TASTE: A Stepbrother Romance by Stephanie Brother

of love from you anytime and anywhere.” I admit softly. “There’s one thing that bothers me.”
    “What’s that?”
    “You said you developed feelings for me when you came to my house. Why did you do what you did?” The memory still causes pain even after everything he has just confessed.
    He scratches his head. “I was an idiot, Alice. A few of my friends invited me to some Christmas party and I refused. I told them I already had plans. I mentioned that my dad and I would be going to your house for dinner because our parents were dating. They started teasing me about the—” he stops abruptly.
    I look up at him sadly. “It’s okay, Damon, you can say it. I have heard it all.”
    He remains silent so I say it for him. “Let me guess, the ice queen, the frigid bitch, the tease… shall I continue?”
    He appears aggravated, “You are none of those things.”
    “But you thought I was.”
    “Let’s leave the past where it belongs, Alice,” he continues his story. “Anyway they teased me about you possibly becoming my stepsister. One of the guys, Mark, told us about the night he bought you home and how you teased him and left him hanging. So we devised a plan of revenge,” he snorts, “God, I can’t believe how childish and stupid I was just three years ago.”
    “I knew it was a bad idea the minute I walked into your house. But I did it anyway just to prove myself to the boys because they insisted that I couldn’t get you to do anything sexual.”
    My eyes fill with tears as I remember my shock the humiliation. “So I guess everyone had a good time laughing at me when they saw the pictures.” I sniff.
    Damon kneels before me and cups my chin. “No one saw those pictures.”
    I raise my gaze to meet his. “What?”
    “I never showed anyone the pictures. I told my friends that nothing happened and that they were right, you didn’t give me the time of day. I’m the only person they laughed at Alice, not you.”
    My heart soared. I was immensely relieved that a bunch of assholes don’t still have naked pictures of me somewhere. That possibility has haunted me for years. That was part of the reason why I resented Damon so much. “Oh, thank God,” I whisper. “What did you do with the pictures?”
    His face breaks out into a sheepish grin. “I, uh, kept them in my phone to admire for a little bit. I deleted them after I had them thoroughly etched into my memory.”
    I grunt loudly. “Pervert,” I mutter.
    Damon laughs, “I won’t deny it, Alice. Do you expect any better from a horny young man?” I smile and throw myself into his arms. He rises to his feet and holds me tightly. “Does this mean I am forgiven? Please tell me that you don’t hate me anymore.”
    “I never hated you, Damon. I tried hard to. I even convinced myself that I did. But as soon as I set eyes on you our first day here, I realized that I never did. I forgive you.”
    He covers my mouth in a deep kiss and quickly pulls away. “Good, now let’s get the hell out of here.”
    “Uh, one problem, we are stuck in here. I tried to tell you not to let the door close because it can only be opened from the outside.”
    He looks around. “Maybe we can go through a window.”
    I plop down into the dusty couch once more. “Good luck getting them open.” I pat the cushion beside me. “Might as well get comfortable, we’ll be here until someone realizes that we are missing.”
    “Shit,” he mutters, eyeing the couch with disgust. His shoulders drop and he drags his feet toward the couch and flops down, sending a puff of dust into the air. “We’ll have to shower in bleach after this,” he murmurs.
    We sit in silence for a few minutes. “I can’t marry, Richard,” I say as if just making the discovery.
    “I would hope not,” Damon states.
    I glower at him. “I hate that I will have to hurt him. I never intended for anyone to get hurt. I never should have accepted the ring in the first place.” I now realize that I