Page 38 of InfraRed

Her deep oceans practically plead, softening my anger and frustration. I don’t like this side of her. Not the part where she’s trying to stand up for herself. I wish she would do that more, rather the part where she’s doing it out of stubbornness.

I’m not letting her off the hook that easily. Leaving is the last thing on my mind. “Give me one good reason, and I will consider it.” My lips curl into a smirk.

Her head snaps back, shock passes over her face before she quickly schools her expression. Pretty and pink, her tongue pokes between her teeth, running over those soft lips. I’m thankful Casey doesn’t ogle people—never lets her gaze travel below their necks. If she dipped those blue eyes right now,she’d see the outline of my hard dick that my boxer briefs and basketball shorts do little to contain. I’m resigned about it myself. As much as I pride myself on control, where she’s concerned, I have none.

“I don’t want you here,” she almost whispers.

“That was implied by the request for me to leave. It’s not a reason.”

Incredulous disbelief rockets her brows to her forehead and jaw to the floor as it opens and closes like a guppy. “I-it should be the only one I need. Y-you said so.”

She’s not wrong. I told her that many times over the years, but it doesn’t apply to me. I don’t want or need her consent. Just want her words. “With anyone else. With me, you’ll have to do better.”

Her fists bounce against my chest. There’s no genuine effort or even anger behind the blows. “Why won’t you just leave? There is no reason for you to be here, and there was no reason to stay last night. You did your due diligence. You got me home safe and sound. Why didn’t you go?” Defeat laces her tone, and I don’t think I like it.

“You thought I would leave you like that?”

Her cheeks turn the color of a fire engine. That tempting mouth twists and her eyes glisten.

Don’t you dare cry, Casey.

The energy around us shifts, turning thick and uncomfortable as she takes a deep breath. The hair on my neck stands on end. A swirling in my gut tells me I will not like the lies she’s about to spill. I prepare myself for the blow, reminding myself it’s not true, but even if it is, it’s my fault because I’ve made myself scarce for four years. Because I played my part too well.

“I want to apologize for last night. My behavior wasinappropriate, but what you overheard… I meant it. I am over my crush.” Her head tilts back slightly to meet my eyes. Hers are filled with resigned determination. I can see more lies dancing in those glittering sapphires. If she weren’t so blind and stubborn, she’d see a different determination in mine. She wants the deceit she’s about to spill to be true. But what she doesn’t understand is her body language speaks louder than her words because even as her lies tumble free, she drifts closer to me. “I drank too much, and it affected my behavior. Never would I act that way otherwise.”

“I’m well aware of that, Casey. You think I don’t know what’s normal for you?” I know her better than I know myself, but she doesn’t know that. She believes I cut her off for years. She doesn’t know the eyes and ears I had on her all the time.

She gives me a dubious look. “Yes, well…” She clears her throat, taking a step back, and even though we weren’t quite touching, I miss her nearness. Her steps take her toward the window overlooking the city. She spins to face it as she twists the pendant at her throat—the one I gave her for her eighteenth birthday. “Once again, I crossed boundaries I shouldn’t, and for that, I’m sorry. I continue to put you in awkward situations.”

“You didn’t put me in an awkward situation, Casey. I volunteered for it.”

A heavy sigh leaves her lips as her head shakes. “Which brings me to the next thing. I meant it when I said I’m not your problem. I never was… or, at least, I shouldn’t have been. I’m just the kid who was thrust into your life because our parents married. And my dad…” Her head falls forward, pressing against the glass. “He shouldn’t have asked you to watch out for me. He couldn’t help he wasn’t there, but he was wrong for making it your responsibility. I shouldn’t have been your burden.”

So she knows about that. I’m curious how she found out. Moreso, her choice of words bothers me.

Responsibility? Burden?

Even when she was a kid—when I saw her as nothing more than a sad little girl being used as a pawn in adult games, she was never a burden. She gave me purpose beyond the grief and anger I’d been drowning in since my mother died. Purpose I couldn’t find in Jagger because I wanted an escape from my pain, and his was mine. For a while, I fell into bad habits of parties, fighting, drinking, and sex. Then I threw myself into school and work, determined to make a name for myself in the business world that had nothing to do with my family. And once a month? I made sure a sad, lonely little girl was a little less so.

My every thought of her was innocent.

I still struggle to understand how a single kiss turned my perspective and perception upside down. It changed everything, and all those innocent thoughts became anything but.

“Casey, don’t call yourself—”

“But I’m not a child anymore,” she cuts me off before I can finish my sentence, spiking my irritation at… I’m not sure what I’m irritated at. Myself? Her? The situation? That she feels this way? All the above? “You don’t need to worry about me. If we’re honest, you haven’t for a long time, and that’s okay. I understand I crossed a line and put you in a very awkward position. You had to cut me out of your life to protect yourself. So just because you’re back for the foreseeable future, don’t feel you are obligated to me again.”

“Casey, I don’t feel—”

“Just continue with your life as you did before you came back, and I will continue with mine. There’s no need to make this weird. We’re just step-siblings, so we don’t—”

“Casey!” My voice, loud and gruff, bounces off the walls, makingher spine stiffen. I close the distance between us, wrap my fingers around her elbow, and spin her to face me. Her lips part with a silent gasp, and I grip her jaw. “Shut up.”

I take that lush mouth with mine, growling low and deep as I force her back against the glass. I waste no time slipping my tongue between those parted lips when she gasps again, tangling my tongue, tasting every inch of her sweet mouth. The hand wrapped around her jaw slips to her neck and up the back of her head until my fingers twist in the silky strands cascading down her back.

After a few seconds of me devouring her mouth, her uncertainty and timidness fall away. Her hands come between us, gripping my Dri-fit shirt. I work across her jaw, licking my way toward the soft skin behind her ear. Soft murmurs spill, unintelligible at first, as her head falls back. I am gently nipping the skin of her neck when I finally understand what she’s saying.

I lean back to find her eyes closed as those words continue to whisper between us. “It’s just a dream, Casey. You know it’s not real. You know it’s not real.”

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