Stepbrother OMG! (The Stepbrother Romance Series #2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

for a late
lunch, I thought to myself that maybe—just maybe—I would be able to pull it
off. I put on the best smile I could and pretended like my skin didn’t crawl with shame whenever I saw Jaxon looking at me.

 
    CHAPTER
5
    In spite of what I told Jaxon about us staying
apart, going our separate ways and ignoring each other as much as we could, he
seemed determined to put himself in my way. He never repeated his attempt to
come to my room, but wherever I went, it seemed, there he was. I was torn
between being intrigued and being frustrated, and being angry with him for
persisting.
    I went to the gym to try and get in a workout; even
if it was a holiday, I needed something to do, and building up my muscles
seemed as good a way to occupy my time as anything . It
was better than sitting in my room all day watching TV—and less suspicious. But
when I went to the gym, Jaxon came in right behind me. I would have yelled at
him, but I hesitated when I thought of the fact that someone might hear. And
then he started to work out so normally that I thought it must have just been a
coincidence. He didn’t make a move to corner me, but I couldn’t work out as well
as I normally do; I was distracted, watching him from the corners of my eyes.
He was doing exercises that would make him better on the board—balancing
exercises, building up his legs. “You should work on your upper body too,” I
said, calling across the personal gym, the words leaving me seemingly of their
own will.
    “I work my upper body on different days,” Jaxon
called back. I shrugged.
    “You don’t work it as hard as you do your lower
body, but you need upper body for cross-coordination.” I shifted over to a
rowing machine and put my earbuds in, proceeding to ignore him for the rest of
the time I was working out.
    I decided to go for a swim to keep my muscles from
tightening up, and by the time I made it to the pool from my bedroom, Jaxon was
there too—already swimming slow , cool-down laps. I was
frustrated, but there was nothing I could really do about it; it was more his
house than mine. I dove in and did my own laps, freestyle, butterfly, moving
from one end of the pool to the other mindlessly until I was exhausted. I
climbed out and went into my room to clean up for dinner.
    I couldn’t expect Jaxon not to be there, and it was
a little bit easier to deal with his presence with my mom and Bob at the table
too—though it was harder at the same time, in a different way. I was constantly
distracted by him, not quite able to pay attention to my mom’s and Bob’s
stories as they talked about their day. I wanted to be happy for them, but I
could feel the tension winding up inside of me with every moment that I had to
spend with him. Something would happen, I knew it would. Why would Jaxon keep
putting himself in my way if he didn’t want anything to happen?
    I went outside after dinner and wandered around the
grounds, pretending to take a keen interest in the winter-dormant gardens.
Jaxon showed up there, too, saying he wanted to take a quick after-dinner walk
around the property, make sure nothing was getting damaged in the cold weather.
I wanted to tell him off. Instead I made an excuse and got away from him. I was
becoming more and more frustrated by the moment. Every time Jaxon showed up he
wouldn’t make any overt move to make me talk, or to try and do anything to me
or with me—he just happened to be wherever I was, whenever I
was there, doing his own thing. Once or twice I considered asking him
just what he thought he was doing—but I couldn’t make myself do it.
    Mom and Bob went to bed and I tried not to think
about the fact that they were almost certainly having sex. The thought of my
mom having sex with the father of a guy I’d hooked up with was kind of
revolting. But it wasn’t her fault, I told myself over and over again. She had
no idea. I went back to my room, where I knew Jaxon wouldn’t bother me. I hated
having to hole