Blindsided - A Stepbrother Romance Novel (19 page)

“Just go tell Aaron to finish this and tell Lee you’re leaving with me.”

“Conrad…” she was looking at him like he was crazy. He probably was.

“Please Sam.” His pretty green eyes were pleading with her. How was she supposed to say no to him? “Okay, I’ll ask Lee. I’m pushing my luck around here lately though.”

Conrad laughed. “You forget whose daughter you are sometimes I think.”

Her eyes looked sad then and he regretted his statement. She covered quickly and said, “I don’t want to take advantage of that. I’ll be right back.”

**

The whole drive to Malibu Sam tried to get Conrad to tell her where they were going but to no avail. She guessed everything she could think of and she was actually just about to get mad when he turned off the road and into a big parking lot.

“You’re shitting me!”

He laughed. “You like?”

“Hell yeah!” They drove through a tunnel made out of huge tires and into the parking lot of the Malibu Grand Prix. It’s an arcade that Sam had always wanted to go to. She read the sign as they walked up to the main building, “High performance Go Karts, banked curves, hairpin turns, and exhilarating straight-away, what’s not to love?” Conrad laughed again and pulled open the glass doors with the handle shaped like a wrench. Samantha stepped inside and instantly stopped in her tracks. The carpet was black and yellow and formula cars and checkered flags decorated the walls. The floor was wall to wall arcade games, most of them racing games. The back doors rolled open like a garage and the smell of the burning fuel and the sound of the little 300 horsepower engines wafted through.

Conrad took her hand and led her across the floor and out the doors toward the propane-powered dragsters. Sam was grinning from ear to ear as they got in line. “Are you sure you can handle getting beat by me again?”

“The first time was a fluke,” he said with a laugh, “It’ll never happen again so get ready to cry like a girl.”

“If anyone is crying like a little girl when I cross that finish line, it’s going to be you, big guy.”

Conrad paid their way into the gate and Sam took off to pick out her car. As she buckled herself into the rumbling little red car she saw him across the way climbing into a black one. She gripped onto the steering wheel and looked out at the track. It was grooved to keep the rookies from veering off track, but even fake racing was better than not racing at all. She felt the familiar rush of adrenaline as she tamped down on the accelerator and revved the engine. When the Christmas tree changed from red to green she floored it and seconds later she was flying around the bank track, passing everyone on the inside…until she got to Conrad who was in front. She tried to get on the inside and he pulled his wheel left so she tried to pass him on the outside and he went right. Frustrated, she was about to go inside again when she had an idea. She pulled her foot off of the accelerator and dropped back a few car lengths behind him. Predictably enough on the next turn, he looked back to see where she’d gone. That was when she floored it. While he was looking over his left shoulder she passed him on the right. They were back and forth and neck in neck for the next three passes and twenty minutes later she was crossing the finish line as the checkered flag waved, with Conrad on her bumper.

“You going to grin like an idiot for the rest of the day?” he asked her on the way back up to the building.

She laughed. “Yes, I think I am. Are you going to whine all day?”

He laughed too. “Yes, I think I am,” he said.

“Come on I’ll buy you a piece of pizza to make you feel better.”

“And a Pepsi?”

“Greedy.”

“You crushed my pride, is a piece of chocolate cake really too much to ask?”

“Chocolate cake too?”

“I’ll need the sugar to pull up out of my depression.”

“Shut up. Fine, you can have the chocolate cake. You better have two because I want to play that Formula 500 game over by the back door when we finish.”

“I won’t need two pieces of cake to beat you on that one,” he said. “When I was thirteen I actually won a weekend competition on that game. I got a trophy and everything.”

“Wow, a trophy and everything. Do you still have it up on a shelf in your bedroom?”

He laughed. “Shut up.”

After eating their lunch and their cake they went over to the large sleek game and Samantha slid into one of the faux leather seats. Conrad fed quarters into the slot and took his seat. They both used the yellow button and joysticks in front of them to change the view and then she reached over and pushed start. Sam pressed down on the accelerator like this was a street race and there was five grand on the line. Conrad’s car passed hers on the inside around the first turn. She waited until he was flush in front of her and then she rammed into him from behind. The clip sent his animated car veering into the wall.

“Hey! This is a no-contact sport.” She ignored him and kept her focus on the car on the screen. She was a good two car lengths in front of him when one of the other cars…computer driven…veered over in front of her. She hit it and it exploded into a ball of orange and yellow flames. She had to slow down to keep from slamming into the wall and Conrad chose that moment to slide past her. “Ha ha!” She pulled her little car up next to his and pulled the wheel to the left, slamming into the side of his car. It sent them both careening into a spin and they both ended up sliding off the track and into what appeared to be shark or maybe it was alligator infested waters. Neither of them one that one, but as soon as the words, “Game Over” flashed on the screen Conrad fed in four more quarters. They each set up their view once more and they were off. This time they both crossed the finish line, but Conrad finished first. “Ha ha!” She found his smile both sexy and annoying. “Good race,” he said. She rolled her eyes at him and he slipped his arm across her shoulders. Her mood was instantly elevated by his touch. “How about a round of miniature golf, I suck at that.”

She couldn’t resist, “So you’re as good at that as you were on the track?”

“I was setting the stage to let you win, but you’re going down now.” He pushed her lightly on the shoulder and her body moved away from his. She instantly wanted him back. While they went through the nine holes of the silly little miniature golf game, she watched the couple in front of them. The big, strong boyfriend would stand behind the pretty little helpless female and wrap his arms around front. Taking her dainty wrists in his big hands, he’d show her how to stand and hold the golf club as she pressed back into him. Sam wished for the first time in her life that she could play the part of the helpless damsel…but she knew she could never even pretend to be that helpless. She was who she was and if this was the most she could have with Conrad, she’d take it. This had actually been the best day that she’d had in a long time.

When they got to the ninth hole they were neck and neck. She lined up her shot and just before she took it he said, “Twenty-bucks says you miss.”

“Show me the money.” He grinned and pulled out his wallet and a twenty out of that.

“Show me yours,” he said.

“I don’t have twenty-bucks…but don’t worry, I won’t need it.” She started lining up the shot again and he said,

“Uh-huh, you have to put something up, what have you got?”

With a sigh she dug in her pockets. The search produced three dollars, two quarters and six nickels. “There, three dollars and eighty cents.”

“So if I win how will you pay the rest?”

“You’re not going to win.”

“But…If I do?”

“What do you want?”

He grinned again and let those light green eyes start at the top of her head and travel slowly down to her toes. His look was so intense it was almost as hot as if he was really touching her. She felt huge butterflies in her stomach and a raging fire in her core that sent hot blood racing through her veins. “How about a kiss?” he said.

“A kiss?”

“Yeah, you know that thing you do with your lips.” He ran his tongue in between the seam of his. He was killing her. “And your tongue…”

Her mouth was almost too dry to talk but she wasn’t about to let him know that. “It doesn’t matter; I’m not going to lose. Now be quiet so I can take my shot.”

He folded his arms and leaned back into the little fake tree behind him and watched her. She was looking down at her golf ball but just his presence was enough to cause her hands to shake as she pulled the club back and swung. She may have been shaking just a little too much. Her ball went flying past the ninth hole and jumped past the little house it was supposed to roll into. It hit a brick wall and bounced all the way back into the seventh hole. Conrad was laughing. She narrowed her eyes and looked up at him. “That’s your fault you know.”

“How is it my fault?”

“You distracted me.”

“Thinking about kissing me was too much?”

“No, you just kept flapping your lips while I was trying to line up my shot.”

“Speaking of lips…”

“Uh-uh, I haven’t lost yet. You need to take your shot.”

“The only way I could lose at this point is if my ball somehow ends up on the sixth hole.”

Folding her arms she said, “Shut up and swing.” Conrad lined up his shot and sunk the golf ball into the ninth hole. He turned back to her with a huge grin and opened his arms.

“Bring it in.”

Sam stalked toward him with the intention of smacking her lips to his and being done with it. As soon as Conrad had her in his arms though he let out a little primal sound that went straight through her. He pulled her up against his chest so tightly that she actually came up off of her toes and then he brought his mouth down to meet hers.

She felt the warm fan of his breath across her face before his mouth covered hers. His kiss was hungry and possessive. She parted her lips and let his tongue sweep inside of her mouth and tangle up wither own. Her belly was swirling wildly and a desire like nothing she’d ever felt before was flooding her system. She felt a sense of urgency. She wanted more, needed it. Her body melded into his and ached for the feel of it naked against hers again. When he pulled out of the kiss she was breathless and dizzy. She looked up at him and her euphoria was suddenly gone. Instead of holding a look of ecstasy like she felt hers was, his face looked guilty and sad. She took a step back away from him and heard him say her name as she turned and walked away. She knew that she was going to have to ride back to Pasadena with him, but she promised herself this was the last time she’d let Conrad get to her. He was playing with her emotions and it was pissing her off.

Conrad woke up on Friday morning and seriously considered not getting out of bed. He didn’t have to work and he didn’t have to take Luke to the doctor. Aaron’s driving lessons weren’t urgent and the last thing he wanted was to have to look at Samantha. He’d screwed up badly and he knew it. He’d really taken her to Malibu with the idea of cheering her up and proving that they could still be friends in spite of what had happened between them. He never should have kissed her…but she’s so damned hot and he’d never wanted anyone as bad as he wanted her.
Fuck!

He started to turn over and go back to sleep but then he pictured Aaron’s excited face and he thought about Jake. He remembered Jake’s first day of driving school. It had been a huge day for him. For an entire year he’d sat in the passenger seat everywhere they went and talked about how things would be different when he was old enough to drive and Conrad had to sit on the passenger side. Ever since they were babies all Jake had ever wanted to do was follow Conrad around and do what he did. He watched and imitated his brother’s every action. Conrad smiled at the memories and then thought of Aaron again. Everyone needed someone to look up to. Conrad had their father and Jake had him. Aaron has Luke now but with him being sick, it just wasn’t the same. There was no way he could stand this kid up, he just had to make sure he did a hell of a lot better by him than he had by his brother.

With a sigh that comes from feeling like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, he rolled out of bed. He knew if he didn’t that the guilt over standing Aaron up and the depression from letting in the memories would just eat him up inside all day. After a quick shower he went out to find Beau sound asleep on the couch and Shawn in the kitchen making toast and coffee. Shawn looked up as he came into the kitchen. “Hey, does Luke have an appointment today?”

Conrad poured himself a cup of coffee and leaned into the counter. “No. I told Sam’s brother I’d take him to sign up for driving school.”

“Ah, driving school…I remember that. I gave my instructor a few new gray hairs. I think she only passed me to get rid of me.”

“And you still can’t drive.”

Shawn pulled the toast that had just popped up out with one hand and gestured at Conrad with his middle finger with the other. “So why you?”

“Why me what?”

“Why are you taking Sam’s brother? Why not Sam or Luke?”

Conrad shrugged and sipped his coffee. “I volunteered actually. I feel bad for the kid. He’s had a crappy life and he needs someone to show him there’s more to it than that.” Shawn glanced at Beau’s long, sleeping figure on the couch and back at his buttered toast. Conrad looked at him too,
speaking of crappy lives.
“Is he okay?”