Page 2 of Her Stepbrother Master
LuAnn pressed her lips together.
Turning to the older woman, Brad said, “I’m sorry for the trouble she’s caused.” He beckoned to LuAnn with a quick curl of his index finger. “Let’s go.”
She stumbled forward, still shaky from both the liquor and the disastrous evening.
The moment they stepped out of the office, Brad shocked her by smacking her backside, hard.
She jumped and scooted forward, out of his reach.
“You’re in big trouble, mouse,” he said.
She looked over her shoulder to see if he was serious. He had a way of teasing that always confused her.
He didn’t appear angry. In fact, he wore the same nonplussed expression as always, but her bottom sure stung.
“I know.” It was a safe enough answer. She’d be in big trouble with her parents when they showed up. But did he mean she was in big trouble with him? Her bottom tingled where he’d spanked her, heat flowing not only to the smarting skin, but to her sex as well. She didn’t know what to expect from her stepbrother. Worse, Brad’s stern demeanor embarrassed her more than if it had come from some other family member. Even though he’d never thought of her as more than a silly little girl, she’d spent years tongue-tied in his presence, trying to show him she could be as cool as he. To be treated like a child by him in this situation stung more than the slap to her bottom, which she reached back now to rub.
“Where are your things?”
“Over here.” She led him down the corridor to what used to be her dorm room. Her trunk and three suitcases stood packed outside the door, the stuffed bear Brad had given her for Christmas when she was thirteen sitting on top.
He picked it up and looked at her, cocking a brow.
She snatched it away, bending to pick up a suitcase to hide her flushing face.
Brad lifted the trunk as if it weighed nothing and marched down the hallway and out the front door, passing Mrs. McCormick without comment.
“Will LuAnn still be attending Sarah Wharton?” Mrs. McCormick asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, without turning back. “That’s up to her dad, I guess.”
LuAnn picked up the smallest suitcase and followed him as he marched through the parking lot, straight to her light blue Thunderbird. Her father had bought it brand new for her when she went off to Sarah Wharton so that she’d be able to drive home on weekends to visit. He’d always been generous with money—not so much with his time or approval.
“Keys, mouse.” He set the trunk down and held out his hand.
She lowered the suitcase and fished in her purse, pulling out the keys and promptly dropping them at his feet. “Sorry,” she said, breathless again as she stooped to pick them up. She bumped his arm with her head as she came up. “Oh.” She staggered back. “Oops.”
The corner of his mouth twitched, but otherwise he ignored her antics, still holding out his open palm for the keys.
She dropped them into it. “Brad?—”
He hefted her trunk into the backseat of the T-bird, then placed her suitcase in on top of it. “What?”
“What are you...where are you taking me?”
“I’m taking you home to Surry, I guess. Wait here,” he said, turning to head back to the dorm.
She watched his back as he walked away, his wide shoulders strong and sturdy, the leather jacket giving him bad boy appeal. Brad had always been a ladies’ man. He’d had one year of high school left when he moved in with them, and he’d gone dancing with a new girl on his arm every other weekend.
While Brian had lived with them to attend a local college and all through law school, Brad had moved out right after high school, preferring to work his way through an architecture degree, living on his own. She’d overheard their parents conjecture that he wanted his own place to bring girls home, which had only enhanced his mystique in her eyes.
She looked around the parking lot until her eyes fell on his Ducati parked near the door. What was his plan? To drive her the two hours home and come back for his motorcycle? And did he plan to just drop her off to stay at her parents’ house unchaperoned for the duration of their vacation? She wouldn’t be able to attend her classes, and she was so close to finishing her two-year Associate’s Degree with a teaching certificate.
Brad returned with the last two suitcases and fit them in the trunk.
“Get in.” He lifted his chin toward the passenger side door.
“Wait, Brad,” she said, turning her best puppy dog eyes on him. “Let’s just discuss this for a minute. You can’t very well take me home and leave me there unchaperoned until my dad and your mom return.”
