The abs were more toned, the skin just that tiny bit hairier, and it felt softer than Taylor's. Drawing her brows together in confusion, she looked up to see the strained expression on Logan's face. Oh, God. She'd been fondling her own stepbrother's abs, and by the looks of it, he didn't know how to react. His jaw had a slight tick and he was staring straight ahead, refusing to meet her eyes.
She sat up so fast the large cup resting between them tipped to the side, spilling it's contents all over her skirt. “Crap!” she exclaimed.
“Shh,” someone whispered.
“Screw you,” Logan replied loudly. “You okay?” His searching hands found her thigh in the darkness, brushing at the ice cubes and squeezing her skirt to wring the material out as much as he could.
“Fine,” she whispered in reply, standing. “I'm gonna dry off in the bathroom.”
He nodded, fixing his shirt where it had ridden up. Where you raised it up, she reminded herself with a tingling feeling in her fingertips.
Barging into the bathroom, she recoiled as the door stopped short and she almost walked straight into it, nose first. That's all she needed. Hey, maybe she'd bounce off the door and hit her head, and then she could just go into a coma and not have to explain why she was just basically all over her brother.
Chapter Four
Splashing water on her face helped a little. She groaned at her reflection, feeling her pulse still racing. Her cheeks were red and her eyes were wide. She was mortified. How could she explain things to him?
Whipping off her skirt, she sat on the counter in just her top and panties, holding the drenched material under the hand dryer. The cotton was so light, it was dry in moments, and only a dirty orange stain remained to remind her of her foolishness. Oh, what he must think of her. She was a tramp, plain and simple. She'd never be able to look him straight in the face again after tonight, and somehow that was the worst part.
Slipping back into her skirt, and thanking God nobody had walked in while she was sitting there in her underwear, she opened the door and found Logan waiting for her in the hallway.
“Movie's over,” he told her.
Oh, yeah, buddy. In more ways than one. Even if they'd been only half way through, she would have had to leave. Her face flamed as she took her jacket from his hand and headed to the door. “Okay.”
“You want to get something to eat?” he asked, his face showing nothing of what had just happened inside the theater. “We can grab some pizza. I know you like that.”
“No, thanks. I'm not hungry.” Not for food, anyway. Oh, God, mind, shut up!
He dipped his head in acknowledgment as he held the door open for her. The freezing wind invaded her body as she stepped out into the street. Regretting the impulse that saw her turning down the use of her mom's car, she huddled inside her light jacket.
Logan slung and arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to his warm side. Two old ladies with tiny dogs on leads strolled past them, their faces indulgent and smiling. “Lovely couple,” one said to the other as they continued past them.
Oh, jeez can this get anymore awkward? She pulled away from Logan, uncomfortable with anyone thinking them a couple. He snorted. “Does it bother you that much?”
“Uh? What?” She tried for a blank face and failed when Logan laughed.
“The idea that two innocent old dears thought we were a couple.”
“No, of course not. That's just silly.” She folded her arms against the cold. “I just wouldn't want anyone who doesn't know you're my brother to get the wrong idea and go blabbing about Taylor's girlfriend cheating on him. You know?”
“Sure,” he replied with a smug expression. “I understand.” He walked on a bit while she stopped dead. “What's wrong?” He turned back around, a frown marring his face.
She shook her head and started walking again. “Nothing. It's nothing.” She had briefly entertained the thought of addressing what had happened in the close darkness of the theater, but one look at his face and she thought better of it. If he wanted to pretend it never happened, she was only too glad to go along with it. “I think I'd like pizza, after all,” she said instead, her stomach growling. Popcorn and soda could only get a girl so far.
He smiled, showing his perfect pearly whites, and walked beside her, his arms loosely swinging. After a few minutes of shivering, Sophie cleared her throat and berated herself for her own silliness. “I'm cold.”
~
Logan
With a stifled laugh, Logan threw his arm around Sophie's shoulder one more, tucking her into his side. The girl waited until she was almost blue with the cold to seek his warmth. Damned silly girls and their inappropriate attire – they were all crazy. Why wear a short skirt in February, teamed with a light top and jacket? And the bare legs? A definite no-no.
He had to admit, he was glad of her clothing choice tonight – the opportunity to touch her, to tuck her under his arm as if she belonged there was one in a million. He'd just about lost his shit when she'd started caressing his stomach in the theater, so hard he'd had to force himself to keep still. He'd been terrified of startling her, or breaking this spell that had seemed cast over her.
As luck would have it, she'd broken her own spell and drenched her skirt in the process. She sure was accident prone – it seemed she intentionally sought out ways to embarrass herself in front of him since day one. He smiled, thinking of the first night they'd met and of tucking her into bed, after plucking her from the bushes down the street. She'd called him 'hot-boy'. The memory brought a smile to his lips every time he thought about it, which wasn't much these days since she'd basically been ignoring his entire existence.
“Better?” At least she'd stopped shivering so badly.
“Better,” she whispered, her hand disappearing into the folds of his jacket.
~
The pizza place was virtually empty, the only other people hanging around being cozy couples too intent on staring into each others eyes to notice the hijinks Sophie got up to with a single-serve package of ketchup. She evidently couldn't tear the package with her fingers, and resorted to using her teeth. He could have told her from the get-go how bad of an idea that was, but before he could open his mouth to suggest she let him try, the package tore wide, splattering her face, her hands, the table, and her hair where it hung in soft waves around her shoulders.
With a sigh of frustration, she flung the now useless package away, where it landed with a wet slap on the floor and snatched at the paper napkins from the dispenser on the table. Logan's face turned red in an effort to hold back his laughter, but when she reached the last of the paper napkins and went to fetch more, slipping on the offending package and ending up on her ass looking up at him, he let loose.
By the time he'd calmed down enough to move, Sophie had stormed out, leaving him to scramble in an effort to pack up the pizza and pay the bill before catching up to her. “Hey, Soph. Hey! Wait up.” Though laughter still threatened to consume him, he held it back with a herculean effort.
“Oh, you know what Logan? Just fuck off.” She stormed away from him. “This kind of shit only ever happens to me when you're around, you know!”
“Aww come on, Soph. It's not my fault!” With a smile still playing about his lips, he bundled the pizza under one arm while twirling her around with the other. “Hold up.” He hadn't ever heard her cuss before, and found he quite liked it.
She sighed, her eyes on the ground. “I'm not always this clumsy.”
“I believe you,” he laughed. “Look, do you wanna go back inside? It's cold out.”
“No,” she replied, still looking at the ground, her arms crossed, palms rubbing up and down her upper arms for warmth.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I think there's a bench around here somewhere...”
She'd chosen to take a cut through the park, and he knew for a fact there was a bench around the corner. “Come on.”
Once they'd eaten half of the pizza each, Sophie s
ighed in satisfaction while Logan crushed the box to fit into the litter bin beside the bench. When he sat back down he found himself a lot closer to Sophie than he'd originally planned to be, but one look at her shivering again had him raising his arm to pull her against him.
For an eternity – or so it seemed – they sat there, side by side, keeping each other warm. Just as Logan was beginning to think it was time to head back, he heard the town clock strike midnight and turned to face her. “You know what that means, don't you?”
“It's late?”
“It's your birthday,” he snorted. “Happy birthday, Soph. Make a wish.”
She frowned, leaning into him. “There's no candles to blow out.”
His heart kicked up a notch. “Make one anyway.”
“Alright...” She closed her eyes, her chin still tilted upward, and he couldn't help himself. Sitting there, with her eyes closed and her mouth slightly parted, she made an entirely too tempting picture. He lowered his head, placing his lips a hairs breadth from hers. He could feel the heat of her breath, practically feel the softness of her lips.
“What did you wish for?”
“I can't tell you,” she whispered, her eyes still tightly closed. “It won't come true.”
Throwing caution to the wind, he closed the distance between them, fitting his lips to hers and groaning when she opened to him. At the first touch of her tongue, he was a lost cause, his heart working over-time and his pulse racing. As he opened and closed his mouth against hers, her flavor invaded his senses, making him squirm in his seat.
“Tell me something,” she asked, leaning her forehead against his, her breath heaving.
“Anything,” he replied, feeling as though he'd tell her his deepest, darkest secret if only she wanted to know.
“Why do you cheat on your girlfriend?”
He pulled away slightly, a frown creasing his brow. “Girlfriend?”
“Yeah, you know... Janet? I hear you talking to her on the phone sometimes, so I know she's still around.”
Shit, he'd completely forgotten about the cock and bull story he'd told her about Janet being his girlfriend. Admitting his untruth now would make him feel like a moron. “What about you?”
“Me?”
“Have you forgotten about the Cham – I mean Taylor?”
Her eyes widened, and he truly believed that for a moment she had forgotten her boyfriend's existence.
~
Sophie
Oh, God. How could she have forgotten Taylor? He'd been her boyfriend for more than five months now, and she'd just played sucky-face with her brother for heaven's sake! Shame flowed over her, snapping her head back as she scooted as far from Logan as the bench would allow. What had she just done? She'd made a stupid, childish, silly wish and when it came true, she realized just how twisted it had been.
What would her mother say? Or Harry, even? Sweet Lord, they'd be disgusted with her, wouldn't they? “Oh, God.”
“Sophie. Sophie look at me. It's okay, don't panic.”
Don't panic? Her breaths coming in choppy gasps, her eyes flew to his, and with a gasp she stood up. “Don't panic, you say? What reason is there to panic? I've just played tonsil hockey with my brother– ”
“Stepbrother,” he interrupted.
“And what's more normal than that? I mean there's no reason to panic. None at all. Unless you count the fact that anyone could have seen us, and our parents would kill us, and my boyfriend – oh, God my boyfriend – I just cheated on my boyfriend. And you,” she accused, pointing a finger in his face. “Have cheated on your girlfriend, which wasn't really a big deal to me before now, because I was never the other woman!”
With a scream of frustration, she stomped off into the distance, ignoring the foul swears coming from behind her.
“Hold up!” he grated, grabbing her shoulder and spinning her around. “For starters, I'm not your brother, I'm your stepbrother, which means anything we do with, or to each other is entirely legal.”
“But hardly moral,” she groaned.
He waved that away. “Beside the point. Secondly, nobody saw us 'cos we're the only ones crazy enough to sit in the park at this hour of the night, and thirdly,” he went on, his grip on her shoulder tightening painfully. “If you cared for that Champagne Chimp at all, you wouldn't have wanted to kiss me.”
Champagne Chimp? What was he talking about? “Taylor?”
“Yes,” he hissed. “Taylor. Unless you have a secret boyfriend I don't know about.”
She shook her head, no. There was no one else. She'd had to be reminded of the one there was, for heaven's sake. “It doesn't change the fact that our parents would disapprove.”
“Disapproval, I've dealt with from the old man for a long time. I can deal with a bit more.”
“I can't.” Suffering her mom's disapproval over anything would kill her. No, they were dreaming. “I can't,” she repeated more firmly. “I want to go home and forget this ever happened.”
“Really?” His eyes glared at her. “Is that really what you want? 'Cos if it is, I'll oblige you.”
It really was what she wanted. She nodded slowly, wincing at the awful scowl on Logan's face as he whirled her back around and directed her home. He didn't put his arm around her this time, and she didn't tell him she was cold. She shivered and power-walked, and suffered his silence.
“Sophie,” Logan whispered as they approached the front door to the house. She could see through the frosted panes either side of the door that her mom and Harry were already home from their dinner-date and ensconced in the living room, the lamplight shining softly through the glass.
“What is it, Logan?” She'd had enough conversation with her stepbrother for one night.
“I won't ever bring this up after tonight, if that's the way you want it. But I have to know. Your wish?”
Should she be honest? What did she have to lose at this point, anyway? She was kidding herself if she thought he didn't know from day one how she'd felt about him. She couldn't even enjoy her first real kiss because in the darkest corner of her mind, she'd wished it was Logan giving it to her, and not Taylor. She was a hussy.
Just barely managing to keep her fingers from touching her tingling lips, she thought about the kiss that should have been her first. Holy-hot-boy, he was some kisser. Before now, she'd thought Taylor a magnificent kisser, all slow sweetness, but Logan's lust-filled mouth was something she'd never forget. A feeling of guilt welled up in her chest as she again wished that had been her first kiss.
She allowed her gaze to linger on Logan's face for a moment, the question still shining in his eyes. He was asking about her wish. He wanted to know that he hadn't done anything she hadn't wanted. She nodded, feeling tears well up in her eyes. “I wished for you.”
~
Logan
Oh, man, he hadn't been prepared for the lightening bolt of hurt that one admission would bring him. His heart lurched, and his jacket whispered softly as he tucked both hands inside his pockets to stop from reaching for her. “And, was it all you'd wished for?”
She spent a minute looking into his eyes, her expression raw and real – full of longing and disgust and pain and denial. “All that and more.”
“And still you don't want to...” he shrugged.
“What? Sneak around behind everybody's back? No, Logan. I could never do that. I'm sorry. I think it's better if we accept our relationship for what it is. I'm your sister. You're my brother. That's it.”
“Alright,” he agreed, stepping back to allow her the room to open the door. “Good night....sis.”
She smiled, and there was a hint of sadness behind the steely look in her eyes. “Good night, bro.”
~
Sophie
The next morning when Sophie woke up, she'd found Logan gone. He'd decided to take a dorm room after all. Her mother was confused and saddened, thinking she'd done something, or not done something, or done too much of something else. How could she tell her mom it
wasn't her fault without explaining the real reason behind his sudden interest in living on campus? She wasn't stupid enough to think it coincidence.
Harry knew. She was sure of it. It was in the speculative gleam in his eye as he studied her. It was in the stiff attitude and the frosty reception he gave her for weeks later. It was even, in a small way, reflected in his treatment of her mom over the following month. He was easy to anger, and quick to snap, telling her to mind her own business if she inquired about Logan's well-being, and hissing things under his breath when he thought nobody was listening. She was sure she'd heard him at one stage mutter something along the lines of “damn horny boy, can't keep it in his pants for a minute” as he passed her in the hallway one morning.
Eventually, things settled down, but if someone had told Sophie the night of the kiss that it would be a full year before she'd have a face-to-face conversation with Logan again, she'd have laughed until she turned blue. But truth is stranger than fiction, and so it was that a full year passed without her seeing Logan for more than a second at a time.
Chapter Five
February 2006
“Oh, Mom it's beautiful!” she gasped, turning around to let her fasten the clasp of the tiny diamond pendant. “You shouldn't have.”
“My baby girl turns eighteen and she says I shouldn't have bought her a diamond?” Marie laughed, delighted. “I knew I raised you right. But then again, you deserve this.”
“Happy birthday, Sophie,” Harry murmured, his hand resting on her mom's shoulder with affection.
“Harry!” she exclaimed. “Don't think you're getting out of this without a thank-you hug.” She knew Harry had to have contributed to the cost of the gem, and with its cold weight around her neck, she reached up and pulled them both into a tight hug. “Thank you both.”
Stepbrother, Mine Page 5
