Stepbrother Charming(19)

Ty laughs while I'm shaking my head. Slapping him stupid doesn't seem like it'll do the job – I want to fucking punch him right between his gemstone blue eyes.

“I started to think there was another side to you this morning. Your dad treated you like crap at the table. But you're really the same – both of you! You've got his habits. You treat me with the same respect you've got for the rest of the world, I guess. None at all. You obviously don't care about anything around you.” I point to the fallen bottle.

The playful smirk on his face melts. Those baby blues turn angry, dark and cold like an iceberg threatening to gut anything that comes too close.

“You can shut your mouth now, babe, 'cause you don't know shit. Come the fuck on, Claire. You think I need a lecture in your hippie enviro-shit? I did a charity fight last winter for conservation. Gave the money to a group that's got a brain in its head just to piss my old man off. You're just about to start interning for a bunch of crazy asshole idealists. You can't tell me you're a true believer in all this group's shit.”#p#分页标题#e#

No, I'm not true blue. The bastard has me there.

Sure, I want to see the state's natural wonders preserved. I know Cascades Now! has a reputation for extremes. Mostly, I'm excited because they're going to give me experience and throw a few bucks my way – everything I want out of my first post-college gig.

“Of course not,” I hiss. “I don't believe in everything they do any more than you support everything your dad's done with Spree. Or maybe you do think it's okay to dump your crap out here when nobody's looking?”

That does it. Ty jumps up, stomps right past me, into the brush. He returns a second later, holding the empty glass flask in one hand.

“You wanna get personal, Sis? I can do that shit, yeah, but I'd rather just fucking go.” Without asking, he reaches down, grabs my hand, and jerks me onto my feet.

I follow him down the windy path back toward the beach. The Pacific's churning waves should be a comfort, but it just puts me more on edge. Bright evening sun dances off the waters – too bright. It's reflective, blinding.

The asshole a few steps in front of me is the reason I forgot my sunglasses too.

“Personal?” What the hell are you talking about?”

He doesn't answer me until we stop next to a tall blue canister. He drops the glass bottle into it, and it hits the bottom with a resounding clap. Guess there aren't a lot of visitors on this private land.

He stops and stares at me, his arms folded over his huge chest. Jesus, I can't stop staring at him, even when I'm steaming mad. Ty's got an angel's body – a guardian angel's – and it takes so much effort not to let my eyes glide down him too long.

I shouldn't be so hot and bothered. Okay, maybe bothered because he's punched all my wrong buttons. But I know I'm in trouble when he steps up, closing the distance between us, and I can't stop sneaking little glances at his powerful hips.

The shorts he's wearing accent everything. His bare legs are as built and muscular as the rest of him, and I know that hard ass at the top lets him run like the wind.

Does he shake a girl straight down to her bones when he's between her legs, driving deep and hard? Fucking this animal must hurt. Probably in all the best ways I can imagine.

And believe me, my overactive, inexperienced virgin brain is going wild.

Ty stops with less than a couple inches between us. He must've seen me peeking because his eyes are all over me, lingering on my breasts. I'd regret not wearing something a little more conservative if I wasn't busy regretting this whole damned thing.

He reaches out and puts a hand on my shoulder, starts to turn me before I can protest. “Spin, babe. You've got sand all over your ass.”

He gets two or three quick strokes down my back and over my butt before I dart away. Fucker.

I can't blame him for looking because I was doing the same, but I'm drawing the line at him ever getting his filthy hands on me again. “Don't be a pig.”

Ty comes closer, his handsome face cast in arrogance again. “Pig? Let's talk about that shit for a second. You're right about one thing, Claire – my old man's an asshole. You won't hear me arguing otherwise. I always wondered what the fuck caused him to ride my ass so hard. Could never tell if it was just chasing money, or because losing Mom so young fucked him up.”

My head tilts and I study his face, wondering where he's going with this. “Maybe you should worry more about the road you're going down, Ty. That's something you can control.”

He breaks the gaze and walks right past me. I walk fast, trying to catch up, stepping into his footprints in the sand.#p#分页标题#e#