Page 11 of Stepbrother For Christmas

I poke my head out of my room and glance down the staircase. It’s pretty dark downstairs, but there is still some light coming from the Christmas tree.

I take a few steps down the stairs and peer over the banister. Then I see him, and my breath catches in my throat.

CHAPTER 7

Chase

I can’t sleep. I just keep tossing and turning on the couch.

Come on. Go to sleep. Go...to...sleep.

I’m suddenly overcome with a restlessness that won’t allow me to relax.

I tried to do some work on my laptop, but wasn’t able to get much done.

She’s all I think about. Her beautiful face and the way her lips felt against mine.

Fixating on her is not healthy!

I know it’s wrong, but I keep replaying our kiss over and over in my head.

How do I stop reliving it and beating myself up over it? And how can I stop having the urge to kiss her again?

“Chase?” a soft voice calls out to me.

“Emma? Is that you?” Have I conjured her up with my endless ruminating about ‘what if’ scenarios?

She yawns before answering. “Yes, sorry to wake you but I need your help with something in my bedroom. Can you please give me a hand?”

An intense wave of protectiveness jolts through me. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m freezing. I don’t think the heat is coming up in my room. Is there a way that you can check to see if it’s working?”

“There’s a thermostat near the floor, which regulates the heat.”

“Can you come take a look at it?

Fuck. Given my current state of mind, this would be the worst time to be alone with her. And what if I can’t control myself? What if I just grab her by her hair and kiss her?

I scrub a hand over my jaw and nod. “Um, of course, I will.” I can’t be alone with her, but I’m not going to let her freeze. “First things first, let’s see if the thermostat in your bedroom matches the room temperature. Maybe it’s not even getting a reading on the cold.”

“Thanks,” she replies, some of the worry leaving her gorgeous face.

Once I’m inside her bedroom, I can see that the thermostat is being blocked by the giant teddy bear that we got at the mall today. “Here’s the culprit!” I slide him over and crouch down by the device. “I think your bear was blocking the heat meter from reading the cold temperature in the room. I’ll increase the heat and that should fix things. And for goodness’ sake, don’t block the thermostat with oversized stuffed animals.”

“Oh, o-okay.” Emma nods before bending over to look at the thermostat. Then she backs her ass up and accidentally grinds right into my cock.

“Ah fuck,” I grunt and my eyes widen with shock.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, standing upright quickly. Then she looks at me with that maddening, mischievous grin of hers.

“What’s wrong, huh?” I grab her hips and pin her to the wall. Then I seize hold of her wrists and pin them against the wall above her head. “You’re really going to act like you don’t know?” I say after a few breaths. “Tell me the truth, did you plant that enormous bear there on purpose? Are we still playing games?”

With a gasping giggle, her cheeks flush pink. “No, I swear.”

“Listen to me very carefully, Emma.” My eyes lock on her plump bottom lip. “Kissing you was wrong and it can’t happen again. We have to be brother and sister now,” I grit out just inches from her luscious mouth.

I know that it’s bad to want her.

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