Seducing Steve Read Online Free PDF Page A

Instead, he stared at his slice of pizza.
    “You’re quiet,” she observed, watching him carefully as she took a dainty bite.
    The first and foremost of his worries burst free before he could stop himself. “I’ve never had unprotected sex.”
    Sara’s chewing slowed. “Never?”
    A fiery blush scorched his neck and cheeks, and he shot her a pointed glare. Sara cocked her head, studying him curiously. “No.”
    “Wow.”
    Steve turned to look her in the eye. “I thought you should know because, well, I wasn’t thinking clearly, um, before.”
    “I’m on the pill,” she told him, answering his unspoken question.
    “Okay.”
    “And, of course, you know where I’ve been for the past nine years.”
    She waved her hand, as if she could brush his concerns away with a flick of her wrist. “Right,” he said brusquely. A silent moment passed, and Steve fought the urge to squirm under her intense scrutiny. “What?” he growled.
    Nice. Way to keep the afterglow…glowing. She’s gonna fall head over heels for you, buddy.
    “Not once? Not even when you were young and reckless?” she prompted, nudging his leg with her toes.
    “No glove, no love,” he intoned.
    When she giggled, he shook his head. “I’m serious. When I turned fourteen, my dad gave me a handful of rubbers...His term,” he added with a wry smile. “He told me if I ever got any girl in trouble it would break my mama’s heart. He also said if I broke my mama’s heart, he’d skin me alive.”
    Sara grinned and plucked a few of the black olives from her napkin. His shirt slipped off her shoulder when she leaned forward, offering him the discards pinched between her thumb and forefinger.
    He kept his gaze locked on her eyes as he opened his mouth, allowing her to feed them to him. He closed his eyes, and his lips wrapped around her fingers. Steve chewed slowly, his lashes fluttering open while he savored the morsels.
    “I think I’d like your daddy,” she said with an affectionate smile.
    “He’d like you too.” He looked down at the forgotten slice in his hand then shot her a sidelong glance as he settled back against the cushions. “They’re coming up next month, my dad and his wife.”
    “You know, that would make her your step-mother,” Sara pointed out, arching one eyebrow.
    “I’m a grown man. I don’t need another mother.”
    “You don’t like her.”
    “I like her fine,” he said defensively. When she smirked, he shook his head. “I do! She’s fine. Hell, I’m grateful to her. I’m willing to bet she’s the only reason my dad is alive today.”
    “But you don’t like her.”
    Sara’s sage nod irked him. “It’s not that.”
    “Then what is it?” she asked, pushing him as she always had.
    “She’s just different, okay?”
    “Different from your mom?”
    “Oh yeah.”
    “How?”
    “My mom was...I don’t know—she was just my mom. She was like you.”
    Sara’s smile blossomed, and Steve found himself entranced. “Like me?”
    He stumbled for the right words. “She was real. She was comfortable. You know, easy to be around.”
    A pink blush tinged her cheeks. He leaned in to kiss it away, but her next question stopped him. “Your dad’s new wife isn’t those things?”
    Steve glanced at the uneaten slice of pizza clutched in his hand. He leaned forward and tossed the remnants into the box. “Not so much.”
    “I’m sorry.” Sara sat up, swinging her legs down from the couch. “Come here.”
    He smiled and moved willingly into her arms. She caressed him, her graceful fingers soothing his brow and smoothing his tousled hair.
    “Is that why you never moved back?”
    “Nah. I like living up here.”
    They fell silent for a moment. A log cracked and split, shooting sparks into the fireplace flue. “I can see the wheels turning in your head,” she whispered.
    “Sorry.”
    “Don’t apologize.”
    “I’m not really sure what’s going on,” he admitted at last.
    “Me either,” she whispered.