Page 1 of Stepbrother's Obsession
1
LILY
Ido notwantto be taking this vacation.
The lake house is gorgeous as we pull up, but my stomach flips like a pancake when I seehimthrough the windshield. Every circuit in my eighteen-year-old brain goes haywire.
He’s bent over a motorcycle, shirtless, back muscles rippling as he works. Oil and sweat gleam on his skin in the late afternoon sun. When he straightens and turns toward us, our eyes meet, and the impact hits me like a bucket of ice water. It’s shocking and steals my breath.
His eyes are dark, and even darker hair falls over them. His jaw could cut glass, and tattoos snake up his muscled arms and over his chest, creating a mural of stories I am dying to unravel.
This gorgeous male specimen is Colt, and he is my new stepbrother.
Mom cuts the engine, blabbering about the drive, the house, the wedding plans, but her voice just fades into the background as I stare, transfixed. I can’t look away as he approaches like a predator who knows just how dangerous he is.
“Well, well, well, you made it.” His voice is rough, somehow deeper than I’d expected. He’s addressing Mom, but his eyesflick to me for just a second, sending an electric jolt through me before he looks away.
I fumble with my seatbelt, my fingers suddenly sloppy. When I finally manage to slip out of the car, the mountain air hits my lungs–crisp pine and lake water. There’s something else masculine too…must be him.
He’s close enough now that I can see the scar that cuts through his left eyebrow and the way his jaw tightens as Mom throws her arms around him in a hug he clearly didn’t expect.
Something happens between my thighs. A tingling sensation like I’ve never felt before when looking at a man. My lips open too, like they’re preparing to accept something.
“Colt, this is Lily,” Mom gushes, showing me off like a prized pony. “Lily, dear, this is Jim’s son I’ve been telling you all about.”
He looks me over properly, and I swear the temperature skyrockets. His gaze drags up my body, quick and dismissive. A curt nod and he turns away. “Hey.”
That’s it? Just ‘hey’? Like I’m nothing? Like that moment when our eyes met through the windshield didn’t rearrange my entire molecular structure.
“Hi,” I manage to whisper. God, my voice sounds so breathy.
Jim, my future stepdad, emerges from the house, grinning and laughing as he wraps Mom up in the kind of hug that makes me avert my eyes. Their happiness is almost aggressive in how perfect it is. The way he touches the small of her back, how she melts into him like she’s been away from him for decades.
I’ve never seen her like this. So obsessed. So complete.
It makes me feel like I’m intruding on a private moment, even though I’m a part of this new family unit we’re building.
“I’ll get your bags,” Colt says, moving toward the trunk. His voice carries a note of obligation rather than nicety.
I follow behind, because apparently, I have no self-preservation instincts when it comes to this gorgeous man. Upclose, I can smell the motor oil. I see the scars on his hands, the rough skin showing how capable he is. They brush against mine as we both reach for my suitcase at the same time.
The contact lasts barely a second, but the moment brands into my brain like a hot iron.
“I’ve got it!” he snaps, nearly biting my head off. Mom told me he’s twenty-eight, and the difference between him and boys my age is brutally obvious.
“I can carry my own luggage—”
“I said I got it.” His tone leaves no room for discussion, and there’s something almost angry in the way he lifts my suitcase like it weighs nothing.
I want to argue, push back against this wall he’s thrown up between us, but Jim’s already ushering us inside, telling us about dinner plans and sleeping arrangements.
The interior of the lake house is all exposed wood beams and stone, rustic in that expensive way where everything looks simple but probably cost more than our old apartment. A fireplace crackles away as Colt disappears upstairs with my bag. Jim gives us the grand tour, his arm never leaving Mom’s waist.
“Your room’s upstairs, Lily, second door on the right. You’re right across from Colt, actually. He’s been fixing it up for you.”
My heart does some kind of complex hop, skip, and jump inside my chest. Colt has been preparing for me?
When he reappears, his expression is unreadable. “Your room’s ready. Bathroom’s at the end of the hall. Fresh towels in the closet.”
