Bad Boy - A Stepbrother Romance (2 page)

“I’ll have to bring you along with me one night,” he said, leaning closer to me. “We can dance, have a few drinks…see what happens.”

His hungry eyes focused right on mine, and I gulped as I felt his hand creeping onto my knee underneath the table. Jeez, he was forward. Then again, I didn’t mind. He was so hot that I probably wouldn’t have minded if he started tearing my clothes off right in the middle of Clancy’s in front of everyone...as long as he took his clothes off too.

Yum.

As I pictured him getting naked, I squirmed in my seat, and heat flooded my system again. I’d barely known this guy for ten minutes, and I was already considering letting him do all sorts of wild things to me. What the hell was wrong with me? This wasn’t like me at all. It was as if being around him had turned me into some sort of sex-crazed maniac all within the space of a few moments.

I suddenly realized that I hadn’t replied in almost thirty seconds now. “Uh…sounds great,” I squeaked, dropping my gaze to the table out of embarrassment.

He grinned. “You okay, Rory? You seem kinda scared. You’re not scared of me, are you?”

He mimed roaring like a lion, and I shook my head. “Of course not,” I said.
Liar.

Of course I was scared. Who wouldn’t be a little frightened when such a hottie was making it all-too apparent that he wanted to screw them in the not-too-distant future? I was already worrying about how it would turn out if I went through with it. I hadn’t been with someone in so long—what if I’d forgotten how to have sex, and I choked and simply lay there like a dead starfish? What if he left afterwards and never spoke to me again?

Urgh, no, I had to stop being so self-deprecating. Things never turned out how people imagined them to be, but that didn’t mean they turned to be bad in every case. Just because I wasn’t the most experienced girl didn’t automatically make me terrible in bed, and just because this guy wanted me to sleep with him didn’t automatically make him an asshole who’d never speak to me again afterwards. It just made him a typical horny guy, and honestly, after being around him for a while, I was horny as hell too. It would be hypocritical of me to assume he was a prick purely for wanting sex, considering how badly I wanted it from him at the same time.

To be fair, everything about him screamed ‘playboy’ from head to toe, so it wasn’t all that surprising that I was a little worried about being left high and dry. With all the tattoos, wild dark hair and general bad-boy looks, I would never have pegged him for the dating type upon first glance, but Dana had been adamant that Ben was a decent guy who was looking for a long-term relationship.

I guess I had to wait and see how it went. Besides, just because we both wanted each other didn’t mean we
had
to hook up on the first date. I was fully capable of exerting self-control.

Famous last words.

His hand slid further up my leg, and all my self-control immediately flew out the window.

Screw it. I wanted to screw
him.
Who cared if I wasn’t usually like this? There was something here, and we could both feel it. Deep down, I knew this date was going to end with a lot more than a chaste hug and an awkward goodnight peck on the cheek.

That is, until
that
girl walked in.

Ben and I had been having a lot of fun chatting over our drinks for about an hour and a half at this point—getting to know more about each other’s likes, dislikes, ambitions and general interests—when all of a sudden, a tall redheaded girl sashayed into Clancy’s. Despite how into Ben I was, I noticed the girl out of the corner of my eye because it was hard to miss such an imposing figure, especially in the black leather six-inch heeled boots she was wearing.

Her eyes narrowed when she spied Ben and me sitting at our table, and she began to march towards us.

“I’m having a really great time with you, Rory, but I’ve gotta be honest with you about something,” Ben said. “I’m not really—“

He was stopped short by the redheaded girl arriving at our table. “What the hell are you doing here with this slut?” she screeched, slamming her hand down on the table.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, and Ben looked up. “What the fuck, Candice?” he growled. “What are you doing here?”

Practically everyone in the place had turned a curious eye to our table now. The girl, who I now knew was named Candice, turned her attention to me, green eyes lit with rage. “Did you know he already had a girlfriend, little whore?” she asked, practically spitting the words at me.

“Excuse me?” I said, my eyes wide.

Surely this was some sort of crazy woman. Then again, if she was just some random nutjob, how did Ben know her name? Also, just before we’d been interrupted, he’d told me that he had to be honest with me about something, and then he’d said that he wasn’t really…what?

Wasn’t really single?

Oh, crap.
Please, no.
I liked this guy, even though we’d only known each other for just over an hour, and if he was actually a cheating playboy prick, I was going to be more than a little upset.

Unfortunately, the situation didn’t look good right now, and my stomach was already twisting with knots of trepidation.

Ben shook his head at me. “Don’t listen to her. She’s full of shit. She’s not my girlfr—“

He was cut off again by the restaurant manager appearing at our table. “Is everything okay here, Mr. Grayson?”

Grayson? Huh? Dana had told me that Ben’s last name was Grigson…hadn’t she? Maybe I’d misheard that too.

Something else occurred to me a second later. Why did the manager know who Ben was and address him as ‘mister’ like he was super-important? Tonight was really turning into a cluster-bomb of confusion.

Candice started shrieking and pounding at the table with her fist again, her features contorting with anger as she turned her rage towards the manager. “He’s my boyfriend! I just came in here and saw him with this fat skank, and he’s sitting here lying right to everyone’s faces and saying I’m not his girlfriend! I
am
!”

Wow. Fat skank, huh? I had to admit, that really stung.

“Don’t you fucking dare talk about Rory like that,” Ben growled. “Now get the hell out of here before I have to drag you out myself. You know I don’t wanna resort to that.”

Candice ignored him and continued to carry on, screaming insults at the both of us while I sat there, utterly dumbfounded and humiliated. I wanted so desperately to get up and run a million miles away from this horribly awkward situation, but I couldn’t bring myself to move a muscle. I was still too shocked, and everything was rushing by me in a blur as I tried to adjust.

Maybe the city would suddenly have another giant earthquake like it had in the early 1900’s, and the ground would open up and swallow me right down into the earth’s core. That’d be a favorable situation to whatever was happening to me right now.

“Er, Miss, I’m sorry to hear about your troubles, but you’re going to have to leave,” the manager said, tentatively reaching out to pat Candice’s arm when she finally stopped to take a breath.

She shook him off and then slapped Ben right in the face. Hard. I gasped, and he simply touched a hand to his smarting skin before standing up. He looked pissed as hell, which somehow served to make him look even taller and more intimidating, but Candice didn’t shrink away even one inch.

“So what the fuck do you have to say for yourself?” she said, hands planted on her hips. “Who is this slut? Are you even going to tell me?”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Candice, why the hell are you always pulling this shit with me?” he replied, eyes smoldering with anger.

Candice ignored him and turned her attention back to me, her eyes narrowed. “Whoever you are,
don’t
listen to this guy, no matter what he tries to tell you. As you can see, he’s a fucking filthy, cheating liar!”

Ben ran his hands through his hair, seemingly lost for words. “Jesus…”

I finally snapped out of my shocked and bewildered stage and abruptly stood up.

Screw this. Ben had seemed relatively decent at first, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that this girl
was
actually his girlfriend, as much as he’d denied it and as crazy as she seemed to be. And no wonder she was acting crazy…I’d probably have a public meltdown if I went out somewhere and caught someone cheating on me too.

No matter how sexy a guy was, I would never, ever let myself be roped into being the other woman. No way. I should’ve known that something was off when he started touching my leg earlier, only a few minutes into our date, but I’d been so starry-eyed and happy for the attention that I’d let it go. Clearly, this guy wasn’t looking for a relationship of any kind…he was simply looking for some easy fun on the side, and he’d lied to me—and presumably Dana and Rob—in order to get it.

And to think just moments ago, I’d been desperate to sleep with him tonight, and I’d actually thought it might be a good idea to do so.

Jeez. My judgment was obviously impaired from my recent dating dry spell, and I silently vowed that I’d never make the same mistake again. Next time I wouldn’t even so much as dream about sleeping with a guy until we’d been on at least ten dates and established that we were an exclusive pairing.

Glad that I’d snapped out of my momentary loss of sanity, I grabbed my bag. “Thanks, asshole,” I snapped, pulling some cash out and tossing it on the table to cover my drinks. Not that he deserved it. “Thanks for wasting my time.”

“Rory, wait, this isn’t what it looks like,” he said, looking at me and reaching out to grab my hand. “Don’t go.”

Oh yay, that old chestnut.
It’s not what it looks like.

I yanked my hand away from his. “Do you know how many times I—and probably every other woman in the world—have heard that excuse? It’s bullshit. It’s
always
what it looks like.”

“I know it sounds like a cliché, but this time it’s different,” he replied, his intense gaze still locked on mine.

I rolled my eyes. “Sure it is. You must think I’m an idiot if you actually think I’d fall for that.”

Especially seeing as we only just met
, I silently added. Like hell I was getting emotionally invested in someone when this kind of crap was
already
happening within two hours of us meeting.

I knew better than that.

Candice had the vaguest hint of a smug smile on her face now, despite the trail of tears marking her cheeks. I had no idea why she was happy. Her boyfriend had been actively trying to cheat on her, so even though I was leaving, she’d still lost in the grand scheme of things.

“Rory…”

Ben’s voice trailed off as I marched away, hoping to god that I wouldn’t trip over courtesy of the heels I’d worn in order to look sexy. If that happened, it would be the final cherry on top of the crap-cake tonight had turned out to be.

Luckily, I managed to stay on two feet, and as I stepped outside, I saw a cab idling by the edge of the street. Thank god. I jumped in it, and just as I closed the door, I saw Ben heading towards me.

“Wait!” I heard him say. “Let me explain! Christ, Rory, just fucking wait!”

I’d fallen for that ‘let me explain’ line one too many times in the past already. Decent guys didn’t get themselves into situations that needed explaining, unless they were the lead character in a rom-com…and everyone knew real life wasn’t anything like the movies.

Whatever. I’d only just met the guy, anyway. A week from now, this debacle of a date would be a distant memory. At least that’s what I was going to tell myself for now.

“32 Kinsella Street in Hunter’s Point, please,” I said to the cabbie, who nodded and pulled away from the curb. I didn’t exactly live in a good area of town, but it certainly beat being anywhere near Ben right now. Hell, I’d rather be freezing my butt off in Antarctica than be anywhere near him right now.

Fuming, I pulled out my cell phone, ready to give Dana an earful for setting me up with such an asshole. As I turned the screen on, I saw that I already had three missed calls from her along with two texts. My phone had been on silent, so I hadn’t noticed, and with a frown, I opened the texts.

OMG. I’m so sorry. Rob just called me to tell me that Ben forgot about the date and accidentally double-booked himself tonight. I hope you haven’t been sitting there alone for too long!

The next text read:
I know you’ll probably never want to meet him now, but on the off chance that you do, I managed to get a photo of him from Rob. Here he is.

Attached to the message was a photo…and it wasn’t the guy I’d just been on a date with. The man in the photo was blond and skinny with green eyes.

In a reflex action, I turned my head and looked out of the car window as we pulled away from the hotel. In the distance, I could just make out the guy I’d thought was Ben standing there on the edge of the street, watching me leave in the cab.

Only he wasn’t really Ben.

So who the hell had I just been on a date with…?

Chapter Two

Finn

What a royal fucking screw-up.

I still couldn’t get over what had happened; pissed at myself and Candice for ruining what had been the most interesting date I’d been on in...well, years. To tell the truth, I wasn’t usually the dating kind, unless a quick and dirty screw with whichever girl who wanted to jump on my cock on any given day counted as a date.

That Rory girl had been different, though. The second I’d seen her from across the room earlier, my heart had started thudding in my chest at twice its usual rate, and I’d known I had to do whatever it took to get to know her.

After Candice blew our date up, I tried running after Rory’s cab like we were in a movie, but it soon became apparent that I would never be able to catch up. She would’ve been long gone by the time I managed to get my car or hail another cab, so that was fucking pointless.

Incensed, I strode past Clancy’s exterior and went back into the main hotel lobby, my hands forming fists at my sides. Elijah, the general manager, caught up with me and started bombarding me with questions, but I didn’t hear a single one of his words. I was too focused on Rory, sweet Rory, who’d just gotten away from me. I’d probably never get to see her again after the pathetic stunt Candice had pulled in front of her.

Goddamned Candice.

She’d been a thorn in my side for a good while now, ever since I’d ended things with her several months earlier. We’d never really dated per se; just slept together, but we’d somehow ended up doing that exclusively in the month or so in which we’d been seeing each other, so until I’d ended it with her to pursue other chicks, she’d seen me as her boyfriend. She just didn’t want to accept that it was over between us now, and the colder I acted, the more desperate she became. Finally, I’d stopped being civil and just tried ignoring her, but even that had seemed to fail, judging by the scene from tonight.

I growled, punching a wall as I walked. I could feel the tension in the room as I did so, the guests going quiet and the staff staring at me like I was a ticking time-bomb.

Let them fucking stare.

Everything had gone to shit once again, and I could blame no one but myself.

I should’ve been honest with Rory from the start, should’ve made it clear I wasn’t the blind date she was waiting for. But whoever this Ben dude was, he really must’ve been a douche if he’d decided to leave a girl like Rory waiting for him.

She was gorgeous, curvy, sexy and innocent at the same time. She’d mesmerized me from the other side of the room, and once she’d assumed I was her date, there was no way I was backing out. That was my ‘in’ with her; pretending to be her date for a while until she was comfortable enough around me for me to be honest. She’d looked so goddamned nervous as I approached her, and when she’d jumped up asking if I was Ben, I honestly hadn’t had the heart to say no. I couldn’t even imagine how hurt she’d look if she realized she really
had
been stood up like she’d obviously been so afraid of.

Trust Candice to fuck it all up. The one thing she was good at was making my life a living nightmare. I’d literally
just
been about to come clean to Rory and tell her who I really was when she’d swooped in and shit on everything like the raging bitch she was.

I couldn’t blame Rory for calling me an asshole and walking out. It hadn’t exactly looked good for me, having a psychotic shrieking girl at our table claiming that I was her boyfriend.

She’d probably been lied to and hurt one too many times in the past by douchebag guys to believe me when I said it wasn’t what it looked like, and well…I guess I
was
a douchebag, even though I hadn’t been lying to her about Candice not being my girlfriend. I hadn’t exactly treated women with all that much respect in the last few years, so it was no surprise that karma was biting me right in the ass now that I’d met a girl who I actually wanted to treat well. Especially seeing as I
had
lied to her about one thing—my identity. Goddammit. By now, she’d probably figured out that I wasn’t her real blind date, and she probably despised me even more.

“Finn!” Elijah interrupted my thoughts again, and I spun around on my heels, glaring at him. He was stocky and a head shorter than me, and right now, he was apparently really pissed at me.

“What?” I growled at him. By now, every guest in the lobby was staring at me with a mix of curiosity and fear in their eyes. A little boy in the corner of the room was looking at me, wide-eyed, and I stared him down until he burst into tears. Of course, that only served to make me feel worse.

“You’re acting like a savage, and you’re frightening the guests,” Elijah hissed at me before nervously smiling at a passing guest who’d given us a weird look. “Hello, Ms. Reynolds, lovely night, isn’t it?”

He turned back towards me, gripping his clipboard so tightly to his chest that his knuckles turned white. “Calm down, for god’s sake! We’ve removed Candice from Clancy’s, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I don’t give a tiny rat’s ass about Candice,” I said, steaming with anger. “In case you didn’t notice, I was with a girl when you finally busted in with your entourage. Security should’ve kicked Candice out as soon as she walked in.”

I was just getting started, and as I spoke, I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier about the whole situation.

“You know Candice isn’t allowed anywhere near here,” I said, my tone vicious. “I told you as well as security a month ago to not let her in. So what the
fuck
was she doing in one of the hotel restaurants?”

Elijah’s gaze changed from pure anger to nervousness. I was taller and broader than him, and I was probably scaring the hell out of him.
Good.
I hated people who were incompetent at their jobs.

“Finn.” A voice interrupted us a second later, and I took a deep breath, turning around to face the person addressing me.

My father was standing a few feet away, holding some papers in his hands and walking briskly away from the elevators. There was a man with him, who I recognized as his business associate, Jordan Gates.

My father smiled politely at him. “Thank you for coming, Jordan. We’ll sort out the rest of the new hotel insurance policy in a little while,” he said in his formal, clipped business voice. Jordan nodded, giving me a worried look before scurrying outside.

My Dad walked over to where Elijah and I were standing, and I found myself fidgeting. Even though I’d grown taller than him—and stronger—my father was still capable of exerting his authority over me whenever he wanted.

“Is there a problem here?” he asked. His tone was pleasant, but I could sense an edge to his words.

“No,” I grunted, staring at the floor.

“Finn.” His tone held a warning, and I sighed in frustration, facing Elijah again.

“You can leave now. If I recall correctly, you have a hotel to manage.” I flashed a smarmy smile at him as I spoke. I’d never liked him, and I knew I was being a prick, but I was still angry as hell.

Elijah looked pissed too. I knew he hated my authority; hated being told what to do by a kid half his age. Regardless, he nodded briskly and walked off towards the reception area.

Slowly, the guests in the lobby went back to whatever they’d been doing in the first place, but my father’s eyes were still fixed on mine.

“What’s going on, son?” he asked. I could hear the genuine concern in his voice.

My Dad and I had always been close. Ever since our little family had suffered through a great tragedy several years ago, including the loss of my mother, we’d become even closer and our bond had tightened. My earliest memories were of my Dad too, whether it was teaching me how to ride a bike or helping me decorate the Christmas tree.

“Can we go to your office?” I asked, my voice stiff.

Dad laid a hand on my shoulder, giving me a reassuring smile. “Of course. Come on, let’s go now.”

I was sure he had meetings or something to get to—it was the time of night when he was usually busy on calls with overseas investors due to the time difference. But that was my Dad. He always put everything on hold just to make sure I was all right.

Dad owned the Crown Hotel, a luxurious hotel in one of the fanciest districts of San Francisco. Ever since I was a kid, I’d known the hotel was my legacy, and I’d started working at it and helping out as soon as I’d been allowed. Right now, I was managing the nightclub in the east wing and helping the general hotel management—namely Elijah, who was my nemesis.

Our hotel was our pride and joy, and both Dad and I had thrown ourselves into running it smoothly when our personal lives had gone to hell. It had paid off.

Clancy’s Bar and the nightclub, Helvetica, were both popular with the younger crowd, our fine dining restaurant, The Balmoral, had received a Michelin star, our hotel guests always came back, and our staff members were happy. We’d been up and running for many years now, growing from a small family business to the best place to stay in the Bay Area. We had every reason to be proud of what we’d done with the Crown.

Despite my current shitty mood, I found myself smiling as I followed Dad into his office after riding the elevator to one of the top floors. We walked into his study, and he motioned for me to sit down in front of his desk.

I flopped down on the chair, sighing as my memories of the night came flooding back. In the meantime, Dad busied himself by pouring drinks for us and bringing them over to his desk. He sat down on the opposite side and passed me one of the glasses.

I loved the way he treated me like an equal. It felt nice to be acknowledged as an adult, not a damn kid, and in the past few years, we’d grown closer than ever. Even when I acted like a moron and did stupid shit, he was always there to bail me out of trouble.

“Tell me what’s bugging you, then,” he said, cutting right through the bullshit. Another characteristic of his. He was a fighter when it came to his family, and I knew he wouldn’t take shit from anyone where I was concerned.

“Candice came by again,” I said. “She’s been harassing me for ages. I told Elijah to tell security to kick her out and never allow her to enter the hotel or any of the restaurants if she comes around, but the bitch keeps showing up and getting in anyway.”

Dad nodded, taking a sip of his scotch before grinning at me. “Being followed by pretty women…now there’s a problem if I ever heard one.”

I offered a weak laugh in return, too annoyed to appreciate the joke.

“How did she get under your skin this time?” Dad asked. “You’ve managed to ignore her before. Why was it different today?”

“I was on a date, and Candice came and fucked it up,” I said. “So the girl left. I tried to stop her from going, but it didn’t work.”

A half-smile spread across my face in spite of my words when I thought of sweet Rory and the way she’d made me feel in the short time we’d been together at Clancy’s.

She was the one girl who made me feel bad for cursing, because it made me feel dirty in her innocent presence.

She was the one girl who made me feel like I could be a better man if we’d only had more of a chance; more than two hours.

But now it was all over before it had even started. She’d left, and I was never going to be able to apologize for fucking it all up. The city wasn’t exactly small, and I didn’t know her last name or phone number.

“On a date, huh?” he said, raising his eyebrows. He wasn’t the only one who was surprised by the idea of me on a proper date. Believe me, I’d shocked myself by doing it…and Rory hadn’t even been
my
date to begin with.

“Yeah.”

“You like this girl you were with?” he asked.

I found myself nodding. “Yeah. But it’s too fucking early,” I said. “I don’t even know her all that well. It makes no sense to like her this much already. I feel like a goddamned teenager.”

“Happens to the best of us.” Dad winked at me, emptying his drink while mine still sat in my hand, untouched. “So, what’s stopping you from going after her?”

I gave him a wide-eyed look. “Well, for one, I was a bit of a dick. I lied to her. I pretended to be her blind date just so I could hang out with her.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “Uh-huh.”

He shook his head, trying to stifle a chuckle. “Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best idea, but it’s quite funny. Anyway, go on.”

“Well, then she encountered my crazy sort-of ex and clearly didn’t think she was my ex…unsurprisingly. Candice is a fucking convincing actress when she wants to be. So now this girl thinks I’m a cheating asshole, and I don’t even know how to contact her, anyway. Do I need to keep going?”

“Nope,” Dad said with a mischievous grin. “But you do need to try and find her.”

I gave him a blank stare, and he winked at me before continuing.

“I think you’ll regret it if you let her go. The way you were in the lobby just now…I haven’t seen you so angry and upset in years, and for you, that’s saying something.”

His words stung. In the years since my mother’s death, I’d changed, and I knew it. Once upon a time, I’d been a happy-go-lucky kind of guy; Mr. Congeniality, always surrounded by friends. Since it all went down, I’d turned sour, bitter. I’d alienated most of my decent friends and I regularly used girls for my own pleasure, never anything more.