Bad Boy - A Stepbrother Romance (23 page)

Urgh. I didn’t want to see him, even on the cover of a magazine, yet I couldn’t seem to look away. His square jawline, aquiline nose and mesmerizing green eyes seemed to taunt me, and Kara raised her eyebrows in a quizzical expression as all the blood drained from my face.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Oh, um…sure,” I said.

She followed my gaze to the magazine cover and smiled. “Oh, I get it now. You have a little celeb crush on Cam Meyers, right?”

“No. Of course not,” I said, a little too fast.

Her smile grew wider. “Keep telling yourself that. But I’ve seen that look before. You totally have a crush,” she said before breaking into a childish song. “Anya and Cameron, sitting in a tree….”

“Oh, be quiet,” I said, picking up a small fluffy cushion and launching it at her.

She giggled and dodged it. Even though Kara and I had been best friends for a year and a half now, I’d never told her about what had happened with Cam when I’d encountered him at the first party I’d been to in my freshman year. She wasn’t even aware that I’d ever met him; she just thought I had a thing for him because I’d looked at the magazine cover weirdly.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to know everything about me, it was just that I didn’t want to talk about that night. Every part of me burned with regret when I thought of it, and speaking about it would only serve to make things worse. Even now, thoughts of Cam were cascading through my mind from the mere sight of him on that cover….his hot lips on mine…his firm, muscular chest pressed up against me…his strong arms wrapped around me, easily picking me up and throwing me on the…
stop it,
I told myself.
He was a mistake, and he always will be. You’re just one of many, many women to him. He probably doesn’t even remember you.

“So what was the news you had for me?” Kara asked.

Glad for the change in subject, I sat up straighter. “Oh, right. My Mom got married to Pierce in Vegas on the weekend.”

“She did
what
? And she didn’t invite you?”

I shook my head. “It’s not like that. They just did it on an impulse. I’m not mad.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Seriously? Man, I’d be so pissed if one of my parents did that.”

“Considering the fact that your parents are still married, I’d be more concerned about the bigamy charges they might face if one of them did that,” I teased.

“Haha, very funny. So you’re really not annoyed?”

I shrugged. “She’s happy, so I’m happy. I mean, I would have liked to be there, but this is how it happened. I can’t change the past, so what’s the point in making a fuss?”

“You’re way too laidback,” she said. “You’re a nineteen year old girl. You should be making a fuss about everything!”

“How’s this for making a fuss?” I replied. I picked up another cushion and pretended to aim it at her, and she ducked.

“Kidding!” she squealed.

“I know,” I replied with a grin. “Oh, and get this. Pierce has a son. I never even knew. I have to meet him tonight when I have dinner with them all.”

“Ooh, a stepbrother. Is he hot?”

“No idea. I’ll report back to you, though.”

“A mysterious stepbrother….even better. If he is hot—on a scale of one to ten, how annoyed would you be if I hooked up with him?” she asked.

“Go ahead,” I said with a grin. “It might take your mind off the crazy League guy. You seem like you could do with that right now.”

“Ugh. Tell me about it…”

Once again, I found myself wondering about my new stepbrother. Kara’s interest had sparked more questions in my mind. Earlier, I’d simply wondered what he looked like, where he worked, and other general life details like that. I hadn’t considered whether or not he’d be attractive, and I didn’t know why I even cared now. So what if he was hot? It wasn’t like I could ever hook up with my own
stepbrother
.

Still, I was curious…

             
Chapter 2

Anya

I hurried into the French restaurant on East 20
th
Street, almost tumbling right over a few seconds later thanks to the high heels I’d decided to wear in order to look nice and presentable. It was the first time I’d worn heels in about a year, so I was off my game. I regained my balance and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed my near-fall, and a warm blush crept over my cheeks as I realized that at least one person had—a snooty-looking hostess. She pursed her lips at me as I approached her, and I was about to ask her where our table was when a familiar face caught my eye.

Oh, for Pete’s sake…seriously?

It was Cam, standing by the restaurant bar with a frown as his fingers danced over his phone’s touch screen. I’d seen him twice in one day now, and I’d even dreamed about him last night…what were the odds of that?

Some people might take it as a sign from the universe, but I’d never believed in that kind of crap. I did, however, believe in coincidences and bad luck, and that’s exactly what this was.

Hoping he wouldn’t see me or recognize my voice, I leaned in close to the hostess and spoke in a low voice. “Hi…my Mom made a reservation for four. It should be under her name—Christina Cruz.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Excuse me? Speak up,” she snapped.

“Sorry,” I said, raising my voice a bit. “Still getting my voice back from this stupid cold I had last week. The name is Cruz.”

She drew back from me like I’d admitted to being a plague carrier, and then she glanced down at her tablet. “You’re one of the first to arrive, and you’re a little early. You’ll need to go and wait by the bar until we can seat you.”

“Oh. Um…sure,” I said, my shoulders slumping as I sneaked another glance over at the bar.

Hmm…there was a fairly large decorative plant near one side of the bar room. If I could make my way over there without Cam seeing me, then all I had to do was hide out behind it until my Mom arrived, seeing as I doubted he’d harass me if he saw me with her. The fronds of the fern would cover me well enough for now, hopefully.

Cam still seemed to be fairly engrossed in his phone, probably lining up his seventieth Tinder date for the night, so it was fairly likely that he wouldn’t notice me anyway.

I waited for a second and then tried to slip by him, looking to the right so he couldn’t see my face. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. Either he had some kind of radar for me, or I was nowhere near as good at blending into the background as I thought.

“Anya?” he said, gently touching my left arm a second later. “I thought that was you I saw over there.”

Dammit. I was caught.

I could hardly run away, so I turned to him. “Yes? Sorry, do I know you?” I asked.

I felt more than a little mean saying that, but I was hoping he’d believe I honestly didn’t remember him so that he’d leave me alone.

Instead, he smirked and took a step closer. “Oh, Anya. That’s the oldest trick in the book. Don’t pretend you don’t know me.”

Well, he wasn’t as dumb as he looked.

“Oh, Cam! Sorry, I…um…I didn’t recognize you for a second,” I stuttered, my cheeks flaming. “You look…er…different.”

“I almost didn’t recognize you with your clothes on, either,” he said.

Wow. He certainly hadn’t changed. I rolled my eyes. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m meeting someone.”

“A date?” he asked, eyes twinkling. Was that the tiniest hint of jealousy I detected in his tone? No, surely not.

“Sure, not that it’s any of your business,” I lied, briskly heading over to the bar. If he thought I was on a date, he’d leave me alone.

Or not…

“Aw, come on,” he said, following me over to the bar. “That’s not very polite.”

I didn’t even know how to respond to that without scoffing, so I mumbled something unintelligible and pretended to be deeply interested in the bar’s cocktail menu.

“You don’t need to waste your money on one of those,” Cam said, following my line of sight. “I can offer you a nice big free
cock
tail, if you catch my dri—“

I jabbed him in the chest and cut him off before he could finish his lewd sentence. “Are you twelve?” I asked. “Jesus, Cam.”

In the words of Chandler Bing, could he
be
any more immature?

He held his hands up, palms facing me. “Relax. It was a dumb joke. If you’d have let me finish, I was actually going to offer to buy you a cocktail if you wanted one. I saw you eyeing the menu.”

“Oh. No, thank you.”

“No worries. So what have you been up to for the last eighteen months?” he asked.

“Been counting the days since you last saw me, huh?” I said, unable to resist getting in a little dig at him.

He grinned. “How could I not? I always wondered what happened to you.”

I blushed even more as I finally looked up into his eyes. God, he was handsome. It was no wonder I’d fallen for his charms and subsequently fallen into bed with him when I’d met him. But I had to remember
—
he was a player, and I’d already experienced that firsthand. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

“So…you gonna answer my question?” he asked.

“Huh? Which one?”

“I asked what you’d been up to.”

“Oh. Study, mostly,” I mumbled, resigned to the fact that he wasn’t going to leave me alone anytime soon. “College has been really busy.”

“And yet you still have time to meet guys in fancy restaurants,” he said, glancing around. “So where is your date, anyway?”

I folded my arms, knowing the jig would be up when my mother arrived with Pierce and her son. “If you must know, I’m actually meeting my family here.”

Cam’s shit-eating grin grew wider. “I knew you weren’t really on a date. That’s not because of me, is it?”

At first I didn’t understand what he meant, but his meaning became clear as he smirked again.

I snorted with derision. “Please. You really think
you
made me give up on dating? Even you aren’t enough to put me off men forever…as bad as you are.”

“Nah, not that. Just thought I might have ruined other men for you,” he replied with a lascivious wink. “Hard to go back to B-grade stuff when you’ve had the best.”

“I see you’re still a disgusting, arrogant sleaze. Nice to see some things never change.”

“C’mon, you didn’t seem to think I was disgusting when I had my head between those luscious legs of yours,” he murmured, leaning forward so that his lips were grazing the shell of my ear.

A jolt of electricity hit me at that exact second, and a multitude of images from our previous tryst flashed through my mind again. God, why did he have to be so sexy? I almost sighed as goose bumps cropped up all over my neck, but instead, I pushed him away.

“I guess those gossip columns are right. You really are the dirtiest bastard in this city,” I said, glaring at him.

“I seem to recall that you liked it dirty. So what d’ya say, Anya? One more go for old time’s sake? There’s a cozy little coat-check closet over there,” he said, motioning back towards the restaurant’s foyer.

Ugh. Did he honestly think I’d say yes to a quickie in the closet? He grinned, and I almost blew a fuse right then and there.
Stay calm,
I told myself, gritting my teeth.

“Save your breath, Cam, you’ll need it to blow up your date later on tonight,” I hissed in response to his gross request.

He wasn’t fazed yet. “Closet offer going once, going twice…” he said.

I rolled my eyes for what felt like the hundredth time in the last five minutes. Guys like him were the worst. They thought that all they had to do was smile at a girl and say a few sleazy lines, and her panties would melt right off.

Right now, he was doing a lot more than simply smiling and talking. When I didn’t acquiesce to his ridiculous closet request like he expected, he actually leaned in like he was about to freaking
kiss
me, and I finally reached my breaking point. He just didn’t know when to give up, did he?

I picked up a half-full glass of water from the bar next to us and dumped it right on his head, just as he delicately removed a stray eyelash from my cheek.

Oops. He hadn’t really been about to kiss me.

We were interrupted by a familiar voice before either of us could react to the awful thing I’d done.

“Anya? What on earth…?”

Cam whirled around, and I looked past him to see my Mom and Pierce standing there with mystified expressions on their faces.

“Anya?” Mom repeated.

I was still too tongue-tied to reply, and Pierce raised his eyebrows.

“Er, thanks for meeting us here. Sorry we’re late,” he said. “I see you two already know each other? And Cam, I see you’ve already annoyed your new sister long enough for her to throw a drink at you.”

What
?

Oh, shit. No…this couldn’t be happening.
Cam
was my new stepbrother?

Even as I thought that it couldn’t possibly be true, I finally remembered Pierce’s last name. It wasn’t Morris. It was
Meyers.
He was Cam’s father! How the hell had I never made the connection? I guess it was a fairly common name, but still, I should have figured it out sooner.

It was common knowledge in the tabloids that Cam came from the wealthy Meyers family, who’d made their fortune in the railroad industry decades ago before branching into hotels. Mom had told me ages ago that Pierce worked in the hotel business, so I should have known that he was one of
those
Meyers.

Yep, I was an idiot for not having figured this all out before now, especially seeing as the restaurant hostess had told me I was ‘one of the first to arrive’. With the distraction of seeing Cam when I’d stepped up to her, I’d somehow interpreted her words as meaning that I was
the
first to arrive, but obviously, she’d meant that one of the other party members was already here.

Cam’s eyes widened for a split-second as the shocking news washed over us, and he turned back and stared at me. He regained his composure almost immediately, that trademark smirk of his returning as he murmured something to me, quietly enough so that only I would hear.

“So I guess that’s a no on the closet, then…?”