Swagger: A Stepbrother Romance (5 page)

Chapter 6

Zach

“You’re getting home rather late.” She looked down at her watch, it was 5am. “Or would that be early? Did you sneak out before she woke up so you wouldn’t need to have that awkward conversation?” She gave me a smug look as if to say ‘I told you so.’

Oh fuck
, I groaned inwardly. Of all the mornings for her to be up early she picked this one. My hope was to get myself a glass of milk and head to bed, I really didn’t expect to find her sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal. “For your information, I didn’t pick up last night.”

“Bullshit.” She sounded bitter and jealous, or maybe that was just my imagination.

“Jealous?” Ah fuck, why did that have to come out of my mouth? I decided to blame a combination of alcohol and lack of sleep for my loose lips. I went to the fridge and grabbed the carton of milk, not really wanting a response.

“Hardly. It’s your dick.”

Taking a deep breath in I slowly released it, turning to face her, suddenly feeling the need to sort this out once and for all. I didn’t like that she had this low impression of me, it shouldn’t matter and perhaps at one point in my life it wouldn’t, but it did now.

“For your information I was with Grant. You remember Grant.” She nodded. “We hung out at Crowe’s Bar for a couple of hours and ended up running into a couple of friends.” When the smug smile returned to her lips I added, “Male friends. We all got talking about ping pong for some reason and one thing led to another.”

“Ping pong?” she scrunched her nose up at me as if that was the craziest thing in the world. “One thing led to another?”

“We found ourselves at the Wal-Mart
,
bought a ping pong table, set it up at Grant’s place and had a ping pong drinking party. Last man to not pass out was declared the ping pong champion.”

“You mean beer pong, right?”

“No, I mean ping pong. Table, net, little white ball and paddles. Ping pong.”

Her face went blank for a moment. I wasn’t sure if she thought I was full of shit or the biggest loser that had ever walked the face of the earth. When she burst out laughing, I realized it was the latter.

“What?”

“Ohmygod! That’s a little pathetic. Actually a lot pathetic and I know pathetic, I didn’t have much of a social life all through high school.”

I was slightly insulted, but at the same time curious. I’d always wondered why she seemed such a recluse. Admittedly, I didn’t really live with her until now. I’d been out of the house by the time her and her mother moved in but whenever I came to visit and on the occasional time when I needed a place to crash I’d noticed she never seemed to leave the house, her room more specifically. It had always struck me as unusual, especially for someone as good looking as she was. I would have thought she’d have had guys pounding down her door.

“Now that you bring it up.” Grabbing a box of cereal and a bowl, I sat down across from her at the kitchen table and prepared myself a bowl of Corn Flakes. “What’s with you and the lack of a social life? I swear you’re the oldest eighteen-year-old ever.”

She shrugged and spooned another mouthful of cereal into her mouth. “I had more important things to focus on.”

“Like?” Wasn’t high school all about socialization and clubs and having fun? Isn’t that what being a teenager was all about?

“Princeton. Getting in and getting good grades. Getting a scholarship.”

“Did you get a scholarship?”

Her expression turned sad and I regretted the question. “No.”

“Then you get a student loan.” I shrugged. Easy-peasy. Problem solved.

“Even if I got one, but how in the hell would I ever be able to pay all that back? I could take out a small loan maybe, but certainly not enough for a Princeton education. I want to live on campus and tuition is pricy. Mom and Frank don’t have enough money to help out, and Mom just told me she had to spend that the college fund my father put away for me.”

“Oh.” I looked down at my bowl of cereal, pushing the flakes down and under the milk. “So you’re going to take a year or two off, or…”

“Nope.” A look of determination replaced the one of sorrow. “I’m going to Princeton. I didn’t sacrifice my social life to skip a year or go to some second-rate community college.”

“It’s just a year or two, you’re still young.”

Her eyes narrowed at me, as if I were the enemy and the one standing in the way of her dreams. “I will not change my plans. I will get the money.”

“How?”

“I have a plan.” She smiled and shrugged.

Now she had me really curious. I didn’t know the exact costs of an education like that, but I guessed it would be pretty damned hard to come up with whatever it cost in four months.

“You’re not going to become a stripper or something are you?”

She hesitated, just for a second, but I noticed a distinct hesitation. I didn’t like it – not one bit – thinking about Tia bumping and grinding on some stranger’s lap left a bad taste in my mouth. Not that I had anything against strippers. Hell, I’d frequented a club a time or two myself. But this was Tia, my stepsister. “I swear to God, if I ever see you teasing the dick of some pervert I’ll…”

Her eyes narrowed at me again. “You’ll what?”

With a sigh, I forced myself to calm down. “I want better for you than that. You’re too smart and educated and fuck…” I thrust a hand into my hair in agitation.

“I’ll have you know, I’m not,” she stood suddenly, so suddenly that her chair went toppling backwards behind her. “But even if I was it’s my body and I can do with it as I please.” Without giving me a chance to respond she stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs. A minute later her door slammed closed behind her.

“Oh fuck me,” I groaned out load. Things between us kept getting worse and worse. Why couldn’t I just learn to keep my big mouth shut?

~*~
 
TT
 
~*~

Tia

How dare he! This was my life and my decision. If I wanted to be a stripper, then by God I would be. Though if he had that type of opinion on me being a stripper, I seriously doubted he’d agree to being in a cam show with me. Yes, perhaps it was for the best I never asked him.

Grabbing a novel from my room and then a towel from the linen closet, I proceeded into the master bathroom, shutting the door behind me. Normally I’d use the bathroom at the end of the hall, but my parents had the dreamy bathtub, the one with the power jets. Turning on the faucet, I plugged the drain and added some bubble bath to the stream of water. After stripping down, I grabbed some bath salts from under the counter and added those to the water, a nice lavender – my favourite scent – greeted my nose. Closing my eyes, I took a moment to relish the scent, which immediately began to calm me.

Once the water was full, I slipped in. The bathtub was nice and deep, the water reaching my chin and covering my body completely. Grabbing my book, a juicy romance novel I’d been dying to sink my teeth into for days now, I began to read.

Pages flew by and so did the time, but it felt so damned good. It was so warm and the jets,
ohmygod
the jets were amazing, and they became especially useful when I got to a couple of the really steamy sex scenes. Putting the book to the side, I closed my eyes and shut my mind off.

I was just about to doze off in the bathwater when I heard footsteps in my parent’s bedroom. My eyes flew open just as the bathroom door opened and there stood Zach, a towel draped over his arm.

Surprised, I quickly sat up as a yelp of surprise escaped me.

“Oh shit, Tia…” His eyes dropped from mine. It was at that moment that I realized that, despite the bubbles, when I sat up I left my chest fully exposed to his vision, my two pink nipples peeping out from beneath the suds. He didn’t move, but his eyes lifted and his stare met mine again. “I didn’t know you were in here.”

I yelped again and sank into the water until I was covered up to my neck. “The door was closed! Don’t you know to knock?”

“I thought you were in your room. I didn’t know.”

“Again, ever think to knock?”

“Shit, I’m sorry.” He took a step back, then another.

As he retreated I couldn’t help but lower my gaze, scanning his body wearing only a pair of boxer briefs. He had such an incredible chest, thick and strong. As my eyes lowered further, I drank in the lines of his abs. My heart rate quickened, I’d kill to be able to run my fingertips along the lines of defined muscle. It wasn’t until my eyes dipped a little lower, to his groin, that my breath caught in my throat – he was sporting a rapidly rising hard-on.

Zach was attracted to me just as much as I was to him. The proof was in his pants, well, underpants. Without consideration to what I was doing or the possible consequences, I sat back up in the tub, allowing him a view of my pert breasts.

“I, umm… You’re…” he took another couple of steps backwards and then froze again, his eyes lowering to my breasts.

“I’m what?” I had to fight to keep the grin from spreading across my lips at his unease.

He started to speak, his mouth opening, but then snapped it shut again. With a shake of his head, he seemed to break the trance he was in. “Never mind. Sorry.” Turning, he rushed from the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

I had no idea that seeing him so flustered would give me such satisfaction.

~*~ TT ~*~

The day went quickly and before I knew it, it was time for my date with Trevor. Well, okay not really date – business meeting. No, that wasn’t right either, it was too formal a term. Laughing, I spun around in front of the mirror, the flowing knee-length skirt of my red dress fanning out around me. Despite the blow up with Zach this morning, it had turned out to be a good day. The expression on Zach’s face when he’d walked in on me had been priceless and kept me smiling the entire day.

“Tia, there’s a guy here to see you.” Zach yelled up to me.

Looking down at my watch, I nodded my approval. He was on time. I liked that. There was nothing that irritated me more than people who didn’t have respect for other peoples’ time. Maybe Zach was right, I’m the oldest eighteen-year-old ever. But really, was there anything wrong with being responsible and goal driven? I didn’t think so.

Giving my appearance one more once over, I grabbed my purse – a little black clutch – and made my way downstairs. At the foot of the stairs I looked across the living room to see Zach and Trevor talking. But just one look at the tightness in his back, I could tell he was tense.

Hmm. Interesting. Could Zach be jealous, thinking I was going on a date? A little sense of satisfaction washed over me. I shouldn’t want Zach to be jealous, but I did.
Because you’re into him
, a voice at the back of my head chimed in. I hated that voice and shook it off.

“Trevor.” I brushed past Zack and gave Trevor a hug. Trevor tensed for a moment, but relaxed and slipped his arms around me, giving me a squeeze.

“Hey, Tia.” He released me and I took a step back. “You look amazing.” He smiled. “Wow.”

“Thank you.” I did a slow twirl, catching Zach’s gaze as I spun. He wasn’t smiling. Grabbing Trevor’s arm, I gave it a tug. “Let’s go.”

“What was that all about?” Trevor asked as he opened the passenger side door of his car for me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, attempting to sound innocent as I slid in and waited for him to close the door. He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side and slid in before further explaining himself.

“Who is the guy that answered the door?”

“That’s Zach.”

“Zach?” He started the car, but didn’t back out of the drive right away, instead opting to stare at me awaiting an answer.

“He’s my stepbrother. No big deal.”

“He seems pretty overprotective.” He switched the car into reverse and pulled out of the driveway.

I crinkled my nose up at him. “Why would you say that?”

“A guy can sense it. I would have guessed he was your boyfriend, not a family member.”

“There’s a difference?” I was genuinely curious on this.
 

“Trust me, there’s a difference, a subtle one, but it’s a difference.”

I gave him a blank stare.

“Okay,” he continued with a sigh. “When you’re dealing with a family member, they’re protective in a concerned way. When you’re dealing with a pissed boyfriend, they’re protective in a ‘touch my property and you’re a dead man’ type of way.”

“I’m hardly someone’s property.”

He grinned, his smile shining through to his eyes. “It’s just how men work, that’s all.”

“Hmm. So, Zach was giving you a ‘don’t touch my property’ look.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged, his smile remaining on his lips, “But considering he’s your brother - ”

“Stepbrother,” I cut in.

“Yeah, considering that, I must have just misread. Forget I even said anything about it.”

But I couldn’t forget about it. I just couldn’t. It reconfirmed my suspicions. But what in the hell was I going to do about it? My mind was racing the entire ride to the Italian restaurant we’d decided on and even as we were seated and placing our orders. I’d fantasized numerous times about him, but never seriously considered that we could… Could what?
Fuck, fuck, fuck…