My Stepbrother's Arrangement (A Stepbrother Romance) (3 page)

I had to be honest, Kaleb was making me feel better. I didn’t know why, and I didn’t know how. Maybe it was the Chinese food that I knew was so, so bad for me.

No, it wasn’t that. It was his carefree attitude, his jokes, the fact that he was obviously trying to make me forget about Yale.

Just then my phone beeped in my purse. Text message.

I reached into the giant pile of chaos that was my purse and eventually pulled out my iphone. The text was from my mom.

So, what’s the news with Yale?

She added a few emojis: a smiley face, streamers, a graduation cap and a heart. I guess in my mom’s mind the fact that I might not have gotten in never crossed her mind.

Unfortunately for me, it made all the terrible feelings I had come flooding back. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes once again.

“Shit, Olivia, what’s wrong?” Kaleb asked, and I passed him the phone. I saw his shoulders slump almost imperceptibly as he read her text.

“Look, Kaleb. Thanks for lunch and everything, but I think I’m going to go,” I told him, the tears spilling from my eyes. How was I going to be able to tell my mom I hadn’t gotten in?

Just then a group of about six guys, college age, came in to order some takeaway. They’d all already obviously had a few drinks, even though it wasn’t even two in the afternoon yet. Loud and boisterous, they made their way to the front counter as I took my phone back from Kaleb, stuck it in my purse and got up.

“Wait, Olivia. Are you sure?” Kaleb asked, getting up with me. I nodded.

“I’m going to go home and eat some ice cream or something,” I muttered in reply. Maybe I’d try and sleep. Anything to forget the fact that my dream was dead.

My head was spinning. Maybe that’s why I didn’t see the spot of oil on the ground. This wasn’t the best restaurant ever, and I knew I should have been watching out for things like that.

But it wasn’t until I was on my back on the ground, a sharp pain shooting through my ankle where I’d landed on it that I realized the floor was slippery.

Ugh, what happened?
I asked myself as I slowly came back to. My head hurt, but it was nothing like my ankle. The first thing I hear when I started coming back to was the sound of the four guys at the counter laughing at me, jeering.

My cheeks flushed red with humiliation as I realized what had happened.

Kaleb held out his hand to help me up but I was too upset to take it.

This was hands down the worst day of my life.

Tears filled my eyes as I leaned on a table to get up.

“Woooooo, do it again!” one of the guys called out.

“Hey, quiet the fuck down and mind you own business, you fucking douchebag,” Kaleb called out to the guy as I tried to hide my face.

The guys’ jeers turned into just mutterings as they realized that Kaleb was definitely way bigger than all of them. My heart swelled with appreciation for my stepbrother, especially as he reached for my hand.

I gently put my hurt ankle down on the ground, but the instant I put any amount of weight on it a huge pang of pain shot straight back up my leg. Looking down it looked like my ankle was already swelling in my shoes.

“I don’t think I can walk,” I whispered to Kaleb, feeling a couple of tears fall down my face. Damn, that hurt.

“It’s ok, I got you,” he replied, moving to the other side of me and slipping my hand over his shoulder for support. He wrapped his arm around my waist, the strength in his body obvious, and as I felt his hand press against my waist I inhaled sharply. He was so close to me I could smell him against me.

This is way too serious for whatever hormones are running through you right now
I complained to my body, but the pain of my ankle mingled with the pleasure of feeling Kaleb’s body pressing against mine was starting to drive me insane.

The spell was broken as soon as I began hobbling out of the store. It hurt my ankle with every step, plus I was never the most athletic person, so if it wasn’t for the fact that I was leaning on Kaleb I never would have made it to the curb where he hailed a cab.

“Careful, let me help you,” Kaleb told me as he opened the door. Sitting me down on the seat sideways, so my feet hung out of the door, he carefully lifted my leg and moved it around the front seat so I wouldn’t hit it on anything as I got in.

It felt so weirdly intimate, having his hands gently moving my legs, his fingers gently caressing me as he placed me into the car like I was fragile, like an egg that could break at any moment.

“The closest hospital, please,” Kaleb told the driver as he got in the other side. The driver nodded and put the car into gear. This was so like Kaleb. He was always the type to take control in a situation like this. He was so calm, so collected all the time. How was it possible for one person to be this good at life?

I was briefly annoyed at just how perfect he was, until I realized that without him I’d probably still be on the floor of the restaurant, probably crying, while a bunch of bros made fun of me from the counter.

I wanted to cry again. More than anything I wanted to just turn, and sob. But I’d already embarrassed myself enough today, I realized I needed to keep it together so the cab driver didn’t see me break down completely.

It was almost funny, how bad this day had been, I thought to myself as we drove down the streets of Manhattan. I wondered if a few months from now I’d look back on this day and laugh. I knew that day wasn’t coming anytime soon though. This was an all-time low for me, for sure.

Kaleb, for his part, just sat next to me in the cab, and when his hand grazed mine on the seat in between us, the spark of electricity, the stab of lust that shot through me was definitely real. There was absolutely no denying it.

You’re just vulnerable right now, and he’s helping you, so you want him. It’s just your dumb body, ignore it. Nothing can happen between you, you know that.

So why did it feel so right?

A few minutes later the cab pulled up to the hospital. Pain still shot through my leg, and rather than let me walk into the emergency room, Kaleb went and grabbed a wheelchair, then came back to the door where I was sitting.

“Ok, now I’m going to pick you up, hold on,” he told me, slipping one hand under my knees and the other behind my back. As he picked me up with a single swift motion, like I weighed as little as a feather, I turned to look at him.

His face was only inches from mine. If I wanted to I could lean over and kiss him. His lips were parted slightly, almost as if he was inviting me in, inviting me to taste him.

Suddenly though, he placed me down in the wheelchair. Moment over.

What moment? You weren’t having a moment, you’re not allowed to have a moment with him.

Instead Kaleb wheeled me into the emergency room, and an hour later I was sitting on a hospital bed with Kaleb still waiting for me in the waiting area, an aging, grey haired doctor who looked a lot like my high school chemistry teacher poking and prodding my ankle.

“Alright Ms. Scott, I’m going to get a technician to come by and take an X-ray just to make sure it’s not broken, but I think it’s just a sprain. I’ll get the tech here in a minute and you should be out of here sooner rather than later.”

“Thanks, doctor,” I replied with a small smile. Thank God for health insurance, right?

A few minutes later the tech came by and wheeled me down the hall to the X-ray machine. When I found myself back in the same hospital bed a few minutes later, the doctor came back and gave me some pills for the pain, telling me my ankle was just sprained, to RICE it and it would get better on its own eventually.

I smiled and thanked him, then wheeled myself back out to the waiting area.

As soon as I saw Olivia coming back out into the waiting room I jumped up, ignoring the nurse that had been throwing herself all over me under the guise of pretending to be sorry for me. She glared at me and sulked off, but I couldn’t have cared less.

“Are you ok?” I asked Olivia. It was crazy how much I cared about whether or not her ankle was broken. She looked completely miserable, too. Her cute little eyes were downcast, and she just looked like she was totally over the day. I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and whisper sweet nothings to her until she felt better, but I knew I couldn’t.

She nodded glumly in reply.

“Yeah. It’s not broken, just sprained. I’ve got some painkillers, and I can go home.”

For my part, I felt a bit bad. After all, I was the one who wanted to take her out to get Chinese to make her feel better, and instead here she was with a sprained ankle and a prescription for painkillers. I knew it wasn’t really my fault, but still.

“Ok, I’ll call a cab and get your pills,” I told her, moving behind her and taking control of her wheelchair. She just nodded and we waited outside the emergency room for the cab to show up.

Fifteen minutes later, we were home. I helped Olivia hobble up the steps of the brownstone we lived in; it was obvious the painkillers were already starting to kick in.

When we got into the house I helped settle Olivia on the huge couch in front of the TV in the living room.

“Can I get you anything?” I asked.

“A glass of water would be nice,” she replied, and I went into the kitchen and poured one out for her.

I took it out and sat at the other end of the couch, by her feet.

“So how was your first day of work?” I asked, and despite herself, she had to laugh.

“I’m blaming you for this, Kaleb Leeman.”

I shrugged. “Fine. That’s probably fair enough, too. I guess you just can’t keep up with my awesome lifestyle.” I loved it when she laughed at my jokes, and she did it again that time, too.

“Watch TV with me?” she asked, her little face getting pouty.

“Of course,” I replied, grabbing the remote and turning it on. “What do you want to watch?”

“Something funny. Or sad,” came Olivia’s reply. I scanned the channels and settled on ‘funny’. There was a marathon of 30 Rock episodes on.

“I’d suggest food, but seeing how well that went down last time, up to you,” I joked, and once again I got to hear the perfect peal of laughter coming from her.

God, I wanted this girl. I had to have her. Fuck decorum. Fuck whether it was right or wrong. I needed to have my stepsister.

I never really realized just how
funny
Kaleb could be. Of course he would be funny. Because he was so fucking perfect. God, that was annoying. Gorgeously, funnily annoying.

The pain in my ankle had subsided for the most part, but I didn’t mind playing it up just a little bit to Kaleb would keep being nice to me.

It was actually sweet how he sat down at my feet and watched old episodes of 30 Rock with me.

As I watched Tina Fey on screen, I started to feel better and sat up on the couch, next to Kaleb.

What on earth are you doing?
I asked myself, but I knew. I wanted to be close to him. Even if it wasn’t real, even if it was just pretending, I wanted to pretend that Kaleb was mine.

I knew I sounded like some kind of sex-starved maniac in my head. And sure, it had been a while since I’d gotten any. I’d broken up with my last boyfriend about six months earlier, and I wasn’t the hit-it-and-quit-it type. Quite the opposite of Kaleb, in fact.

For the last few years I had the bedroom next to Kaleb’s. Whenever our parents were away – and sometimes when they weren’t – I’d hear him come in late at night with his latest conquest. Invariably some sort of gorgeous cheerleader type, usually blonde, tall and leggy.

I’d always be there only feet away, listening to him bring all these women to ecstasy, giving them a pleasure I knew I’d never felt when I was with Mike.

Was it really so wrong that I wanted some of that for myself?

Yes. Yes Liv, it is wrong. Stop it.

Still, I sat close to him. Too close. Closer than a stepbrother and stepsister should sit to one another.

But Kaleb didn’t move away. I felt his heat against me and wondered if maybe… just maybe… he wanted this too.

Stop it. You’re not his type. You’re an average height brunette with a cute enough face but nothing special. You’re not the kind of girl he’s into, and he’s not the kind of guy you want to get with.

My brain was right, of course. This was such a bad idea. I knew Kaleb’s reputation. I knew that he wasn’t the kind of guy I should get with. Not to mention how
wrong
it was. He was my stepbrother! We’d lived in the same house for years. Hell, our bedrooms were right next to each other.

So why couldn’t I stop these feelings I had? And why did I keep hoping he was having the same ones?

I decided enough was enough.

“You know, Kaleb, I think I’m going to go to bed,” I told him. “This has been… quite the day.”

“Ok,” he answered, turning off the TV. “Do you want a hand?”

I didn’t need one, but I did want one. I nodded.

“Yes please,” I asked, putting on my best pouty I-need-help face, which made him laugh.

“Alright, let’s get you to bed,” he replied, standing up and then offering me one of his hands to help me stand. “Can you get up the stairs yourself, or do you want me to carry you?”

“Can you just let me hobble up on your shoulder?” I asked.

“Of course,” he replied, helping me up the stairs.

Our bodies touching, I knew it wasn’t anything more than it was, but damn it felt nice. Maybe the painkillers I’d been given had some kind of inhibition-reducer in them. Or maybe this day had just gone that badly that I didn’t care anymore.

“This is hands down the most embarrassing day of my life,” I told Kaleb as he helped me up the stairs. “Like, every single part of it has been worse than the last. No, that’s not true. The rejection letter from Yale was the worst. But everything after that was just embarrassing.”

“Really? The most embarrassing day of your life?” Kaleb asked, and I could tell he was grinning.

“Yes. Nothing worse has ever happened to me.”

“Not even the time when you flashed me by accident and your mom caught you and thought you did it on purpose?”

My face suddenly flushed crimson. I had completely forgotten about that until that very moment. I guess I must have repressed the memory or something.

I was fourteen, our parents had just gotten married. I was just growing into my woman’s body, and to say that it was a bit awkward was an understatement.

God, why did he have to bring that up?
I thought to myself as memories came flooding back.

Memories of going to the Leeman house in the Hamptons for the first time. It was February, and the weather was awful, but Kaleb’s dad had just bought a new hot tub for the place, and Kaleb had convinced me to come and enjoy it with him.

And I thought
sure, why not?
So I went into my room and changed into my bikini. I threw on a sweater on top of it, since the hot tub was in the backyard, probably about fifty feet from the back door, and it was damn cold out!

So when I finally got outside, wearing only a bikini, a tight sweater and nothing else, I was freezing.

I remember squealing as I ran across the fresh snow on the ground, wondering why I didn’t grab my shoes, then wondering why I didn’t turn around and go get them, but you know how when you’ve got momentum going one way you don’t really want to stop and turn back?

By the time I got to the hot tub I was freezing, and Kaleb was laughing at my horrendously awkward run across the grass. I stood up on one of the seats to warm my freezing cold feet.

I supposed my mother must have heard the commotion from the kitchen, but I had no idea that she was there. Not that it would have made any difference.

Shivering and feeling a bit silly about how terribly I reacted in the cold, especially in front of the stepbrother that I already knew even at fourteen was definitely super hot, I grabbed the sweater and pulled it over my head, without realizing that part of the sweater caught on my bikini top, exposing my bare breast to my new stepbrother.

I felt the cold air on my nipple and heard my mother’s shriek from the kitchen at pretty much exactly the same time.

“Olivia Elizabeth Scott, what do you think you’re doing?” she yelled out from the kitchen window while I scrambled to cover myself up.

For his part, Kaleb just had a silly grin on his face, like he enjoyed it, while also thinking it was the funniest thing in the world.

I stammered back to my mom that it was an accident, but she wouldn’t let me go in the hot tub with Kaleb after that, and I was also grounded for a week. Which wasn’t really a punishment; I didn’t exactly have a thriving social life.

But it was the look on Kaleb’s face, that self-assured look as he grinned at me that made me realize that maybe I didn’t mind him seeing my boobs.

And that led to years of repressing feelings that I had convinced myself didn’t exist, that I knew couldn’t exist, that I knew I couldn’t succumb to.

Could I?