One Week with her (Ex) Stepbrother (Eden Manor #2) (4 page)

“I
don’t know. I told you it was stupid. It doesn’t make any sense. I just know
that you’ve…lately you seem to be…discontent, and I keep thinking you’re about
to move on, move away from us.”

She
could hardly catch her breath now. “I told you I don’t want to move, Zach.”

“I
know you said that. But I can feel…something…something going on with you. And I
don’t know what it is. You won’t tell me. And I can’t help feeling you’re going
to pull away from…from us.”

“Us?
You mean, you and Dad?”

“Yeah.
Everyone. I don’t know.” He looked away from her again, down to the dirt on his
right side.

“I
don’t know exactly what you’ve been sensing.” She spoke carefully, knowing even
as she said the words that they weren’t exactly true. “But I’m never going to
pull away from the people I love. Even if I decide to move, which I’m telling
you isn’t going to happen any time soon, I still won’t pull away from you in
ways that matter. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Don’t
I?”

“Of
course not. You’re part of who I am, and I don’t want to live my life without
you.”

That
came out more personally than she’d intended, but she couldn’t take back the
words, and she wasn’t even sure she wanted to.

Her
cheeks were flushed, and she was panting audibly as Zach looked back up and met
her eyes.

“So
you don’t want to be someone…different?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

“Not
really. No. Maybe there are a few things about my life I’d want different, but
that doesn’t mean I want the core to change. Whatever you’ve been picking up,
it’s not that.”

“Okay.”
He reached out to take one of her hands in both of his and held it tightly.
“Good. I don’t want you to change. I don’t want
us
to change.”

The
words were thrilling and disappointing at the same time. She did want certain
things about her relationship with Zach to change, but she needed to resign
herself to the fact that it was never going to happen. “Me either,” she said,
since he was waiting for a response.

They
stared at each other for a long time, until the mood between them was so tense
it was awkward.

Clearing
her throat, Missy tried to speak in a natural voice, “But what about what me
and Kelly were doing made you think I wanted to move or change?”

Zach’s
expression relaxed, and he gave a soft laugh. “It was totally irrational. I
just didn’t know what you were doing. It felt like a secret. A secret from
me.
”

She
couldn’t help but laugh, and then with a wave of affection, she wrapped her
arms around him and pulled him into a hug. “You’re the most ridiculous guy I’ve
ever known.”

Zach
hugged her back, tighter than she was expecting. “I won’t dispute that claim.”

She
didn’t want to let him go, so they hugged longer than they should have, until
she started to feel her body react to the feel of his big, warm, strong one
against her.

When
the response became undeniable, she made herself release him. “Should we unload
these plants?”

Zach
appeared rattled, like he couldn’t quite focus on what she was saying. But he
replied, “Uh, yeah. I guess we should.”

The
following evening, Missy went over to her father’s to cook him dinner.

She
tried to go over at least once a week, since otherwise his entire diet would be
made up of fast food meals eaten in the car or at his desk.

He
sat in his leather recliner, watching TV as she worked in the kitchen. When
she’d put the salad in the refrigerator and the lasagna in the oven, she came
into the living room and slumped down on the sofa.

Her
dad was watching evening gameshows, which he preferred to the news.

“Smells
good,” he said, glancing over at her quickly.

“I
just put it in. It doesn’t smell like anything yet.”

“I
think I can smell it a little.”

She
was tired and a little blah today—she’d spent the whole day showing houses and
hadn’t seen anyone interesting—but she couldn’t help but smile at her dad.
“That’s your imagination.”

“Your
food always smells good.” His eyes were fixed on the television screen, and he
called out a trivia answer just before the contestant did.

“Yeah.”

“What’s
the matter?”

“Nothing.
Just tired.”

“Bad
day at work?”

“Eh.
I showed them about twelve different houses, and they found problems with all
of them. They want a house they’d have to spend a hundred K more for.”

“Typical.
If they want to actually buy a house, they’ll have to settle eventually.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re
doing good, aren’t you? I thought you said you put in an offer yesterday.”

“Yeah.
It was accepted, too. Closing is next month.” She perked up at the thought. It
wasn’t an expensive house, but it was something.

“So
what’s bothering you?”

“I
don’t know. I’ve just been in a mood lately. It will pass.”

Her
dad glanced over at her again. “Watch my shows with me. That will put you in a
better mood.”

She
couldn’t help but laugh. She’d been planning to leave right away, but she
changed her mind, since she didn’t really want to be alone. So she focused on
the gameshows for almost an hour, until there was a knock on the front door.

Since
her dad wasn’t inclined to leave his recliner, she got up to check the peephole
and then opened the door to Zach.

He
appeared surprised to see her. “What are you doing here?”

“Hanging
out. What are you doing?”

“Your
dad borrowed my drill. I came to get it back.”

“What
do you need your drill for?”

“I
want to use it.”

“For
what?”

“Do
I have to go through an interrogation to get into the house?”

“Oh.”
Her heart, her blood, her head were all throbbing with a completely irrational
excitement. “Sorry. Come in.” She took a few steps back into the living room.
“It’s Zach.”

“I
heard. Your drill is on the back porch.”

“Okay.”
Zach sniffed the air. “What’s cooking?”

“Missy
made lasagna. You should stay and eat it with us.”

“I’m
in.” Instead of heading back to get his drill, which was evidently needed
enough to make a visit this evening, Zach sank down onto the couch with a
satisfied look.

Missy
tried to hide her pleasure at his presence. “I’ll serve my dad, but you’re
going to have to get your ass up to get your own food.”

“Fair
trade.”

Zach
was as good as his word. When Missy went to check on the lasagna and declared
it done, he came back into the kitchen to prepare his own plate.

She
was bending over, lifting the heavy lasagna pan out of the oven, when she
became aware of his eyes on her. Glancing back over her shoulder, she caught a look
on his face she couldn’t interpret. “What?”

“Since
when have you worn polka dot underwear?”

She
gasped and swung her hands behind her in a futile attempt to hide her rear end.
Her jeans were low rise and must have dipped in the back as she was bending
over. “My underwear is none of your business,” she whispered, so her dad
couldn’t hear.

“Really?
I could see it quite clearly just then.” He was grinning, and his eyes were
warm with amusement and something else. “Pink and purple polka dots.”

“Shh.”
She swatted him lightly, brutally aware that she was flushing deeply. “Dad will
hear.”

“No,
he won’t. The TV is blaring too loud for him to hear anything else.”

“Still.
My panties are none of your business.” She was so flustered that she dropped
her eyes.

Zach
took a step forward until he was standing very close. He reached out and
settled both hands on her hips.

Her
eyes flew up. She wanted him to kiss her so much she could barely breathe.

His
eyes never left her face, but he didn’t tilt his head down toward her. Instead,
he gave the waistband of her jeans a little tug. “There,” he murmured thickly.
“I fixed ‘em.”

“They
didn’t need fixing.”

“They
didn’t need fixing if you were happy for the rest of the world to see your
polka dot underwear.”

He
wasn’t stepping back, and he wasn’t moving his hands. Missy couldn’t help but
wonder what would happen if she just dragged his head down into a kiss right
here in the kitchen. “The rest of the world isn’t around.”

“I
guess that’s true.”

“Did
you come over here just to tease me?”

“I
came over to get my drill. It was just a happy coincidence when I saw your car
parked out front.”

Her
mind was buzzing like crazy, but it worked enough to pick up the implications
of his words. “You acted surprised when I opened the door. Did you already know
I was here?”

He
blinked and hesitated slightly before he said, “Of course not. You think I’d
stop just because I saw your car?”

“No.”

“I
needed the drill.”

“For
what?”

“To
use it.”

“Oh.
I need to cut the lasagna.”

“Then
you better do it.”

It
took her a minute before she could focus enough to handle a hot pan, but she
eventually pulled herself together. They brought the plates and three beers
Zach opened back into the living room to eat.

Missy
stared at the television with the others, but her mind was working overtime,
trying to figure out if Zach had always acted this way with her—if something
was really different or if she was just imagining it, because she wanted it so
badly.

By
the time she finished eating, she still hadn’t come to any conclusions.

***

They
decided to watch a movie after they were done with dinner, since all three of
them were having a good time.

They
found an old action movie that Zach and her dad really liked and she didn’t
mind too much. Missy sat on the couch with Zach, and she felt relaxed and
pleased with the world in general.

It
was after ten when the movie ended, and her father said he was headed to bed so
they should just leave the dishes in the sink. He woke up at five every
morning, so ten was past his normal bedtime.

Missy
wasn’t about to leave dirty dishes in the sink, so she went to the kitchen to
wash up after her dad headed to his bedroom. Zach came with her to help, and
they’d turned on the dishwasher and wiped down the last of the mess from the
counters in less than ten minutes.

“You
want another beer?” Zach asked, opening the refrigerator as he glanced at her
over his shoulder.

“I
need to drive home. Just water.”

“Yeah.
Good plan.” He grabbed two bottles of water and carried them back to the living
room, where he sat on the sofa and looked at her expectantly.

She
came to sit beside him. “Don’t you need to get home?”

He
checked the clock on the cable box. “Not yet.”

“Don’t
you have some project you need to be doing at home?”

“What
are you talking about?”

“You
came to get the drill.”

“Oh.
Yeah. It can wait.” He leaned back and let out a long sigh, as if he were
unwinding after a long day. “How did your showings go today?”

“They
didn’t like anything.”

“How
much did you show them?”

“Everything
in their budget within thirty miles. None of the houses were good enough.”

“Tell
them they’ll have to spend more.”

“You
think it’s that easy?”

“No.
I don’t. I’d start yelling at clients after the first house and tell them to
stop being spoiled idiots. I could never do your job.” His eyes lingered on her
face. “You look tired.”

“I
am.” She rubbed her neck, since she was nervous about the look in his eyes and
the intimate feel of the air between them. They weren’t talking about anything
particularly personal, but it still felt like she was revealing too much.

“What’s
wrong with your neck?”

“What?
Nothing.”

“You
were rubbing at it.”

“Oh.”
She couldn’t tell him it was just a nervous gesture from being close to him
this way. “It’s a little stiff, I guess, from all the driving I did today.”

“Driving
hurts your neck?”

“Sometimes.
When I’m in the car with clients, I’m always tense because I have to be on all
the time.”

“What
do you mean?”

“I
mean,
on
. You know—upbeat and charming and diplomatic and polite and
informative all at once.”

“That
shouldn’t be too hard for you.”

“Why
do you say that?”

His
eyebrows drew together. “Aren’t you always that way?”

She
laughed and gave him a playful slap on the arm. “Yeah. Right. Like now.”

He
met her eyes. “I think you’re pretty good company right now.”

Her
breath quickened, so she started to rub her neck again, in an attempt to hide
her response. “I’m just hanging out with you.”

“What’s
wrong with that?”

“Nothing.
I like hanging out with you.”

“I
like it too.”

She
rubbed her neck even harder at the hoarse note in his voice. Mentally, she
screamed at herself to keep it together. He was just being nice. His words and
expression didn’t mean what she wanted them to mean.

“Here.
Turn around.” He reached over to reposition her body on the couch.

“What?”
She tensed up automatically when she felt his hands on her.

“Calm
down,” he said in a relaxed tone. “No wonder your neck hurts if you’re that
uptight. I was just going to give you a neck rub, since it’s bothering you so
much.”

She
gulped. Her choices were to accept the neck rub—and the way it was likely to
make her feel—or admit to him that her neck wasn’t really hurting that much and
she’d just been nervous before. “You don’t have to.”

“Why
not? I’m just sitting here.”

She
took a shaky breath as he started to massage her shoulders, not waiting for her
to agree. His fingers were strong as they pressed into her tight muscles, and she
gave a little gasp of pleasure.

“Okay?”
he asked, when she didn’t say anything.

“Okay.
Thanks.” She didn’t like the sound of her own voice. It was too breathless. A
little wobbly. But Zach didn’t appear to notice anything wrong, and she forced
herself to breathe evenly.

He
massaged her shoulders for a minute, and then he gently moved her hair out of
the way so he could reach her neck. He pushed into pressure points skillfully,
and she couldn’t help but release a soft moan at the resulting ache and then release.

“How’s
that?” he asked, softer than usual.

She
managed to say, “Good.” She closed her eyes, afraid they would reveal too much,
even though he was behind her.

His
massage moved up to the base of her skull, at her hairline, and soon she was
gasping shamelessly as the tension tightened and let go.

Then
his hands moved back down to her shoulders, rubbing a hard line down to the dip
beside her shoulder blades. She moaned and leaned forward, her hair hanging
down around her face.

“Right
there?” he asked, rather raspily.

“Yeah.
There. Oh, God.” She tried to keep her mouth shut, but she couldn’t. His touch
was doing things to her beyond loosening her tight muscles. She was acutely
conscious of his warm, tense presence behind her, his strong, agile hands.

“Oh,
God,” she mumbled. “Oh, God. Oh, God.” Her eyes were tightly shut.

He
slid his hands back to the nape of her neck, rubbing gently and then more
firmly as she started to gasp again. “Missy,” he said, after another minute.