“I want you,” I said again. “That’s why I came here.”
It sounded silly, like some over-wrought scene from a badly directed movie. I waited for him to laugh, but he didn’t. He played with the card in his fingers and stared at me. Finally he stood up and walked around his desk. He handed me the card.
“You want to tell me what’s really going on here?”
“What happened in the car…”
“That was a stupid mistake,” he said, his voice darkening. “And I’m sorry for it. I crossed a line with you I had no right to cross.”
I shook my head. “That’s not what I meant.”
“There’s nothing else to say about it.”
“Of course there is. I know you’re my…”
“Your brother,” he finished for me, his mouth forming a cruel hard line.
“…stepbrother.”
“Does that really make any difference?”
“It does for me,” I said, standing up a little straighter. I was getting angry, and it was giving me a little courage to stand on. “It’s not like it's incest.”
James seemed to flinch at the word, then laughed. “Are you listening to yourself?”
“Stop it,” I snapped. I pushed his chest. It was hard under the oxford shirt he was wearing. He didn’t move. “Don’t try to make this a joke.”
“I’m not,” he said, seriously. “But you’ve gone off the deep end, Allie.”
“So what was it, then?”
“What was what?”
“The kiss, you jerk,” I said,
swatting his chest.
“I already told you what it was. It was a mistake.”
“It didn’t mean anything? You don’t feel anything?”
“Jesus, Allie. Are you listening to yourself? And besides, aren’t I the guy who ruined your life?”
“Just tell me, then. If you tell me that it was really just some mistake and you don’t feel anything for me, I’ll leave right now.”
I swallowed, cursing myself for being so direct. I was practically forcing him to reject me.
Something inside of him broke. He crossed the distance between us in a heartbeat. Before I could say anything further he grabbed me, one hand turning my face up to his and the other seizing my hip. He pulled my trembling body tight against his.
But before he could swoop down and kiss me, I stood up on the balls of my feet, pressing my breasts against his chest and running my arms around him as I reached for his lips with mine.
It was too violent to call it a kiss.
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Chapter 1
I'm in bed with Danny, I thought to myself.