Page 57 of Stepbrothers

“Oh.” Clarice straightened. Not what she’d been expecting him to say. “I see.”

Her phone tinged again, then again.

“And now.” He handed it back. “You also have mine and Hugh’s phone numbers in your contact list.” He retrieved his phone from his inside jacket pocket. The screen was alight. “And I have yours.”

“Happy families then.” She placed her phone down again.

Parker bit into his pizza and studied her.

“What?” she asked, prodding a piece of pineapple.

“Maybe I want to take Wendy out. Get to know her.” A naughty glint flashed in his eyes. “She seems fun.”

“Do you?”

He hesitated, then, “What do you think?”

“I don’t know.” Her appetite was diminishing, and she set her cutlery down, struggled to swallow a bit of crust. “It’s up to you. Nothing to do with me, and you have her number now.”

“Hey, hey. I’m teasing.” He reached over the table and wrapped his palm over her knuckles. “I don’t. I’m not interested, okay.”

She dipped her head and stared at the dark hairs that fanned down from his white cuff, over his wrist to the back of his hand. “So why say it?”

“I wanted to know where I stood.”

“What do you mean?”

He nodded to a bar over the street. The neon-green sign readMarkies,and through the windows, figures moved around. “I wanted to know if I went over there, after we’d finished pizza, and hooked up with some girl for the night that you’d be jealous.”

“I’m not jealous of Wendy.”

“I didn’t say you were.” He lifted his hand and took a drink. His concentration on her didn’t waver.

She stared at Markies, imagining a whole troop of lusty girls at the bar who all wanted to shag Parker. She frowned. “I wouldn’t like it,” she said quietly. “But I have no claim on you or Hugh. We had sex, I’ve had lots of sex with lots of guys, I don’t have a claim on them either.”

“We.” He leaned forward, his mouth a pencil-thin line. “Are not like the one-night stands in your past. You need to get that into your head. We’re different.Verydifferent.”

She stared at him. He didn’t need to tell her they were different. She knew that with her body and soul. “I know you’re different.” Her heart squeezed. It was a first admission that there was something between them—or at least the possibility of something between them.

“And Hugh?”

“What about Hugh?”

“You think he’s different, too?”

“Yes.”

He nodded and wiped his mouth on his napkin. “I like that you think that. I also like that you don’t want me to go and fuck some stranger tonight.”

“Is that what you would usually do on a Wednesday evening?”

“No.” He huffed. “I wouldn’t.” He bit on his bottom lip. “So we’ll agree to being faithful, right?”

“It’s a bit soon for exclusivity, don’t you think? And what the heck would we tell people? It’ll look weird, we’re family for all intents and purposes, not boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“We’re not blood related. We’re not doing anything wrong.” He paused. “I thought you had fun with us, in the tree house?”

“You spanked me, hard.” She glanced around, checking they weren’t being listened to. “You said that was punishment, how is that fun?”

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