Swagger: A Stepbrother Romance Read online

  “What in the hell are you talking about? I’ve never said anything like that.” He raked a hand through his hair in frustration, giving his head a shake.

  “Society does. Take porn actors for instance. There’s a total double standard.”

  “Porn actors?” His expression morphed again, the anger being replaced by confusion. “What in the hell are you talking about? Are you on the rag or something?”

  “I’m talking about there being a double standard.”

  He grew quiet a moment, his brow furrowing as if in heavy concentration. “Are you writing some sort of feminist article? Is that why you were taking notes on cam shows?”

  “Umm. No. I’m not a women’s rights activist. And I’m not writing an article.”

  “Then what was with the notes?”

  “Those notes were and are none of your business.”

  He took a step closer to me. “Then what was with the notes?”

  “I said it was none of your business, so drop it.” Brushing past him, I raced up the stairs, entered my room and slammed the door, locking it for good measure. Going to my bed, I flopped on my back onto it. The bed was so soft it was like falling into a cloud, comforting me. Closing my eyes I attempted to push Zach from my mind. I had my co-star, I didn’t need Zach, and if I were to be honest with myself kissing him was a crazy mistake. One I couldn’t make again.

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  Zach

  “That’s when she kissed me.” I said, taking a swig from my beer as I slumped back into the padded leather of the booth I was sitting in, across from my closest friend, Grant.

  “So then what happened? Did you hit it?” Grant leaned forward, no doubt waiting for the juicy details.

  “Of course not! She’s my fucking sister, man!”

  “Pfft. Whatever. She’s not your sister, she’s your stepsister and completely fuckable.”

  “She just turned 18.”

  “So she’s legal.”

  “You’re disgusting.” Despite my words I had to laugh. People called me a man-whore, but I was nothing in comparison to Grant. At least I had some standards.

  “Again, whatever.” Grabbing his mug, he downed the beer that was remained in it and motioned for the waitress to bring him another. “My little brother has been in a lot of her classes. He’s said that she’s quite the loner, never went to any of the parties even though she was usually invited. The guys are betting she’s still a virgin, but none seem to be able to get to the Holy Grail to find out for certain.”

  “I seriously don’t need to hear this.”

  “Then what do you want to hear?”

  The waitress placed a new mug filled to the brim with golden, frothy liquid and then turned to me. “Do you need another?”

  I looked down at my half-drank beer. “Thanks, but no. This’ll be all for me.” I needed to drive home and the alcohol wasn’t really the reason I’d called Grant and asked him to meet me. A part of me was hoping he’d tell me I wasn’t some sort of disgusting player. I should have known that wouldn’t happen. The truth was the truth.

  “Wow, you call me up and ask me to meet you at a bar and you don’t even drink?”

  I motioned to the beer in front of me. “What do you call this?”

  “I call this a Zach Klein pity party and it’s pretty pathetic. You want me to tell you that you weren’t a dog and that you were a sweet and faithful boyfriend, but I won’t ‘cause you weren’t.”

  I glowered at him, but he didn’t seem to notice or care.

  “If you want to turn in the playboy lifestyle and become a man who’s devoted to one chick, then be my guest. I don’t give a fuck. But I’m not going to pass you a pile of shit and try to make you believe it’s gold.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” I said with a sigh. “But what do you think is up with the note-taking of the cam shows? Isn’t that a bit odd?”

  Grant shrugged, “How do I know? Maybe she has a new boy-toy and wants to know all the moves before the big night. Fuck, maybe she’s not nearly as innocent as she acts and she just gets off on experimenting. Or maybe she’s a porn freak. What would I know?”

  “You’re not a damned bit of help, you know that?”

  “All right, I’ll be of some help.” Grant nodded towards the far corner of the bar, just slightly behind me. “Look over there.”

  I turned and looked in the direction he pointed to. Nothing stood out to me. I redirected my attention back to Grant. “I have no idea what you want me to see.”

  “Humph.” Grant stared at me for a moment, actually a little longer than a moment, to the point I was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

  “What is it? You’re looking at me like you either want to kill me or fuck me. to be honest, I think I’d prefer death over your dick in my ass.”

  He smiled. “You’re crushing on her.”

  “On who?” I gave him a hard stare. Who in the fuck was he talking about? He couldn’t mean… “Tia?”

  “Yeah, man. I think you’re actually falling for her.”

  “Ha! Yeah! No way.” The guy was totally off his rocker. I didn’t think I’d ever heard anything so crazy. I needed a drink. Guzzling down the remainder of my beer I waved for the waitress to come over. As she approached our table I motioned to my beer. She nodded, gave me a flirty smile, spun on her heel, and disappeared behind the bar.

  “How is that so crazy? She’s hot, she’s smart… She fucking sleeps down the hall from you. How convenient is that?”

  “Because it is.”

  Grant wagged his finger at me. “Because there’s an insanely sexy blonde over there.” He pointed again and this time I saw her. “She’s been eyeing you for the past fifteen minutes and any other time you’d be all over that, but you didn’t even notice.”

  I needed to get his attention away from Tia, because deep down I knew he was hitting the nail on the head and wasn’t too sure how I felt about that. “I’ve got shit on my mind, like getting a new job.”

  “Any luck?”

  “Nah.” The waitress returned with my drink and I gave her a smile of thanks. “I was considering going to school. Tia got me thinking about it. Maybe take a welding course. Stay in construction, just do something a little different.”

  “Hmmm. Interesting.”

  “So, what do you think? A little input would be nice. I need out of this situation of living with the folks. Fucking sucks ass.”

  Grant jerked his thumb towards the blonde again. “I think you need to fuck that chick over there and get your mind off wanting to fuck your stepsister. That’s what I think.”

  I was about to rage at Grant for beating a dead topic, but one more look over my shoulder at the woman in question changed my mind. Maybe he was right. Maybe I just needed to get laid and thoughts of Tia would be purged from my mind.

  Noticing my gaze on her, the woman smiled and gave me a little, flirty wave. After a moment’s hesitation I waved back. Her smile widened and she motioned for me to come to her.

  Grabbing my beer I stood. “You know what, I think you’re right.”

  “I know I’m right.” Grant followed my lead, standing as well. “And it looks like she has a few friends, maybe we can make this a double header.”

  “Double header?” I asked raising an eyebrow at him as we began to make our way across the bar towards the women.

  “Hey, we haven’t picked up together for a long time. Since high school, if I remember correctly.”

  “Just like the good old days.”

  “Exactly like the good old days.”

  Chapter 6

  Zach

  “You’re getting home rather late.” She looked down at her watch, it was 5am. “Or would that be early? Did you sneak out before she woke up so you wouldn’t need to have that awkward conversation?” She gave me a smug look as if to say ‘I told you so.’

  Oh fuck, I groaned inwardly. Of all the mornings for her to be up early she picked this one. My hope was to get myself a glass of milk and h
ead to bed, I really didn’t expect to find her sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal. “For your information, I didn’t pick up last night.”

  “Bullshit.” She sounded bitter and jealous, or maybe that was just my imagination.

  “Jealous?” Ah fuck, why did that have to come out of my mouth? I decided to blame a combination of alcohol and lack of sleep for my loose lips. I went to the fridge and grabbed the carton of milk, not really wanting a response.

  “Hardly. It’s your dick.”

  Taking a deep breath in I slowly released it, turning to face her, suddenly feeling the need to sort this out once and for all. I didn’t like that she had this low impression of me, it shouldn’t matter and perhaps at one point in my life it wouldn’t, but it did now.

  “For your information I was with Grant. You remember Grant.” She nodded. “We hung out at Crowe’s Bar for a couple of hours and ended up running into a couple of friends.” When the smug smile returned to her lips I added, “Male friends. We all got talking about ping pong for some reason and one thing led to another.”

  “Ping pong?” she scrunched her nose up at me as if that was the craziest thing in the world. “One thing led to another?”

  “We found ourselves at the Wal-Mart, bought a ping pong table, set it up at Grant’s place and had a ping pong drinking party. Last man to not pass out was declared the ping pong champion.”

  “You mean beer pong, right?”

  “No, I mean ping pong. Table, net, little white ball and paddles. Ping pong.”

  Her face went blank for a moment. I wasn’t sure if she thought I was full of shit or the biggest loser that had ever walked the face of the earth. When she burst out laughing, I realized it was the latter.

  “What?”

  “Ohmygod! That’s a little pathetic. Actually a lot pathetic and I know pathetic, I didn’t have much of a social life all through high school.”

  I was slightly insulted, but at the same time curious. I’d always wondered why she seemed such a recluse. Admittedly, I didn’t really live with her until now. I’d been out of the house by the time her and her mother moved in but whenever I came to visit and on the occasional time when I needed a place to crash I’d noticed she never seemed to leave the house, her room more specifically. It had always struck me as unusual, especially for someone as good looking as she was. I would have thought she’d have had guys pounding down her door.

  “Now that you bring it up.” Grabbing a box of cereal and a bowl, I sat down across from her at the kitchen table and prepared myself a bowl of Corn Flakes. “What’s with you and the lack of a social life? I swear you’re the oldest eighteen-year-old ever.”

  She shrugged and spooned another mouthful of cereal into her mouth. “I had more important things to focus on.”

  “Like?” Wasn’t high school all about socialization and clubs and having fun? Isn’t that what being a teenager was all about?

  “Princeton. Getting in and getting good grades. Getting a scholarship.”

  “Did you get a scholarship?”

  Her expression turned sad and I regretted the question. “No.”

  “Then you get a student loan.” I shrugged. Easy-peasy. Problem solved.

  “Even if I got one, but how in the hell would I ever be able to pay all that back? I could take out a small loan maybe, but certainly not enough for a Princeton education. I want to live on campus and tuition is pricy. Mom and Frank don’t have enough money to help out, and Mom just told me she had to spend that the college fund my father put away for me.”

  “Oh.” I looked down at my bowl of cereal, pushing the flakes down and under the milk. “So you’re going to take a year or two off, or…”

  “Nope.” A look of determination replaced the one of sorrow. “I’m going to Princeton. I didn’t sacrifice my social life to skip a year or go to some second-rate community college.”

  “It’s just a year or two, you’re still young.”

  Her eyes narrowed at me, as if I were the enemy and the one standing in the way of her dreams. “I will not change my plans. I will get the money.”

  “How?”

  “I have a plan.” She smiled and shrugged.

  Now she had me really curious. I didn’t know the exact costs of an education like that, but I guessed it would be pretty damned hard to come up with whatever it cost in four months.

  “You’re not going to become a stripper or something are you?”

  She hesitated, just for a second, but I noticed a distinct hesitation. I didn’t like it – not one bit – thinking about Tia bumping and grinding on some stranger’s lap left a bad taste in my mouth. Not that I had anything against strippers. Hell, I’d frequented a club a time or two myself. But this was Tia, my stepsister. “I swear to God, if I ever see you teasing the dick of some pervert I’ll…”

  Her eyes narrowed at me again. “You’ll what?”

  With a sigh, I forced myself to calm down. “I want better for you than that. You’re too smart and educated and fuck…” I thrust a hand into my hair in agitation.

  “I’ll have you know, I’m not,” she stood suddenly, so suddenly that her chair went toppling backwards behind her. “But even if I was it’s my body and I can do with it as I please.” Without giving me a chance to respond she stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs. A minute later her door slammed closed behind her.

  “Oh fuck me,” I groaned out load. Things between us kept getting worse and worse. Why couldn’t I just learn to keep my big mouth shut?

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  Tia

  How dare he! This was my life and my decision. If I wanted to be a stripper, then by God I would be. Though if he had that type of opinion on me being a stripper, I seriously doubted he’d agree to being in a cam show with me. Yes, perhaps it was for the best I never asked him.

  Grabbing a novel from my room and then a towel from the linen closet, I proceeded into the master bathroom, shutting the door behind me. Normally I’d use the bathroom at the end of the hall, but my parents had the dreamy bathtub, the one with the power jets. Turning on the faucet, I plugged the drain and added some bubble bath to the stream of water. After stripping down, I grabbed some bath salts from under the counter and added those to the water, a nice lavender – my favourite scent – greeted my nose. Closing my eyes, I took a moment to relish the scent, which immediately began to calm me.

  Once the water was full, I slipped in. The bathtub was nice and deep, the water reaching my chin and covering my body completely. Grabbing my book, a juicy romance novel I’d been dying to sink my teeth into for days now, I began to read.

  Pages flew by and so did the time, but it felt so damned good. It was so warm and the jets, ohmygod the jets were amazing, and they became especially useful when I got to a couple of the really steamy sex scenes. Putting the book to the side, I closed my eyes and shut my mind off.

  I was just about to doze off in the bathwater when I heard footsteps in my parent’s bedroom. My eyes flew open just as the bathroom door opened and there stood Zach, a towel draped over his arm.

  Surprised, I quickly sat up as a yelp of surprise escaped me.

  “Oh shit, Tia…” His eyes dropped from mine. It was at that moment that I realized that, despite the bubbles, when I sat up I left my chest fully exposed to his vision, my two pink nipples peeping out from beneath the suds. He didn’t move, but his eyes lifted and his stare met mine again. “I didn’t know you were in here.”

  I yelped again and sank into the water until I was covered up to my neck. “The door was closed! Don’t you know to knock?”

  “I thought you were in your room. I didn’t know.”

  “Again, ever think to knock?”

  “Shit, I’m sorry.” He took a step back, then another.

  As he retreated I couldn’t help but lower my gaze, scanning his body wearing only a pair of boxer briefs. He had such an incredible chest, thick and strong. As my eyes lowered further, I drank in the lines of his ab
s. My heart rate quickened, I’d kill to be able to run my fingertips along the lines of defined muscle. It wasn’t until my eyes dipped a little lower, to his groin, that my breath caught in my throat – he was sporting a rapidly rising hard-on.

  Zach was attracted to me just as much as I was to him. The proof was in his pants, well, underpants. Without consideration to what I was doing or the possible consequences, I sat back up in the tub, allowing him a view of my pert breasts.

  “I, umm… You’re…” he took another couple of steps backwards and then froze again, his eyes lowering to my breasts.

  “I’m what?” I had to fight to keep the grin from spreading across my lips at his unease.

  He started to speak, his mouth opening, but then snapped it shut again. With a shake of his head, he seemed to break the trance he was in. “Never mind. Sorry.” Turning, he rushed from the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

  I had no idea that seeing him so flustered would give me such satisfaction.

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  The day went quickly and before I knew it, it was time for my date with Trevor. Well, okay not really date – business meeting. No, that wasn’t right either, it was too formal a term. Laughing, I spun around in front of the mirror, the flowing knee-length skirt of my red dress fanning out around me. Despite the blow up with Zach this morning, it had turned out to be a good day. The expression on Zach’s face when he’d walked in on me had been priceless and kept me smiling the entire day.

  “Tia, there’s a guy here to see you.” Zach yelled up to me.

  Looking down at my watch, I nodded my approval. He was on time. I liked that. There was nothing that irritated me more than people who didn’t have respect for other peoples’ time. Maybe Zach was right, I’m the oldest eighteen-year-old ever. But really, was there anything wrong with being responsible and goal driven? I didn’t think so.

  Giving my appearance one more once over, I grabbed my purse – a little black clutch – and made my way downstairs. At the foot of the stairs I looked across the living room to see Zach and Trevor talking. But just one look at the tightness in his back, I could tell he was tense.