ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (279 page)

My cheeks flushed with the instant and unwanted memories of yesterday, him being so close, his lips mere millimeters from my own. I shook my head, ridding myself of the dangerous thoughts and stared back at the man on the floor. “Ben?” I whispered, walking towards where he laid, passed out and grumbling in his sleep. I wasn’t surprised I had missed him; he had managed to wrap his large muscular frame into a small ball, a ball that was coated in mud.

“I have to,” he grumbled.

Curiously I tip toed forwards, he was still fast asleep. “Ben?” I questioned again.

“Everything will be ok, it’s just for a little while,” he murmured.

With my curiosity peaking I knelt awkwardly at his side. Carefully I pressed my hand against his shoulder and gently shook him. Two bright blue eyes bursts open and in an instant he was sitting and staring at me. And hand captured my cheek and so gently I could almost be imagining it his fingers gently caressed me. His eyes remained on mine, they were calm and calculated, I could hardly breathe. I was more aware than ever of my own frantic heart beats and how the sound echoed through the otherwise silent room.

“Katie,” he whispered softly. My own eyes shot open, his voice was gentle; with the closeness of our bodies and the heated pressure on my cheek, it was almost imitate.

His fingers pressed harder and the heat of his touch caused shivers to pound through me. It was too much; everything about him being this close was too much for me. His brown-blonde hair was messy from sleep, his eyes were intently searching mine and his lips were oh so temptingly close. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice merely a whisper, barely audible over the loud hammering of my heart.

I stared at him, confused and against my wishes aroused by the softness in his voice and curiosity in his bright eyes. “I could ask you the same thing,” I breathed.

A small smile creased at Ben’s lips and as the grin slowly met his eyes, I couldn’t handle anymore. Reluctantly I cupped my hand to his and ignoring the warm pleasure it brought I dropped it from my cheek. Without a word I stood up and with one last look at the man who sat awkwardly on my kitchen floor, I walked away.

He watched me leave, all the while his eyes followed me; I could feel them on my back boring into me. The second I walked out of the house I broke into a run, pushing my aching body to the limit as I retraced our steps from yesterday. With every step I took I could see his eyes on me, feel his hand pressed against me, heat was rising inside of me, a heat that shouldn’t be there but felt so right.

A mile passed and then another yet the fence went on and on, I had been sure that we hadn’t covered this much distance yesterday, there was just no way. I ran further, yet the fence went on, it just wasn’t possible, unless… Ben had been covered in mud, his body looked exhausted. Had he carried on? I slowed now, my steps little more than a jog; each step I counted and finally after yet another mile the end of the fence came into view. Two extra days’ worth of work had been added to the fence, it would have taken Ben long into the night to finish.

“So stupid,” I groaned and suddenly I was on the floor, my head buried in my hands, how could he have been so stupid? I didn’t know why or even how he had done it; all I knew was that it was a stupid move, to work himself into exhaustion.

How long I sat on the floor I wasn’t sure, it was the sound of footsteps that finally snapped me out of my daze though. The sun had risen and the morning looked as though it was on its way out, I had wasted yet another day. The source of the footsteps stopped beside me and curiously I looked up. The brown-blonde messy hair that was becoming so familiar and then the bright blue eyes that caused my heart to flutter found me.

Ben sat beside me leaning against the fence he had built. “Are you ok? He asked softly.

Ignoring his words I found myself doing a double take on what he was wearing. Gone was the crisp white shirt and pressed suit trousers and in their place was something even worse. “Please tell me you’re not wearing a cowboy hat?” I questioned, my mouth falling open.

Ben brushed his hand over the abnormally large hat positioned awkwardly on his head. “Is there something wrong with it?” he asked, sounding honestly worried.

I watched as he took the hat off and his face screwed up in concentration. “I don’t know where to start,” I said, barely suppressing the laugher that was so ready at my lips.

“The person at the store said it was what everybody wore,” he said and to my surprise a blush brushed at his bronzed cheeks.

“I guessing they also told you we all wear spiked boots and ride horses into the sunset?” I questioned.

Ben looked at the floor, his shaggy hair falling over his face. “Maybe,” he said quietly.

Unable to suppress my laughter any longer I let it free and for the first time in a long time I felt honestly carefree. “Come on then cowboy, seeing as you’ve done my work for the day I might as well show you the other side of ranch life,” I grinned, pulling Ben up from the floor, for once I felt like having some fun.

Chapter Seven

“It’s a horse,” Ben said bluntly, staring at the large brown mare in front of him.

I wasn’t sure who looked more uncomfortable, Ben or the horse. “I’m surprised you could tell, more than just a pretty face it seems” I laughed.

I pulled a few saddles out of the stable and wandered back at Ben who seemed to be having a staring contest with the horse, needless to say, the horse was winning. “Pretty face?” Ben questioned, eyebrows raised.

I mentally scolded myself, how had I let that slip? “Sorry I meant dense,” I corrected quickly.

“That’s mean,” he said sounding offended, there was a smile at his lips though, one that I found far too easy to return. I was warming up to Ben, it had only been a day, not even that really, but having someone else here, someone to talk to was nice.

“Sometimes honesty hurts,” I retorted.

“You don’t have to tell me,” he said with a sigh.

The carefree feeling that we had shared mere seconds ago died away in an instant and Ben was staring at the floor. Dropping the saddles in my hand I walked over to him, suddenly worried. “I’m sorry about this morning,” he said suddenly.

I froze mid-step; I hadn’t for a second thought he would have remembered. “You were talking in your sleep,” I said, surprising myself by actually telling him.

Ben looked up and as his eyes caught mine the worry increased, something was wrong. “What did I say?” he almost demanded.

My breathing hitched, he had said my name this morning, so softly and so temptingly that it almost hurt. “You said that everything would be ok, that it was just for a little while,” I whispered, almost reciting him word for word.

Ben seemed to relax instantly, the tension in his shoulders residing. He shouldn’t have been so tense, what was it that he could have said that would have been so bad? “Is that all?” he questioned.

I nodded and a smile took over the frown on his face. “So are we riding then?” he asked, suddenly sounding a lot more excited by the prospect.

“No,” I stated bluntly, staring at the man who had changed so quickly.

“I thought you wanted to?” Ben asked confused.

“That was when I thought you weren’t hiding anything,” I said firmly.

Ben’s face dropped just for the smallest fraction of a second before his smile returned. “I’m not,” he said innocently and I knew instantly that he was lying.

“Goodbye Ben,” I whispered and without waiting for another lie from him I walked away.

“Katie,” he shouted after me, still holding onto the horse I had left him with; at the thought of him having to put it away I smiled.

I strode into the kitchen, knowing too well that it wouldn’t take him long to catch up. I stared around the room, the only options I had were to keep running or to stay and face him, one I wanted and the other I knew I should do.

I stayed and I waited. It didn’t take him long but then I never thought it would. I heard his footsteps and I turned slowly to greet him. In an instant, despite my anger I was in his arms and he held me tightly, cradling me to his chest. I was so much like the first time, when he carried me home; my reluctance was fading fast as the steady beat of his heart once again calmed me.

“I came here because I was needed,” Ben whispered, “not because I wanted to.”

I pulled back and stared at him, my mouth open in shock. His bright blue eyes stared down at me and there was sadness there, a sadness I knew I was about to finally understand.

“Are you going to stay?” I asked although I didn’t really want to hear the answer. I wanted him to stay, it was strange to admit it but I did. I never thought, not once, that he hadn’t come of his own free will. I had imagined everything; that he had come to take the ranch or even that he had come to replace me.

Ben smiled softly and gently he brushed a strand of my hair away from my eyes. “I left for all the wrong reasons, I had a company, I had friends, I had everything.” He said sadly, I made to speak but he pressed his finger down softly on his lips.

“I left out of some ridiculous sense of family loyalty, I left because my mom begged me, she said you would lose the ranch if I didn’t come,” he admitted slowly and I could see how much the words pained him.

“You shouldn’t have come then,” I whispered, but I didn’t mean the words, we both knew that. I like having him here, in a day I had realized what it was like to almost have a friend, or maybe more.

“Don’t say that Katie please,” Ben said and the increasing beat of his heart set me on edge, there was desperation in his voice, a desperation I couldn’t bear to hear.

“You need to leave Ben, go back to your life, I can cope on my own” I breathed, daring not to let myself believe I had even spoken the words. Just looking into his eyes now was enough to tell me that if he stayed everything would be ok.

I tore away from him and the second I did I regretted it, I was left in the cold. Ben pulled me back, his hand gripping my arm roughly; he lifted my face, forcing me to face him. “I want to stay for you Katie. Whatever this is between us, whatever it is that makes me smile when I see you smile; I don’t want it to end. We have a chance, the time, so short as it has been, has told me that,” he spoke desperately.

“At least you didn’t come out and say you loved me,” I laughed, yet the words were not funny, they were my only defense against what he was admitting.

“Give me chance to,” Ben whispered.

I froze and in that moment he pulled me back against his chest. I leant there, sharing his warmth, sharing his words. “I can’t Ben, I can’t keep you here if it’s not what you want,” I breathed.

Ben’s hands cupped my chin and ever so slowly he tilted my head to meet his intense eyes. They bore into me, searching every last part of my solemn look; it was all it took for my resolve to fade. “Of course you can, this place is beautiful Katie. If you had seen what I had seen in the city, how life is different, then you would know you have something special here, something worth staying for” Ben said with a crooked smile, the very same smile that had first sent my heart hammering.

I did something then that I never expected to do, I leant towards him and allowed my lips to brush his. With my body shaking and my heart pounding I pressed my lips to his, harder now, showing all the indecision I had and yet all the passion he arose inside of me. “I hate to say I told you so,” Ben whispered.

I pulled away to glare at him but his gave me no chance to let anything other than pleasure to arise inside of me. Ben captured my lips with all the passion and lust I had wanted to show him. Feelings arose inside of me, feelings I had kept hidden and instinctively my hands trailed up his back. Automatically my fingers twisted into his messy hair, gently pulling at the soft strands. He kept our lips locked, his hands gripped my waist and in a second I was wrapped around his, my legs tightly gripping his firm waist.

I moaned against his lips, so sensually delicious that they destroyed the hesitance and erased the worry that had claimed me, for this moment and this moment alone it felt like we were they only people in the world. “Ben,” I whispered his name.

His lips pressed harder, prying my own apart and deepening the kiss. Heat raked through my body as he pushed me hard against the wall, the small amount of air left in my lungs burst out and I was instantly left breathless.  “Give this a chance?” Ben whispered, slowly letting our lips part.

I looked into the eyes of the man who had torn my life to pieces and it was then that I knew those pieces were worthless, that the new ones could be worth so much more. “Yes,” I breathed. I was daring myself to be happy with a man I barely knew but I would give it a chance, everything was worth a chance.

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BONUS

ESTRANGED

By Elisa Elliot

Chapter One

It was a peculiar sensation to say the least, to see the parade of tables and chairs being forcefully dragged from the open doors of what used to be my work place. Of course it had become quite a spectacle with at least twenty or so of us being the unlikely audience to such a scene. There had been no tickets bought and no outfits chosen for the event, instead we had become the glum and unwilling audience caught merely by surprise. We stood as a united group as we watched the computers being taken away; each one was stamped with an individual personality and sure to fill some skip somewhere while the echo of its once avid user would be forgotten for good. To see ones workplace being taken apart at the seams was a peculiar sensation indeed.

It was what it was though and I had little influence upon the proceedings that were taking place in front of me. Sleepy eyed and with a death grip around my morning coffee I had stumbled upon the removal with little knowledge at the time over what indeed was actually happening. But now as I shifted from side to side in a way similar way to my best friend beside me I watched on with a full knowledge of what was occurring and with an even more daunting understanding of what the repercussions would likely be. In the dead of night the company had collapsed and with a scandal biting at its heels in the beginnings of morning it had dissolved into nothing but the parade before my weary eyes.

“What will happen now?” my now equally as unemployed best friend, Penny, questioned sadly. It was the first time any of our collective had spoken and it was met with very little reason, other than a slightly united grumbling from the crowd.

I turned slowly to her, seeing my own frown reflected on her face. “We find a new job I suppose,” I said quietly, knowing that while the others could surely hear me, hoping that they would be too wrapped up in the removal of the conference room to listen in.

Penny’s frown deepened, casting away the morning light and shadowing her features. “And what job would that be?” she said with a slight scoff. It didn’t really need to be said, we were both equally aware that there were no jobs in the city; we had spent more than our fair share of time searching for something other than the work we had been doing for the past four years.

“I don’t know Penny, I just don’t ok?” I said with a deep sigh. The words were not meant to be harsh or angry; they were just a reflection of the hope that was slowly burning out inside me.

Penny offered me a small smile but it was enough for me to return it. “It’ll be ok, it always has been before Lucy,” Penny whispered, slightly cheerier now. I truly loved my friend dearly, seeing me upset had made her change her tune and I knew that she would not let herself despair any longer, it was in her nature of course to look on the bright side, and her slip to the dark side was only momentarily.

“Perhaps we could be models?” I chuckled and struck my corniest of poses earning a loud and honest laugh from Penny in return along with a couple of curious glances from the removal men.

Penny’s laugher only lasted a second before her eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Perhaps not me, but maybe you,” she mused, more to herself than to me.

I took in my friend’s slender body and perfect blonde hair before looking at my own messy brown curls and slightly curvier body before shaking my head. “Keep dreaming,” I said with only a slight chuckle.

Penny shook her head in response with the smallest of smiles on her lips before, in sync, we turned back to the parade as no more words were needed in comfort now. We looked at the last few items of our past being dragged away uncaringly and thrown into one of the many trucks that had been used to take the items to some unknown place. Perhaps, I wondered, just maybe a better job would be around the corner, something more rewarding at least. As soon as the thought entered my mind though it soon dissolved, there were little jobs in the city to speak of and between us mine and Penny’s last pay check would only just cover the rent for the next month.

Without another word or sour thought I turned my back on the spectacle and walked away. I had little caring when it came to the boxes of personal belonging being stacked outside the now desolate building. There was nothing there that I was attached to or would care if I never saw again. With a little more force than intended I tossed my empty cup into the nearest bin and wandered on through the streets. There was little else to do other than to go to mine and Penny’s small apartment and I knew that as she trailed after me, throwing one last wistful look at the building, that that was where we were headed. There would be a chance, I hoped, to pull ourselves back from this; since I was a child I had continued to hold on to the dream that there was always something better waiting around the corner.

Chapter Two

I tossed the newspaper I had been reading across the room where it fell in a heap among countless others. “Well this has been a complete waste of time,” I sighed.

It had been two days since both Penny and I had lost our jobs and since then things had, how I had expected them to, got a lot worse. Around us was easily a months’ worth of newspapers that had accumulated in that last two days. Newspapers of every genre and persuasion were scattered, some alone, others in heaps; many of them had highlighted sections that were now ruthlessly scribbled out. Our laptops lay open, each seemingly constantly on charge, showed a history of every job search website around; each had seen exactly the same outcome, nothing.

“At least it can only get better,” I said decisively as I grabbed my latest coffee cup and wandered over to the kitchen to refill it. Penny looked less than convinced by my mantra, but then I had said it at least a dozen times today alone.

Penny walked over to the kitchen behind me, easily matching my seemingly growing addiction to coffee. “We haven’t had to settle on moving back home yet,” Penny said; it was her own comforting mantra. I didn’t mind moving back home as much as she did, while the prospect wasn’t overly appealing I didn’t hate it completely; I loved my dad and it was always nice to see him, in short bursts that was anyway.

“True,” I muttered as I poured a fresh cup of coffee and lend against the counter.

I looked over the Penny and she seemed deep in thought, I watched her curiously for a moment. “Home,” she whispered. My eyebrows furrowed but she stayed quiet, her mind drifting away.

“Home,” she shouted, much louder this time and it dawned on me that she had an idea, I wasn’t sure why but I had a feeling that it would not be a good one.

“What about it?” I asked cautiously with a growing sensation that could only be described as similar to if I was walking towards an explosion waiting to happen.

“Your brother!” she shouted as a smile swamped her petite face.

“I don’t have a brother,” I stated bluntly.

“What was his name again…? Andrew… Alex…” she mused as I shook my head in despair.

“Aaron,” I said quietly as I stared down at my now half empty cup, already feeling the urge to re-fill it, it sounded like I was going to need it, “he isn’t my brother though,” I resolved.

“Fine, step-brother then,” Penny sighed, “I suppose there is kind of a big difference though,” Penny added with a smile.

“He’s not my step-brother,” I concluded and frowned in annoyance.

Penny turned to me, the excitement in her eyes was clear for all to see. “Ask him,” she whispered, convinced that she had struck gold with her idea; I shook my head again in response.

“First,” I said, holding my finger up, “he is neither my brother nor my step brother. Secondly,” I said holding up two fingers, only to earn an eye roll from Penny, “I haven’t seen nor spoken to him in over ten years since our parents divorced,” I breathed yet my words did not seem to faze the overly excited Penny.

“So, doesn’t he own that company now, ‘Software’ something,” Penny said as she practically bounced up and down, “he must have jobs going, or perhaps a loan, anything to keep the roof over our head,” she finished with a slight frown and I knew she was thinking about the prospect of losing the apartment that, while small, had been our home for many years.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know,” I lied. I did know of course, it had only been recently that I had found out the fate of my once step-brother. It still shocked me now as much as it had done then; I had been reading one of Penny’s magazines and there had been his name ‘Aaron Newfeld CEO extraordinaire’. I had thrown the magazine away after that, I had already read enough into the article to know he was rich, very rich in fact.

“Ring him,” Penny urged as she tossed me her phone. I picked up the mobile and twisted it around in my hand before placing it down on the counter beside me.

“Ten years Penny, it has been ten years, we were both sixteen when I last saw him; does that mean nothing to you?” I scoffed. I could still picture him now; messy brown hair, much darker than my own and a sarcastic response to anything and everything I had ever said to him.

She picked the phone back up and put it in my hand. “Ring him,” she said, almost pleading this time. 

“You expect me just to know his number?” I sighed and she knew as much as I did that I had given in to her. I had barely given Aaron a second thought in the last ten years, ever since he and his mum had parted ways with my father and I. It was a short lived marriage, Aaron and I had been thrust together at the awkward age of thirteen and for three years we both did our best to run in the opposite direction.

Penny stuck her tongue out at me but I could tell there was a grateful glint in her eye. “Ah my dear, now that is what the internet is for,” she said happily as she bounded over to her laptop.

I put my head in my hands and shook it slowly, things were definitely getting worse. “This is never going to work,” I sighed exasperated.

“Found it!” Penny shouted and she twisted the laptop around to face me, ignoring my previous comment. “Well actually it’s the phone number for his secretary, but still,” she said with a smile. I had half expected there to be a picture of him and when I took note of the almost empty web page I found myself unwillingly a little disappointed. For the first time I found myself wondering what he looked like, the last time I saw him he was just a normal sixteen year old, slightly more muscled than most but with enough of an annoying personality to override that.

I discarded my empty cup and walked slowly over to where Penny now sat, her phone gripped tightly in her hand. “Fine,” I grumbled as I succumbed to her pleading expression.

“Yes!” she shouted as she jumped up from her seat and ran over to where I was perched on the arm of the sofa. As the phone landed in my hands I reluctantly dialed the number that shone dauntingly on the screen. If there was one thing I could say for sure then it was that I had not expected to be ringing my estranged ex-stepbrother with a plea for help.

Chapter Three

I truly honestly had not expected Penny’s idea to work but now, as I stood outside the largest office building on the street, I really wished that it hadn’t. I still had to ask him though and I knew that if I was in his place after so long, I would not have been pleased to hear the request. I hoped that after ten years he would no longer see me how he used to and that perhaps, just maybe, he may offer me a helping hand when I needed it the most.

The phone call had got me this far and I could still not work out how. According to the rather harsh initial response from the secretary when I asked to meet Aaron, nobody ever scheduled a meeting the day before they wanted to meet him; there was normally a week long waiting list. As soon as she had taken my name to him though he had agreed to meet; it was a shock I was still trying to register. It gave me hope though that, at least, he would not immediately shun me away.

Nervously I made my way through the large glass doors and into the grand lobby of the corporate building; it easily put my old workplace to shame without any effort at all. As soon as I stepped into the enormous lobby it felt as though I was overwhelmed within the sea of people. It only made my nerves grow but then it wasn’t the first time I had been nervous to see Aaron. Despite trying to stay as far away from one another in our youth we had ultimately crossed paths on many occasions, none of which held particularly fond memories.

Two young teenagers living in the same house had of course caused arguments and whether it was the time I had buried his homework in the garden or the time he had locked me out of the house for two days when our parents were away, none of the arguments ended particularly well. But away from that we had never really spoken, never gotten to know each other and never bonded in a way I supposed step-siblings did, in a sense we were strangers who shared a house for three years.

“Can I help you?” a woman asked, making me realize for the first time that I had been stood stationary near the reception desk for at least a few minutes.

My pale skin flushed a ruby red and I looked down at my feet. “I’m here to see Aaron, I mean Aaron Newfeld, sorry, Mr. Newfeld,” I said in one quick and very flustered breath, feeling my cheeks burn a darker shade all the while. The woman smiled kindly at me but I could feel her eyes scanning my body. I had chosen my best jeans and shirt for the meeting, choosing to stay casual, but seemingly I still didn’t quite fit in this cooperate world.

“Mr. Newfeld is in his office on the top floor,” the woman said slowly, “Do you have an appointment?” she questioned unsurely.