Stepbrother Catfish: The Complete Series (19 page)

“It’s a surprise,” Andrew answers with a smirk.

“I hate surprises,” I sigh and look out the window.

The lights of the city streak past in a technicolor blur. I have no clue what time it is, but it must be late.

“I hope you don’t hate this one,” Andrew says, his voice softer now.

I turn in my seat to look at him, watching him as he drives. He looks so determined, so focused on what he’s doing, I doubt he’s even aware I’m staring.

He’s so damn beautiful, especially here, in the shadows of his car. The headlights of the passing cars flash, lighting up his face. My eyes drink him up.

He told me I need to stop caring about what people think. Is such a thing even possible? How do you even live like that? Does he live like that? For him, it must not be that hard. He has money. He has cars. He has girls… When we were working together in the office, it seemed he had it all.

“Tiffany told me she was a prostitute and you paid her for sex.”

“What?!” Andrew says angrily. He rips his eyes from the road to look at me. “I have never had to pay for sex.”

“Are you sure about that?” I ask and bite my lip to keep from smirking.

Andrew glances at the road then narrows his eyes at me. “The day I have to pay for sex is the day I’m no longer a man.”

“You tried to pay me, remember?” I feel the need to remind him.

“Fuck,” Andrew curses softly, as if just remembering. “I guess I have to hand over my man card.”

I laugh and soon Andrew joins me. I’m still giggling when he finally pulls over and parks next to a curb.

“What’s this?” I ask as I peer out the window.

The street is dark. It looks like we’re parked in front of a row of shops, but they’re all obviously closed at this time of night.

“You’ll see,” Andrew says ominously and climbs out of the car.

He comes around and opens my door for me. My eyes scan the street as he helps me out. Everything is dark and closed, and very creepy. If I was alone, I’d avoid this area. Who knows what’s hiding in the shadows.

I have no idea why we’re here. I look to Andrew, he seems tense. What is he up to? Does he have yet another secret that is going to break my heart?

The door shuts behind me then the car beeps twice, locked.

Andrew offers me his arm and leads me to the shop directly in front of us. Because it’s so dark, it’s not until we’re standing directly in front of the shops glass door that I see that whatever was painted on the windows has been scraped off. Not only is this shop closed, but it also appears to be out of business.

“Um, I don’t think they’re open,” I say. “Maybe we should come back later.”

“It’s alright,” Andrew reassures me then pulls a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocks the door.

He pushes the door open and leads me into the darkness. “The lights should be around here…”

The lights turn on and I’m momentarily blinded as my eyes adjust.

“There, that’s better. What do you think?”

I blink. My eyes sting but after a few seconds my surroundings come into focus. I see a counter with a cash register and a couple of garden style tables with chairs. There’s also a large glass display case and an empty cooler. Everything is dusty but otherwise newish and clean.

“Why did you bring me here?” I turn on Andrew.

Andrew ignores me. He walks around the counter, heading for the back. “Come look at what’s back here.”

Is this a bakery? It sure looks like a bakery. I swear I can still smell the faint hint of cookies, and I have a nose for cookies. I walk around the counter and follow after Andrew.

Andrew walks up to a large stainless steel oven, there’s two of them, and pulls open the double doors. He peers inside at the five spotless racks then glances over his shoulder at me. “Come, tell me what you think.”

“Why?” I ask as I approach him.

He takes a step back, giving me room to look. I take a quick peek inside the oven, at the moment I’m not really interested in it, then look back to Andrew.

“Do you like it?” he asks.

“I guess so,” I answer tentatively. “What are you planning on doing with it? Is this your new venture?”

Andrew shakes his head and then comes forward. He grabs my hand and before I understand what he’s doing, he pushes a key into my palm. He closes my fingers around the key and smiles, “It’s yours.”

“Mine?” I repeat. “How?”

“I’m giving it to you.”

“I can’t accept this.” I reach for his hand. I want to give the key back, but he takes a step back and holds his hands up in the air.

“It’s too late now. It’s yours. You hold the key.”

“No. You can’t just give me a bakery….” I take a step forward. He takes a step back. My, how the tables have turned.

“I can and I did.”

I narrow my eyes, “What if I don’t want it?”

Andrew clutches a hand to his chest, “Then you’ll break my heart.”

“Seriously, Andrew,” I whine.

“Seriously, Hailey,” he smirks at me.

Oh, I just want to stomp my foot so bad. Who does he think he is? Just giving me a bakery.

“You can’t do this to me.” I open my fingers, look at the key, and seriously consider chucking it at his head. “You can’t just buy me a bakery.” I take a deep breath, his lips open as if he’s going to speak and I hold up my hand to stop him. “You can’t
buy
me.”

“I’m not trying to buy you,” he says defensively.

“It sure looks that way.”

Andrew shakes his head, “I don’t care how it looks. That’s not what this is.”

“Then what is this?” I press.

Andrew’s eyes flash, “You want to know what this is?”

I nod my head, “Yeah, I wanna know what this is.”

Andrew moves so fast, I don’t realize what’s happening until it’s already happened. His hands grab me. He pulls me into him. He grabs me by the back of the head and kisses me deeply, thrusting his tongue into my mouth. I’m shocked, I’m completely unprepared. There is no resistance. He kisses me, his tongue swirling, his lips sucking. My god, it feels like he’s literally trying to swallow me. I grab at him, holding on. Just trying to survive the kiss without melting into a gooey puddle on the floor.

He pulls away. My lips feel tingly, swollen. He grins, obviously pleased with himself. “This, Hailey, is me giving the woman I love what she wants. Haven’t you always wanted your own bakery? Didn’t you skip college to work for this?”

I blink at him. So much blood has rushed from my head to… other places, my brain isn’t completely functioning. “Yes?”

“Then what’s the problem?”

I frown, “I’m not sure I can afford the price.”

Andrew’s hands squeeze me and he growls, “You don’t have to pay me anything. It’s yours, free of charge.”

“Why?” Why is he giving this place to me? People don’t just buy each other bakeries, even rich people. He has to want something in return.

Andrew leans his head down, pressing his forehead against mine. He sighs, “Because I can. Because I love you.”

“That’s it?” I still can’t believe it. This is all too good to be true. Life just isn’t good to me like this. There’s always a catch. I want to believe him. I so want to, but I’m afraid to.

Andrew chuckles, “That’s it. I love you. I love you, Hailey!” His hands squeeze me again. “If you don’t like it, then we’ll trade it in for one you do like. But I’m not taking it back.”

I stare into his eyes, searching for the slightest hint that he’s being dishonest. That he expects something in return. His eyes meet mine back. He looks utterly serious. As far as I can tell, he’s being completely truthful.

“I don’t know what to say,” I choke out. My throat is involuntarily constricting.

The last thing I see before squeezing my eyes shut to keep from crying is Andrew smiling.

“You don’t have to say anything,” he says softly.

But I do. It would be rude as fuck not to. “Thank you,” I say and open my eyes after a take a minute.

“You’re welcome,” Andrew smiles at me.

I lift up on my tiptoes and place a kiss on his lips. He kisses me back and before I know it, we’re practically tearing each other’s clothes off.

The kiss starts as a
thank you
kiss. A light pressing of the lips meant only to show my appreciation for the gift he has given me. A gift I’ll never be able to repay him for. A gift I would never ask him for. But it quickly turns into something else.

Andrew starts to kiss me back as if my chaste little kiss just isn’t enough. He growls in the back of his throat. His teeth graze across my bottom lip and his tongue slips in and out of my mouth.

I moan and the kiss becomes frantic. He bites and licks at me. His hands start to roam across my dress.

“God, I’ve missed you,” Andrew growls and slides the strap of my dress off my shoulder.

I shiver. He’s so hot. Especially his mouth. Especially his soft lips. He kisses his way across my shoulder, pulls my head to the side, and then kisses his way up my neck. I can’t take it. There, on my neck, the skin is so sensitive. It’s like there’s a live wire connecting my neck directly to my sex.

He suckles hard, so hard I know he’s going to leave a mark, and my muscles jerk involuntarily as if I was just shocked. As if, by his mouth alone, I was just electrocuted. I moan. I feel a warm rush of wetness. My hand opens, I’m not sure when. All I know is that Andrew stops. He stops kissing me, dammit when we hear the sound of the key clinking against the floor.

“Not here.” Andrew pulls away. “Not like this.”

His breathing is ragged. His dark eyes are bright, burning with lust. He bends down and picks the key off the floor.

Why not here? I almost ask. I’m dazed. All I want to do is grab hold of Andrew and shove my own tongue down his throat.

Then I take a good look around as Andrew straightens. Everything is dusty, hard and cold. He keeps ahold of the key and grabs me by the arm. If we’re really going to take this further… Oh my, god, what am I doing? Can I do this?

I press my lips together and don’t protest as Andrew leads me to the front door. I’m too distracted by all the thoughts swirling around inside my head to speak a word.  We just came so close. If I hadn’t dropped the key, if Andrew hadn’t stopped us, would I have slept with him? By the deep ache throbbing inside me, I’m pretty sure I would have.

I love him. I still love him. I always have. I always will. When I touch him, something magical happens. The last time we were physically together, it felt as if we connected on some deep kind of metaphysical level. If Tiffany hadn’t showed up, if she hadn’t brought her crazy shit into the mix, where would we be now?

We step outside and Andrew turns around to lock the door. I peek around nervously, watching the shadows. Once the door is locked, Andrew grabs me by the hand this time and leads me to his car.

Two beeps and the lights flash, the doors unlock. I slide into the car and buckle myself in. Andrew comes around, hops in and doesn’t bother even with his own seatbelt before shifting the stick into gear.

We’re off. Racing towards something, probably Andrew’s apartment. Now would be the time to tell him to turn around and to take me back home. Now would be the time to tell him I can’t do this. I can’t go through with this. But I must be crazy. All the stuff that’s happened tonight must have fucked up my head.

I look over at him, he’s completely focused on the road. I place my hand on Andrew’s thigh. I feel him tense, his chest stops moving. I’m pretty sure he just stopped breathing. I slide my hand upwards, almost to the bulge in his pants but not quite. I tighten my fingers and I squeeze. I watch with pleasure as his eyes widen in surprise. A moment later he shoots a hot look at me.

“What are you doing, Hailey?” he asks me.

What am I doing? I’m remembering Andrew slide his thick, hard length in and out of my soaked sheathe. I’m remembering staring into his eyes. I’m remembering watching what’s hidden inside him crack and break as he came.

“I’m just continuing with what we started in the bakery.”

He has to look at the road, but every chance he gets, he’s shooting hot, hungry glances at me.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish,” he says huskily.

My fingers dance up. I know exactly what I’m doing. I don’t want to stop. I just want to go. I want to touch, feel, and taste. I need Andrew inside me. I need to experience what we had before. I need to connect with him on that soul bonding level.

Everything that’s happened tonight, it’s like all the ropes, all the lies that bound me have been cut free. The pain, there’s no more need for pain so it’s turned into something else. It’s turned into a white hot burning need.

Andrew brings the car to a stop at a red light. He shifts the gear into park, twists in his seat, and falls upon me. Hot mouth, roaming hands. I’m on fire, burning everywhere he touches me. I can’t breathe. He kisses me so deeply, so completely, there’s no time to think. Tongue meets tongue. Body hits body. He’s pressing into my side. I can feel his hardness stabbing me.