Stepbrother Dearest(48)

Still holding my hand, he mouthed, “Dance with me.”

Even though I knew this was going to be the moment that completely undid me, I nodded my head and reluctantly let him pull me into him. He let out a deep breath the moment I landed in the warmth of his arms.

Closing my eyes, I rested my head on his chest and conceded to the pain that had been building inside me since the moment I first saw him with Chelsea. With each pounding beat of his heart, another of my old wounds would burst open, destroying all of the self-protective mechanisms I’d tried to implement over these past couple of days.

If I hadn’t moved from my position, I might have been able to get through the song. But I was a glutton for punishment and needed to know if the look on his face matched the intensity of his heartbeat.


My cheek slowly slid away from his chest. As I lifted my head upwards to look at him, he lowered his head slowly at almost exactly the same time as if he’d been waiting for me to look at him.

The desire in eyes was blatant. I breathed in to catch each heavy breath that escaped his lips. If I couldn’t kiss him, I wanted to at least taste every breath.

Then, he touched his forehead to mine.

It was a simple and seemingly innocent gesture, but couple that moment with the climactic part of the song, and that was it for me.

To save myself from falling further into this, I intentionally replayed his words to Chelsea in my head. “I love you, too.”

This. Was. My. Breaking. Point.

I ripped myself away from him and ran off of the dance floor.

I could hear him calling after me. “Greta, wait!”

Tears were pouring down my face as I weaved through the heat of the club, bumping into sweaty drunk people as I tried to find the exit. Someone’s drink spilled on me in the process. I didn’t care. I just needed to get out of there.

He’d lost me through the crowd.

Having escaped the darkness of the club, the lights of the casino lobby were a welcome contrast.

I ran to the elevators and pressed the up button, hoping to get to my room as fast as possible. The doors started to close right before I saw a tattooed arm slide inside, prompting them to open.

His breathing was erratic. The doors closed.

“What the f*ck, Greta? Why did you run from me like that?”

“I just need to go back to my room.”

“Not like this.”

He pressed the stop button, causing the elevator to come to a jolting halt.

“What are you doing?”

“This isn’t how I wanted our night to end. I crossed a line. I know that. I got lost in the moment with you, and I’m so f*cking sorry. But it wasn’t going to go any further because I won’t cheat on Chelsea. I couldn’t do that to her.”

“I’m not as strong as you are, then. You can’t dance with me like that, look at me like that, touch me like that if we can’t do anything about it. And for the record, I wouldn’t want you to cheat on her!”

“What do you want?”

“I don’t want you to say one thing and act in a way that contradicts it. We don’t have much time left together. I want you to talk to me. That night at the wake…you wrapped your hand around my neck. It felt like for a moment you were back in that place where we left off. That’s sort of how I feel around you all of the time. Then, later that night, Chelsea told me what happened after you got home.”

He squinted. “Exactly what did she tell you?”

“Were you thinking about me? Is that why you couldn’t perform that night?”

Understandably, he looked shocked that I knew. I still didn’t understand why Chelsea shared that with me.

Because she trusted me, and she shouldn’t have.

I regretted saying anything, but it was too late.

He stayed silent, glaring at me, but he looked like he wanted to say something.

“I want you to tell me the truth,” I said.

The look on his face turned angry, like he’d lost some battle of self-control within himself. “You want the truth? I was f*cking my girlfriend and could see nothing but you. That’s the truth.” He took a few steps toward me, and I stepped backwards as he continued, “I got into the shower that night, and the only way I could finish the job was to imagine coming all over your beautiful neck. That’s the truth.”

I leaned against the elevator wall as he locked his arms on each side of me and continued, “You want more? I was going to ask her to marry me tonight at her sister’s wedding. I was supposed to be engaged right at this very moment, but instead, I’m in an elevator fighting the urge to back you up against this wall and f*ck you so hard that I’ll have to carry you back to your room.”

My heart was beating out of control, and it was unclear which part of what he’d just said shocked me more.

He dropped his arms and lowered his voice. “Everything I thought I knew has been turned upside down in the past forty-eight hours. I’m questioning everything, and I don’t f*cking know what to do. That’s. The. Truth.”

He released the stop button, and the elevator continued rising up to our floor—the 22nd floor.

He was going to ask her to marry him.

It was still sinking in. What a rude awakening as to exactly how far out of my league I’d been all of this time.

The elevator doors slid open, and as we walked down the hall, I simply said, “I don’t want to talk anymore. I need to be alone.”