“So what have you been up to?” Jaret asked me as he started cooking something that I had a sneaking feeling was going to end up being macaroni and cheese. In high school Jaret had always been more of the “buy food from the cafeteria” rather than the “make it myself” kind of kid.
“What do you mean?”
“Like, where did you go to college? What are you studying?”
“You mean… you don’t know?”
I was actually shocked. As much as I didn’t care about Jaret at all, my mom still told me he’d moved to New York after the summer, and while she didn’t seem to know too much about his life, whenever she got whispered gossip about what he was up to, she always shared it with me.
Jaret shrugged. “Let’s just say I didn’t keep in touch with the family too well.”
“Is that why you skipped the wedding?”
“Part of it. But we’re not talking about me.”
“I’m at Duke. Studying economics. I’m graduating next year then doing an accounting program. I’ll be a CPA.”
Jaret looked at me funny.
“I always thought you were going to stay in the city.”
“I was. Until someone decided to be a total douchebag and sleep with my best friend, then I decided that even if you were only going to be there for a few more months, that was too long for me.”
Jaret grinned.
“It’s not like you didn’t know what kind of guy I was. She was great in bed, too.”
“That’s not shit I need to know,” I replied, the anger I’d felt at Jaret coming back up quickly.
“Sorry,” he replied in the least sincere tone of voice I’d ever heard.
“What about you? Are you running some sort of criminal enterprise in New York now?” I asked. I had to admit it. I was curious. Damn it.
“Believe it or not, no. I was over there for a while. That’s true. Now I’m back here for a bit. Don’t tell my dad. He thinks I still live over there.”
“Wow, you couldn’t have been more vague about that answer if you tried,” I replied.
Jaret’s eyes bored into mine, and for a second it felt like he was looking into my soul. I didn’t even notice that I stopped breathing as he looked at me, before he spoke again.
“Fine. I started a business when I was in New York, I sold it a few months ago, now I’m just hanging out while I decide what I’m doing next.”
“See? Was that so hard?”
“You’re mighty demanding for someone whose stepbrother just bailed her out of jail and a vandalism charge.”
“Yeah, well, what do you want, a blowjob?”
The words were out of my mouth before I realized it, and while I tried to play it cool, I know my eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Jaret grinned.
“Yes,” he replied, and I rolled my eyes.
“Real mature.”
“I wasn’t kidding.”
“Well, find it elsewhere. We’re brother and sister now.”
I couldn’t quite read the smirk on his face, but there was one thing I couldn’t ignore – the feeling in my nether regions.
There had to be something wrong with me. Jaret and I were practically related. So why was it that my body still insisted on getting wet as soon as he so much as implied we might have sex again.
“Maybe one day you could try banging me when I’m not super vulnerable. There’d be a change,” I replied.
“I did try,” came his retort. “Constantly. It’s just the only time you said yes was when you were vulnerable.”
“Well, it’s not happening.”
“That’s what you said last time, too.”
God, I knew this was a bad idea. Jaret was always bad news. He never changed. And yet, even though I knew how bad an idea this was, even though I knew I couldn’t sleep with him again, I couldn’t help but remember how thick he was, the ecstasy I felt as my back arched involuntarily against him, the pure pleasure that coursed through my veins as he pounded in and out of me.
Nope.
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
Not doing this, Mikki. You’re not doing this.
“I should go,” I told him finally, despite my body begging me not to. “Your dad will probably get worried if I don’t go home soon.”