Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Then he turns and walks back toward the house, eyes ahead of him like he never even saw me. And it’s at that moment that I know with absolute certainty that this summer is going to destroy me.
And I might just let it.
2
COLT
The morning sun beats down on my back as I repeat the news that’s going to drive me insane. “Three weeks…”
Jim grins, wrapping his arm around Katherine at the breakfast table. “The cruise leaves tomorrow. Last-minute thing. Early flight to Miami, then we board.”
You’ve got to be kidding. Three weeks alone with her. I grip my coffee mug harder than I should and hear the ceramic cracking under the pressure. Cracking like me.
“You’ll look after Lily, won’t you?” Katherine asks, her eyes hopeful—hopeful and so innocent. If only she knew the terrible thoughts running through my mind. “She’s only eighteen, and this is a new place…”
“I’ve got it.” The words snap out rougher than I’d intended, but I keep my eyes off Lily. I can’t look at her, sitting there in a thin yellow sundress that’s been haunting me since she came downstairs this morning.
“Yeah, it’ll be fine…” Lily says softly. I make the mistake of allowing my eyes to move to her and see she’s looking right back at me, her green eyes causing my chest to tighten. “Right, Colt?”
I feel a forbidden rush of blood between my legs and quickly push back from the table. “I’m gonna work on the bike.”
The garage is my sanctuary, but even here, surrounded by oil and metal, I can’t escape her. Her soft giggle floats through the walls as she helps her mom pack. Her voice carries on the quiet wind when she speaks. She’s everywhere, flooding every inch of the lake house that used to be mine.
I hurl myself into my work, hoping to distract myself from these forbidden thoughts. The motorcycle needs a new carburetor. That’ll take my mind off her…I hope. Something to focus on that isn’t the way her auburn hair catches the light or the way her dress sculpts the curves of her waist.
I’ve seen thousands of women in my life, but this one hits me like a punch to the guts. I’ve never believed in angels, but now I have proof of their existence.
I work until my muscles burn, until my hands are sore, until sweat drips into my eyes. Suddenly, I hear a sound behind me. “I brought you lunch.”
My body freezes at her voice. I glance back and see her standing in the doorway of my garage, the one place I told her not to come. She’s holding a plate looking so adorable and sweet—like one giant mistake I can’t allow myself to make.
“What’d I tell you?” I growl. “I told you to stay away from the garage.”
“You missed lunch. And breakfast,” she replies as she steps inside and sets the plate down on my workbench. “It’s a turkey sandwich with Swiss and some honey mustard. Your dad said you’d like it—”
“Lily.” Her name feels like danger on my tongue. “Get out of here.”
She looks perplexed for a moment, but instead of leaving, she moves closer—closer enough that I can smell her shampoo, floral and sweet, completely alien to this space. “Why do you hate me, Colt?”
Her question hits me like a punch to the gut. Christ, if only it were that simple.
“I don’t hate you—” I start to say, then stop. I can’t tell her the truth. That she’s on my mind every second since she stepped out of the car. That I’ve been taking cold showers to try and keep myself from being hard around the house. That even the distance I put between us and the hard work I lose myself in doesn’t help me from thinking about her.
“Then why can’t you look at me?” she asks. I bite my teeth together in frustration. Never in a million years could I have seen this coming. I’m trying not to get involved with my stepsister.
Because looking at you makes me want to do things I shouldn’t. Because you’re eighteen and innocent. Because you’re my stepsister and totally off-limits.
That’s what I want to say to her. But all I can manage is, “It’s complicated.”
She sort of laughs, but there’s no humor there. “No, it’s not. You took one look at me and decided I wasn’t worth your time.”
God, if she only knew. If she had any idea how much of my time she was actually consuming. How she’s invaded my every thought. My every breath.
“Lily, that’s not—” I turn to face her, and wow, what a mistake. She’s even closer than I thought. So close I can see the tiny little freckles across her cheeks and nose, the way her plump teenage breasts rise and fall with each breath. Either she’s wearing a push-up bra, or her tits are phenomenal. “You…should go.”