Page 26 of Whispers of Obsession

“What are you doing?” I demand. Why is he behaving so strangely?

He pays no attention to me and doesn’t stop.

It makes the space feel even smaller, or maybe that’s just Slater’s huge presence.

When he returns to the lounge and settles on the couch, I can’t bite my tongue anymore.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I demand as he unfastens his black boots. I never noticed those earlier, but they went with his suit nicely. His suit pants, which are now straining on his muscular thighs and which have pulled tight across his?—

“My eyes are up here, Cora. Dirty girl.” He laughs and shakes his head like he can’t quite believe he caught me ogling him, and I blush.

“Answer my question. We don’t need eye contact for that.”

Slater runs both his palms down the front of his shirt and then his thighs, and I swear there’s something very, very wrong with me, because my mouth waters, and it takes an enormous effort not to lick my lips.

His legs are parted enough that I could kneel between them and?—

Fuck! What is wrong with me? He’s my fucking stepbrother! And a colossal dick to boot.

“I need to sleep,” I blurt out, face on fire.

“Me too. Which is why I’m taking my boots off.” He stands and unzips his slacks, and I slam my eyes shut. Slater chuckles. It’s a deliciously dark sound, and it makes my skin tingle. “Fuck, this couch is small,” he grumbles.

I risk peeking at him through one eye, and the sight makes both eyes fly open as I dissolve into fits of giggles. Maybe the sight of big bad Slater Bennet squished on my sofa under my mom’s favorite fluffy pink blanket isn’t that hilarious, but given the night’s events, I’m entitled to be slightly hysterical.

“Slater, whatareyou doing?” I eventually manage to gasp out, wiping tears from my eyes.

“I’m staying the night—No.” He cuts off my frantic head shaking with a firm shake of his own. “I’m not going anywhere. You must be shaken up after what happened, and either you’re taking it remarkably well, or you’re in shock. Either way, I won’t leave you alone. So I either sleep here, on the couch, or in your bed. What’s it going to be?”

Fuck, that makes my core clench. I want him in my bed. How fucked up is that?

I use humor to try to deflect what I’m really thinking and feeling and to stop myself from blurting out something stupid. “Ha! I’d like to see you try. I have a shitty little single.”

“Try me, Cora.” His stare is no-nonsense, and I gulp. He seems to mean it too. But why would he?

“The couch is fine,” I quickly backtrack. “You don’t have to—” The look he shoots at me could turn milk sour, so I hastily add, “but thank you. I do feel safer with you here.”

He nods his head at me. “Goodnight, Cora. Turn the light off on your way out.”

What choice do I have but to obey? It suddenly dawns on me that tonight, even in the safety of my own home, I’m a puppet to the demands of men.

16

CORA

When I wake the next morning, I feel pretty fucking shitty. I tip-toe downstairs, not wanting to wake Slater, but to my surprise all the curtains are open, and my mom’s favorite blanket is neatly folded and draped over the back of the sofa. The cushions are plumped up like they were never even slept on.

He’s not in the kitchen, but an empty mug is in the dish rack.

I listen carefully, but the house is silent. He’s gone. I can feel it, but I don’t believe it.

I’m oddly disappointed. Despite my anger with him for ditching me and my mom, I’ve missed him. It’d been a weird couple of weeks seeing him pop up here and there, but I can’t deny it’s been nice having him back around. Especially the way he took care of me last night and stayed to make sure I was okay.

I guess he was acting like a real big brother, even if some of the things he said and the way he said them weren’t very brotherly. Or maybe that’s just me. I’m definitely not feeling very sisterly toward him.

Still, it was nice he stayed, even if it would have been nicer to wake up to him here. I know my mom would be over the moon if she came home and found him here for breakfast.

Though maybe it’s for the best he didn’t hang around. It nearly broke Mom’s heart when she and Sean broke up and she – in her words – lost a son. I swear she was more upset by that than Sean’s cheating. If Slater’s only hanging around to fuck with me for a few weeks until he gets bored and moves on to something else, it’s better that he’s not back in my mom’s life because I don’t think she could stand losing him a second time.

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