Stepbrother Anonymous(12)

Or there shouldn’t be.

Until I thought of Christmas dinners and summer barbecues and what would happen if Hudson and I didn’t work out. What if he was a raging lunatic asshole who was going to trample all over my heart and leave it bleeding in the dust?

I gripped at his waist, holding on a little tighter, before he took one hand off the handlebars and covered mine.

Just that small touch had my body loosening, my anxiety easing, and the sense that this was right -- and so was he -- growing strong again.

We’d face tomorrow however it needed facing. But right now, it was just him and me on the back of his bike, and I kind of loved it.

* * *

Later that night, long after the shock had worn off—and Hudson had given me four mind-bending orgasms—I burrowed into the haven of his arms, a sense of dread taking root in my belly. “Tomorrow is the wedding.”

“Yup,” he breathed, fingertips tracing circles around my nipple.

“Tomorrow, you leave?”

“Yeah.” The word escaped his lips on a soft puff of air.

“I hate tomorrow already.”

“Me too.” The words stretched between us, unspoken thoughts hanging heavy. “Being lost in you is something spiritual, Sky. I’m not the same man when I’m with you. I’m better.” His words were like a wringer to my heart. How had we found ourselves here? Riding the impossible high of stolen first moments right into the inevitable crash and burn of impossible love. “I never saw you coming, precious. You completely blindsided me.”

I curled into his body, unable to take the loss of this man just yet. Tears pricked at my eyelids as he tucked me under his heavy arm, stroking my hair with his callused fingers and whispering sweet nothings in my ear. Everything he did was meant to make me feel better, but somehow it made it worse. It made everything worse because tomorrow he was leaving, and the simple fact was we should just go back to our real lives and forget this ever happened. Now more than ever.

We couldn’t show up to family gatherings hand in hand. We couldn’t live under the guise of love when so much dysfunction surrounded our coupling.

I stroked his chest, wishing more than anything that today hadn’t happened so we could go back to just being us, Skylar and Hudson, two strangers who met in a bar and fucked one night.

But we would never just be that anymore. We were now the stepsiblings who’d fucked, who’d filled in all the missing pieces, who loved each other? Was that true? Did he love me? Because I was starting to think I could love him, just when it was all being stolen away.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“Just overthinking again,” I muttered, trying to control the cracks from shattering my voice.

“We’ve got to train that out of you,” he whispered softly, emotion flowing through his words as much as mine.

“Yeah.” I frowned, trying desperately not to crumble in his arms.

“Sky?” he murmured against my skin.

“Yeah?”

His fingers laced with mine as he took his time replying. “I love you more than I thought I could ever love anyone. I just want you to know that.”

My throat ached with the lump I was trying to squash, until finally the levees burst, and I let a few stubborn tears trickle down my cheeks. I tried to hide it, but I didn’t do a very good job when the salty wetness on his chest drew his attention to my face.

He pulled me closer, hands in my hair as he kissed away the trails of tears.

Hudson had turned my world upside down then soothed away the tight feeling that clenched my heart whenever I thought of him leaving. He knew my soul inside and out, and letting go of him tomorrow would be the hardest thing I’d ever have to do.





Seven





Skylar

“I guess I didn’t think very far ahead last night when we left. This dress on the back of your bike is going to be a challenge.” I frowned, glancing at the seat of his bike then down to my full-length gown.

He smiled, helping me onto the back of the bike. “I’ve got you, precious.”

He tucked me sideways on his lap, holding me nestled in his strong thighs, one arm looped around my waist as he fired up the engine.

“I’m pretty sure this isn’t safe.” I loved him pressed to me, the smell of his skin intoxicating, the feel of his broad form against mine making me lose my senses a little more.

“Remember what I told you the first night?”

I shook my head, struggling to remember so many of the things. My brain had been in full meltdown mode once his touch heated all of my nerves.

“I said I’d rather die than let anything happen to you.” His eyes nailed mine for a moment. “I meant it, Sky. I meant every word I said this weekend. You’ve just got to give me the go-ahead, because I’m all in.”