Stepbrother Studs Kevin: A Stepbrother Romance (2 page)

She nodded, beyond fatigued and hugely relieved that he didn’t want to get into heavy stuff until she’d rested.

“Arms up.”

She cooperated in a daze as he gently tugged her top over her head, then helped her balance as she undid her jeans and stepped out of them. She stood in black panties and bra, shivering a little as he bent down to the bed and grabbed one of his own grey tanks. His fingertips brushed her arms as he helped her get it on. Her breathing picked up a notch as he rested his hands on her hips, breathing hard into her hair. She felt his short, soft beard brush her head and trembled as his thumbs stroked her sides, his fingers wrapping round her back.

“What we gonna do with you, huh?” he murmured.

“I don’t know.” Honest answer—he was standing awful close. Really, distractingly close and she didn’t want him to move. She wanted those huge arms wrapped around the small of her back, pulling her against him so she could rest her face in the side of his neck.

“Okay, in you get.” Kevin dropped a kiss on her head and stepped back, jerking his head up to the pillow end.

She clambered in, luxuriating in the cool, clean sheets, longing to curl up against him and drift off in the cloud of his protective warmth. He turned down the dimmer on the bedside lamp and headed for the door, leaving her feeling bereft.

“What about you?” She bolted upright again, disappointment crashing through her.

“The couch is good.”

“You leaving me again?”

“I came out to help you tonight!” The tenderness in his face drained right out, replaced with the blaze of anger she’d seen in the parking lot. “Where d’you get off accusing me of leaving you ‘again’?”

“No, I didn’t mean—” Tears burned her eyes.

“I drop everything to help you
every damn time!
”

And he really let her know about it—every damn time.

She snapped upright. “The only time I
ever
see you is when I have to ask you for something! You never want to be around me!”

“Well, are you surprised? You act like five-foot-three of pure snark, you don’t seem to give a crap about what happens to you anymore, and you sure don’t give a crap about what’s going on in anyone else’s life!”

“I do!”

“Really? When did you last asked how my job was going? If I’d met anyone?”

He had a point, there. Evie crumpled a little.

“And you’re so fuckin’ unpredictable—we seem to get along fine for a while, then you say something about me having to leave home! I can’t deal with you throwing that in my face all the time.
I had to go.
It wasn’t for shits or giggles or to abandon you—it was so I could fucking breathe! Don’t you get that?”

“Of course I fucking do!” She felt like hurling something through the window. “You of all people know what Ned’s like! I couldn’t breathe there without you, so why are you always riding me about moving out and earning my own way?”

“I don’t give you a hard time about that.”

“You
really
do. Like your comment earlier about how I look after work? You couldn’t have made me feel smaller or sluttier if you’d tried.”

“I get the moving out part.” Kevin sighed and sat heavily on the side of the bed next to her. “I’m just struggling with the choice-of-job part. But whenever I try talking to you about the clientele there, you act like I’m giving you the third degree. You know how worry can grind you down? Well… I’ve been doing a lot of it, and I don’t know how much longer I can handle it. You’ve got to let me in, Evie.”

He put his hand over hers. “Why check out of life the way you have? You’ve been acting like some stupid kid these last six months and you’re anything but. You’re super-smart. You were acing school!”

“It’s hard not to act like…” Evie felt the sobs rising faster than she could push them back. “Some stupid kid… when that’s the only way I’m treat—”

“Hey! Oh hell, I didn’t mean…”

As Kevin wrapped his arms round her, the need to cry took over completely.

She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t mad at him for having to leave—she was mad at him for leaving her behind so completely once he’d moved out. She let it all go, looping her arms round his neck and holding on like she’d wanted to for months. It seemed an eternity until she was able to sit up and wipe her face dry.

“It’s your fault I quit school.” She sniffed.

“Huh?”

“I mean… I was acing it because you were so… so proud of me. You asked so many questions, you were so interested, I had to keep up. Then…” She met his eyes. “When you left home, that stopped. Ned put such pressure on me to keep up the grades, but...”

“Sounds like him. You should’ve heard him the time I pointed out that life was a wilderness and that there really were no rules. He nearly went apeshit. Only time I’ve ever been scared of my old man.” Kevin gave a nervous chuckle and squeezed her hand. “It’s true, though. If vet work isn’t for you, we need to figure out what is. And it has to be something that doesn’t involve another four years of asphyxiating pressure.”

She nodded tearfully, looking over at the Kevin she’d missed, the guy who looked out for her and understood exactly what was going on in her head. At nearly thirty, he was only six years older but could get through to her gently and directly in a way that guys her own age just couldn’t master. The Kevin she missed made her feel special and capable. Lovable. Evie took a deep breath.

“You’re the only one that gets me, you know? I got mad because I missed you
so
much.”

“Missed you, too.” Kevin walked round the bed, got his legs under the covers and stretched out next to her, pulling her back to his front, and laying her down till her face was on his bicep. “This is going to get a little cramped, right?”

Evie felt his heat press through the borrowed tank top and luxuriated in it, soaking in the feeling of safety. She held onto the arms wrapping round her, grateful for how heavy her eyelids felt. “I’m not cramped.”

“Good. Looks like we need to get to know each other all over again. We’ll start tomorrow. Now get some sleep.”

She drifted off slowly between snatches of half-dreams, ranging from a total re-write of his furious rescue in the parking lot, to one where she turned to face him in bed and got to know him so intimately that she was just aware of sticky heat between her legs as sleep finally claimed her.

* * * *

She stirred, feeling that safe heat behind her gone. A light squeeze on her shoulder tugged her towards the land of the living and an awareness of the dryness in her mouth from the Patron last night. Crap. She should’ve drunk more water.

“Evie?” Kevin’s voice was low and quiet in her ear. “Time to get up.”

She squinted through the gap between the curtains. Either there was no gap or it was still dark, which meant it was awful o’clock. “Lemme ’lone.”

“Up.”

“Wha—hey!” She struggled pointlessly as he scooped her out of bed and onto her feet. She wiped her hands down her face, knowing she must look like hell. “Kevin, it’s
Sunday
!”

“Yep. I’ve got stuff to do, and you’re coming with me.” He pushed a soft towel into her hands. “Hit the shower, then pull on the clothes I put on the bed. You can sleep in the jeep. Joel’s dealing with your car, so don’t worry about that.”

Evie showered, pulled on the shorts and tank top on the bed, and climbed reluctantly into the truck.

She didn’t wake up again until they were driving past Dawsonville. She moaned quietly into her palms until the pick-up slowed and then looked out the window. They’d arrived at a trail head.
She clambered out with minimum grace and grabbed the backpack Kevin handed her.

He raised a brow at her and pulled on a pack about three times the size of hers. “Smile.”

“No.” Her snappy little response embarrassed her, but it was good to feel she still had some spirit after last night’s emotional free-for-all. “Where are we?”

He grinned and flicked his forefinger up at a sign by the trail head.

She felt a long, deep whine rise up from her heart as she saw the AT sign by the side of the path, pointing into the forest. “You’re making me do the Appalachian Trail? Really?”

“‘Do’ it?” Kevin burst out laughing. “Do you have any idea how long the AT is?”

“How far are you making me walk?”

“Not saying. I don’t want to hear any advance-bitching.”

She scowled. “Kevin, if I knew what you were planning, I’d have started the bitching in the shower. Why the evil hike?”

“I want to show you something. Now, move.”

* * * *

She didn’t know how far they’d gone before her body started to unwind—her cell phone said it was nearly midday, but she didn’t think she could’ve been walking that long. Kevin kept pace with her, not talking but occasionally helping her up an incline made treacherous by sliding grit, or stopping her gently before she put her foot down on an ankle-snapping gap in the path. It was the longest comfortable silence she’d ever enjoyed. Even their silent lunch in a shadowed glade was nice.

Soon after two, Kevin stopped by one of the AT huts and pulled hammer and a little plastic baggie of nails from his backpack. “I’ll be just a minute.”

He had the loose plank secured in what seemed like ten seconds.

She held his bag open for him while he put the tools back. “You know, Mom’s secretly proud about the whole outdoor-champion, smoke-jumping thing.”

“Really?” He blinked. “I thought she hated it as much as Dad!”

“No, she just worries about mom-things.”

“Like me parachuting right into a fire?”

“No, like you spraining your ankle and being unable to hop home after putting the fire out.”

The deep, rich amusement in Kevin’s laugh bolstered her. She turned to look at him, seeing the smile go all the way to his eyes. His teeth weren’t model-white but looked super-clean and beautiful against his tan skin. He had blunted-off eye teeth that showed when he grinned broadly. She hadn’t seen him do that for a while. Well, not because of anything she’d said, anyway.

“How are your legs doing?” He reached for her hand. “Got another couple of miles in the tank?”

She felt like her legs might fall off, but to see pride in his eyes again, she’d walk another ten miles, even if she was running on fumes at the end. “I’m good.”

“Atta girl. See? This is the sweet, charming, beautiful girl I remember.”

She blushed and squeezed his hand, hoping he’d keep hold of it.

He squeezed back. “All right, let’s walk through the leg-ache. It’s the first rule of the wilderness, you know. It feels better inside if you make things just a
little
difficult for yourself, but win anyway.”

She glowed inside as he kept hold of her, walking them both up the trail. Actually she felt like she was quite an expert at making things hard for herself, but this kind of physical stretch-out was doing wonders at letting light back in. She might come out here with him more often.

* * * *

He finally declared it was time to stop and camp about ten seconds before she was about to drop to his feet and beg for mercy. She half-collapsed on a rock, stretching her legs out and toeing off her shoes. He rolled his eyes with a grin and started gathering small stones and brush for a fire.

“Evie, you still smoking?”

She whistled innocently up to the sky, making him laugh.

“I’m not gonna ride your ass about it, I just want to know if you have a lighter.”

She dug one out of her pocket and handed it over.

“Thanks. It’s easier than using my flint.”

She stretched her legs out in front, enjoying the gentle, late afternoon sun on her shins. It would be even nicer if the sun gave her a little color.

There was plenty of color on Kevin. His muscles flowed smoothly under tan, velvet skin as he lit a stick and stuck it into the middle of the brush pile. He was hunkered almost double but there was barely a wrinkle across his waist. He was solid and taut. Between his two jobs, he must’ve trimmed his body fat down to something like twenty percent. His bronze beard glowed in the setting sun, looking almost blond. She watched as long, strong—and apparently fireproof—fingers poked and pulled strands of smouldering brush on top of the blaze until the flames were being pulled up through the fuel pile. She imagined those fingers trailing up her inner thigh and had to look away. She didn’t have long to compose herself before feeling a nudge at her arm. She turned to see him handing the lighter back.

“Wasn’t that cheating?”

“Second rule of the wilderness—don’t make things
unnecessarily
hard for yourself.”

She giggled and threw a twig at him.

Dinner was basic and came out of his backpack. As she sipped the soup and tore off mouthfuls of bread, she confessed she’d worried at one point that their evening meal would involve her stalking and killing some of the wildlife.

It took Kevin about twenty minutes to stop laughing at her, and she was ready to stalk and kill him by the time he was done with his spontaneous snorts. But then he looped his arm around her neck as the sun set. She snuggled up to him, unable to remember how long it’d been since she felt this peaceful.