Mine - A Stepbrother Romance by Caitlin Daire

skimpy as I’d assumed it would be, because my body was short enough for it to cover an appropriate amount of leg.
    I met him downstairs at nine, and he grinned as his eyes raked over my body.
    “That looks good, sis. Maybe I can stand to be seen in public with you tonight after all.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Let’s get this over with. Oh, and if you’re going to keep calling me ‘sis’, then I’m going to call you bro. Or rather, Broseidon.”
    His lips quirked up. “Why? Because I’m built like a Greek god?”
    “No, because Poseidon was an asshole who caused earthquakes and tsunamis when he didn’t get his own way.”
    “Very funny. Get in the car, comedian.”
    He lit up a cigarette as we headed down the road, and I rolled the window down for some fresh air before looking over at Mason and curling my lips up in disdain. “You really should stop smoking. You’re like the human equivalent of a commemorative ashtray.”
    He snorted with laughter and didn’t say anything, but he put the cigarette out. We drove the rest of the way to the party in silence, and I could hear the thumping bass of the music as we parked down the street from the triple-storied house it was at. There were a few people hanging around outside, but it was too dark to see what they were dressed as, and as we headed inside where the lights were, I immediately realized my mistake.
    Dammit, Mason had played me yet again. Literally no one else was dressed up. I knew I should have listened to my first instincts when I’d assumed he was lying just to embarrass me.
    Every eye in the room turned to me, and I half expected the music to come to a screeching halt as everyone gaped at my ridiculous nurse costume.
    Crap.

 
    CHAPTER EIGHT
    MASON
    Oh man, the look on Arizona’s face right now was perfect. She hadn’t believed me at first when I’d told her to dress up, but I’d convinced her to do it by pretending to throw a little bitch fit about how I was just trying to help her, and now here she was, dressed like an idiot in front of everyone I knew. I couldn’t believe she’d actually ended up falling for it. Her hazel eyes were wide, and she turned to me and mouthed something. You friggin’ prick.
    Screwing with her was just the absolute best. Tonight’s reaction was good, but my favorite was still the other night when she’d hammered on my door, clutching the nude portrait I’d had done up for her courtesy of my photographer buddy who had his own studio downtown. The anger flashing in her eyes had given me blue balls for the entire night.
    Anders stepped forward and stuck his hand out. “You must be Arizona. Nice costume.”
    She forced a smile and hesitated, obviously trying to think of a way out of this.
    “Uh…thanks,” she finally replied, taking his hand and smiling warmly. “Mason tried to tell me it was a costume party. I didn’t believe him, but I figured I might as well come be the party nurse. I can administer shots of tequila, hold people’s hair back if they get too drunk…all that jazz.”
    Everyone standing around us laughed, and Anders slapped her on the back. “Oh man, you didn’t tell us your sister was funny, Mason. Come on, Arizona, let’s go administer some shots right away.”
    He winked before linking arms with her and dragging her away to a table filled with bottles of booze and shot glasses, and I narrowed my eyes and lit up a smoke as I watched her laugh and carry on with a whole bunch of my friends. Well, well…this wasn’t at all what I’d expected. I hadn’t wanted to bring her here tonight, and I’d only been doing so to keep Roy and my mother off my back, so I’d figured if I embarrassed her enough she’d leave straight away and catch the first cab home.
    That plan had more than backfired. She actually seemed to be having fun, and now I couldn’t even have more than two drinks for the night. I’d planned on getting hammered and crashing here, but if she was actually staying for the party,