“I do not drool!” I yell.
“You can’t even bear to look at me,” he muses. “I had to cover myself up for you. I don’t normally walk around like this,” he says. “I prefer letting it dry au naturel.”
“Oh, don’t change your habits for me,” I say, holding up my hands. “Because I honestly don’t give a fuck if you walk around butt-naked.”
“I don’t believe it. Your eyes back there told me a whole different story.” He leans in, ridiculing me with his gaze.
Instead of turning a blind eye, I say, “You want to walk around with a free dick? Fine by me.”
“Sure …” he jests. “Prove it.”
“Fine,” I growl.
And then I reach for his towel and rip it away.
Chapter 5
Emily
“See?” I hold up the towel, staring straight into his eyes, so I can stop myself from accidentally letting my eyes wander off toward … I don’t know.
He cocks his head and smiles. “Wow, I did not expect that from you, sis.”
“I’m not your sis, Chris.” I dangle the towel in front of him. “Want this back? Say you won’t call me that again.”
Instead of admitting defeat, he takes another step in my direction, catching me off guard. “Oh, no, you can keep it. I feel perfectly fine like this. With the exception of one thing.” He takes another step, making me lean back as far as I can without giving up my space and showing him that I am actually avoiding coming into contact with him. Who knows what will happen when he touches me. Actually, I do, and it isn’t good. It’s wrong. So wrong …
“You,” he growls, and then he puts his arm around my back and pulls me in.
I can feel his length against my pants, and I hope I didn’t dream it up that I feel it growing. Holy fuck.
“Chris!” I shout.
“What? Afraid?” he muses, leaning in with a smirk to taunt me.
“Get off me.”
“You used to beg me to do the opposite,” he says, biting his lip, which sends a bolt of heat through my veins. Why does he always have to be so vexing?
“You’re just playing me,” I say, unwrapping myself from his arms.
“No, I’m not, but you are.”
“Stop with the semantics.” I throw the towel back at him. “And put this on. I’d rather not get another dick slap.”
He laughs. “Guess that makes me the winner of this little bet.”
“There’s no bet here,” I say. “No game. Just me proving that I’m fine with being your PR rep.”
“Of course, you are …”
“Hey, do you want me to do this or not?” I ask, raising a brow.
He wraps the towel around his waist again, which makes it easier for me to breathe. “Hell yeah, I want you.”
Somehow, I feel like he’s not talking about this PR thing at all, even though that’s why I came here in the first place.
“What do you want from me, Chris? I’m here to help you with your PR fuckups, not with your personal problems.”
He leans in and licks his lips in a seductive way that still gets my heart racing. Damn. After all this time, he still affects me. “The only one with a problem here is you,” he says.
“I wouldn’t have a problem if you didn’t act like such an asshole all the time.”
“Me? An asshole? Really? I think you’re just mad about our situation, and now you’re taking it out on me.”
“I’m mad at you,” I snap.
He grabs my arm. “You used to like being around me. Remember that time in your room? After school?”
I knew it. I knew he was going to take it there. “I don’t want to remember.”
“Yeah, you keep saying that, but I don’t believe a word,” he says, shaking his head. He looks down at me with intense eyes. “I know you still think about me. About that boy you spent time with. That boy you secretly had an eye on.”
“No, I didn’t!” I spit. “You came on to me.”
A lopsided smile reveals his devious thoughts. “Oh … how I came on to you.”
My eyes widen and again my cheeks color. “Stop it.”
“Why? Because you’re too scared to remember?”
“It was all a lie.”
“What?” He frowns. “What’s a lie?”
“You and your antics. I was supposed to be your study buddy, Chris. And I didn’t even want to be, but your parents kind of made it impossible for me to say no.”
“That doesn’t mean it couldn’t be something more,” he says with a shrug. “And they are your parents too, now.”
“You used me,” I say, unable to keep it inside anymore.
He makes a face. “What? No, why would you say that?”
I grind my teeth. “Don’t pretend you don’t know.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
He’s still ignoring it, which is really starting to tick me off. “You know what? Forget it. I didn’t come here to argue with you.” I jerk loose from his grip, grab another stack of papers from my bag, and throw them on the table. “I’m here for your PR. Nothing more. Read them. Sign them. We’ll talk again later.”
Right as I’m about to turn around, he grabs my arm again. “Hey, wait. We’re not done yet.”
“Yes, we are,” I say with a stern look that makes his smile disappear.
Great, now we’re fighting again.
“I can’t keep doing this with you, Chris.”
“Do what?”
“Pretending that you and I are anything more than … family.” I swallow at that last word. I hate it. I freaking hate it. But I can’t say that to them, ever. It’s so wrong, but I never wanted him, out of all people, to become my stepbrother.
And he knows exactly why.
“I’m not pretending to be anything. I remember needing help with my math, and you helping me out during the weekends. And I remember things turning into a whole different thing at your place.”
“Chris …” I sigh. “I can’t do this.” It’s not real, and even if it was, it’s not allowed. We’re ‘family’ now. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
He has a concerned look on his face when I turn my back to him, but I can’t falter and let him piss me off like that again. I have to keep my cool if I want to work alongside him, so I can keep my job. And my sanity.
“I remember wanting you. It wasn’t a lie. I’m not a liar. What happened was real and it was all me. And if I could do it all over again, I would.”
Swallowing, I glance over my shoulder as I open the door. “I remember differently,” I mumble.
What he says next cracks my heart a little more. “You remember wrong.”
Chapter 6
Chris
A few days later
“No, for the last time, I’m not fucking interested, okay?” I say, as my brother forcibly drags me across the street.
“I don’t care what you say. We’re doing this.”
“Why? Why do you fucking care so much?” I growl.
He turns his head toward me. “Because she’s our mom and she won’t be here forever, so I suggest you enjoy what time you still have with her.”
“She makes it impossible to enjoy anything. Everything near her shrivels up and dies a quick death.”
Leo laughs as we walk into the café. “You make her sound so charming.”
“You know as well as I do how annoying she can get.”
“Yes,” he says, frowning. “But she’s also still our mother. And if she’s annoying, then so are you.” He taps on my chest.
“You think?” I laugh, trying to shove him, but he evades.
He walks up to the counter and orders three coffees. “If I were to believe Emily, then you’re more than just annoying. She practically wanted to kill you back at the tracks.”
“Yeah, well, that’s thanks to Mom,” I say. “She couldn’t shut up about that PR thing for just one second so I could at least celebrate my victory with my family in peace.” I sigh. “Why does it have to be so complicated all the time?”
He hands me a coffee. “Shouldn’t have fucked up in the first place, Chris. Then you wouldn’t need a PR person to begin with.”