I wanted it. But I couldn’t do anything about it, not while he was my stepbrother, not while we still had this fake, idiotic marriage hanging over our heads.
I watched for a second, his muscular and incredible body working up and down, and then ripped myself away from him. I shut the door behind me as I retreated into my bedroom.
It was wrong for his mother to kick him out, but the reason I wanted him to stay was even worse.
I wanted to fuck my stepbrother, my husband, until I couldn’t walk. I wanted him to strip me down and take me, just the way he kept saying he would.
It was all so messed up. Just feet away, I could practically sense him still working out, and I wanted so desperately to rip that shirt from his tattooed chest and let him have me.
Instead, I was going to convince my dad to let him stay.
I’d worry about everything else later.
Chapter 8
Cole
I threw my shirts into my duffel with a grunt. It wasn’t exactly surprisingly that my mother had decided to kick me out, but it was definitely a new record. I hadn’t even lasted a month in her house before she’d decided I was too much of a liability.
That was fine with me. The whole thing had stopped being fun and had started to feel real as soon as I’d figured out that I really was married to Alexa. As much as I hated to leave her, it was just that time.
Still, I was going to miss having her around all the time. I had gotten used to seeing her in the hallways, to flirting with her mercilessly, teasing her about the way I made her body feel. But I wasn’t the type to beg forgiveness or to look back.
As I sat down on my bed for the last time, someone knocked at the door.
“What?” I called out.
“It’s Frank. Can I talk to you?”
What does my new stepdaddy want? I thought ruefully.
“Yeah, sure,” I said.
He opened the door and stepped in, closing it softly behind him. I could tell that he was uncomfortable as he stood with his arms crossed, avoiding my look.
“What can I do for you, Frank?” I asked, trying not to sound annoyed.
“I just wanted to say that this wasn’t my decision.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Is that all?”
He sighed and looked at me. “Look, Cole, your mother is under a lot of pressure because of our relationship. I’m not sure she’s thinking clearly on this one.”
I laughed. “You don’t know Cindy very well then.”
He held up one hand, a pained look on his face. “I know what you think of her,” he said, “but she’s softened a lot since you last saw her.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“I’ll never understand you or your relationship with your mother, but I do know that she loves you.”
I smirked but didn’t respond. I hadn’t needed Cindy’s love for a long, long time. I had come to the conclusion that she wasn’t really capable of it, no matter what she may have looked like on the outside. Frank would figure it out eventually. He was applying human terms and emotions and feelings to a robot. It just didn’t work out.
“So,” Frank went on, “I decided that I want you to stay.”
That surprised me. “Does Cindy know?”
“Not yet,” he said, “but I’ll tell her after we’re done talking.”
“That’s not going to go over well.”
“This is my house, Cole.”
“Maybe. But so long as Cindy is here, she’s in charge and we both know it.”
Frank laughed and shook his head. “You’re not wrong there. But in this instance I’m making my own decision, and your mother will just have to go along with it.”
I had to admit that I was impressed. I’d never pegged Frank for a man with a spine, but standing up to Cindy took guts, even if he hadn’t even confronted her about it yet and was going behind her back.
But I didn’t want or need charity. I didn’t want Frank’s pity, and I didn’t want Cindy’s scorn. I didn’t need any of it. I didn’t care about any of it. The only reason I was staying in the house was Alexa, but that just seemed more and more crazy.
I knew she wanted me. It was obvious. But she was so damn conflicted and so obsessed with this marriage thing that she couldn’t let herself have what was clearly what she needed. I’d been up front with what I wanted from her. There was no ambiguity in my position. Actually, there was no ambiguity in the position that I wanted to fuck her in.
So there was nothing keeping me around.
“No, thanks,” I said. “If Cindy wants me out, I’m out.”
“I think you should reconsider.”
“Listen, Frank, this little shit between my mom and me, it’s as old as time. She’s a controlling shrew and I’m not a little teenager anymore trying to make mommy happy.”