Stepbrother Charming(49)

My legs shift uncomfortably under the breakfast bar just thinking about it. I have to help my cereal down with some jasmine tea I quickly brewed up on the Keurig. Thinking about sex with Ty scorches me, robs the air from my lungs without him even being in the same room.

I don't know very much about sex, eager student that I am, but I know it's got to be rare for a man to live up to his wild reputation.

So fucking rare.

And the idea that I might never feel how good those lips feel on mine, much less anywhere else, ever again really pissed me off. I can't let this crap with his dad get in the way of us.

I wrap up my breakfast and set my dishes in the sink, then take a long walk through the mansion before heading downstairs. I should go shopping or something to lighten the load on my mind, but I can't, knowing he's here.

I head down to my room and read for a while, keeping my ears perked up for any movement in the basement. I'm deep into this article for work about grizzly bear restoration in the Cascades when Ty's door swings open and slams shut. I hear him stirring through the wall, making quick, angry movements.

It's hard to believe he can move after taking so many vicious laps in the pool.

It takes me a minute to gather my courage. I get up and step outside, slowly closing my door behind me so he can't hear. I hesitate when I walk the few steps to his door and hold my hand over it, ready to knock.

Too slow.

Before I can make a single tap, Ty rips the door open with a woosh. It's so sudden and rough I jump, holding one hand over my chest like a startled old granny.

Ty snorts with amusement. “What the hell do you want?”

“Can I come in?”

He nods, steps aside, and slams the door behind me. I walk deeper into his room for the first time, trying not to lose my mind. His scent is everywhere, masculine and sexy and overwhelming.

Crap. It takes me a second to remember I'm actually here to talk to him.

“Hey, I heard some things this morning,” I say softly, meeting his furious eyes. “I saw you swimming when I got up. You were so angry. I didn't understand why until I went upstairs and heard our parents talking. Gary's got it in for you bad, he's –“

Ty holds a hand up and storms past me, crashing his butt down on the bed. “I don't wanna talk about that fucking jackass. I know what's he got planned. It's no loss. The swim helped me make up my mind.”#p#分页标题#e#

Why the hell is he so hard to talk to? I'm getting frustrated, mostly at myself for being so flustered. I step forward and sit next to him on the bed, gingerly laying a hand on his shoulder.

“What are you going to do? I'm here for you. Talk to me.”

He gives me a stark, half-skeptical look. But after a few seconds, his eyes soften. I have to suppress a smile, stunned that I've really worked my way into him. He's going to let me in – right?

“I'm leaving Washington, Claire. I'm going somewhere I can leave this shit behind and start over. And I mean really, truly start the fuck over. I don't need his billions to make a man outta myself. Just a little coin I've earned in my own damned club, plus my own bare hands.” He pauses, looks at me, and delivers the death blow. “I'm going to Alaska.”

It slams into my heart like a knife. Jesus Christ. Alaska.

It's so foreign. It's the place Mom visits once every so many years when she needs to run off to the wild and escape civilization. Much as I love nature, I've never had the guts to follow her. The stories about thumb-sized mosquitoes and villages with more bears than people are too much.

“Why Alaska? What's there?”

He cocks his head when he hears how defensive I sound. But I can see the determination in his eyes, and that hurts even more, knowing there's absolutely nothing I can say or do that'll change his mind.

“Hard work. Virgin land, babe. Mining. Fishing. Badass motherfuckers who are probably in need of some serious entertainment. But you know, I'm probably not gonna start another club up there – at least not right away. I'm gonna go out to sea, try my hand at fishing. I don't care if the money sucks. I know a thing or two about how to turn a couple bucks into hundreds, and then thousands. I'll clear my damned head for a year by working myself raw, and then I'll figure out the rest. I want the complete fucking opposite of the mold my old man tried to force me through. I'm heading down a different path, and I might as well go all the way. My gut tells me Alaska's the place to find it.”

He stops. It feels like my lungs are collapsing in on themselves. I'm starting to wonder if last night was a mistake. It's a cataclysm, a riddle I can't figure out, and it's tying my heart in so many knots I'm not sure I'll ever smooth them out.

I can't regret anything about our night together. If it's all I'll have with him, then I'll cherish it forever. But I can't stand thinking it might be my only taste of this savage, beautiful, tyrannical bastard next to me.