Match: A Stepbrother Romance (13 page)

I thought of Robin’s strained relationship with her own mother, which put my life into perspective a little more. Robin’s mother had never put her children first, always choosing alcohol over them. All of the kids had tried to help her at one time or another, but slowly they’d all given up and drifted away when they saw how little she cared. Luckily, Robin had an awesome aunt with whom she now lived, but that didn’t diminish what she’d been through. She’d had it rough, but she was surviving now.

No wonder she thought my Mom wasn’t all bad.

But still, the thought of saying the words
‘I slept with your new stepson, and I want to do it again,’
just seemed far too alien to be real. I could never speak to my mother like that.

“I guess you’re right,” I said. I smiled, trying to be a little more positive and upbeat about it all. “But it isn’t exactly like we’re in love or anything.” I pointedly ignored the tugging on my heartstrings at those words. “We were just…”

“You were just fooling around?” Robin interjected. “Hot, sweaty, hate-induced sex after the big argument?”

I couldn’t help but laugh and nod at this statement. She’d always had such a way with words. “Yeah, I guess you could say that’s what the other night was.”

“But you want to do it again, and again, and again…”

“Yeah,” I said, my mood sobering as I recalled how that was unlikely to happen.

“Then go and get it!”

“How can I when he barely even looks at me?” I asked.

“Well, are
you
looking at
him
? Are you even making an effort to speak to him? Maybe he thinks you’re blowing him off.”

I frowned. Was that possible? I suppose if I really thought about it, I
had
vanished in the morning after our encounter and not really spoken to him the next day, all because I’d been afraid. I’d been scared of being rebuffed, but his male pride had probably viewed it as outright rejection.

“Oh god, do you think it could be my fault?” I asked, my eyes widening.

“Well, you
can be a little distant when you’re worrying about stuff. He might be taking that completely the wrong way and assuming you regret sleeping with him. Towards the end of your relationship with Travis—when things were really bad—you were a little weird, even with me.”

“Crap. I’m sorry. I didn’t even realize.”

She was right; I could see it now. Whenever I got upset or worried, I went into a little protective cocoon, focusing only on myself and what was wrong with me. How had I never noticed this fault in myself before? And how come no one else had pointed it out until now?

“Don’t ever let me do that again,” I said, grabbing hold of one of her hands. “Just tell me if I’m being weird. Honestly.”

“Oh, I will.” She grinned, and then her tone turned more serious. “But just warm up to Logan. Open up a bit and be friendly to him. You’ll be able to get a better read of him then.”

“I will,” I said.

When I got home tonight, I was going to be the friendliest person ever. That way, if his icy demeanor started to thaw, I would be able to do something about it.

And if not…well, at least I would finally know where I stood.

Chapter 12

Logan

There was no denying that waking up alone after my night of passion with Sasha had felt like a punch to the balls. Could she not bear to see me in the morning out of sheer regret for what we’d done? I’d had a fair few plans for how I was going to wake her up—I’d been having some extra saucy dreams as inspiration—but she was gone, and I was left alone with a raging case of blue balls.

I initially thought that maybe she’d just sneaked back to her room to hide what had happened from our parents, but after that, to add insult to injury, she completely blanked me. I was sitting in the kitchen later that same morning, sipping a cup of coffee, and she sleepily strolled in, looking sexy as hell in her pale pink nightie, and then she just walked right past me without saying a single fucking word.

I wondered if she just needed some time to think about things, and like I’d decided earlier, I didn’t want to push her. But now a week had sped by, and she hadn’t said a word or even looked in my direction.

So that was that then. She was pretending like nothing had happened between us.

To say I was miffed about that was the biggest fucking understatement of the century, so I’d pointedly ignored her right back to give her what she wanted. It was only a few days later when she started to act friendly with me again that I started to see that it might have all been some sort of miscommunication. Maybe, just maybe, she’d vanished in the morning because she’d been worried about what was to come. After all, there was a lot of pressure and a lot of complications when it came to us, and whatever ‘us’ actually was.

There were a hundred possibilities that could explain why she’d been acting strangely, and I had probably been too quick to jump to the wrong conclusion.

After this, my mood thawed throughout the rest of the week, but there were still a lot of unanswered questions about where we stood floating around in my mind, and there was no denying that I was getting lost within them and losing focus on the rest of my life. I had to come up with a tactic to see what Sasha really thought of me, and that was exactly what I’d done—and I’d done it in typical Logan style.

Tonight, we were going out as a family to celebrate my father and Kari’s recent union with a big dinner party, seeing as their wedding a few weeks ago had been so small. My father’s political friends and work colleagues were going to be there tonight, so it was going to be a huge deal.

A huge, dull-as-fuck deal.

That’s why it was the perfect night for what I had planned…

“Sasha?” I called out, knocking on her bedroom door. “You decent?”

“Yeah, I’m dressed. You can come in,” she replied from the other side of the wall. I was so glad to be in a place where we could talk again. Those few days of tension had been painful.

I pushed the door open, and I couldn’t help but gasp as I drank in her appearance. Her curly hair had been styled into beachy waves that hung down her back, her face was made up in a way that accentuated her beautiful brown eyes, and she had a red knee-length dress on. The overall effect was elegant and sexy as hell, and she looked fucking amazing. Even in my tuxedo, I looked like a hobo compared to her.

“Wow. You look great,” I said.

“Thanks. You look great too,” she said, winking at me. “I thought you’d look good in a suit.”

In the last couple of days, things had become friendlier between us, but she hadn’t actually been flirtatious with me until this moment. That—combined with the fact that she had apparently been thinking of me—made me feel a lot more confident in my plan for tonight. This wasn’t about what I thought of myself; it was how Sasha saw me, and from the flashes of desire I was catching in her eyes, things were going my way.

“I have something for you,” I said, moving closer to her.

“Oh?”

Her eyes widened a little, and I saw her stop herself from taking a step back. She had no idea where I was going with this, and from the look on her face I could tell she was expecting another silly prank of some kind.

What I had planned for tonight was no prank or trick, although it could certainly be seen that way by some.

I tugged something out of my pocket and placed it in her hands, and she looked down, gasping as she spotted the frilly black panties. Okay, so black panties as a gift didn’t exactly say ‘
I have feelings for you’
but it let her know that I still wanted her. On top of that, the panties came with another sneaky surprise, which she’d be discovering soon.

“What’s this?” she asked, her expression a perfect mixture of amusement and shock. “You got me…panties?”

“Yes.”

“Um…why?”

I leaned down to her right ear, making my voice husky. “I want you to wear them for me tonight.”

Her body trembled slightly, betraying what she was feeling. She was obviously turned on by the thought of wearing the underwear that I’d given her and excited by the idea of where this might lead, but she wasn’t ready to admit it out loud just yet.

“I’m already wearing panties,” she said, trying to sound bold. The blush forming on her cheeks gave her away.

I flashed her a smug smile, enjoying the game she was so clearly playing with me. “Then take them off.”

Sasha paused for a few seconds, seemingly at a loss of what to say, so I moved my mouth even closer to her neck and continued. “If you don’t take them off, I will…”

I stepped back, half-expecting her to slap me, but she fixed her eyes on me as she defiantly tugged down the panties she was wearing and kicked them to one side.

“Fine. Now get out so I can put these on,” she said, dangling the black panties I’d given her in front of me.

I smirked and quickly retreated to my room, wondering if I was going to have time for yet another cold shower. Sasha was so fucking hot; she’d almost had me losing myself and kissing her right then and there in her room. That would have been a terrible idea—we would’ve been caught for sure.

Besides, what I had planned for tonight was going to be much more fun.

I pictured her pulling on those panties, thinking she was doing something sexy and fun for me to rekindle our little affair after our week of no contact. How little she knew about what was really going on and what was hidden within them…

“Logan! Sasha!” I heard my father shout from downstairs. “Come on, the car’s waiting.”

I checked I had absolutely everything I was going to need, shot a quick glance at my reflection in the mirror, then hurried down the stairs. I needed to be in the limo first to get a particular seat, because I needed Sasha to be sitting across from me—by my side would be no good.

I raced outside, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, before sliding into the seat next to my father. I probably looked flushed and wild-eyed, but luckily Dad never paid that much attention to me, so he didn’t notice. He was looking through emails on his phone—always putting work first. I sighed, but I was quickly shaken out of this bitter mood by Sasha and her mother arriving at the car. They were chatting away as they stepped inside the limo, and Sasha quickly shot me a knowing look, telling me that she had the panties on.
Good.

As we drove, my father began to tell us exactly who was going to be at the dinner party, presumably to try and calm Kari down, seeing as she still wasn’t entirely used to being the wife of a political bigwig. It clearly wasn’t working, because she was looking increasingly overwhelmed by the minute. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to worry about that. I had work to do.

I fingered the small device I’d planted in my pocket, watching as Sasha stared dreamily out of the window. I wondered if she was dreading tonight as much as I was, but her face gave nothing away.

My heart started to kick up a notch as I got closer to fulfilling my plan. My mouth began to run dry, and my right hand was even trembling ever-so-slightly. Just as my father got to a particularly detailed description of a certain senator’s past, I manned the fuck up and hit the switch.

“Oh!”

Sasha squealed, jumping up on her seat in shock. Clearly she had no idea that the panties I’d given her were actually vibrating panties, and I had the controller to make them work. She was going to be putty in my hands tonight, and she was going to fucking love it.

I grinned at her stunned face as she wound herself up into a panic. I could almost see the wild thoughts racing through her mind.

“What’s wrong?” Kari asked, laying a hand on her leg. The tone these words were spoken with wasn’t entirely concern; it was more of a ‘
please don’t fuck this up for me’
kind of tone.

Sasha caught my eye and glared, finally realizing that the sensation had come from the panties I’d given her. I flashed her a quick smirk and nodded, indicating to the device I had in my hand, and the exchange was so rapid that neither of our parents caught on.

“Erm…it’s nothing, I just had a weird pins and needles feeling in my right leg,” Sasha finally said, looking at her mother.

Luckily our parents were so hell-bent on making a good impression tonight that they just accepted this blindly so they could return to their own conversation.

Sasha began to stare me down, silently challenging me. It was almost laughable, because I was the one in control here. I could make her crumble any time I wanted with just a flick of my wrist.

Just to prove it, I hit the button once more. She was prepared this time, and she simply bit down on her lower lip and crossed her legs to disguise the effects.

“I’m going to kill you,” she mouthed at me, but she was smiling as she said it.

Oh, yeah…tonight was going to be a hell of a lot of fun.

***

Two hours later, we’d sat through three excruciating courses amongst people who thought it was a good conversation starter to discuss how rich they were, and I was bored out of my skull...save for the remote I had in my pocket. Sasha was sitting opposite me, next to our parents, and I was taking great delight in sending waves of pleasure crashing right through her at random intervals.

She’d shot me warning glances a couple of times, but I hadn’t stopped. I was certain that she didn’t really want it to end; she looked like she was having a hell of a lot of fun. The only downside was that her mother seemed to be growing increasingly annoyed by Sasha’s odd behavior. I understood that she wanted to make a good impression on all these new people, but fuck, she needed to lighten up a bit. She was acting like a stiff trophy wife, and I knew that wasn’t really her.

Just as dessert hit the table, I hit the button once more.

“Oh my…” Sasha wiggled on her seat once more, clearly not expecting that one.

“Will you just stop it?” I heard Kari hiss at her. “What are you trying to do? Do you
want
to embarrass me in front of George’s friends?”

“No, I just—” Sasha tried to defend herself, but she wasn’t getting anywhere.

“Just give it a rest. And don’t wear such a tight dress next time. Maybe that’s why you keep getting pins and needles in your legs.”

I watched Sasha’s face fall at the scolding, and I felt bad. The vibrating panties were just supposed to be a bit of fun—a way of sparking things up between us again—and I certainly hadn’t wanted to get her in any trouble.

“I’m going outside for some fresh air,” Sasha mumbled a moment later before scraping her chair backwards.

Guilt swept through me as I watched her stalk to the side entrance of the hotel function room in which our dinner was being held at. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. I knew if I stayed sitting with the rest of the assholes at this table, she would end up standing outside alone, upset and angry. I might not have been able to change the way her mother just spoke to her, but I could go outside and make her feel better.

No one was paying me any attention now, so I didn’t even make an excuse as I left the table.

The cool night air hit me in the face as I wandered outside, a stark contrast to the warmth of the function room. I couldn’t see Sasha right away, so I had to look around to find her. I was worried that she was going to be crouched down somewhere and sobbing, and I didn’t want that, especially seeing as it was my fault.

Luckily, she was pacing in the alleyway next to the hotel, more pissed off than upset.

“Are you okay?” I asked, tentatively creeping towards her. She could quite easily turn all of that rage on me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Well, maybe not nothing…

I still had the vibrating remote in my pocket, after all.

“Yeah. Just needed to get out of there,” she replied.

“Look, I’m sorry. I should’ve stopped with the vibrator thing.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not you. It’s just…why does my Mom have to be like that? She’s trying so hard to get all these fake people to like her, and she’s not even acting like herself. It’s only been a few weeks since she married your father, and he’s great, but she’s changing so much and so fast.”

“Yeah. She’s just trying to fit in,” I replied. “The world of politics is a strange one, and she’s just married into it.”

“Yes, but does she have to talk like…”

As she continued to rant, I moved closer to her, waiting for the right moment. I knew this was a dangerous move, but I didn’t care anymore.