ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (275 page)

Before I could protest I was unceremoniously lifted into the air and into his arms. Knowing I would never be able to convince him to let me down I flicked his nose in annoyance, earning me a cheeky grin, one I had missed so much. “It’s good to have you back,” I muttered quietly as my eyes grew heavy and I nestled into David’s arms, it really was good.

Chapter Six

Time was not a luxury I was afforded any longer, three weeks had gone by since my date with Isaac and David had returned; they were without doubt the busiest three weeks of my entire life. If I wasn’t with Isaac then I was with David and if I wasn’t with either of them, I was working. I was happy though and most of the time I was beyond happy; I had Isaac and I had my best friend back, it more than I had ever expected.

It was Isaac who I had planned to spend the day with and as I waited at the bottom of the stairs for him to arrive I was beyond excited, despite having either seen or spoken to him every day since our first date. It was the loud formal knock at the door that had me jumping to me feet, as bad as it sounded, I would know his knock anywhere.

“Isaac,” I greeted him with a hug, one full of warmth and passion.

It didn’t take him a second to capture my lips in a kiss full of heat and lust. Instantly my mind went blank as he worked his magic on my parted lips earning a moan to vibrate against him. “My darling,” he purred against my lips, pressing another equally as tempting kiss on my mouth. It was all I could do to stop myself from pulling him into the house and never letting him go.

Slowly though he pulled away, granting me a full smile that made his icy blue eyes sparkle in the way I was growing to love. “It’s been too long,” he breathed, pressing his forehead against my own.

“It’s been about eleven hours,” I chuckled.

He pulled away, giving me an amused look. “You counted?” he laughed.

“Always,” I muttered, pressing my lips down on his again, giving myself the briefest tastes of his sweetness.

“Get a room,” David shouted as he came jogging down the stairs.

I shot him an angry look and pulled Isaac back out the door before either of them could say anything to make the other angry, it had happened on more than one occasion now and I sure wasn’t going to let it happen again. “So what are we doing today?” I asked cheerily, trying to push the subject off David.

“Well I thought I would take you out for lunch followed by a helicopter ride, I have been meaning to show you my company helicopter,” Isaac said with a smirk.

My mouth dropped open in shock; money had been a bit of a sore subject since I had confronted him about hiding his wealth. I had forgiven him, but it didn’t stop the subject from being taboo. I opened my mouth to protest but he held his hand up to stop me, a cheeky grin toying at his lips.

“But I realized that sounded absolutely terrible so I thought instead we could go to see the sea,” he said happily.

The mouth I had only just shut popped open again, this time in astonishment. “You’re kidding?” I gasped. Gently his finger toyed at my jaw, shutting my mouth for me before he placed another soft kiss on my lips.

“I remember you saying that you hadn’t been to the sea in so long, I thought we could go,” he said with a shrug.

“Ten years,” whispered, it had been ten years since I had been to the beach.

“Too long in my opinion,” he chuckled, taking my hand in his.

Warmth filled me at his touch as excitement bubbled in my stomach. “You’re the best, have I told you that get?” I laughed.

“Yes, but never stop saying it,” he said with a grin as he led me to the waiting car.

The day couldn’t have been long enough even if it had gone on forever. We laughed, we talked and we ate ice cream on the beach. It was everything I could have ever imagined it to be. There he was, a man with everything in the world sat on the pier with me in his lap, eating chocolate chip ice cream. Every time I looked at him I was gifted with a smile that would melt anyone’s heart and a pair of sparkling eyes that promised a future I could hardly begin to comprehend.

He held me like I was the most precious thing in the world, he looked at me as if he couldn’t believe I was there and he kissed me like he would never let me go. With no reluctance he kissed the smudge of ice cream off my nose and held me close when I sheltered from the chill of the sea air. I had fallen for Isaac Williams, I had fallen for his smile, I had fallen for his laugh and I had fallen utterly and completely for him.

Chapter Seven

Mine and Isaac’s date had ended far sooner than I would have liked but like always it seemed he had eventually needed to go back to work. No amount of pleading, however much I didn’t like to call it that, could keep him from his work. He had though left me with the promise of another date and as I lay half asleep I could hardly wait. It was early but I knew what was about to come, something I definitely wasn’t looking forward to.

Right on cue David’s footsteps came thundering down the hall. “Evie!” he shouted. With a sigh I rolled over on my bed to look at the clock, 6am, I wished I was surprised but I wasn’t. It was becoming obvious that while someone was away you remembered the best parts of them; how I had forgotten David’s early morning wake-up calls I would never know.

With a groan I dragged the covers over my head and tried my best to ignore the overly enthusiastic and overly awake form of David barging into my room. Of course though it didn’t work, it never did; with a flourish of covers I was exposed to the freezing early morning air and any ideas that I would be allowed to go back to sleep were destroyed.

“David,” I said in my sweetest voice, urging him forward “go away!” I screamed as soon as his face was close enough to my own.

He didn’t get the idea; with a goofy grin he tugged me from the warmth of my bed. “No can do Evie,” he laughed as he tossed me various articles of clothing from my wardrobe.

I hastily tried and failed to catch the second pair of jeans he sent hurtling in my direction.  “David what are you doing?” I exclaimed as I snatched up an armful of clothing from the floor and threw it back at him.

“Getting you ready, we need to go,” he said quickly, not halting in his attempts to completely empty my wardrobe.

“No what you’re doing is destroying my room,” I shot back at him.

He turned to me, t-shirt in hand and with a grin that was completely unfazed by my annoyance. “We’re going to be late,” he whined.

“What for?” I questioned, my curiosity peaking.

He tossed me the t-shirt in his hand. “It’s a secret,” he said with a wink.

I sighed in annoyance, I really did hate secrets. “Well it’s going to have to wait, I’m seeing Isaac today,” I said firmly, not looking forward to the argument that was sure to come.

David’s grinned widened, confusing me completely. “Easily solved,” he stated. I didn’t have time to figure out what he was talking about before he side-stepped me and lunged for my phone.

As soon as his hands were wrapped about it and searching for a number, one I was sure would be Isaac’s, I made a move to stop him. “David stop, its 6am,” I screamed. I jumped up and down trying to reach the phone that he held just higher than what I could reach. His hand came down on my shoulder and he pushed me an arm’s length away, a mischievous smile on his face.

The phone was dialing, I could hear the tone.

“Eve, are you ok?” Isaac said quickly as soon as the call connected. His voice was muffled by the phone, almost too quiet to hear but I could still hear the panic there, the panic that chilled me. I tried to push against David’s hold, but he kept me firm.

“Eve, are you there? Please answer me,” Isaac rushed, almost pleadingly. My heart sunk as my attempts at freedom were once again rendered useless.

“Sorry Eve isn’t here right now,” David answered sarcastically; I could kill him right now.

There was silence for a second. “David,” Isaac stated. He voice was void of concern now, but anger easily took its place.

“Correct,” David said with a chuckle.

“Is Eve ok?” Isaac questioned quickly.

David waited a second longer than necessary. “Evie is just fine; she is standing right here actually,” he laughed

“Let me speak to her,” Isaac said seriously. I leant forwards to reach for the phone, waiting for David to give it to me, he didn’t.

“Not possible I’m afraid,” David said, sending me a wink that made my blood boil.

“Let me speak to her,” Isaac said again, louder this time.

“Nope, I was just calling out of courtesy to let you know I’m borrowing her for the day,” David said in a sing-song voice. 

Whatever Isaac was about to say it was cut off along with the phone as David turned it off and threw it across the room. “You are without doubt the biggest jerk I know,” I exclaimed when he finally let me go.

David’s face softened and he bowed his head a little. “I just wanted to spend the day with you,” he whispered sadly.

I refused to fall for the guilt trip he was trying to put me through. “What if I wanted to spend the day with Isaac?” I fumed. I was torn, not that I would tell him, I had missed my best friend but a part of me craved Isaac, desired his soft touches and even softer words.

“I wanted to spend time with you while I still could,” David said suddenly. My mouth dropped open and I glared at him.

“What do you mean?” I asked carefully, “You’re not going away again are you?” I demanded. Panic surfaced inside of me, momentarily pushing my anger aside, he couldn’t go away, not again.

David looked up to meet my eyes; the chocolate brown orbs were full of sadness. “No of course not, but I need to move out of here soon,” he explained. I could tell his words were strained but decided not to push it.

“Why? You don’t have to leave,” I said sadly, I really didn’t want him to go.

“I was never meant to say here for long, you know that,” he said with a shrug. It was true, he had only lived here for a few days after our parents married and before he joined the army, but still, I liked having him around, more than I cared to admit.

“Let’s enjoy today,” I said decisively. I hated to see him sad and the way his face lit up was worth missing Isaac for one day, and I really would miss him. In the last three weeks we had grown impossibly close; our time together was quickly becoming almost as necessary as breathing.

“You won’t regret it,” David smiled and at those words excitement filled me; I really hoped I wouldn’t.

Chapter Eight

My hand surfed with the wind as the roller-coaster plummeted to the ground for what felt like the millionth time. My stomach lurched and a scream of thrill claimed my lips as David’s body slammed into mine. He grabbed my free hand as the roller-coaster slowed to a stop and the barriers went up, letting us free once again. It was the third time we had ridden it in as many hours and the pure stomach twisting enjoyment hadn’t disappeared yet.  I could still hardly believe he had brought me to an amusement park, of all place, but I loved every moment of it.

Together, hand in hand, we walked away from the roller-coaster and my stomach rumbled with the thought of the junk food to come. “So what do you want to eat?” David asked excitedly. Despite our age and the seriousness of our jobs for these few blissful hours we had let the inner child break-free; David had been right, I hadn’t regretted a single second.

My stomach grumbled again and we both laughed. “Everything,” I grinned as I eyed the various food stands ahead of us.

In an instant David was in front of me and his lips were pressed against the back of my hand. “Then everything you shall have my lady” David exclaimed.

I stared at him in shock, he had just kissed me; hand or not it was still a kiss. I wanted to pull away, to call him my friend, to be angry with the kiss but I wasn’t in the slightest. David dropped my hand, his eyes darkening as he surveyed my expression. I brought my hand to my chest, brushing the place that he had just kissed. Warmth filled my body; it was warmth that should not be there.

“David…” I started but could not continue.

“I shouldn’t have,” David whispered but the words were not true, he wasn’t convincing.

“Why?” I demanded. I took him in, every part of him; his shaggy brown hair, his chocolate eyes, everything.

“Because I needed to,” David admitted. A flush of red marked his cheeks, his goofy grin disappeared but he did not take his eyes off me.

“Isaac,” I whispered. My voice almost broke as I thought of the man, the man who had taken me to the sea, the man who was waiting with open arms back home.

David’s face darkened further, there was anger there, an anger I didn’t want to see. “Forget him,” David whispered his voice almost a hiss.

I took a tumbled step backwards, fear dragging its way through my body. “You’re my friend,” I cried, they were the only two words that could form on my lips.

“I want more Evie, twelve years we have been together, just us, always us. I was there when you cried, when you laughed and I want to be there for everything else,” David said desperately, his voice breaking as mine had threatened to do on the last few words.

“I would never leave you,” I whispered, I would never be able to let him go.