ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (285 page)
Authors: Elisa Elliot
I took another deep breath steadying my nerves for what was to come. “And what’s that?” I asked a little shakily.
“That I like you,” Jake said without faltering.
My eyes widened as I scanned his face looking for any sign that he might be joking but there was nothing there in his bright blue eyes that told me he was making it up. “You don’t believe me do you?” he asked softly, his own eyes searching mine now.
I squeezed his hand softly, showing him that it was hard, hoping he wouldn’t give up on me so easily. What I was about to say was going to be hard and I knew I didn’t want to say it. “I can’t Jake, I can’t believe it,” I whispered.
I had expected his face to drop or even for him to be angry but he wasn’t, his face and his eyes were softer than I had ever seen them. “Then will you let me show you?” he questioned softly.
He lifted his hand from mine and placed his palm softly against my cheek. A second passed before I let myself lean into the touch, to truly relish the comfort it brought. “Yes,” I whispered, barely believing I had spoken the word.
Jake’s eyes met mine and for the first time I saw the true extend of the shimmering blue that lay in his irises. He asked me again with his eyes as his nose rested lightly against my own. Slowly against his touch I let myself nod, it was all he needed. His lips met mine roughly as his hand snaked around my back clutching me firmly to his hard chest.
My heart hammered frantically against his leather clad body as he claimed my lips leaving his sweet taste lingering on my soft sensitive skin. Again and again without break for a breath he captured my lips until I kissed him back. It was everything I could have imagined it to be as I crushed my lips against the man I had known so long but never truly understood. This was not the boy I had met more than five years ago this was the man who made my heart flutter and who left me breathless with the softest touches of his lips.
He pulled away from me slowly, resting his head on my forehead. The assault on my senses had barely even begun to disappear when he lips found mine once more in a blissfully sweet touch that left me even more breathless than the first. The leather between us crinkled and rubbed at our closeness but neither of us cared as I brought my hand up to his hair letting my fingers feel the softness of it underneath them.
Once more he captured my lips and my hands ran roughly through his hair, pulling him closer with a moan that tumbled from my tender lips. He kissed the sound away as my finger dug roughly against him, aching just to close that last breath of space that was non-existent. Each soft tentative kiss was passionate, delicious and utterly lust filled.
“Do you believe me now Ellie?” Jake whispered. His eyes were open now as he rested so softly against me, our noses barely brushing.
“Yes,” I breathed as my heart hammered, just one of the signs that told me I needed him and that he needed me.
“Looks like sometimes change can be a good thing,” Jake laughed and it was the sweet carefree laugh that I loved.
“Change tore us apart once,” I said sadly, remembering the time so long ago when I had said goodbye to the boy I barely knew thinking I would never see him again.
“It brought us back together and this is so much more Ellie,” the man before me said softly in a voice that told me everything would be ok and that together we could do this, we could make it work.
“Stay with me?” I whispered and like the first time I could barely believe my words.
“Always Ellie, always,” he breathed and before anymore could be said I pressed my lips against his knowing that it wouldn’t be the last time.
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The day was only just beginning and yet here I was stood in silence with my dad staring at me. It wasn’t that nice kind of loving stare, it was the kind of stare that I had seen a thousand times before, the stare that said without need of words ‘do what I want or there will be trouble’. It was engraved on his face, etched into the creases and it was, to my increasing annoyance, working. Being so early in the morning and with my coffee growing steadily colder my willpower was somewhat minimal in any instance, to a rational mind it was probably a stroke of genius to bring the subject up now when there was little chance I would be able to work myself out of it.
But still, as it was, I tried. “I don’t want to,” I groaned. It was a childish remark, I was more than aware of that but it was my last line of defence. The usual excuses I had pulled out hadn’t gone any way to working so I was stuck with the basics. If I had followed it up by sticking my tongue out at him I could have easily reverted my twenty year old self back to a toddler.
Of course, it didn’t work. “I don’t care,” my dad retorted and with three words I knew that the decision had been made for me, I was going to have to go to work with my step-brother.
“Fine,” I mumbled, with a sour sip of my cold coffee, “what makes you think he even wants me there anyway?”
The truth was I knew absolutely nothing about my step-brother; I hadn’t even met the man. My dad’s stare weakened a little and it actually looked as though he may smile. “He’s looking forward to it,” he said.
I looked sceptically back at him, doubting every word. If I didn’t want to tag along with him to work then I definitely didn’t believe that he would want me there. “Sure,” I responded sarcastically.
This was all some ridiculous attempt at a bonding exercise, one I was very sure wouldn’t pay off for me at least “What does he do anyway?” I asked, releasing only now that I didn’t actually know.
My step mum chose that moment to walk into the kitchen, it had only been a couple days since she had moved in and I was far from used to her being here. I didn’t hate her, it wasn’t like we were in a fairy tale where she was the evil step-mother; at the end of the day just like with her son, I didn’t know her. “He works with animals,” she gushed, answering my question before my dad even had chance to.
My dad smiled at his wife, if there was one thing I couldn’t disagree with it was that as a couple they worked well. “You like animals right Lucy?” my dad said, clearly happy now the argument had diffused.
“I suppose,” I said with a shrug, who didn’t like animals? Now that we had a spectator I didn’t want to push it any further, as I knew I would I had relented to my fate of spending the day with a stranger.
My step mum handed me a fresh cup of coffee with a shy smile, clearly neither of us were comfortable yet. “You’ll have fun with Dominic; he’s looking forward to meeting you,” she said with a smile.
I took the drink gratefully, cradling it in my hand as I looked between the two people now staring at me, feeling very much out-numbered. The man, Dominic, was twenty three and worked with animals, it wasn’t much information to really go on. “I guess,” I replied as nicely as possible, it was obvious she was proud of her mysterious son, the son that was set to arrive any minute.
Silence descended on the small room as nobody dared to break the fragile strands of peace that had formed. I had relented and I could tell nobody wanted to put that in jeopardy so in awkward silence, occasionally broken by the sipping of a drink, we stood. Minutes passed and finally, although I would never have thought I would be grateful for it, the doorbell went off.
I was the first to move, desperate to get out of the current, less than ideal, situation as quickly as possible. The doorbell rang again as I opened the door ready to hug whoever it was that had unknowingly spared me from the fate of the kitchen. “Thank you,” I breathed as the door flew open.
Two perplexed green eyes greeted me, two bright irises’ that I did not recognise. I stalled, trying to place them; my own eyes locked on the unusual shimmering colour. The face that owned the eyes was smiling, it was only a slight smile but it made his eyes come alive. Short brown hair barely brushed over them as they stared back at me.
“Hello?” I said curiously, not really intending the word to come out as a question.
The smile shifted into a smirk and I felt my cheeks flare. “Lucy I assume,” the man said casually.
I frowned at the sarcastic humour that laced his words. “Yes,” I said, a little unsurely, wishing I knew more about the man at my door.
He stepped forwards and I stumbled backwards automatically. “I’m Dominic,” he said with a twist of his lips.
I stared wide-eyed, I hadn’t been expecting much, really I hadn’t even begun to expect anything at all and I knew that had been my downfall and the cause of my less than welcoming persona. Dominic was watching me, waiting I was sure for another stupid remark, something that was becoming second nature this morning it seemed. Ignoring the amusement in his eyes and the smirk that graced his lips I gave him my best smile. “Hello Dominic,” I said kindly. I hoped it would wipe the smirk off of his face, of course though it only made it worse.
Chapter Two
I eyed Dominic suspiciously when I was sure he wasn’t looking at me, which didn’t seem to be often enough. From where he stood talking to his mom I could just about make out the collar of his white shirt, barely concealed by his leather jacket, he was far too smartly dressed to simply ‘work with animals’. Something about him didn’t sit right with me and I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what that was. He brushed his hair away from his eyes as he spoke and I knew I was over thinking things, finding something suspicious in an otherwise ordinary situation.
My dad turned to me for the first time since Dominic had arrived and I felt the conversation go dead around me. “I said, are you ready to go?” my dad asked loudly.
I shook my head, realising I had pretty much tuned everything out up until now. “Yeah,” I said quickly, coming to my senses before anyone else could realise something was wrong.
My dad smiled none the wiser but from behind him I could see Dominic smirking, clearly not so easy to miss my hesitance. “Great, let’s go,” Dominic said with a little too much enthusiasm, nobody but me seemed to notice.
I followed Dominic back out of the house, visibly less happy about the situation than he was; in fact it looked as though he would break out into a jog. The fluttering in my stomach told me that I didn’t want to be by myself with him; it told me that nothing good would come out of the day. All too soon though the door shut leaving us outside and very much by ourselves, in an instant I wished I could have come up with a better reason to stay home.
I ran my fingers through my blonde hair as Dominic started walking down the street, with my options pretty limited I went against my better judgement and jogged after him. “So, you work with animals?” I questioned as casually as possible when I reached his side; I hoped that we may just be able to make this at least cope-able.
Dominic stopped mid-step, a smirk on his face. He bit his lip, obviously trying to keep back that laughed than danced across his features. “About that…” he started, with a chuckle he failed to contain.
Dread filled me as quickly as he had spoken, I had known I was right; his amusement took away the happiness of the victory though and annoyingly I was a little intrigued. “What?” I asked, urging him to continue.
“Well I don’t exactly work with animals,” he said with another chuckle. I watched as he brushed his hair away from his face and I couldn’t help but to smile.
“Then where do you work?” I asked slowly, unsure if I actually dared to know or not, if he had kept it hidden then I doubted it would be good.
Dominic twisted on his heels and started walking again making me rush to keep up. “That’s a secret, for now at least,” he answered finally.
Internally I groaned, wondering exactly what it was I had gotten myself in for. “Seriously, you’re not going to tell me?” I exclaimed.
“Nope,’ he said, popping the ‘p’ in a way that made me frown.
“Fantastic,” I groaned as I quickened my pace to stay by his side, unsure of actually why I was bothering.
“It’s good to hear that you’re excited,” he laughed.
“Oh I’m completely ecstatic,” I sighed sarcastically.
Dominic turned to me with a grin on his face, stopping so suddenly that I almost crashed into him. I shot him a glare but he barely noticed as he looked back at me, his previous amusement having gone and excitement taking its place. “This is our stop,” he explained when I made to walk past him.
“What do you mean?” I asked confused, we were in the middle of the street.
Hesitantly I followed his gaze to the shiny black bike parked on the side of the road. My mouth dried as I dared to look back at him, hoping above all else he was teasing me; I could not get on a motorbike. “I even brought you a helmet,” he grinned, holding up a spare black helmet, one of the ones that had been resting on the seat.
“No,” I stated, there was no way I was going with him on that thing, nobody had said anything about a motorbike. It was a good looking motorbike but still it was a bike.
“So little trust,” Dominic sighed “I didn’t think you would be scared,” he added with a mischievous grin.
“I’m not,” I exclaimed despite knowing I was clearly playing right into his hands.
“Good,” he said, “then on you get,” he chuckled.
Before I could understand what he meant I was in the air, guided by Dominic’s hands. I was air born for a matter of seconds before I landed roughly on the leather of the bike seat and a jacket was being tossed in my direction. I scrambled for the leather jacket and as the bike rocked beneath me I knew my worst fears were being realised and all at the hands of sarcastically charming Dominic. He was, as he climbed onto the bike with a cheeky grin, far too charming for his own good.
Chapter Three
Fearing for my life I clung to Dominic with everything I had, there was only one way to describe riding on a motorbike and that was completely and utterly terrifying. I barely allowed myself a second to look at the road as it flew beneath us and a second was far too long. My knuckles were white as I tried to hold on to as much of Dominic’s leather clad body as possible but even the handful was not enough to make me feel safe. However much I clasped my eyes shut or imagined I was anywhere else the ride was still sickening. I had avoided motorbikes for good reason it seemed and that was because they were horrid in every sense of the word.
I didn’t know how much time had passed before the bike slowed to a stop but I was so grateful that the air had stopped whipping at me that I didn’t care in the slightest. “You know the bike has stopped right?” Dominic asked his voice actually audible now the roaring engine had cut out.
It took me a moment but slowly I let my eyes flutter open, still partially terrified that we would somehow be still moving. Sure enough though there was solid ground beneath us, ground that thankfully wasn’t moving anymore. “Of course,” I grumbled, speaking too late for even myself to believe it.
“Fantastic,” Dominic exclaimed, “then would you ever so kindly let go of me,” he said, his voice void of humour.
I looked at my hands and how tightly they were wrapped around him. With a gasp I released my hold on him, he was only free for a second before the bike lurched and my hands were back around him. With a sigh Dominic pulled me off of him but too my relief kept hold of me. His hands cupped mine with a softness that was far from expected and slowly he pulled us off the bike without letting it rock anymore.
As soon as my feet hit the ground I took a deep breath and knowing I was safe, let my body relax. The heat coursing through Dominic’s hand went someway, more than I would care to admit, to soothing me. It was a constant, the pressure, the warmth, it was more pleasurable than I might like. His touch kept us close and even without words it was a comforting kind of closeness. “So what did you think?” Dominic asked excitedly.
With a frown I glared up at him, surely he had noticed my body was still shaking. “It was horrible,” I stated bluntly, not even attempting to sugar coat it.
Dominic smiled widely, not even a little fazed by my admittance. “I would have to agree with you,” he said with a slightly chuckle.
My brow furrowed in confusion. “I thought you liked motorbikes?” I questioned, only realising how stupid it sounded when it was out of my mouth.
Dominic laughed louder now, not sparing any thought for my own embarrassment. “Of course I do but do you realise how hard it is to actually enjoy the ride when the passenger is trying to kill you?” he asked, his voice drenched with sarcasm.
The red in my cheeks deepened and I looked down at the floor. “Well it’s your own fault, I told you I didn’t want to get on that thing,” I muttered. I felt guilty for holding on so tight but I would never admit that, especially not to him.
“It’s not a thing,” he said quickly and the spark of annoyance in his voice actually brought a smile to my flushed cheeks.
“If you say so,” I grinned, finally looking back up at him.
We were shockingly close, something I hadn’t quite fully realised before. His hands were still on mine, still unknowingly bringing comfort to my now slightly less terror stricken body. “Well next time will be much better I’m sure,” he laughed, the smile coming back to his face.
