Obsessed (Hostile Takeover #1) (4 page)

I’d heard the first time was painful and awkward. That was what all my friends told me. But I had a feeling it wouldn’t be that way with Kent. He would be gentle. He would make sure I was okay.

“Dammit,” he grumbled and abruptly jerked upright. “What the fuck am I doing?”

No, no, no! He couldn’t stop now.

I hooked a hand around the back of his head and pulled him down for another kiss. “Please,” I whispered against his lips. “I want you.”

His tongue slid inside my mouth and the kiss deepened. The sounds of our rough breathing filled the air, and the pounding heat and electricity returned. The chemistry between us was hotter than a nuclear explosion. All I could think about was wanting him closer, skin-to-skin, filling me, stroking away this terrible, wonderful ache.

But before his hand returned to my breast he jerked backward. “No. Dammit.” He swung his leg over me, climbing off. “You don’t want this. You don’t.” He stood over me, face turning deep scarlet. “I’d rather you hate me than this.”

He stormed away, leaving me lying sprawled on the bench, cold, confused, guilty, and embarrassed.

I heard laughter.

Female
laughter!

Did that jerk invite another woman here? Really? After he’d thrown me aside yesterday? Would I catch Kent sucking some other woman’s tits in the kitchen?

A flare of jealousy flashed through me.

My scalp sizzled. My eyes burned. My stomach knotted.

Oh crap.

Oh shit.

I knew I had no right to feel this way. He wasn’t my boyfriend. He owed me nothing. In fact, he was my stepbrother. What happened yesterday should never have happened. And I shouldn’t have wanted it.

But it had. And I did.

And if I saw him touching another woman I wouldn’t be able to stay here. Not one more night.

Since he’d stormed away from me last night, Kent had kept himself locked in his room. Today too. If you asked me, he was acting like an immature jerk. Maybe it was a good thing he’d stopped when he had. If he’d…if we’d…had sex, and then he’d acted like this, like I wasn’t here, like I didn’t exist, I would feel
really
shitty.

I was feeling bad enough as it was.

There it was again. Ugh.
Tee hee hee. Tee hee hee.
I rolled my eyes. Whoever she was, she sounded like a total flake.

Speaking of flakes, I’d thrown myself at him, a guy I didn’t know. My fucking stepbrother. The guy who’d been sucking some other girl’s tits the day before.

What kind of idiot was I?

And who was I to judge?

Moving as quietly as I could, I grabbed my shoes, my purse, and a jacket and headed toward the door. I couldn’t stay here and listen to this. It disgusted me. Unfortunately when I turned toward the door, I ran into the person responsible for the girly giggles.

It wasn’t the same woman he’d had in the kitchen on Friday. That only reinforced my suspicion. My stepbrother was a player, a total tool. Why hadn’t I seen that earlier?

“Oh, hi there,” the giggler said, stepping between me and my escape route.

“Hi,” I grumbled, gaze locked on my target—the door.

“You must be Kent’s new sister.” She offered a slender hand. “I’m Robyn.”

I accepted Robyn’s hand because I’m not a bitch and gave it a shake. Then I jerked my head toward the door. “Excuse me. I was on my way out.”

Her perfectly waxed brows scrunched. “Are you leaving? Kent told me you would be staying for the week.”

This one seemed to know a lot about Kent and his houseguests. I wondered if she also knew about the leggy slut he’d been fondling on Friday. I opened my mouth to ask her but before a word escaped, guilt choked it back.

I couldn’t hurt anyone like that.

Instead, I said, “I’ve decided to stay with friends for the rest of my vacation.”

“I hope that has nothing to do with me,” Kent said, his voice smooth and low. He was behind me. I heard him. I
felt
him. But I didn’t see him. Not yet. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see him.

I took a step toward the door. “Of course it doesn’t,” I lied as I reached for the knob.

Something clamped around my arm. “Excuse us, Robyn,” Kent said. “But Shayne and I need to speak in private.”

“Sure.” Her heels click-click-clicked on the floor. “I’ll wait outside while you handle your family emergency.”

“Perfect.” He pulled, forcing me around. Asshole.

“What’s your problem?” I snapped.

“What is
your
problem?” he echoed.

I gave him a
do-you-really-not-know?
glare. “Let go.”

“I will after we’ve talked about this.”

“We’re talking. Let go.” I pulled on my arm, but he didn’t release me. “This,” I informed him, indicating his hand, “is assault.”

“You can file a police report later.”

“Fine. I will.” I clenched my jaw so hard pain shot to my temple. “As I recall, you wanted me to hate you. So now I do. I despise you. So you should be happy.”

“I’m not happy,” he told me, looking unhappy.

His statement and his behavior confused me. Last night he’d said it would be better if I hated him. Not to mention, he had made sure he had a pair of very lovely, slender shoulders to cry on when I left. So why did he look so bothered by my leaving? “Then…you didn’t mean what you said yesterday?”

His gaze slid away from mine. His jaw clenched. “Kind of. Some parts.”

“Some? What parts?” I threw my hands into the air. “Holy crap, you’re confusing.”

He released my wrist and took a step back. “I meant the part about how you don’t want me to…you don’t…want to get too close to me.”

“Because you’re such an asshole, right?” I offered. “Because you fuck anyone you want, anytime you want. And because I’m too sweet, too innocent for someone as depraved as you,” I mocked, eyes rolling.

“Well…that’s one way of putting it. And we’re also family now.”

“Let me get one thing straight. First,” I said, lifting one index finger, “we don’t know each other. You just met me. You aren’t even my friend. So don’t try to claim you know what’s best for me.” I added a second finger. “Second, we’re not actually related. Your father married my mother. So what? We’re both adults. You don’t need to step into the role of protective-big-brother and try to boss me around. I’ve made it this long without having some arrogant asshole look after me. I think I’ll be okay.”

His expression remained unreadable through my entire rant. I had to give him credit for that. He didn’t get mad. He merely waved a hand toward the door. “Understood.”

“Thank you.” I grabbed my bag and nodded my head. The adrenaline was still pounding through my system, but at least my temper had cooled. “I apologize if I seem ungrateful for your hospitality. I’m not.”

“Of course.” His words were clipped.

“Your home is beautiful.”

“Thank you,” he snipped, jaw tight.

And so are you.

I bit my lip. “I’ll leave you to enjoy your company without any further intrusions.”

He nodded, crossed his arms over his chest. “Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your break.”

“I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”

He nodded once more.

And that was it.

I dragged my bag out to my car, tossed it in the trunk, programmed Mom’s old address in my GPS, since I wasn’t exactly sure how to get there from Kent’s place, and steered toward my old neighborhood. I was going home.

Friends.

The past.

Where I was comfortable. Where a man with smoldering eyes didn’t make me feel young and stupid and vulnerable. Because I wasn’t
any
of those things—okay, except young. I was a little inexperienced. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Just over an hour later I shifted my car into park. I’d cranked my car’s radio up to an earsplitting volume, but still memories of what happened in Kent’s backyard kept playing through my head, making me hot and dizzy. I noticed Ransom’s car wasn’t parked in the driveway so I sent her a text, asking her where she was.

She didn’t answer.

Crap. Now what should I do?

Hoping Mom hadn’t officially moved out of our apartment yet, I headed there next. I discovered, unfortunately, that the key didn’t work in the lock.

Evidently she had moved.

I couldn’t believe this. I was freaking homeless. What the hell?

Here I was… it was spring break. I should be having fun, or at least not standing outside of a dumpy apartment building in Michigan, with no place to go. I wasn’t on a beach. Or even somewhere warm and sunny. And I was alone. Pitifully, painfully alone.

I shook my head and climbed back in my car.

I didn’t have to punch the next address into my GPS. I steered toward the freeway. Better to be in my dorm, where I would at least be warm, than out here.

So much for my spring break.

I got halfway back to school before Ransom called me back.

“I was at your house. Where were you?” I snapped, irritated by her sucky timing. There was no sense in going back now. I glanced at the gas gauge. I would burn through too much gas if I turned around.

“Sorry. I was with a…a friend.”

“Which friend?” I snapped a little too curtly. I was crabby. And Ransom was suffering the consequences. I would have to apologize to her later. In the meantime, I would try to keep control of my emotions and my mind on the road. “What is up with you? I swear you’re avoiding me.”

“Avoiding you? Why would I do that?” she asked, sounding like she wasn’t as surprised or bewildered by my accusation as she should be.

“I wonder the same thing.” Stuck behind a semi going ten miles under the speed limit, I checked my rearview mirror. “First, you said you were too sick to come see me. And then you don’t return my calls or texts. What’s going on?”

I heard my friend’s sigh, and my heart twisted.

I knew that sound. It meant there was something wrong. Very wrong.

“What?” I asked, easing up on the gas.

“Okay, you’re right. I have been avoiding you. But I didn’t know how to tell you…”

There went another knot in my belly. “Tell me what?” I asked. I wanted to pull off the road. I wanted to, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t safe here, too much traffic and not enough shoulder.

“Um… I’m pregnant.”

“Oh.” The guy in front of me slammed on his brakes, and I was so dazed I almost hit him. Shit, I needed to pull off the road. Now. Where the hell was an exit or rest area when I needed one?

At least traffic had slowed to a crawl. That was a good thing right now. My eyes scanning the clogged, bumper-to-bumper roadblock ahead, I asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she said, not sounding okay. She sounded scared.

“I’m sure everything will be all right,” I tried to reassure her while praying for an exit. Ransom needed me right now. I didn’t like this, having to talk to her about something so important when I was distracted.

“Yes. It will be. Soon. I’m…um…we’re getting married.”

I slammed on the brakes. And not because of the guy in front of me. “Married?” The Ransom I knew and loved was
not
ready for marriage. She loved to party. She loved to drink. And flirt with guys. And get all crazy on the dance floor, grinding into any and every good-looking man in sight. She was a self-proclaimed whore and proud of it. “Wow.”

“Where are you right now?” she asked, voice wavering.

There was more, something she hadn’t told me yet. A quiver of unease raced up my spine. “On westbound I-96, heading back to school. Why?”

“Call me back when you’re parked somewhere.”

My heart did a triple summersault. “Why?”

“Just do it.” She hung up.

I suffered through three miles of stop-and-go traffic before the road cleared. Then I hit the gas, pushing the car to eighty-five and contemplated turning around. My friend was upset. Very upset. She needed me. Why had she spent the last few days avoiding me? Why? She knew me well enough to know I would have been there for her the minute she told me something was wrong.