The Stepbrother Bargain (Book 1) by Chloe Hawk Page B

I caught
just a hint of cologne – something manly, mixed with his natural
scent.   It made me dizzy, and I tried
to step away from him.
    I’d known I was going to be seeing him
– our parents were getting married after all, finally making it official
after living together for more than ten years.   But I hadn’t expected it to be here, with me in the ratty clothes I’d thrown on to make the two hour drive from my
apartment in Millis.
    And I certainly hadn’t expected to have
this kind of reaction to him.
    He didn’t say anything, just stood there
with that cocky grin on his face, and I pushed by him and out the door, back
into the fading sunlight.
    He didn’t follow me, but I could feel his
eyes on me, and I hurried to my car.   I didn’t want him to see me blush.
    I didn’t want him to know that after all
these years, after just seeing him for one second, my biggest fear had come
true.
    I was still in love with him.
    Once I was in my car, I took a second to
catch my breath, then turned the key in the
ignition.   The engine sputtered and
then stalled out.
    I slammed my hand against the steering
wheel.
    “Dammit,” I swore.   This happened from time to time –
my car would just not start.   The
starter was going, but I didn’t have the four hundred dollars it would cost to
fix it.
    .   Someone knocked on my window, and I jumped.
    Cage.
    I sighed and rolled down the window.   “What?”
    “You look like you’re having some
trouble,” he said.
    “I’m not.”
    “Are you sure about that?   Because first you tried to steal gas,
and now your getaway car is stalling out.”
    “I wasn’t trying to steal gas,” I said.   “I
just… I couldn’t remember my pin.”   I could remember my pin just fine – 7764 – my mom’s
birthday.   But there was only five
dollars in my checking account.   It
should have been enough for gas – at least, enough to get me the rest of
the way to my dad’s house, where I was staying for the weekend - -   but the
problem was, if you went even a penny over, the bank wouldn’t approve the
charge, and I’d accidentally let the pump click one cent over.
    “Right.”   Cage stared at me, his eyes traveling around my car –
the fast food wrappers littering the floor, the cell phone plugged into its
charger, the course catalog for Millis Community College, where I was taking
classes.    Then, very slowly,
almost like he was savoring it, he moved his gaze from my eyes, down my neck,
and let it linger on my breasts.   My nipples hardened and I could feel them popping through the thin
cotton of my t-shirt.
    The side of his mouth twitched, like he
knew the effect he was having on me and liked it.
    “I assume you’re on your way to mom and
dad’s?” he asked.
    “She’s not my mom,” I mumbled about his
mom, Renee.
    “You know what I mean, Grace.”
    “Yes,” I said.   “I’m on my way to the rehearsal dinner.”
    He opened my car door.   “Out.”
    “What?”
    “Get out.   You’re riding with me.”
    “I am definitely not riding with you.”
    “Then how are you going to get there?”
    “I’ll call a cab.”   I reached over and grabbed my cell
phone, pretending I was googling cab companies .   But in reality, I had no idea how I was
going to get to the rehearsal dinner.   I had no money for a cab, and if I called my father, he and Renee would
just find some way to blame me for ruining their night.
    “Cabs don’t take broken debit cards,”
Cage said. “It’s a ten minute ride to the hotel.   Surely you can stand to be near me for ten minutes.”
    “No.”
    “Grace,” his voice was a warning with the
thin veil of a threat laced through it.   Which was bizarre – what could he really do to me out here, at a
gas station, just because I wouldn’t get into his car with him? And yet somehow
I had a feeling he was telling the truth, somehow I knew that if I didn’t get
into the car with him, there would be some kind of price to