat there alone on the beach, listening to the waves in what
seemed to be far more distant than they were and the squawk of apparently
nocturnal seagulls, I delved down deep, trying my best to think of the way
through which she was going to fall for me.

I was confident, even then, that she was
close to becoming mine. If she wasn’t and I was so far out of line, she would
have slapped me across the face and made a much bigger scene than she had.

The way that Ashley had left the situation
convinced me that she just needed to come to the conclusion that she wanted me
in her own time, but I had no doubt that she would.

I was up for the challenge and from the
rocking body in her swimsuit,
I was sure that all of my
efforts were going to be an investment that was well worth its reward.

However, who was I trying to kid? My dick
showing her how a real man pleased a woman was going to be an enlightening
experience for us both.

I smiled at the thought, realizing how
horny she had made me. I needed a release and quick.

So, without wasting anymore time, I made
my way to a local bar that over the past two weeks I had gotten to know well.

When I pulled my fake ID out of my wallet
to hand over to the bouncer I smiled; not because I was trying to be
convincing, but rather because it gave me an idea.

However, as the bouncer handed the card
back to me and let me in the club, I realized I couldn’t think about that.

Right now, I was ready to score and that
was all that I had on my mind.

The music blared loudly in the club and
the speakers thumped wildly, but it didn’t take too long to find a few drunk
bitches that I was sure would be an easy screw.

I laid on the charm pretty heavy with the
three of them, using some of my best lines, just so that I could get to the
point. It wasn’t supposed to be romantic, it was supposed to be a release. I
was going to save all the romance I had in me for Ashley, but since she
obviously was going to need a little more intrigue, this was the best I’d be able
to do.

The conversation didn’t last long at all.
After I told them my father was rich, but we didn’t like to show off our
wealth, rather, we preferred to give our money to charities and others in need,
I had their drunken logic eating out of the palm of my hand.

If that hadn’t worked, I would have even
stooped to the ruse of only having the summer to live; but thankfully, in order
to get them to come with me to a local hotel, I had only needed to appeal to
their hearts, without the use of tears.

After all, I still had a reputation to
uphold.

Chapter
9

Ashley

As I laid in bed that night, my stomach
churned into knots and my breath was rapid. I was terrified of what I had
almost done and of what I had wanted to do.

I knew, deep down, that what I had done
was not a complete and total accident. Even though I knew I could barely admit
it to myself, much less anyone else, I was sure that at some level, I had let
him get that close to me.

I had fair warning and I hadn’t stopped
him. Instead, I just enjoyed the feeling in my stomach and the pang of
excitement that rose up in me.
Why didn’t
you stop him?
I thought to myself as I smashed my fists into either side of
the bed, while tears streamed down my face in the dark room.