He lifted a hand. “Okay. That was deserved.”
“You deserve a whole lot more.”
He shrugged, and when I pulled out a pink mini-dress with a halterneck, he stood.“That one.”
If I had any other option, I would refuse to wear it just to disagree with him. But I didn’t.
“You’re not here for fashion advice,”I almost snarled, eyeing my shoe collection to see what would match. I’d have to go with my current white heels.
He pointedly looked around the room, lips turned down. “What am I here for then?”
That was a good point. I’d thrown him in this room — the room I’d told him to crawl into to ravish me — and was about to strip. I wasn’t exactly questioning him, armed with Everly’s cocktail sticks.
“You’re here to help me get out of this dress and then answer my questions.”
There wasn’t a bra under the white silk, so I turned and gestured at the zipper. I was expecting some retort or sleazy throwaway line, but he did it without a word.
Did he know? When he unzipped my jacket and kissed down my spine, did he already know we’d end up like this?
When I kept my back to him and shimmied out of the dress, he said,“You forget I’ve already had my mouth on every inch of you.”
I almost turned around and exposed my whole body to glare at him. “You weren’t my step-brother then!”
He flinched. It was a small movement, but I saw it for what it was. A loss of control. A flicker of frustration. He didn’t want this either.
“It’s just a label,” he said, sighed, and sat back on the bed. “It’s not like we grew up together or you even see your dad much.”
Was this man’s conscience even in the same universe as his dick?
“I work with him,” I snapped. “As I also work with you,mynew step-brother.” I spat the word, disgusted, and turned for him to zip me up.
He held me in place, pressing firmly on my hips to still me. I might have been a bit antsy, rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet.
Far too slowly, he dragged the delicate zipper up, cinching my body into the small, glittery thing.
This was not what I would have worn to a wedding if I had even five minutes at home to prepare myself.
“This looks so good on you,” he said, and his forehead fell to the exposed small of my back.
I clenched and stood strong, resisting the urge to turn around and kiss him.
That was the one thing I was holding on to — we hadn’t kissed.
His mouth had swallowed mine while we were in bed, on that clifftop, but he’d never… it hadn’t been a kiss.
There was no romance behind it.
My eyes closed tight, cringing at the way I’d revealed too much. I’d asked for a real, public date. And knowing he was going to be legally related to me within the next hour, he had agreed and told me to pack for two days.
“How long have you known?” I asked, my voice defeated.Scared.
He lifted his head, but kept his hold on my waist.
“I…”
“How long, Zoltán?” I turned and stepped back. His hands froze mid-air as if still reaching for me, hoping he could keep me there.
“If you don’t answer my questions, I’m going to throw everything in this suitcase and leave rightnow.”
