Stepbrother Broken (The Hawthorne Brothers Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

mentor. And besides, as of this afternoon, my class is over, ” he reminds me.
    “ Lucky me, ” I reply, averting my eyes from Luke ’ s intense gaze.
    “ Lucky is right, ” he grins, as the bartender sets two new drinks down in
front of us.
    I
take a healthy sip from my replenished glass, baffled by this new version of
Luke Hawthorne. This effortlessly cool bad boy thing of his is totally working
for me, and so is the way he ’ s looking at me right now. But I
can ’ t let him know that. Not just yet.
We ’ ve still got a few things to sort
out before I let my guard down, here.
    “ So what ’ s with the getup? ” I ask him, raising an
eyebrow.
    “ The getup? ” he asks, amused.
    “ Yeah. I thought your style was Grad
school Ken, ” I shoot back.
    “ Oh, you were a fan of the collared
shirts? ” he grins back at me, taking a sip
of his bourbon.
    “ Not exactly, ” I reply, “ This is just … not a side of you I ’ ve
seen before. ”
    “ Well, when have you seen me outside
of the classroom? ” he asks.
    “ Just on every Sheridan brochure I ’ ve ever flipped through, ” I
tease him.
    He
groans at the jab, shaking his head.
    “ Touche, ” he says, “ I should have known that my
reputation would precede me. ”
    “ And then some, ” I reply, sipping my drink.
    “ Oh yeah? ” he says, resting his forearms on the bar, just inches
from my own. I feel the air between us spark with tension. “ What else have you heard about me? ”
    “ I ’ ve
heard … that you ’ re some kind of iron man when it comes to sports, ” I reply, ticking off his attributes on my fingers, “ I ’ ve heard that you ’ re super smart at whatever number crunching it is you ’ re so fond of. And … I ’ ve heard that you ’ ve got a new lady friend hanging on
your arm every other week. ”
    His
green eyes gleam rakishly in the dim light of the bar. “ Well, I guess I can ’ t
exactly refute any of that …” he grins. “ But there ’ s a bit more to me than you ’ ll see on the front of a brochure. ”
    “ Oh, I don ’ t doubt it, ” I reply, my voice dipping low
in my register as Luke shifts his body closer to mine.
    “ I have to say, I don ’ t mind seeing your after-school side either, ” he goes on, giving me a long, intent once-over. I can
feel trails of heat skirt across my skin as his eyes travel along my body.
    “ Oh yeah? ” I breathe. It ’ s all I can think to say.
    “ Yeah, ” he
smiles, letting his arm brush against mine on the bar. “ But I ’ m curious … How is it you ended up at The Bear Trap tonight,
Sophia? ”
    “ You can call me Sophie, ” I say, edging closer toward him. “ And I ’ m here because I couldn ’ t stomach one more college party this year, to be
honest. ”
    “ Is that so? ” Luke asks, his grin widening.
    “ It is, ” I reply, swinging my body around so that our knees
touch beneath the bar. With every tiny graze, electricity sears through my
nerves, ricocheting around my body like a lightning strike.
    “ Funny that you ’ d pick a place like this, ” Luke goes on, glancing around the bar, “ It doesn ’ t exactly seem like your scene. ”
    “ Until tonight, I ’ d say the same to you, ” I
point out. “ What, does this place have a ‘ no drama majors ’ policy or something? ”
    “ I ’ m
just wondering if you didn ’ t have an ulterior motive, showing
up at my favorite bar, ” Luke says, fixing me with his
intense gaze.
    I
don ’ t know if it ’ s the gin, or the noise, or the closeness of Luke ’ s face to mine that has my head spinning. But I do know that he ’ s lost me, here.
    “ First off, I didn ’ t know this was your favorite bar, ” I tell him, “ And secondly, what ulterior motive
might I have in mind, Luke? ”
    “ Oh, I don ’ t know if I should say …” he
shrugs, taking a swig of his drink, “ Come to think of it, I probably
need to leave Sheridan and get my ass handed to
me in the real world before doling