Chapter 18: Eyes on Me: Part 1 – Chapter 17

Garrett It’s our last night in the lake house, so I’m not surprised when her soft footsteps creep down the stairs and into my room. We don’t say a word as she crawls into bed, slipping between the sheets next to me.

Over the past few days, we’ve made one thing pretty clear: we don’t fool around in bed. She’s slept in my bed twice now, but we both seem to agree that it’s too close to sex to play here. The temptation to slip her clothes off and slip into each other is too great.

I’m too old to play around with a twenty-three-year-old. I know that, but the mood between us this week has been the mood of a couple horny stepsiblings who can’t help themselves. And if that’s what I am, then, oh well. I’m not ashamed. I’ve gone so long without sex, I might as well be a virgin again, and fucking Mia as part of an experiment would be wrong. I came here to figure out if my sudden attraction to Mia is something physical or more than that, and even though those questions aren’t answered, I do know that the physical aspect is too hot to ignore.

We don’t say a word to each other as I gather her into my arms and kiss her with urgency. I’ve barely been able to kiss her all evening with our parents around, and I haven’t had a single chance to touch her. I can’t believe how much I’ve missed this, miss her already. It’s only been a few days, but it already feels like I can’t live without it.

And tomorrow, I have to start living without it for good.

Silently she slides against me. Lightning flashes, bathing the room in light for only a second before the thunder cracks again. She flinches in my arms, so I squeeze her tighter. Her face is resting on my chest.

But before too long, the ache to touch each other gets too powerful and we’re kissing again. There’s so much we’re supposed to say at this point, like establishing boundaries and expectations, but I’m not so good with words, but I do know how to do this. I want to express my feelings for her with our bodies. I literally watch people do it every day.

So I tell Mia how I feel with the movement of my mouth over hers, squeezing my eyes closed as I tug her bottom lip between my teeth and bite just enough that she cries out. She answers me by wrapping her arms and legs around me, holding me as close as possible.

I place my body over hers as my hips grind against her. She hums into my mouth and tightens the grip of her thighs. My cock hardens quickly between us and I seek the friction of her body, grinding harder and harder to the rhythm that sets my body on fire.

“This is almost better than sex,” I mumble into her mouth. “Wanting you this much.”

“Garrett, please,” she cries out, and I lie my body over hers, grinding harder and harder, watching the way her back arches and her breathing almost stops.

“God, you’re so beautiful when you’re about to come. I’m addicted to it, Mia.”

Her nails are digging into my back as I use the hard length of my cock against her clit to take her to the edge.

“Faster,” she pants into my kiss, and I answer her request by digging my cock even harder against her and moving my hips even faster. Then she does the rest. Grinding her hips against me, she uses my body to make herself come. Her muscles squeeze around me impossibly tight as she cries out, and I place my hand over her lips to keep her quiet.

“So fucking beautiful,” I mutter, and she’s barely come down from her orgasm before she’s reaching into my boxers and wrapping her hand around me. Then, she strokes me fast, knowing that I’m so close already. Moments later, I’m pulling up the front of her long T-shirt and painting her chest white.

It’s weird that at a moment like this, while she’s covered in my cum, that I’m actually proud of myself for fucking her…as if this is better.

Man, do I need to get my priorities straightened out.

I did what I came to do. I wanted to see this through with Mia, to explore whatever it was I felt that night on the video chat. And I explored it. And her.

I’m supposed to have things figured out at this point. But somehow, there are even more questions swirling around my head. I’ve got her texting me on the app every moment that she doesn’t have her hands busy with my cock or in the throes of another orgasm.

And the only thing I’ve figured out this week is that I’m royally fucked.

As I slam the trunk of my car with my duffel bag packed inside, I notice Mia standing near the driver’s side. I glance around carefully to make sure we’re alone before we say anything.

We couldn’t be leaving this lake house any more unsure about what the fuck we’re doing. There have been some intense moments of intimacy that, I’ll be honest, felt a hell of a lot like a relationship. But her virginity is still intact, and I withheld from being the asshole to take that. Still, the physical stuff was amazing, so do we just call it a day and part ways?

Is that what I want?

Ignoring the fact, of course, that I’m still talking to her online as Drake at all times.

“Well,” she says, crossing her arms, “I guess I’m glad you came.”

“Nice choice of words.” I laugh.

She bites her bottom lip and looks away, holding back her own laughter. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah. It was fun.”

“It was fun,” she says, looking up at me. Her skin is tanner than when I got here five days ago, and I find myself staring at the hints of sunburn on her nose and cheeks. Then, of course, I think about the tan lines under her clothes, and I have to force my mind to stay out of the gutter for one fucking second.

“Are you excited to get back to work?” she asks.

“Yeah, I think so. What about you? Are you excited to flash your tits for creeps on the internet?”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re just jealous.”

“Nah,” I reply, stepping toward her. “I’ve seen your tits. That image is safely tucked away right up here.” I tap the side of my head.

She smiles for a moment before getting serious. “So…this is it, right? We’re still not going to do this back in Briar Point, are we?”

I’m searching her tone for any hint of what she wants. Does she want to keep doing this?

It doesn’t matter. We are done. I’m calling it quits right now. I’ll even stop texting her as Drake. I need to just go back to my regular life at Salacious, so everything can be normal again.

“This is it,” I say, and I watch her eyes as a hint of disappointment flashes through them.

“Okay,” she says with reluctance.

God, I want to touch her. Just one last time. Before we head back to the real world, before this weird twilight zone affair started. I take a quick glance up at the house, and since I don’t hear my mom or Paul talking, I know it means they’re not near the doorway. So I grab Mia by the hand and lead her to the house, so we’re out of view of the windows.

Then, I press her against the wall. “Since this is goodbye, I just need one more…”

With that, I slam my lips against hers, tasting her mouth like it’s the last time I’ll ever kiss her. Because it is.

Her mouth eagerly latches onto mine, our tongues twisting in delicious friction. She tastes so good; I savor the feel of her lips. It’s a short kiss, but it’s enough to satiate my appetite.

When we pull apart, she doesn’t linger to look at me or ask any more questions. She just keeps her back to me as I climb into the car, only waving at me once as I disappear down the driveway.

It’s not until I’m home that she texts me. On the app, of course. Technically, I guess she’s texting Drake. At first, I ignore it, tossing it on the bed unanswered. It’s time to cut all ties. If I could un-stepbrother myself from her, I would, but as far as I know, we’re stuck sharing parents for the foreseeable future.

I’ll just ghost her as Drake and that will be it. This whole weird stepsister phase is behind me now. I almost go for a run. I almost go to the club. I do a lot of things, but that one fucking unchecked message is haunting me and won’t let me go.

Okay, I’ll just say goodbye.

Picking up the phone, I click the message and see her beautiful face. There is no text. Just a picture she sent—a beautiful smiling selfie. No words. Nothing.

“Fuck,” I mutter, staring at her photo. Why does she have to be so fucking confident and vulnerable and easy to talk to?

All right, change of plans. I’ll just ease Drake out of Mia’s life. We’ll chat online for a bit—no more video chats because I can’t risk her finding out the truth. And after a while, one of us will just end things online, and everything will be fine. God, what the fuck am I thinking?

As long as I don’t see her in person and she never comes to the club, I have nothing to worry about.

With that, I type out my response and hit Send.