Step Stalker
My father is in the living room when we walk inside. He nods at us over the top of his book, his eyes lingering on our proximity. Maybe he already knows there’s something serious between me and my stepsister. Maybe not. But I want another night of making promises to Lula before she has to face their ugliness.
Reluctantly, I kiss her soft mouth and leave her outside of her bedroom door, wanting so badly to walk through it with her, to have no secrets from anyone, let alone our parents. However, I console myself with the fact that she’ll be back in my arms in a matter of minutes.
Where she belongs.
Unfortunately, those outside forces that could keep us apart are much closer than I imagine.
Chapter Ten
Lula
When I walk into my bedroom, I might as well be floating on air.
I lean back against the door and press my fingers to my freshly kissed lips, smiling with such abandon it actually hurts my cheeks. Tonight was a fairytale and an erotic sex dream all rolled into one…and I get to have this all of the time. I’ve finally accepted that I’m going to be with Vale because a relationship is what we both want. He wants me and I want him. Badly.
Any self-doubt has been thoroughly scrubbed from my brain by his promises, his lovemaking, the way he treats me. If he cares enough about me to face heat from our parents and the Navy, how can I doubt his intentions?
Now that I’ve stopped worrying about him regretting getting involved with me, my own feelings have blossomed. When I told Vale I loved him, I’ve never meant anything more in my life. Yes, I love the heroic SEAL. But I love the honest, passionate man under the surface even more—and I’m the only one who gets to have him.
Me. Lula Butler. Hippie, occasional nudist, high-pitched giggler.
Twirling toward my dresser, I mentally go through my wardrobe. Ooh, I have those purple silk panties. Maybe I should surprise him in nothing but those? Internally squealing, I click on my hanging lanterns.
Something moves behind me and I gasp, turning to find my mother sitting on the edge of my bed. There is an empty wineglass lying sideways on her lap and her phone is lit up beside her thigh. Enough to see the picture of me and Vale on the screen. It was taken tonight at the Coyote. In it, he’s kissing me full on the mouth, my face cradled in his hands.
There’s no mistaking the less than platonic nature of how we’re touching.
I’m surprised when a calm settles over me. We expected our parents to find out. I’m almost relieved our relationship is out in the open, so we can deal with the fallout and move forward. “Mother—”
“How drunk did you have to get him to kiss you?” She finds this question infinitely funny, but the sound of her laugh is ugly, embedding under my skin like a splinter. “God, Lula. How desperate do you have to be to throw yourself at your own stepbrother?”
My skin smarts like I’ve been slapped. My mother is saying these things to me. I’ve always kind of accepted her criticism, but now I see so clearly how wrong it is for her to treat me so poorly. I deserve better. Remembering there is a man on the other side of the bathroom who wants me to be his wife, I raise my chin. “I’m sorry you have such a low opinion of me. Vale wasn’t drunk when he kissed me and I didn’t throw myself at him. That’s now it happened at all.”
“It? What is it? Certainly you don’t believe you’re in a relationship with him.”
“Actually, I do,” I say softly. “I am.”
She snorts, followed by a long pause.
Her eyes turn calculating and my skin starts to feel clammy, my pulse picking up.
“Well, well, well. I would be impressed if I didn’t find your actions incredibly selfish and short-sighted.”
My heart starts to pound in my ears. “What do you mean…selfish?”
She comes to her feet slowly. “Right now, Vale is the perfect American hero, but by morning, he’s going to be a pervert who sleeps with his barely legal stepsister. Do you have any idea how this is going to look? He’ll be lucky if he gets to keep his job!”
By the time she finishes, my mouth is dry and I’m feeling slightly dizzy. Could my relationship with Vale really threaten his position on base in Coronado? “We…haven’t gotten that far yet, but Vale isn’t worried—”
“If that’s what he told you, he lied.” She shrugs a shoulder. “Then again, men lie all the time when they need a quick lay. Is that what you provided him, daughter? You must have, since he’s been home all of two days. You made it really convenient and easy, didn’t you?”