RICH BOY BRIT (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance) (31 page)

I shook my head as I watched her leave the house, her perfect butt shaped by the sweater dress, her small hips swinging side to side, and those legs, those legs that stretched for miles, walking out for a date with another boy.

JENN

I woke up the next morning in a better mood, not only because I knew I had made Tyler jealous the day before, but because I had a date with someone I had met at the movie theater. And no, his name wasn’t Josh! How I wish as I would have rubbed that in Tyler’s face. I went downstairs ready to make some breakfast for the family, but Tyler was already sitting in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal. I wanted to ignore him initially, but I needed to be the bigger person and brush everything under the carpet.

“Hey, Tyler. Where’s Stacey?”

“Who?”

“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten her. That was quick.”

“Oh, Stacey from yesterday?”

“Yes, that Stacey.”

“She doesn’t live here. Why should she be here?”

“Dunno. You have a knack for getting women to love hanging around you, so what can I say?” I smiled at him and walked to the fridge to grab the gallon of milk. I could feel his eyes digging into my back as I stood there in my sleeping shorts, which I knew were way too short to be decent. I was in a naughty mood and wanted to make him see what I could give him if he wasn’t busy chasing after every other thing in a skirt.

“What are you saying?” He was right behind me.

I turned around in surprise, nearly dropping the milk. I had been so engrossed thinking about how to make him mad that I hadn’t heard him walk across the kitchen.

“Did I startle you?”

“What the heck? Don’t do that again,” I said, trying to move aside and away from him; he was still standing right in my face.

“Do what? Startle you or come up behind you?” He was grinning.

“You know what I mean,” I said, grabbing a bowl from the cabinet and sitting at the table next to him. I was more upset about the fact that him standing so close to me was arousing.

He sat with me, and for a few seconds, no one talked. When the silence became a little uncomfortable, I tried to change the atmosphere.

“So, what are you doing today?” I asked. I was hoping I could use my question to slide in the fact that I had a date with Kevin.

“Oh, nothing much. I was going to ask you if you wanted to go to the movies later in the afternoon,” he said.

“So tempting, but I already have a date.”

“Josh?”

“No, Kevin. And no, you don’t know him.”

“And I don’t like him,” Tyler said.

“How can you not like someone you haven’t even met yet?”

“Just saying I don’t like him. I don’t understand how you met another man while on date.”

“Well, it happened,” I said, scooping a large spoonful of cereal into my mouth, hoping that chewing it would buy me time to respond to whatever he said next.

“I see. Have fun.”

“Thanks. I surely will.” I thought he would leave, but he sat at the table next to me, saying nothing. After a few more moments of silence, I said something that almost broke my heart. “Why don’t you hang out with Stacey?”

Tyler looked at me like he hadn’t thought of that possibility.

“She’s your friend, right?” I continued.

“If you say so. You’re right. She wanted to go shopping today and I was going to skip. Maybe I should go hang out with her. You’re not available anyways, so it doesn’t matter.”

I nodded in agreement, but deep inside, I was kicking myself for making that suggestion to him. My goal was to get them apart, not pitch them so close together that I’d be the loser. But it was too late to take my words back, so I tried to make light of the situation. “Shopping? You’re going to have a very interesting day.”

“And I’ll be happy to blame it all on you.” He grinned at me.

I knew Tyler hated shopping with females. One part of me was glad that he wouldn’t have a blast with Stacey; the other part was suddenly mad that I wasn’t tagging along.

“Well, I’ll make the best of it,” Tyler said.

“Best of what?” His mom was standing by the kitchen door, dressed for work.

“Jenn has a date,” Tyler said before I could get a word in.

“Oh yeah? Someone we know?” Lauren asked.

“No, someone she just met,” he replied. “Not sure if that’s a wise move.”

“She’s old enough to go out on dates, Tyler,” Lauren said.

“It’s just that it’s someone she just met. Maybe I should go with her?” Tyler asked.

“What? Did I hang out with you and Stacey?” I replied loudly.

“Who’s Stacey?” Lauren asked as she poured some coffee into a mug.

“Someone he just met,” I said, stressing JUST.

“Looks like you two have been busy. We need to talk about these dates when I come home from work,” Lauren said as she bade goodbye to us and rushed off to work.

“No way you’re coming with me. What am I, a two-year old?” I stormed out of the kitchen.

“Wait Jenn, I didn’t mean it like that,” he said, running after me.

“What did you mean?” I slowed down just enough to give him a second to talk. He wasn’t fast enough, so I kept moving. I yelled, “I guessed as much. You have nothing to say.”

“Jenn. I just care that you’re okay,” he said.

I looked at him, unsure whether to believe him or not, but he had made one of those faces that always made me smile. Before I knew it, I was laughing like crazy.

“Does this mean I’m forgiven?” he asked, coming closer to me.

“No, Tyler. It means you’re no longer on my blacklist, but you’re far from being forgiven.”

“Come on, Jenn, you know I was only kidding.”

“I know, but I’d like to punish you just a little bit,” I said, smiling and walking past him. He followed me to my bedroom door.

“Hmm, that might not be so bad,” he said.

So many pictures flashed through my mind on how I could punish him. I had to get a hold of myself. He probably didn’t mean for me to punish him the way I was thinking. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Tyler. If you’d excuse me, I do have a date.”

“You’re still going?” Tyler asked.

I looked at him and, without saying a word, shut the bedroom door in his face.

“That means no?” he asked through the door.

“Really, Tyler, go hang out with Stacey,” I said as I headed to the shower. I needed to cool down.

TYLER

I knew Jenn wasn’t really mad at me based on how she had smiled at me right before she shut the door in my face. If only I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries, I would have opened the door and demanded she didn’t go anywhere. But on what basis? She was a grown woman; even my mother had acknowledged that. Granted that my mom was a lot more liberal than most women and sometimes acted like Jenn was her younger sister rather than a daughter, which made it hard for me to really think of Jenn as my sister.

I was not over Jenn’s date with Josh, having waited up all night for her, waiting to hear her car pull into the driveway. It had been nerve-wracking to think she was kissing and making out with some boy who wouldn’t appreciate her after the night ended. That was how these sorts of things went. I was an asshole myself and had broken up with so many girls after one date. Sometimes it was mutual; the girls didn’t want to see me, but most times it was me moving on. I didn’t want Jenn to have to deal with some idiot boy moving on after sleeping with her.

I went down to the kitchen to finish my breakfast, but thoughts of Jenn and Josh kept flooding my mind. She hadn’t liked him much last summer, and I wasn’t sure what had changed since then, but if she was willing to spend all day with him, then something I didn’t want to know about must have happened. And now she was on her way to spend time with Kevin? She should have been spending time with me! She was my stepsister! We used to spend most days together when she was in town, but she’d barely had time for me this time.

I sat there playing with my food, trying to think of what to do. My mom and Jenn’s dad had left for work and wouldn’t be back until the evening. If Jenn left the house, I’d be alone until the evening. All that talk about hanging out with Stacey wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t really feel like spending time with her, at least not today. And I usually didn’t look forward to staying alone at home. In a different situation, I would have called one of the other girls I know, but what I really wanted was for Jenn to cancel her date and stay home with me. But I knew that was not going to happen. I had seen how upset she had been when she saw me and Stacey, and I knew she was doing this to get back at me, possibly because I wasn’t spending enough time with her.

I paced the living room, waiting for Jenn to come downstairs, probably looking hot, and then I’d have to wish her a good date when all I wanted to do was spend the rest of the evening talking and playing games with her.

JENN

The date with Kevin was a disaster; he turned out to be a chauvinist. I don’t know how I had agreed to see him, but as soon we sat for dinner and he tried to order for me, I knew it was time to leave. I had been tempted to come home and spend the rest of the day with Tyler, but I was still mad at him for hanging out with Stacey. Instead, I spent the rest of the day shopping, making sure I didn’t get home until late.

The next morning, I spread all the things I had purchased on the bed and had just stripped to my underwear, ready to try them on, when I heard a knock on my door. Thinking it was my stepmom, as my dad hardly came to my room and I knew Tyler was avoiding me, I asked the person to come in.

“Hey,” Tyler said softly.

“Gosh, don’t you ever knock?” I said, trying to grab a t-shirt off the bed.

“I did, and you said to come in.”

“I thought it was Lauren at the door.”

“Well, it’s me,” Tyler said.

I waited for him to leave the room or at least turn away from me while I dressed, but he stood staring at me like he’d never seen a near-naked woman before. I scrambled around for a t-shirt but could only find a towel. I quickly wrapped it around me.

“What’s up?” I asked casually, sitting on my bed, pretending that having my stepbrother standing right in front of me while I was almost naked on the bed was not unusual.

“I wanted to ask how your date went. You came home late.”

“Yes. You were waiting up for me?” I asked, shifting. I noticed his eyes roaming my body, undressing what was left of my dignity. I felt an instant warmth spread through my body. This wasn’t happening to me. I crossed and uncrossed my legs, and his eyes widened. Gosh, I didn’t mean to make it worse. This would be a good time for him to leave my room.

“Well, no. Yes. Kind of,” he said.

“Kind of?” I asked, confused.

“Well, I wanted to make sure you got home okay, with Dad and Mom being at work late and all that.”

“Oh, I see. Thanks. I got home okay.”

He nodded. He walked to my bed and picked up a new negligee I had spread out on the bed. “Kevin buy these?” he asked me as he put them back on the bed; his voice seemed a little sober.

“What is it to you?” I asked, trying to hold back the laughter building inside of me. He was jealous! Tyler was insanely jealous of a potential boyfriend? Why?

“Nothing. He has good taste,” he replied, putting it down and turning to go.

“He didn’t. I bought them myself. Kevin turned out to be someone I would never talk to again.” I looked at Tyler, and his face had brightened up considerably.

“What did he do?” he asked, a little too happy.

“Wanted to order my dinner for me.”

Tyler started laughing and I joined him. “I’m guessing that didn’t work out well.”

“No, it didn’t. So I went shopping for new stuff.”

He looked at the new stuff I bought—five pairs of panties and some bras, each more provocative than the other. I had meant to get a couple of t-shirts but had ended up buying a lot more than I had needed.

“Very nice,” he said.

I smiled, refraining from telling him that all I could think of as I was buying those panties was him. That would be inappropriate. “You think?” I asked, touching the panties again, like it was the most natural thing in the world to discuss my underwear with my brother.

“I think,” Tyler said with a sly smile.

That was all it took for me to come up with a crazy idea, which sounded completely absurd after the words left my mouth. “Should I model them for you?” Without waiting for his answer, I got up to lock my door. I felt Tyler’s eyes follow me from the bed to the door. Even though I had my back turned to him, I could feel his eyes boring into my half-naked body.

“Oh, it’s just us at home,” he stammered as I turned to face him, exposing my nakedness to him like I never had for anyone. “Gosh, Jenn, you can’t do this to me.” He shifted around on the bed rather uncomfortably.

“Are you okay?” I asked. Before he could answer, my eyes dropped to his groin. He was sporting a full-fledged hard-on that threatened to burst out of his sweatpants. The naughty part of me wanted to point it out to him and maybe make fun of him, but the sensible part of me ignored him and pretended I was engrossed in trying on the new underwear. If watching me walk across the room aroused him so much, how much more turned on would he get when I undressed in front of him?