My eyes widened when I finally put two and two together. Brad, my ex-lover, was soon to be my stepbrother.
She hadn’t been nervous about introducing me to Henry. No, she’d been nervous because Henry was tied to the monster that broke my heart all those years ago. The monster, dammit to hell, that still held my fucking heart. No matter how many pieces it was broken into, it was his.
Fuck me.
I felt a presence at the front door. Goose bumps broke out all over my body, as the hair at the nape of my neck stood on end. I knew that feeling. It had been ten long years since I’ve felt anything like it, but I would never forget it. I glanced toward the door and my whole world crumbled at the sight I saw.
Brad, wearing aviator sunglasses, leaned against the doorjamb, a cocky smirk on his face.
He was making no move toward me. It was as if he was waiting for me to come to him. It felt like a cold bucket of water had been dashed on me. He takes his index finger, sliding his aviators down to the tip of his nose. His eyes began eating me up. A seductive smile came over his face as his eyes hooded. I began fidgeting under his intense gaze, a warm feeling creeping over me.
“Well, hello there, Claire Bear. I see you’re still as hot as ever.” His deep, gravelly voice took on a seductive purr.
My mouth fell open in shock. How dare this fucknut use my nickname? That right had been taken from him when he tossed me out with the trash. I was in so much shock I was frozen in place, the anger ripping me apart from the inside. It has been ten years since I saw him last, but he still thought he could talk to me that way. Yeah, I don’t think so. I could feel my temper boiling, causing a crimson blush to come over me. Brad, not being the wiser, thought I was blushing because of him. In all aspects I was, but it wasn’t from falling under his spell.
When I got my wits about me, I smiled, taking a step toward him. He beamed a bright, white-toothed smile—a smile that had caused me to go weak in the knees several times over. But not this time; I have another idea in mind. The closer I came to him, the more his eagerness showed. He pulled his sunglasses from his face, holding them teasingly between his teeth. The same teeth that used to nibble my ears and give gentle love bites all across my body.
He crossed his leg over the other, feigning boredom. Before I knew it, I was within inches of his body, feeling his heat pulse from him in waves. He took the glasses from his lips, hanging them on his shirt. Reaching a hand toward me, I frowned when he ran his finger up the outside of my arm. Looking into his eyes, I saw them brighten with laughter. He was testing me. That son of a bitch. I’ll show him testing me.
I smiled shyly at him, lowering my head to hide my eyes. When his index finger cupped my chin, bringing my head back up so I could look at him, he leaned in. My opportunity presented itself, balling my fist up, I reared my arm back. His eyes were connected with mine, so he didn’t know what I was doing. Putting all my anger behind the force of my arm, I swung, connecting with his nose. A girly squeal came from his lips as he put his hands up to his face.
I turned around and my face lit up with joy. I swayed my hips seductively as I made my way into the kitchen. I stopped at the door, looking back. My mother’s face wore a smirk and Henry was rolling with laughter. I giggled. When I caught their attention, I masked my emotion. Taking on a look of horror, I nailed them with terrified eyes.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Don’t you just hate spiders? The nasty little buggers. He’ll thank me one day.”
I sat down at the kitchen table, giggling to myself. I heard my mother fawn over Brad as his dad said, “Prick, I told you this would happen.” I almost couldn’t contain my laughter. Damn! It felt good to get back at him for what he did. It wasn’t much, but it made me feel good. Taking a drink from my goblet, I smiled behind the cup when the others joined me at the table. I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw that Brad was giving me the stink eye.
I set my glass down, shooting my mother an innocent smile. She cocked her head to the side, crossing her arms in front of her. “Kids, now that you have that out of your system, there will not be any more casualties this weekend.”
We quickly nodded our heads in agreement; our answers made her smile across the table at us. When we were all settled in, my mother began serving everyone. It was something that she always did, even though it had always just been the two of us. I pushed back my chair to get up and help her, but she waved me away. Her face showed contented happiness; it was a joy to watch her interact with Henry.
From the time the door opened until now he was still complimenting her, kissing her, waiting on her hand and foot. That was when she allowed him to. It was nice to see two people in such love. I thought back to the time that he was married to Brad’s mother. Even then I never saw him this happy. I didn’t know if it was their love overflowing and contaminating me with it, but I felt lighthearted, watching them interact. It was then that I believed everything my mother said on the phone. She was indeed in love with Henry and he was with her.
I came out of my trance when I felt a hand slide from my knee to my thigh. My mother and the Titan men had been talking about the wedding while I was over here probably looking like a special person, staring off into space. I looked over at Brad, seeing him smiling in a mischievous way. He noticed me looking at him, and glanced back, winking. I shook my leg trying to disengage his hold on me, but it didn’t work. Moving my leg, I tried crossing them, only to have him hold steady and force my legs to stay uncrossed.
To say that his dominance over my body wasn’t hot would be a lie. It always got my engine revved when a man took charge. But to have Brad be that man just wouldn’t do. I put my fork down on my plate, inconspicuously sliding my hand under the table. I rubbed the back of his hand softly, earning a surprised gasp from him. I was looking at my mother now, seeing that she was lost in conversation with Henry.
Feeling around for his finger, I grabbed hold. Gripping it tightly when his hand began to slide up my leg getting closer to my panties, I smiled evilly just before bending his finger back farther than was scientifically possible. He stopped mid-sentence and coughed. His eyes began to water furiously, or so it would seem to my mother and Henry.
“Are you all right, son?” Henry asked, giving him a concerned look.
He nodded his head in tight, short spurts. “Yeah …I’m just nervous is all.” He visibly shook when he grabbed his goblet, taking a drink.
My mother swooned. “Awe, Claire. Did you hear that? Brad’s nervous.”
“Brad’s something, all right,” I snickered, letting go of his finger.
“Darling, don’t be too hard on him,” she stated.
I heard Brad mumble under his breath something about him being the one that was supposed to be hard. I had been in the process of getting a drink out of my goblet. When he said that, I began choking on the wine my mother was serving. I set my goblet down, a coughing fit taking hold of me. Brad leaned over and began patting me on the back, as if he were concerned for my well-being.
“Oh, you poor thing. You’re not supposed to breathe when you swallow,” he stated jokingly, but I could tell there was a different meaning underlining his words.
“I hadn’t noticed,” I stated dryly.
I went back to ignoring him and finished my dinner. I refused to let this asshole get to me. I will admit when I saw him at the door, he gave me pause. It’d been so long since I’d seen him that the surprise of how great he looked made me speechless. But that had lasted all of two seconds. I immediately saw right through him. Hell, I could still see the outline of where he wore his wedding ring. I remember my mother telling me that he’d been divorced for some years. So why was he still sporting the wedding band tan line?