Hunger (A Stepbrother Romance Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page A

was.
    All I knew was that now, spending time getting to know each other definitely didn’t seem like such a good idea.
    ~*~*~

Chapter Four
     
    I slept well—better than I thought I would after spending most of the night mulling over the conversations I’d had thus far with Luke. I was trying to solve the mystery of why he seemed so uncomfortable around me. Even though the answer was in plain sight—both Clara and Daniel had explained it well enough—part of me still refused to believe it.
    After all, I couldn’t understand why he’d be attracted to me. I wasn’t ugly by any means, but I didn’t think I was anywhere near his level. He was way out of my league.
    I drummed my fingers on the counter as I waited for my morning coffee to brew. There was a knocking sound somewhere behind me and I turned back, smiling when I saw Luke sheepishly standing near the doorway.
    “Holding anything breakable?”
    My smile grew as I shook my head. “Nope. Nothing hot either.”
    He gave me a crooked grin as he stepped into the kitchen. “Good. Maybe I’ll manage not to scare you to death today.”
    “Those odds don’t seem very good.”
    His grin turned into an all-out smile and I couldn’t help but match it. After a minute of just smiling at one another, he cleared his throat and sat down at the bar.
    “So, what did you have in mind for today?”
    I shrugged and poured my cup of coffee. “I have no clue. Any ideas?”
    I glanced up in time to see his half-shrug. “Well we can’t really go anywhere.”
    “I could always call Daniel. He’d give us a ride.”
    Luke’s gaze darkened. “Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of us spending time together? I’d be reduced to a third wheel.”
    “Point taken. So we’ll stay here,” I said, knowing that involving Daniel in any plans with Luke and I probably wasn’t a good idea anyway. He’d spend the entire time making less-than-subtle innuendos and driving me up the wall.
    “What do you normally do every day? Before I moved in.”
    “Since school let out I either spend my day vegging in front of the TV or hanging around by the pool.”
    “The pool sounds good,” he said cautiously.
    I gave him a small frown, wondering why he seemed a little worried. “You can swim, right?”
    “Of course I can,” he said with a scoff. “I’m an excellent swimmer.”
    Feeling playful, I said, “Well, I just don’t believe you. You’ll have to prove it.”
    He seemed to catch on to the fact that I was joking, smiling as he stood up. “I guess I will. I’ll meet you out there?”
    “Sure. Let me just finish my coffee and get ready.”
    “Alright.”
    We both went to our respective bedrooms and while I was checking my text messages and e-mails while finishing off my cup of coffee, I heard his bedroom door open and the soft pad of his feet heading down the hall. I figured it’d be rude to keep him out there waiting for me for very long, so I quickly knocked back the rest of my coffee before pulling my swimsuit out and putting it on.
    After I was dressed to swim, I walked over to my bedroom door and froze at the sight of my reflection in my mirror. A part of me screamed that wearing this in front of Luke was a bad idea—the tiny bikini top just barely covered my breasts and my ass cheeks peeked out of the bottoms.
    I’d worn it a hundred times before, but now I felt awkward about it. Hell, I’m pretty sure both Clara and my father had seen me in this particular swimsuit and I’d never felt so weird about it.
    I considered grabbing something to throw over it to preserve some modesty, but the other half of me—the one who was replaying Daniel’s words in my head over and over again—told me to walk out just like this. To gauge his reaction. To poke the beast.
    After a long minute of mental debating, the devil on my shoulder won.
    Daniel would be so proud , I thought as I grabbed my sunglasses and made my way to the pool.
    Before I went outside, I peeked out through the