Claimed by My Stepbrother

Chapter 3

At first, it was just in my dreams. I’d wake up in hot sweats, Cord’s name moaning in my head. Now, I spend my days trying to fight my inappropriate feelings. Reminding myself that he’s my stepbrother. We’re family. And that even if that weren’t the case, he’s so far out of my league, it’s not even funny.

“You two going to stop making out over there so we can figure out what we want to do after we get off work tonight?”

Cord stiffens at Drake’s comment, and embarrassment floods straight into my cheeks. Somehow, I’d managed to wrap myself around his waist. I’m practically mauling my stepbrother in front of all our friends. God, what has gotten into me?

“Don’t be annoying, Drake.” I gave the troublemaker a glare, trying to deflect the attention from my seriously awkward behavior. “Unlike you and your sister, Cord and I actually love each other.”

“Yeah, we know.” He rolls his eyes. “We can all see it.”

Cord pulls out of my hold and walks over to where the guys are standing, and for some reason, his reaction has my stomach twisting. Usually, he’d flip Drake the bird and ignore his foolish comment. But he’s put enough distance between us to ensure no one gets the wrong impression again. He’s also put enough distance between us to ensure I can’t touch him again either.

An icy chill cools my heated nerves. It’s completely irrational to be feeling rejected, but the feeling is still seeping up my spine.

“You never know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?” Cord grumbles, shaking his head. He’s really pised by Drake’s comment. But this is the troublemaker’s M.O. He’s always making foolish comments. Especially to Samantha. She’s the one who bears the brunt of his sarcastic mouth, and even she lets it roll off. But Cord is mad.

“Chill, man.” Drake shakes his head. “You know I was just teasing.” He doesn’t understand Cord’s overreaction either.

A sharp pain dents in my heart. I’m starting to think I may need some space from my stepbrother. Based on the tears I feel stinging my eyes, I no longer think it’s just lust I’m feeling for him. I think my heart has gotten involved. And it’s more than obvious he’s never going to feel the same. But why would he when he has girls like Jenny Walsh begging for his attention.

Yep. I think space is definitely needed.

Cord

She’s being awfully quiet. The entire drive home she stared out the window.

Fvck. Why did Drake have to open his big mouth? He knows I’m trying to ease Piper into the idea of us being a couple, and his comment definitely didn’t help matters. All it did was cause her to clam up on me.

She’s stiff as a board and won’t even look in my direction. She’s so deep in her thoughts, she doesn’t even realize we’ve already parked in front of our house. And have been for the last five minutes.

“C’mere, baby.”

Her head finally turns in my direction, but all traces of warmth in those gorgeous eyes are long gone. She’s pissed at me, but I sure don’t know what I did wrong. As soon as Drake made his comment, I backed off knowing she’d be uncomfortable by it. She hates drawing attention, and all eyes were looking right at us, watching us like hawks. So I gave her space.

“You need to stop calling me that, Cord.” I’m seriously going to strangle Drake.

“You want to tell me why you suddenly have a problem with it?” I unbuckle my belt and shift to face her. I’ve been calling her “baby” for weeks and she’s never once given me lip about it. Her eyes get all soft when I say the word. But right now, they’re as cold as ice.

“Because it gives people the wrong impression.”

I disagree. I think it gives people the right one. She’s mine and I want everyone to know it. I was hoping by now she’d know it too, but she’s a little slow on the uptake. Apparently, my girl is naïve to the way men operate. And—how brothers are supposed to behave.

It’s not normal for stepbrothers to try to feel up their little sisters every night, but I’ve been finding every excuse to get my hands on her, so close to her forbidden spot.

God! How has she not clued in by now? Piper’s one of the smartest girls I know. She’s also one of the prettiest, but she’s unaware of that fact too. The girl hides herself under big floppy sweaters and acts like an average plane Jane, yet that’s the furthest from the truth. It’s hard to think straight when she’s near. Everything from her gorgeous hazel eyes to her long golden blonde hair, her sweet little smile, to those what have me distracted 24/7. She’s a knockout but it’s like she doesn’t even realize it.

“We should go inside.” She unbuckles her seat belt. “It’s getting cold out here.” I swear to God I’m going to rip Drake a new one.

From now on, he better keep his mouth shut or I’ll be letting his little secret out of the bag, and I doubt he wants a certain someone to know how he feels about her.

She turns to reach for the handle, but I hit the lock button.