“I’m glad to hear it,” I said. I was being too honest again, but now, I felt comfortable. Probably a bit too comfortable. “You deserve so much better than a guy who treats you like that.”
The water jets bubbled gently between us, rushing around Sam’s chest. I let my gaze linger on him.
“I’ve spent way too long settling for guys who treat me like that,” Sam said. “And then I fall for them, stupidly. And then I get my heart broken.”
I nodded. “Your mom mentioned something like that.”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, great. My mom was telling you about my love life?”
“She mentioned something about fuckboys.”
Sam laughed softly, letting out a long breath. “Way too many. I should just delete the damn dating apps. Stop responding to the calls.
I shrugged one shoulder. “You’re just doing what you’re best at.”
He furrowed his brow. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means.”
“No, go ahead and explain it, if you’re such an expert on how I act.”
I fixed my gaze to his. “Flirting. Talking. Making people want you.”
Sam’s eyes were the most intense as I’d ever seen them. My insides felt molten. I knew my drunk honesty was coming out again now, and that drunk-me usually got sober-me in trouble.
But the truth was that I was envious of Sam. I wished I had half of the charm he had. Talking to people was a skill I’d developed over the years, but it definitely didn’t come naturally to me like it did for Sam.
I wished I could be like him. Magnetic. Instantly likeable. Fucking irresistible.
Damn.
Definitely drunk.
“You’re jealous, aren’t you?” Sam finally asked.
I felt like an insect he’d just pinned to the wall, squirming under the spotlight of his gaze.
“Give me a break.”
“You totally are,” he said, looking me up and down like he’d just figured me out. I’d never seen such a satisfied look on his face. He was starting to realize he had some sort of small power over me. It made me feel like I had something fizzy in my chest. Nervous, excited, and definitely turned on.
Fuck. Really turned on.
In fact, the longer I let my eyes linger on him, the more I started to forget that he was my stepbrother at all. Maybe it was the alcohol, but right now, all I saw was a guy I had come to find ridiculously fucking appealing. There was no way I was fully straight. I couldn’t get him out of my damn head.
“So maybe I am a little jealous,” I said. “Possessive. Protective. Whatever you want to call it. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Or you want to keep me all to yourself?” he offered.
Christ, I was going to have a meltdown. “That doesn’t even make any sense,” I protested.
It was a total lie. It made complete sense, because internally, I was desperately wanting to keep Sam to myself. Even though he wasn’t mine at all.
“It was so cute that you were all worried we’d done something wrong earlier,” Sam said, his voice like velvet.
“What, the video chat?”
“No, dummy,” he said, kicking me gently underwater. “When we kissed.”
I could feel my heart kick up in my chest, beating hard as soon as he mentioned our kiss again.
“Well, I don’t feel weird about it anymore,” I said, trying to sound as confident as possible.
His eyebrows went up. “Oh really?”
He could tell I was faking it. He was challenging me, in the way that only he knew how to do.
“Not even a little bit,” I said.
“Liar.”
Sam’s eyes were steadfast, holding eye contact with me as he reached over for his drink, taking a long sip.
“You are so fucking impossible, you know that?” I finally said, my voice low. I could feel my heart pounding in my throat now, and my cock wasn’t helping, already hard as hell below my swim shorts.
“You love it,” Sam said. Like he knew.
“You cocky bastard,” I told him.
He swallowed, his gaze trailing down to my lips, my chest, then back up to my eyes again. He looked serious now, like he was playing hardball and loving every second of it.
“Get over here and kiss me again and you’ll see exactly what I have to be cocky about,” he said.
Fuck.
My cock throbbed, somehow getting even harder than it had been.
I let out a shuddering breath. “God, I hate you,” I whispered, my voice hoarse.
“I already told you,” he said, “no, you don’t.”
“What are you doing to me?” I uttered as I reached over, grabbing his hand and pulling his body close to mine.
I leaned in before I could second guess myself and I crushed my lips to his.
Yes. Yes. This was what I had wanted, all goddamn day.
For the entire trip, actually.
Heat bloomed through me. Instantly I could tell that Sam definitely hadn’t been bluffing. He moved in closer and opened his lips to mine, our tongues sliding over one another, a rush of wet heat.