Bad Boy - A Stepbrother Romance (3 page)

I tried not to lead those girls on, though. I was always upfront about only wanting one thing, and I usually attracted the kind of women who wanted nothing more than my dick and a mindless hookup anyway. But maybe enough was enough.

Maybe I needed more than ‘one thing’.

“Give it a go,” Dad insisted. “If you fail, at least you won’t be able to ask yourself ‘what if’.”

I guess he had a point there.

I sighed and nodded. “Okay. I guess you’re right, I’ll try to find her. Thanks, Dad.”

I took a sip of my drink, grinning at my old man and trying to not think about Rory for just a second. “So, anything
you
want to share?”

I was teasing him. I knew he was hiding something from me, and I wanted to see him squirm. He did. He twisted and turned in his seat, clearing his throat awkwardly before broaching the subject.

“Well, since you ask, I guess...” He cleared his throat again. “Err, it would be good if...well, I wanted to tell you sooner. You know, things get...”

He was being awkward as hell, so I decided to make things easy for him.

“Dad,” I said. “I already know. Elijah told me when you disappeared to that ‘conference’ in Shanghai.”

“Oh?” Dad looked at me with wide eyes, and I could almost hear his panicked heartbeat. “What exactly do you know?”

He was testing me to see just how much Elijah had told me, and I grinned at him as I calmly explained what I knew had transpired a couple of days ago.

“You weren’t really in Shanghai. You were on a secret getaway with a woman, and you got married when you spent the long weekend up at the lake house. Elijah said you’d called him to help find a short-notice celebrant.”

Dad sat there, dumbfounded. He opened his mouth and closed it like a fish out of water for a full thirty seconds, and I grinned at him.

“Well…err...are you angry?” he finally managed to get out.

I looked at him for a long time, choosing the words that would make my answer.
Was
I angry?

My Mom and Dad had been high school sweethearts. If there was ever a couple destined to be together, it was them. But sometimes life throws a curveball, and I often wondered whether my parents would still be together if my Mom hadn’t died.

Sometimes it was easier not knowing the answer to that question.

“No,” I finally replied. “I’m not angry. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”

I watched Dad’s face change from a tense expression to a look of pure glee, and I grinned when I saw the transformation. “She makes you happy?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Then you have my support, whoever she is.”

Dad got up from his desk, walked over to me and slapped me on the back. I got up as well and hugged him tightly. I wasn’t one for manly shows of affection, but the moment felt appropriate. My Dad needed support today as much as I did.

He backed away and smiled at me, and I could see tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. I felt awkward, so I chose to ignore them as Dad started talking.

“Her name is Anna. It all happened so fast. We’ve only known each other for a few months, but it seemed right. Neither of us wanted to make a big fuss about a wedding, though, so that’s why we eloped. Right after I proposed, in fact.”

“Yeah, I get it. Don’t worry, I’m not mad.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “Anyway, we’ll meet up tomorrow for dinner. She’s moving in here with her daughter and her mother. The girl is around your age. I’ve only met her briefly, but I think you’ll like her. Nice girl.”

I nodded, considering how my life would change when all this came into effect. Three more women living with us...it could be a lot of work dealing with our family suddenly expanding like this, but since I lived alone in one of the hotel’s two penthouse suites, I figured I’d be out of their hair most of the time, doing as I damn well pleased.

Dad and I agreed on a time for dinner in the Balmoral restaurant tomorrow, and then he sent me on my way. I was just about to walk out the door, but my mind wouldn’t let me leave without saying something else.

I looked over my shoulder to see my Dad staring out of the window at the city lights. “Dad?”

He looked at me, and in that moment, I could see the toll life had taken on my father. He looked older, tired and beat. Moreover, he looked like he needed a goddamned break.

“Yeah?”

I hesitated and finally swallowed my words. “Never mind. I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you, son.” His smile was genuine, and I returned a strained version of my own before walking out of there.

It wouldn’t be appropriate to rain on his parade, I told myself as I took the elevator to my suite. He had just gotten hitched. It wasn’t my place to warn him about the kinds of women out there. Besides, he wasn’t an idiot, so surely he wouldn’t have married the first gold-digger who came along. He’d met a lot of women like that since Mom had passed, given his position and status, and he’d never fallen for one of them before. Whoever this new wife of his was, I was sure she was a nice person.

I tried telling myself that, but still, a nagging voice in the back of my mind wouldn’t shut up. I had a bad feeling about this. I just hoped my new stepmother and stepsister weren’t like the evil women in kid’s fairytales. I didn’t need any more crazy fucking bitches in my life; I already had Candice for that.

I guess only time would tell.

Chapter Three

Rory

“Short answer? No,” I said.

My cell phone was wedged in the crook of my neck as I helped my grandmother iron and fold a pile of clean washing. While I worked at that, I was talking to Dana, who’d just called to ask me if I was willing to forgive the real Ben and go on a date with him after he’d totally forgotten to show up on our first blind date.

“What’s the long answer?” Dana asked, sounding hopeful.

“No, no, no, no, no!” I replied.

She laughed. “Okay, okay. I get it. He stood you up. He swears it was an accident, but I guess you’re right…it doesn’t bode well for the future. I was so sure you guys would be good together, though!”

I sighed. “Oh well. At least I had an interesting night.”

“Yeah. Tell me more about this mysterious guy who pretended to be Ben!”

I ducked away from my grandmother’s earshot and told Dana everything I remembered from the other night that I hadn’t already told her—how Mystery Man and I had first met, how we’d spoken for over an hour and gotten to know random intimate details of each other’s lives over drinks and snacks, and how within just moments of being with him, I’d been desperate to get a taste of what lay underneath that tight grey shirt. It seemed really odd; I knew so much about him, yet I didn’t even know his real name.

Why had he lied and pretended to be Ben? It was so weird. I guess I’d never know the answer, though, so there was no point worrying about it.

Too bad I
was
still worrying about it.

“So much for forgetting about it,” I said with another sigh. “I figured I’d forget the whole thing straight away, seeing as it was just one weird date which ended with a terrible bang—not literally, thank god—but I’m still thinking about him two days later!”

“He really made an impression, huh?”

“I guess so,” I said bitterly. “Even though he was a lying prick.”

“Well, maybe you’ll run into him again. You said the manager of Clancy’s seemed to know him, so obviously he’s a regular. We could go there for drinks on the weekend and see if he’s there.”

I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me. “No way. I can’t stand liars, and like I said, he lied to me about who he was. On top of that, that Candice girl was his girlfriend, and he was trying to step out on her. I’m sure of it. He’s a dick,” I said.

“True. Then again, maybe she was just a crazy ex. You know how some people get when they see their ex-lover with someone new. They get all jealous and try to blow up the ex’s spot. So maybe they used to date and then broke up, and she was doing that.”

“Mm…maybe,” I said, moving back over to my Grandma so I could help her fold a towel. “But I doubt it. That sounds like a lame misunderstanding out of a rom-com movie. It would be too convenient.”

“Yeah, convenient for you, because you’d finally get laid again once you realize he’s actually not a cheating ass,” Dana said, snorting with laughter.

I ducked away from my grandmother again. “Careful! My Grandma might’ve heard you!” I said in a hushed voice.

“Sorry,” she said. “But seriously, Rory, we should actually go to Clancy’s for drinks and see if we run into him again! Even if
you
aren’t curious if he’s really single,
I’m
curious after this whole story you’ve told me. Not for myself, of course. For you.”

“I really don’t want to,” I said. “Even if he is single, he still lied to me about who he was and made a fool out of me. I don’t want to go near that place ever again after being humiliated there like that. The way everyone was staring at me was the worst. Hell, I’m not even going to go near the Crown Hotel ever again, just in case!”

Just as I said that, my Mom came breezing through the door, apparently having just returned from her short getaway. “Did I hear someone say something about the Crown Hotel? We’re having dinner there tonight with James, so get dressed in something fancy!”

Crap. In my haste to denounce the Crown and all of its associated restaurants and bars, I’d forgotten that Mom’s current squeeze owned the whole joint.

“Gotta go,” I muttered to Dana. “Talk soon.”

With that, I turned to my mother. “Hi, Mom. How was your trip? And sorry, what did you say about dinner?” I asked, silently praying that I’d misheard her. Maybe she’d said that only she was having dinner at the Crown tonight.

Of course, I had no such luck.

“Dinner tonight, at the Balmoral restaurant at James’ hotel. We decided to have a special meal, and you’re both invited.”

Ugh. The Balmoral was practically right next to Clancy’s.

My grandmother smiled at Mom. “That’s lovely, Anna. I’ll have to wear my special pearls, and Aurora can wear that pretty black and white dress she has.”

I forced a smile and nodded. I really didn’t want to return to the scene of the crime that was my date the other night, but I guess I didn’t have much of a choice if Mom had already organized it. “What’s the occasion?” I asked through gritted teeth.

Mom smiled enigmatically. “Oh, you know…just a little thing to celebrate our love.”

I raised an eyebrow. My mother always smiled like that when she was hiding something. Last time I’d seen her with that expression on her face in regards to a man was about two and a half years ago when I’d asked her why I’d seen her with my high school math teacher one day when I was leaving class. She’d been dating him, of course, but she’d just given me that same silly smile and told me they’d been discussing my grade for the semester.
Sure, Mommy dearest.

A variety of scenarios played out in my head as I wondered what tonight’s dinner was going to entail. Maybe James had made some big business deal which he wanted to celebrate with us? Or maybe he was going to ask my Mom to marry him, and Mom already suspected? That would certainly explain her smile. It would also be a real fairytale ending for her, seeing as we’d never had a lot of money. James was mega-loaded, so if he was proposing, then that’d be great for the family.

Not that it was all about money, of course—I just thought it’d be good because Mom wouldn’t have to work her low-paying reception job anymore, and she’d have way more time to spend with Grandma…and me, when I wasn’t at my own job.

I bit my lower lip as I considered the possibility. I’d only met James on two occasions, and he seemed nice enough, if not a bit of a workaholic judging by the way he’d dashed off to make dozens of phone calls both times. Then again, owning an entire hotel took a lot of work, so I guess that wasn’t surprising. If he was planning on proposing to Mom, then I’d be happy with it overall.

Look at me, getting all ahead of myself.
For all I knew, the dinner was for something else entirely. Brushing the thought of a new stepfather aside, I quickly finished folding a shirt and then excused myself from the room to try and find my black and white dress. It was the same dress I’d worn to my failed date the other night, but it was the only fancy thing I owned. I lived in sweats and jeans except for when I was at work, and even then, the office I worked at was quite casual and didn’t require anything too fancy.

I would’ve liked to own more nice clothes, but I simply didn’t have the money to waste on pretty, well-fitting dresses when I didn’t really need them all that much. San Francisco rents were sky high, and even an area like Hunter’s Point swallowed up a substantial portion of my monthly paycheck, seeing as I’d started helping Mom pay it as soon as I found my job.

As I showered, dressed and swiped on some mascara and lip tint, my mind drifted back unbidden to the other night. I’d hoped to expand my horizons and get back into the dating game by going out on the blind date, but it had failed ever-so-spectacularly, and I was unsure if I ever wanted to try something like that again. It was bad enough that my real date had completely forgotten to meet me, and it was worse that the guy who’d inadvertently taken his place had turned out to be an asshole player.

Wow, such great luck.
Not.

As much as I didn’t like Mystery Man, I couldn’t stop thinking about his chiseled features and powerful chest and arms. His shoulders were so broad that it wouldn’t surprise me if he had trouble fitting through doors, and I closed my eyes for a second and pictured myself being picked up and thrown over those very shoulders.

A girl can dream…

I realized I was absentmindedly chewing on a strand of my hair as I drifted away in fantasy-land, and I shook my head at myself. I needed to get it together. Despite my weird mood, it was time to go out to dinner and play nice for my Mom and her boyfriend. Hopefully they’d have happy news for me, and their mood would rub off on me.

I should be so lucky.

***

I glanced around as we entered the Balmoral forty minutes later, hearing the hushed tones of conversation and the clinking of wine glasses around us. The restaurant design was similar to the main hotel with a mixture of cream colors and dark woods; modern yet still elegant. I’d only been here once before, on the first occasion upon which I’d met James. Seeing as he owned the place, he’d kindly let me eat for free, and thank God for that, because even the appetizers were way out of my price range.

“There he is,” Mom announced, waving across the restaurant.

The hostess obviously already knew her well, because she didn’t even try to stop us and ask for a name as we headed over to a prime booth with leather seats, where James was sitting. He was dressed in a tailored grey suit which contrasted nicely with his salt and pepper hair and blue eyes.

His eyes lit up as he saw us approaching, and he jumped to his feet. “Anna!” he said, enveloping her in a hug before turning to me and my Grandma. “Adelina, lovely to see you again. Those pearl earrings are beautiful. And Aurora, you look wonderful too.”

“Thanks. Call me Rory,” I said with a smile.

“Ah, of course, I forgot you prefer that. Although if I call you that, I can’t collectively refer to you ladies as the ‘Triple A’, can I?”

I laughed softly. It was a tradition in our family that every girl was given a name beginning with A, but I’d always preferred Rory for myself. It was easier for people to say than Aurora, which had always come across as a little pretentious despite what a pretty name it was. My real name also reminded me that I’d been named after a fairytale princess, which bothered me somewhat due to how un-fairytale-like my life had always been.

“Finn is going to be a little late. Some trouble at one of our bars, it seems. But he’ll be along shortly,” James said.

“Finn?” I asked, forehead creasing in a puzzled expression.

“My son,” James replied. “Didn’t you meet him last time we had dinner? Oh wait, no, he was elsewhere that night.”

I turned to my Mom with surprise, and she raised her eyebrows as if to say ‘what?’

I’d had no idea James had a son, and she’d never mentioned it. Typical. Shrugging, I took a seat after helping my grandmother sit down, and James and Mom stayed standing. They both looked nervous, and a waiter quickly deposited a premium bottle of champagne in a wine cooler bucket next to the table before scurrying away.

“All right, you two, what’s going on?” Grandma asked. “I didn’t come down in the last shower. I know there’s something going on, and I’m an old woman, so you better damn well tell me now before I drop dead.”

“Abuela!” I said, shaking my head and grinning at her sharp tongue. “Don’t talk about yourself like that. You aren’t that old.”

“Even though I had pet dinosaurs as a child?” she said, flashing me an amused look. “That’s what you used to tell me when you were younger.”

I giggled, and Mom rolled her eyes at us and waved her hands. “Okay, okay, shush. You’re right. We invited you to dinner to tell you the news.”

“And what’s the news?” I asked before catching a glimpse of her left hand as she waved it. There was a sparking diamond ring the size of Texas on her ring finger, and I gulped. That hadn’t been there before. I guess my earlier suspicion that she and James had gotten engaged had been correct.

“You’re engaged?” I said.

“Well…no. We’re married.”

My eyes widened, and I simply stared at the two of them for a moment. “I’m sorry…what?”

“We’re married!” she repeated.

My jaw dropped, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see my grandmother having the same reaction. “Married…wow. I mean, I thought you might be engaged, but already married?” I said.

“You’re upset?” James asked, looking even more anxious. “Anna, you told me they’d be okay with—“

Mom waved her hand at him, cutting him off. “Oh, they’re fine. Aren’t you, Rory? And Mama? You guys aren’t upset, are you?”

I exchanged a glance with Grandma before turning back to Mom. “No…I’m not upset. I just…um…” I started slowly, trying to put my emotions into words.

Although I was surprised, this wasn’t exactly atypical behavior for my mother. She’d never actually eloped before, but she did tend to make all kinds of decisions without anyone else’s input, especially when it came to men. When she’d gotten engaged to my father at the age of nineteen, my Grandma hadn’t even been aware that she was seeing anyone, let alone already six weeks pregnant with me. Yup, that had been a shotgun wedding.