by Aubrey Irons
“Are you fucking kidding me!”
I lunge at him, balling my fist up ready to punch him on that perfectly dimpled, smirking jaw.
“Hey, hey!” He puts his hands up palms out and shakes his head, giving me that innocent look I’ve seen him flash at my dad or his mom to win them over. “I was a perfect gentleman,” he drawls out, grinning at me. “I averted my eyes from your unmentionables.”
I frown. “You did?”
“Nah, not really.”
I groan and roll my eyes as he laughs.
“Honestly though, I really think your social life could improve with some new ones.”
“Jesus,” I mutter. “Neither my panties nor my social life are any concern of yours,” I hiss under my breath as a group of students spot Dalton and start to crowd around us. All the guys high-five him, and two other girls come screeching over from across the quad, giggling and hyperventilating as they pose next to him for a selfie.
I roll my eyes and march on ahead.
“Anyways, where were we,” Dalton’s caught up with me at the edge of the student parking lot, jogging past me to get in my path.
“We were nowhere.”
He strokes his chin. “Oh, right, your panties and me helping you get some new ones.”
I groan and roll my eyes, starting to push past him when I shiver at the feel of his lips right next to my ear.
“I could also help you out of those old ones first,” he husks, sending a shiver down my spine.
I swallow quickly, trying to will the heat out of my face as I turn and look at him as coolly as I possibly can. “You can’t talk to me like that.”
He grins right back. “Like what?”
“Like- like I’m one of those girls,” I say, nodding at the two he just took a selfie with who are waving at him and giggling. One makes a “call-me” motion as Dalton waves back.
I shake my head. “Okay, see? I’m not ‘those’ girls.”
“Never said you were, darlin,” he drawls out.
“Look.” I sigh. “Dalton-”
“Hailey.”
“Our parents are getting married-”
“Very true.”
I shoot him a look as he cuts me off and he makes a zipping motion across his lips.
“And you and I have nothing in common.”
Dalton clutches at his heart dramatically. “But look how close we’ve gotten as friends so far - sleepovers and everything.”
The grin creeps across my lips before I can stop it, and I quickly turn away, shaking my head. “Oh please, you and I both know you would’ve never talked to me if my dad wasn’t your Coach and marrying your mom.”
“Hey-”
“And I’d never talk to you,” I finish with a shrug. “Nothing personal.”
Dalton rolls his eyes. “Oh, yeah, of course.”
“Look, I’m just being honest,” I say with a shrug. “Besides, I’ve got a lot of work to do this semester so I can transfer.”
“Worried I’ll distract you?”
I blush. “No,” I say quickly. “Hardly.”
“Well then I guess we don’t have a problem, do we?”
I roll my eyes. “You are impossibly difficult.”
“Oh, I think most of the tabloids will tell you I’m pretty easy, actually.”
Gross.
I groan and go to push past him.
“Aww, where’re you going?”
“Home, we’ve got dinner with your mom and my dad tonight, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Was just headed there myself, hop in.”
I turn back to him and frown. “Huh?”
Dalton nods past me, and I turn to see the brand new, gleaming black and chrome Escalade parked behind me with the blue and white Hawks mascot painted on the back fender.
He’s grinning and jangling a set of keys as I turn back to him.
“Tell me the University didn’t actually buy you a freaking car.”
“Aww now don’t make me a liar, Hails. Besides, the University could never.”
I shake my head and he grins. “Alumni boosters, baby.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“No, that’s a sports program that brings in forty million a year in revenue for this fine academic institution, darlin.” He flashes me that grin again. “I’m just the headlining act.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Are you kidding me? How is that even okay?”
Dalton throws his hands up. “Hey, I’m just a dumb jock, what do I know?”
I give him a look.
“Hop in, red.”
“I’d rather walk, blondie.”
“I’ve been known to be pretty good for a ride, you know.”
I roll my eyes. “I’d rather crawl.”
Dalton flashes a grin at me. “That would put you on your hands and knees.” He winks at me. “I could get behind that.”
My face burns red, and I hate that he gets to me like that. I hate that I allow him to have this effect on me.
I’m saved - in a way - as another group of giggling, ridiculous girls comes running up to fawn all over Dalton.
“Try not to be late for dinner, Hails,” he calls after me over their heads, grinning as I turn and start walking away.
“Try not to catch anything on the way home, Dalton,” I shoot back over my shoulder as I storm away from him and his giggling, gushing mob of girls.
14
Dalton
“Can I help you?”
Hailey looks up with a slight frown as I knock on the open door of her bedroom at Mom’s house. This house came with the Dean position she took last year, and it’s amazing how little of it I’ve actually explored outside of the kitchen and my own guest house spot above the garage. Hailey’s room is on the far side of the house, barely decorated, and filled with stacks of moving boxes.
“Uh, yes?”
I snap my attention back to Hailey, sitting cross-legged on the edge of her bed, her hair piled up on top of her head with tendrils hanging down around her face. Her black glasses are perched on the freckled bridge of her nose, her soft lips wrapped around the pen in her hand she’s been chewing on.
Shit.
I’ve spent the entire afternoon after my shower trying to shake my head clear of her. Even after bumping into her back at school, I’ve been a damned monk in trying to clear my head of all the dirty, filthy things I’d like to do with her - how much I’d like to claim her.
How much I’d like to watch her come for me.
And I’ve actually been doing pretty okay in those efforts - that is, until the sight of her sitting cross-legged in those cutoff jeans - no makeup, messy hair, and wearing a t-shirt with fucking Darth Vader on it.
I mean, seriously.
My eyes drop to those long, lean legs of hers curled up beneath her, and then up to those wet, soft lips wrapped around the end of the ballpoint pen in her mouth.
And fuck if I’m not right back to being hard as damn stone.
I want to run my hands all the way up those legs and spread them wide. I want to peel those shorts off her tight little ass, bend her over, and drag my tongue across that sweet pussy. I glance back to the pen, and I want to pull it from her mouth and see if those lips look as hot wrapped around my shaft while her tongue swirls around my head.
“Dalton, can I help you?”
I blink and force the thoughts of sinking my cock between Hailey’s thighs from my head, and I grin. “Yeah, darlin, I thought we’d go over your wardrobe.”
She frowns. “My wardr- oh.” She trails off with a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes as it clicks. “I’m pretty sure we’ve been over the fact that my wardrobe is none of your concern, Dalton,” she says hastily, pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
“Oh but I’d love to make it my concern, darlin,” I say with a grin, stepping into her room. “Just to be clear, I’m talking about your choice in panties here.”
Hailey rolls her eyes again as she sneers at me. “Um, yeah, Da
lton, I got that. But no, we’re not talking about that.”
“You might be shocked to know that I’m actually kind of an expert on women’s undergarment fashion.”
“Literally nothing would shock me less, actually,” she says with a fake smile my way.
She turns back to her books, shifting on the bed and slipping that pen back between her lips. I can feel the fire spark inside as I watch those lips close around the pen, practically growling at how clearly oblivious she is of how insanely hot it looks with her cheeks hollowing as she slowly sucks it between her lips.
Jesus, this is what I get for cock-blocking myself and denying myself natural relief. I’m standing here practically drooling like some sort of weirdo over the nerdy girl in the glasses and the Star Wars shirt with a pen in her mouth.
Hailey glances back up when she realizes I’m still in the room. “Look, I’ve got work to do.”
“I’m sure you do.” I’m moving towards her before I know what I’m doing, my eyes locked on hers, blood pounding in my ears.
“Dalton,” she says quickly.
“Yes?”
“I- I told you already, I’m very busy.”
I can’t tell which of us she’s trying to convince more as she says it.
“Yeah, I can see that,” I say with a grin.
“I’m serious.”
She holds my gaze, her big blue eyes looking at me over the rim of those sexy fucking nerd glasses and that fucking pen still stuck between her lips.
That pen and those lips are going to give me a fucking heart attack.
“Besides,” she says flippantly, pushing again at that pesky stray lock of hair. “Most of my clothes are back at the dorms, so I doubt you’d have much to work with anyways.”
She grins, as if proud of herself that she can toss it right back at me, but she quickly looks down at her books as if to hide both the grin and the blush that creeps across her face.
It doesn’t work.
“So is that an open invitation to your dorm?”
Her face goes a shade darker as she shoots me a quick look. She swallows thickly, her blue eyes meeting mine before she shrugs it off and looks back at her notebook. “Nope.”
I grin. “Aww, you don’t want any more sleepovers?”
The tips of her ears are red, even if she’s still burying her face in that book. “Um no, I don’t think my reputation would survive it.”
“Oh, I think me sleeping over would do wonders for your rep, actually.”
She looks up at me, then, the pen just teasing the corner of her lips. “We’re going to be related, Dalton,” she says quietly.
I hold that look of hers with my gaze. “No, we won’t be.”
We lock eyes for a full two seconds, before her eyes flash once and she drops her gaze again. She quickly shakes her head. “This is inappropriate,” she says quickly.
“Welcome to my world, darlin,” I murmur. I take another step towards where she’s sitting on the edge of her bed. “You got any more excuses inside that pretty head?”
“Excuses?”
I grin. “You know what I’m talking about.”
I’m teasing her, pushing her more than I know I should. But I can’t fucking help it. There’s something fucking magnetic - something primal - that keeps me there in that room and keeps me pushing this thing further and further.
She blinks quickly. “I’m sure I don’t.”
“I’d be happy to show you if you’re confused.”
She inhales sharply, that damn pen slipping back between her pouty lips. Her eyes narrow at me, and she suddenly pushes the book to the side. “I think you should leave,” she says quietly.
I roll my eyes. “Aww, c’mon, this little tit-for-tat was just starting to get good!”
She glares at me, “Out.”
She uncurls her legs, standing from the bed as she starts to push me back towards the door to her room. And I let her, even though I’m perfectly aware that I could pick her up right here and toss her right back on that bed.
“Oh, and I don’t have excuses, Dalton, I have reasons.” She smiles thinly at me before she puts her hand on my chest and pushes me out through her door. “Loads of them.”
And I’m about to drop it and walk away - really, I am.
But that fucking pen goes right back between her lips. They’re soft, and pink, and they wrap gently around it as her cheeks hollow slightly. And right then, right there, and just like that, I’m fucking done.
Hailey gasps, her eyes going wide as I suddenly push her back inside her room. I follow her in, kicking the door shut behind me, moving towards her with my jaw set and my eyes locked on her.
“Just what do you think you’re-”
“Anyone ever tell you you talk a lot?”
She frowns as she steps back. “What are you talking about?”
“You talk a lot, darlin,” I growl, taking another step towards her. “And you’re too damn smart for your own damn good.”
“I- what-” She’s frowning at me as she steps back against her dresser, her eyes darting across mine. “God, what are you talking about?”
“Don’t you ever get tired of fucking talking and analyzing everything?” My pulse roars in my ears, and the world blurs to just background noise. It’s just her and me, locked eye to eye in that room.
“What? Dalton what the hell are you-”
“Well I’m done talking.”
Fuck it.
I kiss her just as she’s opening her mouth to say something. And right there, the whole world fucking shatters around us as I sear my lips across hers.
It’s so wrong, and so fucking inappropriate, and something about that gets me even harder as I growl into her mouth and push her back against the dresser. My hand slides up into her hair, pulling her into me as I claim her mouth with mine.
And she moans.
It’s not some kind of porn-star moan or anything over-the-top like some cheap sorority skank might do because she thinks it sounds sexy. Hell, it’s not even overtly sexual. But it’s there, just as I start to slide my tongue past those pillow-soft lips, and it’s enough to push me right over the last edge of my sanity.
My other hand slides up her body, teasing over each rib through her shirt as I move it higher. She shivers against me, and suddenly, her tongue is sliding right back against mine. I groan into her lips, my hand moving up to cup her jaw, and suddenly she’s kissing me right the fuck back. It’s hungry, and it’s fire, and lust, and raw.
Fucking hell, I’m kissing Hailey Garrison - my damn stepsister.
And it’s almost like she’s reading my damn thoughts, because the second the thought hits me, it’s over. Hailey gasps as she pulls away, her eyes going wide and then narrowing as her jaw drops and she shoves me away from her.
“Are you crazy!” She hisses, her eyes darting accusingly across my face. “We can’t!” She’s shaking her head, sucking in breaths of air. She looks at me, her eyes almost scared as she shakes her head. “Dalton, I have a boyfriend.”
Yeah, bullshit.
I growl as I grab her face and kiss her again, just to show her how much I don’t buy it. She moans again, and she’s melting into me before it’s like she remembers herself again and suddenly pulls away with a gasp.
“Damnit, Dalton!” She says breathlessly. Her lips are red and swollen from my kisses, and I find myself grinning at the sight.
I narrow my eyes as I move to kiss her again. But she’s shaking her head, her hand on my chest pushing me away. “No, I mean it.”
“Yeah?” Hailey’s eyes close and she loses her words, gasping as I move in again. My lips tease across her exposed neck. “What’s his name?”
“Hmm?” She pants out, her fingers curling against my chest.
“The boyfriend, darlin,” I husk into her ear, my lips brushing against the skin there. “What’s his name?”
Because I don’t buy that bullshit for one fucking second.
“Um-”
“He’s got a name, right?”
“Paul,” she finally whispers quietly, shaking. I can feel her pulse hammering in the soft skin of her neck as my fingers slide up to twist into her hair.
“You sure about that?” I murmur, sliding my lips against her earlobe.
Hailey slowly shakes her head. “I- yes,” she breathes out as my lips move across her jaw to her mouth.
“Bullshit,” I growl, and she whimpers as I claim her mouth again.
She’s melting into me again, her hands sliding up over my chest as I press her hard against the dresser behind her.
“Hailey!”
The sound of Coach’s voice from downstairs shatters the moment. Hailey jerks away from my lips like she’s just been burned, and suddenly her hands on my chest are shoving me away.
Her eyes go wide. “Dalton-”
“Hey, kiddo,” Coach calls again, his voice muffled from downstairs. “I’m heading back to campus for something at the office. You want a lift?”
Hailey’s eyes dart to mine, scared, wide, and angry all at the same time. “Get out,” she says quickly, her face suddenly darkening as she shakes her head.
“Hailey-”
“Now, Dalton!” She hisses out. Her hands shove me away from her before she ducks around me, grabs her books, and yanks open the bedroom door.
“Coming!” She yells downstairs. She pauses at the doorframe and looks back at me. She opens her mouth like she’s about to say something, but then her lips close and she just shakes her head and steps out.
Well, fuck.
15
Hailey
“You sure about that?”
“I- yes,” I lie, my heart hammering in my chest as his eyes burn right into mine.
“Bullshit.”
The entire scene plays out in my head as I look at my reflection in my dorm room mirror later the next day. Sunlight and the sounds of campus stream in through the open window, but I’m distracted by what I see.
I blush as my fingers trace across my lips, across the swollen bruises there. These wicked, tantalizing, delicious reminders of that kiss.
God, how did I let that happen?
