"Hey, look, I'm glad you like my work and all, but my girlfriend's waiting, so I got to go." He gestured randomly at me and I watched as the girl's jaw dropped open. She looked between the two of us while I fidgeted with my stray bra strap and tried to keep it from sliding down my shoulder onto my arm. A warm burn twisted my belly, and I tried not to get too excited. Flor had used the girlfriend excuse with me before to get rid of unwanted attention.
"If you ever get bored with Plain Jane, give me a call."
Flor grinned, flashing white teeth. He pulled his cigarette from his lips with two fingers and leaned forward.
"Not likely, Barbie doll. Get lost." Without waiting for a response, Flor moved around her and opened the front door, flipping the sign over to closed. The girl huffed and shouldered rudely past me before storming out the door and down the street. I didn't say anything as my stepbrother pulled it closed behind her and flicked the locks into place. Outside, the sky was an inky black and peppered with stars, the restaurant across the street still filled with a lively crowd.
"Get a beer with me?" he asked, turning off the lights as he moved back around the counter. When they were all off and the only light inside the building was coming from the street lamps outside, Flor paused next to me and looked down at my face with his eyes blanketed in shadow.
"I'm only eighteen, remember?" I joked, but when he didn't say anything in response, I rushed to fill in the silence. "But we could grab something to eat anyway?"
"I don't think telling our parents is a good idea, Abigail. All it's gonna do is make them act weird around us. And your dad? Fuck, I'll be lucky if he doesn't pull a gun on me."
"If … " I struggled to find some of Yuu's confidence, take some comfort in his words. What he'd said today had made so much sense to me. But in order for me to argue my point, I had to admit another: that I wanted us to be together, officially. Suddenly though, it'd become hard to speak. Flor was too close, the memory of last night too fresh.
"If, what?" he asked, and I was relieved to find that his voice was soft, much softer than it'd been before. I fiddled with my bra strap again, and Flor reached out to stop me, sliding his hand over mine and pulling it away. His unlit cigarette dropped to the floor as he wrapped his left arm around my waist and dragged me close, my body pressed tight to the front of his. I shivered as he dropped his mouth to the curve of my neck, trailing down over my shoulder until he reached the loose strap.
"If we want to be together, we have to tell them," I said, shivering again as his fingers traced over my skin, each whorl of his fingerprints stirring up goose bumps. Honestly, I was a little surprised he was touching me so easily.
At my words, Flor stiffened briefly, but he didn't pull away, instead leaning into me so he could rest his forehead against mine. The tender position nearly brought tears to my eyes, but I held them back. I'd sobbed enough over Flor. Now that I had him, even if it was just for this brief moment, I wouldn't waste it crying.
"Damn it, Abi, how'd you do it? Get me to let my guard down? This wasn't supposed to happen with you. I've been fighting these feelings since I was sixteen." I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed tight, hugged him like I hadn't done in years, ever since that kiss. After that, he stopped letting me touch him, stopped letting me in. I was starting to wonder if those secrets I'd always seen in his face, that hesitation, that fear, if it had something to do with me. As if he could read my thoughts, Flor started filling in the blanks without my even having to ask. "That night I kissed you," he began, "when you were fifteen?" I nodded, my cheek brushing the soft cotton of his T-shirt. "I saw you sneak out. I figured I had a pretty good idea where you'd be going, so I went, too. I promised myself I'd leave you alone, let you have a good time for once in your life. But then I saw you kissing that guy, and I almost went bat shit crazy. Hell, when I had you pressed up against that wall, I almost lost it, almost fucked you right then and there, the world be damned."
"I wished for years that you had," I whispered and Flor groaned, like he was having trouble controlling himself now, too. "Why'd you bring that girl with you then?" I couldn't help remembering the sneer on her face, replaced quickly with that look of relief they always got when they heard the word sister.
"Girl?" Flor asked, and I smiled against his shirt. I felt sorry for the women he messed around with sometimes, but I was honestly a little glad that he didn't remember her. When Florian looked back over the years, maybe the only girl he'd ever really remember would be me?
"You brought her to the party," I explained, not wanting this moment of honesty, this closeness wrapped in shadows, to end.
"Oh." He thought for a minute, like he was trying to recall the details of that night. It had only been three years, but it felt like a lifetime. "I thought she'd keep me safe from you."
"Safe?" I asked, leaning back. Flor kept his arms wrapped around my waist and refused to let me go. This close up, I could feel his breath stir my hair, see the slight stubble on his jaw. I ran my fingers over it, searching for that beautiful scar of his.
"I didn't trust myself with you, Abigail."
I felt a little thrill.
"Is that why you stopped hanging around so much?"
He nodded, and then growled low in his throat. The sound made me crazy with need.
"But … I don't know what to do with you now." His right hand rose to cup my jaw and I swallowed hard as he pulled my face to his for a deep kiss that warmed me straight down to my toes. "I know logically that this can't work, that I'm supposed to be your fucking brother, that I'm supposed to take care of you."
"I don't mind," I said with a smile, "if you want to take care me of as a lover instead?" Flor laughed, but his voice had gone dark and husky again.
"What about our future sibling, Abs? How will that work?" I shrugged, but then decided I had to say something. This was it, I could feel it. My one chance to get Flor to work with me, to accept a possible relationship. I'd waited my entire life for this one moment. It wasn't that I thought my happiness depended on a man, or even on Flor in particular, but who doesn't want love? Who doesn't want a partner to share the ups and downs with, ride the waves with a warm hand and a gentle smile at your side? The fact that he was a genius in the bedroom – and out of it – didn't hurt either.
"Addison told me that Patrick and Dorian's little sister feels like her own, like she couldn't feel anymore like a sister if she were blood. So what if we share a sibling? It doesn't matter. We're not related, and honestly, Flor, you've never really felt like a brother to me."
He sighed, one long release of breath that was like music to my ears. I knew Florian Harper Riley well enough to tell when he was giving in.
I held him closer, nuzzled his shoulder and breathed in his scent.
Please, please, please.
"Abi, I'm … I've never been good at relationships, you know that. I don't want to fuck it up with you. I'd rather have you around as a sister than not at all."
"I won't let you fuck it up, Flor," I told him, and I meant it. I felt his fingers in my hair and then he was turning us, pushing me back until I was forced to sit on the counter. He tucked himself between my thighs and put his hands on my waist.
"Then again, no girl was ever good enough." He paused, licked his lips. "Because each and every single one of them I was comparing to you." Flor took my face between his palms, kissed my lips softly, gently. His fingers found the button on my jeans and opened it, dragging the pants down my legs before I could get in a protest.
"Someone could walk by and see," I whispered, but he didn't care about that, I knew. Besides, I had to admit, there was something about this scenario that was insanely sexy. In the dark, on a busy street, hidden in plain sight? In Flor's tattoo studio? I closed my eyes and breathed in the familiar scents.
"They can go fuck themselves," he told me, and his confidence made my toes curl. But still, I hadn't gotten an answer yet, and I wasn't giving up.
"So does this mean yes?" I asked him as he ran his fingers over my tattoo, teasing the waistband of my panties. Truthfully, I'd kind of figured something like this might happen, so I'd worn my matching leopard print bra and undies. Bingo.