Page 12 of Pretend It’s Real, for Me

“Why don’t you work for your dad? At his firm?”

Blake bursts out laughing, not making an effort to be quiet this time. “I would never.” He shakes his head. “Not in a million years.”

His reaction surprises me. “Seriously? Why not?”

“Aside from real estate being boring as all hell?” he asks. “I want to make my own way, not have my entire life’s work handed to me like my dad would like to.”

“So what do you want to do?” I ask.

“Right now, I work as a mechanic, but I want to open my own shop – work on luxury cars.”

If I wasn’t already falling for this guy, I would be now. A spark lights up inside me, and I tighten the hold I have on him.

“Maybe that doesn’t make sense to you–”

“No, it does,” I reply quickly. “Do you have any idea who my biological father is?”

Blake shakes his head. “No. Should I?”

This doesn’t surprise me. Either my mom hasn’t told Carson, or Carson hasn’t told Blake for any number of reasons. Even I’m nervous telling Blake. I’m not sure why. I guess I’m just not sure how he’s going to react.

“Ever heard of Clint Stryker?” I ask him. There’s a pause, like he’s trying to process if I really just said what he thinks I said. Then he slowly nods.

“Clint Stryker the mob boss?”

I nod. “Well, he’s my dad. So I can totally understand not wanting to be tied to your family business.”

Blake replies with several nods of his own. I can’t tell if he’s nervous or not. If he is, he’s doing a good job of hiding it. “I’m surprised he let you and your mom leave, to be honest.”

“Well, he didn’t really,” I reply. “I have to go visit him next week and check in. Let him know how my life is going and all that. It’s pretty annoying, to be honest.”

Blake smiles and wraps me up in a comforting embrace. “Well, don’t worry. I’ll be waiting right here for you when you get back.”

6

Blake

My hands are sore,I’m covered in grease, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to need a new pair of boots after Johnny, that dipshit, dropped an angle grinder on the floor that nearly took off my toe. Instead, it simply ruined the boots that have served me well for the past year and a half without incident.

But that’s why you wear boots instead of sneakers to work – so you go home with all of your toes.

Normally, I’d be a lot more pissed off at Johnny, but I’ve got other things on my mind as I drive home. Well, I’ve gotonething on my mind that’s keeping me from getting upset, and that’s my new step-sister.

Why does she have to be my step-sister? Sure, it makes it a lot hotter in many ways, especially when we’re in the moment, but it’s also going to make things a lot more difficult for us overall.

She was a problem this morning too, and not just because I woke up with the most absurd hard-on in the world and a mind filled with thoughts of all the depraved things I wanted to do to her.

No. She was a problem because my mind was filled with thoughts of her while I was at work trying to concentrate on working on the fuel system for a BMW five series. I really had to take a breath and focus. I kept reaching for the wrong wrench, banging my head on the hood, and nearly dropping my tools down in the engine compartment. At one point, I thought about going in the back to the bathroom and rubbing one out so I could get my focus back, but I restrained myself, knowing I was sharing the space with the rest of the guys.

I had a private job after work, a brake job on a luxury Mercedes, which I’d been excited about for weeks. It means my name is getting out there as a mechanic who can work on his own, independent of the garage, and yetstill, all I could think about while I was doing the job was Luna.

I should have been thinking about how the Benz was just another step in the direction of me building my own career as a luxury car mechanic and how my reputation was growing because of my hard work and skill, but all I could think of was her beautiful eyes shining up at me and the sound of her moans as she climaxed.

Making her happy makesmehappy in return. Lights my soul on fire and causes a fiery desperation to rage inside me. Even if I wanted to try and switch it all off for the sake of preserving peace within our family, there is just no way I’d be able to.

It’s like an angel has flown down into my life. And how do you say no to an angel?

I’m hoping our parents won’t be home when I get back, but unfortunately, I see all the cars in the driveway when I pull up to the house. I hop out and head inside to find everyone in the dining room finishing up dinner. My dad looks up when I enter the room.

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